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Personal Finance has been a passion of mine since I was in high school. When I joined the Army I was very surprised at the small amount of financial education we received throughout BCT/AIT, many of us were getting our first real "salaries" (I have worked before but it has always been shift based for an hourly rate) and we were basically told to just run with it.
I do understand that there are a good amount of financial briefs/resources available to service members, but in my case and the case of many of my peers, these were never made clear/offered to us.
Because of this, I've taken up a bit of a pet project. I'm working on a website designed specifically for new (presumably young and financially inexperienced) service members to educate themselves about the basics of personal finance. Very simple topics such as making a budget, dealing with debt, establishing an emergency fund, setting up a TSP account. Real world skills that they will need to manage their new income.
My question is, and this is aimed at the younger members but I'd love to hear from everyone, what do you feel like you don't know enough about when it comes to personal finance? What would you be interested in learning more about?
Thank you in advance for your responses, and as the website comes together I will be sure to make it available to everyone here on RallyPoint to critique.
I do understand that there are a good amount of financial briefs/resources available to service members, but in my case and the case of many of my peers, these were never made clear/offered to us.
Because of this, I've taken up a bit of a pet project. I'm working on a website designed specifically for new (presumably young and financially inexperienced) service members to educate themselves about the basics of personal finance. Very simple topics such as making a budget, dealing with debt, establishing an emergency fund, setting up a TSP account. Real world skills that they will need to manage their new income.
My question is, and this is aimed at the younger members but I'd love to hear from everyone, what do you feel like you don't know enough about when it comes to personal finance? What would you be interested in learning more about?
Thank you in advance for your responses, and as the website comes together I will be sure to make it available to everyone here on RallyPoint to critique.
Posted in these groups: 
Advice
Personal Finance
Advice Personal Finance
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 12
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Great idea! Honestly I wish I understood how IRAs worked. Someone once told me I should start a civilian retirement savings plan with an IRA. I don't understand it and I'd hate to just trust some company to set it up for me when I'm going in blind.
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CPT Zachary Brooks
SFC, I work for a financial institution right now and I have some insight on how IRAs work. I obviously cannot advise you as to what to choose, but I can attempt to answer any questions you might have about how IRAs work. Feel free to message me if you think of any specific questions.
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SPC (Join to see)
An IRA is simply a tax shelter. You can contribute up to the IRS maximum every year. Once funds are in an IRA, you can invest in financial instruments (CDs, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, etc). The financial instruments in which you invest depend on your risk tolerance. A good financial advisor (broker) will set up a portfolio which best matches your risk tolerance.
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I am also impressed by PV2 Rodriguez. I have been trying to teach financial responsibility for years to soldiers who will listen.
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SSG (ret) William Martin
SGT, sorry battle! I don't do stocks I know how to balance a digital check register though.
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CPT(P) (Join to see)
SGT Spratley, most of us (folks that work full time in a nonfinancial field) do not have the time/expertise to truly beat the stock market by picking individual stocks. For "us" I'd more recommend learning about the different types of investments, retirement accounts, and methods for paying off debt/saving money/investing.
I'd recommend looking at mutual funds, specifically index funds that follow whole sectors/parts of the stock market as a way to get into "stock investing" and taking advantage of the stock market if that is what fits your overall financial goals. Hope that helps.
I'd recommend looking at mutual funds, specifically index funds that follow whole sectors/parts of the stock market as a way to get into "stock investing" and taking advantage of the stock market if that is what fits your overall financial goals. Hope that helps.
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