More Important: Pay or Benefits? Why? Is 'cash' king? If your monthly pay could be increased to off-set less benefits, would you rather have the money up front or stashed away for you?

More Important: Pay or Benefits? Why?

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Posted 12 y ago

Stashed.

I have seen too many people among the force that struggle to make financially sound decisions. I believe in the long run it would hurt a great percentage of the career Soldiers.

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SSG (Join to see)

>1 y

My two cents: I'll keep my medical bennies and I enjoy military gyms. But by and large I don't have a lot of use for the other stuff. As MSG Wade so aptly put it, it's only a benefit--if you use it. For the most part I feel like I am compensated well as a SSG with 16yrs of service. I look at my civilian peers and I think I am paid at the same level or slightly higher. Two years ago, when I was considering transitioning to the civilian job market--many of the jobs I was looking at wanted to start me at half what I make now..So, all things being equal--I am quite happy with my pay, allowances, and benefits.

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CW4 (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

Great question,
Because I am in the Reserves, I kinda lean towards benefits because it kinda across the board (minus things like childcare). I try to drill in these young Soldiers head the benefits available to them, it amaze me on how many young Soldiers who joined the service and have no clue what benefits are available to them.

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SGT (Join to see)

>1 y

I agree, being able to earn a college degree for minimal money was a huge benefit to me. That was way better than the few hundred I make a month for drill. I also have to say the $53 a month for medical is way better than the $300 my civilian employer offers health care for. This is just naming the obvious benefits. I would much rather have the benefits over the pay, being a reservist.

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SSG(P) (Join to see)

Posted 12 y ago

unfortunately the generation today is the "now" generation, claiming "YOLO" and other monikers that don't truly represent what we should be worried about. Honestly? In my opinion, Long term benefits are WAY more important than what I could squander my money on today. I want to ensure that, when (not if) I have to retire due to age or disability, I know my service here and now will be appreciated and earn a small future for my wife and I to rely on.

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SFC William Swartz Jr

Posted >1 y ago

I think it depends upon whether the individual Soldier, NCO, Officer is looking to make a career out of the Army in which case I think the benefits are a more important factor, or if they are looking to do one "hitch" and get out, in which case I think more pay would be what they are looking for. That is just how I perceive things to be....

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MSG Wade Huffman

Posted >1 y ago

When considering this discussion it is important to realize that a benefit isn't a benefit if it's not utilized (think MWR programs such as gyms, auto or hobby craft shops, etc. as an example - if you use them, it's a benefit, if you don't it isn't).  Because of this it is not possible to assign a monetary value of benefits to a group; only to an individual.  Also, different benefits have drastically different costs (say a gym membership vs. a private health care policy for a family).   While I would be more than willing to forgo certain benefits in lieu of cash (especially those that I personally don't use!), others, such as healthcare I would be opposed to.    Just one more example of how a 'cookie cutter' approach doesn't work.  Of course we could always use the cafeteria approach where you have a 'pot' of dollars and can select the benefits you want or to keep the cash (some civilian businesses use this model) but I don't see this being practical for the military due tot he vast amount of services offered and the additional cost involved in 'policing' that only those who elected the service are utilizing it.  Change is hard! 

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COL Vincent Stoneking

Edited >1 y ago

Posted >1 y ago

Show me the money!

Quite simply, since I was a navy brat, and have over 20 years in of my own, I have seen "Ironclad, Absolute, Rock-solid" benefits go "poof" time after time. Also seen it in the civilian realm. However, in the civilian world, you can sue for breach of contract. While I'm too lazy at the moment to hunt it up, SCOTUS determined in the case of "free health care for life for retirees" that whatever relationship service members have with the US Government, it is not "contractual " in any recognizable sense of the word.

To get my three movie references in, when offered theoretical benefits in the distant future in exchange for money today, I can't decide if I feel more like Lando on Cloud City or Adm Akbar.

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CSM Michael J. Uhlig

Posted 12 y ago

great topic and I am interested in the responses. I'd rather have the benefits and the reason is that I can live a somewhat comfortable lifestyle with a paycheck with the knowledge that my smaller immediate investments (e.g. purchase a home, savings bonds/IRAs and etc.) with my income along with knowing I have benefits waiting for my family at retirement. By the way, I have not and will not forget where I came from, my truck back home is a 1985 Jeep Comanche and my wife drives a 1998 Honda Civic hatch. Being modest and humble has allowed us to pay our home off. The key is maintain goals and live within your means.

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SSG(P) (Join to see)

12 y

That's one of the biggest frustrations I have with Soldiers these days; They simply cannot live within their means and instead, get caught up in "keeping up with Jones". They lack the understanding that long term investments (i.e. a house, keeping a car longer than two years, etc) hold WAY more value then the spinner rims they just bought for 1200 bucks.

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MSG(P) (Join to see)

>1 y

The failure to live within one's means seems to be a wide-flung issue across all of the U.S. these days. The problem with many is that, as both CSM Uhlig and SGT(P) Bell have pointed out, most want to "keep up with or show up" their buddies in terms on material possessions. Social standing in the now outweighs any foresight for the future. Entertainment industries and media have only exacerbated the problem.

Really, when compared to many in the civilian sector, the combination of our pay, along with our benefits, puts those of us in the military FAR ahead of our peers in terms of financial stability - but only when that pay and those benefits are treated correctly, allowing them to work for you in the future instead of blowing it all now.

I personally live very comfortably, both getting what I want through planning for it, and saving for the future after the Army. It baffles me that others cannot seem to do the same thing even though my peers in the military make just as much money as I do, and have access to all of the same benefits. Those that say that they cannot possibly live a comfortable life on the pay that they earn at my rank have either squandered what they made in the past, have loaded up more debt than they can handle, or fail to even attempt to live within their means.

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CPT Zachary Brooks

Posted >1 y ago

I can say this, my civilian job forces me on their health care plan at the tune of $490 a month. With the federal mandate for the ACA hitting in January and the fact that these companies are essentially getting required business fed into a monopoly I can see that benefits such as Tricare are a great thing. I hope to have a new civilian position soon where they do not force me on this crap.

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MSG (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

I think it really depends on which "benefits" you are talking about. I wouldn't mind losing commissaries and PXs at most bases. A lot of the "benefits" that are part of the total compensation package are things that most Soldiers have no use for or are inconvenient to use. I would rather that they get the ax and pass those funds into pay.

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