When leaving the military, you will probably fall into one of three groups; you may have joined during or after high school and therefore don’t have any real financial education, or you may be retiring after completing your 20 years of service.
Alternatively, you may have been discharged following an injury during service. For each of these groups there are different things that you may want to consider in order to help secure your finances.
Discharged due to injury?
If you have been discharged following an injury, then you may feel daunted about what is to come. If you have lost a limb or are suffering from PTSD, then the idea of getting a civilian job may make you extremely anxious.
If you have been left with a lasting injury or condition as a result of your service, then you may be eligible to claim VA disability benefits. The best place to start is by heading over to the Chisholm, Chisholm and Kilpatrick website to use their VA compensation calculator.
The math behind VA disability benefits is a little more complex than you would expect, so if math isn’t your strongpoint, then this calculator will quickly identify your “efficiency level” which will dictate how much you may be due in compensation.
Retiring after your 20 years’ service?
Retirees who complete their service will be due a lifetime pension plan – the amount you will be paid is determined by your years of service and final rank, and regulations can differ depending on which service branch you served.
If you are intending on continuing to work a civilian job then you may want to consider rolling your pension over to either an individual retirement plan or the retirement plan of the company that you go on to work for.
Whilst most veterans would prefer to start receiving a steady income as soon as they retire, there are many advantages of utilising a stretch IRA or Roth IRA, as this will help your money grow without incurring any tax.
Leaving the military as a young enlistee?
If you enrolled in the military out of high school, then you may have missed a lot of financial education which will have benefited you in the future. As a result of this, many young enlistees rack up debts and end up taking out emergency loans when they leave the military, not to mention they have little to no savings.
To avoid falling foul of the same fate, it is important to quickly learn how to budget your money and consider which things in life are necessities and which are luxuries. There will also be services available to you locally that can help you learn how to manage your money effectively. Don’t feel a loss of pride for having to use these – they can be the difference between you thriving financially and falling upon hard times.
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