Do we as leaders take enough time to mentor our junior enlisted on investing for retirement early enough?

As a professional in the financial field, I took the initiative to offer my knowledge to the soldiers in my unit.  I understand that are other priorities in the unit to be done in drills and leadership has no time for this. I am not in a leadership position (for now), but it is so gratifying that my buddies can count on me.  In my opinion, leaders can take advantage of soldiers like me.  Reserve units have a lot of professionals, and leaders should take advantage of their resources.  Maybe they do not have the time, but there are others that are willing to help them.

I took an active role in guiding my platoon sergeants, squad and team leaders to get in the weeds of a soldier's entire life, not just financial. When a soldier was first assigned to my company he was in front of my desk within 24 hours. If possible, I had them bring their wives, that way she coild hear it to. I discussed finances as a part of that discussion, especially the fact that every business outside of the post was designed to seperate Joe from his money. Major purchases were encouraged to be cleared through the PSG. Not for approval, but a common sense check. This gave keaders a heads up before problems started and a sense of trust with the soldiers because their leaders cared. Think about it from a 1SG point of view, the more soldiers I have in training, the better we do in war. Also, when a soldier has financial problems, to get them rectified requires an NCO escort. Now I have two out of training. Can you see the snowball effect?

For the young officers commenting on this, I was an OSUT Drill Sergeant and we did give them all sorts of briefings. The soldiers were more concerned with staying awake so we would not smoke them than absorbing any information, especially if it wasn't testable. How many times do you receive a call in your officefrom a bill collector? If you do, does it disrupt your day? As a 1SG, it would disrupt mine. Without prompt response from the CoC, the bill collector can and will call Bn. The military are the only employers where bill collectors can call that soldier's boss and we have to do something about it. If you don't believe me, blow one of them off and wait for the CSM's call.

Don't look at this as adding more time to an already crowded training schedule. Look at it in regards to taking care of the soldier. The military is not like corporate America where folks are expected to be adults. Here people follow orders, or people die. That doesn't happen in the "real world". If you want your soldiers to trust you, ensure that their needs are met and they will break their backs for you. Leave it until it is time to counsel them for indebtness and you lost an opportunity for him or her to drink your koolaide.

Having seen first hand what the parents of America are doing for their children based on the soldiers that I received, hang it up on trying to say that Mommie and Daddy should have provided that period of instruction. Soldiers did not know how to properly care for themselves physically, let alone financially. Take some ownership no matter where they came from, treat them as part of your family, and get them ready for combat. Having to bring a soldiet out of the field, back from NTC or deployment for an avoidable family issue should reflect on that NCOER or OER, my opinion. Take care of it before you get to that point. Treat it like BRM, there are different periods to facilitate the training. Start slow, then ramp it up. Many of the examples and ideas that have been presented in this forum are valid, but it starts with the first line and must be supported by the Company level leadership. You are not doing it for them but for yourself by keeping them gainfully employed at work rather than them and their NCO running all over post during the duty day trying to fix something.

On the subject of AER. I had my commander delegate the responsibility for approving ARE loans to me, the 1SG. I established a program where the PSG had to prove that there was no other way to help the soldier without AER. This put the onus on the PSG and his subordinate leaders to dig into Joe's life. I would treat it like promotion debates where the PSG would have to justify his soldier's worth to the organization. This wasn't because I wouldn't sign it, but to engage the leadership. It was not a rubber stamp action, it had to be fought for, so the PSG had to invest time and effort.

When thinking of leaders, ask yourself, "would I let this person lead my children into battle?" It really changes the way you look at situations. These are someone's child not just a group of names and socials. They should be adults, but don't forget where you came from as well. We were all stupid and broke at one point, and so shall they be. You either figured it out for yourself, after some missteps, or someone helped you. I'd rather help the soldier not to make the same mistakes that I made rather than using the deep end if the pool analogy.

Probably not, but if you go through every regulation and attempt to accomplish all the mandatory training dictated by 350-1 and the monstrous amounts of MILPERs and ALARACTs, there is very little time for spoonfeeding adults the information their parents should have given them.

At some point, SNCOs and Officers must accept that Soldiers must assume responsibility for themselves in such areas. They receive an insane number of briefings during IET. If they haven't figured it out by then, you cannot demand that supervisors be held responsible for every little thing.