Hi i’m 18 shipping to USMC boot camp in about 5 days and Im looking for any financial advice or just general advice on benefits etc. (outside of the flow chart). I already contribute to a roth IRA invested in 100% VT and I have a HYSA setup for when I get out so i can put a good sum of my boot camp money in. anything I should know? I want to set myself up for success in my first 4 years in case I end up hating the military and getting out. If it matters i’m going to be a Comms guy so i’m on an 06xx contract hoping for 0631 network admin or 0671 data systems admin.

I'm pretty sure he will leave me at this point, and we had originally planned to do the PCS together. He has me blocked right now everywhere, so I doubt that is happening.

I'm heartbroken, obviously, and i don't want anything of his that he has earned.

I'm just wondering what benefits are most worth utilizing for the period leading up to its finalization. He moves early next year.

Feels like a dumb question, but would there be any resources I can still use post divorce?

Throwaway account as to not reveal my dumbassery.
I’ve been stationed in the same state for a while and got a new ID in that state, they auto registered me to vote when doing so
My spouse and I both voted this week and I was told that this could change my state if residence to where I am currently stationed, changing my state tax implications?
Any and all info would be appreciated!
(I would like to keep my old state taxes for obvious reasons)

I’m looking to purchase a home for the first time within next year and would like some consideration from those who have been through the process. I’ve been saving up for a while and have a good amount set aside for a down payment. I’d like to use the VA loan, which I know boasts the 0% down payment requirement. At the price point I’m looking at, the difference between putting money down and not would be about $500/month in the mortgage payment. Based off of my estimates for both payments, I’m comfortable with either payment and don’t think this $500 will break the bank. I’m currently service connected so I believe the financing fee is waived. I know I still have to have money set aside for closing costs, furnishing the house, emergency fund, etc. Separate from that, if I took the money I would otherwise spend on a down payment and instead put it in the stock market (ie an S&P500 fund), mathematically it seems that my return on investment over 30 years will pay off the difference in interest over the life of the loan and be a betting investment. My question is what are the drawbacks of not making the down payment? I want to explore all options here and make sure this isn’t going to come back to bite me in the ass. Trying to get as many opinions as possible and not miss anything. Thanks!

For context cadet commissioning this december, with high Likliehood of active. Getting married soon.

It looks like the best loan one could possibly get, but im not sure if its worth it if its not necesarry.

Me and my fiance both have working vehicles, between us about 45k liquid assets and as of this month only 2kdebt no intrest for some medical stuff. About 20k of that is in certificates of deposit.

Most of this is just thanks to the fact we both work while living with parents and save most our income.

I'm not in a situation where I necessarily need it but I've seen people say with how low the rate is its good to just dump in stocks or other high yield. I havnt done stock investing before and the overall yield over time seems negligible after paying it back.

Long story short is if I don't need the career starter loan is it still worth taking to invest? Have you known people in my situation who regretted taking/not taking it.

My husband is wanting an Xbox for Christmas, and I’m going to get it for him. I wanted to use my military discount if at all possible, and was curious if anybody knows of any stores that offer a military discount on new gaming systems/electronics. Game Stop has a military discount, but it excludes new gaming systems. Thank you in advance.

I just don’t have much stuff. It’s just my car and things that packed into my car.. will I still get like good pay..? Or should I go like furniture shopping in NY and take a penske truck and drive it. Like I’m so conflicted.

I have my VA and want to use it to purchase a 6+ unit multifamily property. I have read that this is possible if you have 2+ veterans use their VA loans to do so. Being able to buy multimfamily property of that size at VA loan rates is an incredible opportunity, and I have a few questions for those of you who may know more than myself.

1. Is it possible to do this with a trusted friend, then later assume their portion of the loan when they decide to leave/ sell? Or must this only be done with a spouse/ partner who intends to stay on the loan forever until it is sold?

2. I have heard that while these loans are technically possible, it is difficult to find lenders who will actually do them (as opposed to 4-unit loans). Is this true? Do you know of any lenders who are able/ willing to do these?

Thanks in advance for the info.

I am active duty. My wife is as well. My wife is being medically Retired I will still be in for two years and then when I get out, we will use her Tricare retired.

Do you know if there is anything we need to do for her Tricare retired while I’m still in or just simply put her under me?

Will me getting out be a qualifying life event so we can enroll when I’m out or do we have to time me separating with open season?

Tricare said I simply just switched her as my dependent and then when I get out, we can use hers, but I feel like there would be more to it than just simply that.

I can see group A has enrollment fees frozen do you know if there’s anything like that for group B? I can’t find any information online and the Tricare rep didn’t know for group B either. It seems like Med Retired people don’t know much when I call and ask questions.

I PCSed to Germany OCT 2025 and was put into the dorms. I moved off base around June 2026. Do I qualify for Pet travel reimbursement to move my dog from the US to germany?

I am a young E2 with about $750 in credit card debt split between my STAR card and my credit card through my credit union. I have $350 in my savings. I went through tech school making irresponsible purchases on things and built a spending habit that I'm just now choking. I do have a camera I could sell for about $400. I PCS to Landstuhl later this year and will be housed at Ramstein so I will need a way to get to base for my shifts. My credit score is around 565. How do I get myself outta this situation?

I have been retired for seven years and have never had any annual fees for my platinum cards. About six months ago I got a letter in the mail saying that I would be charged an annual fee starting in September but I haven’t seen any annual fee hit yet. Has anybody had a similar situation?

So I reenlisted when my window opened 9 months ago. They have now medically retired me the MEB process took literally two months. The DoD side rated me at 90% what happens to the bonus?

For context, if I owed back a bonus what kind of plans do they offer to repay? I did 4 years active duty USMC, went to reserves took a bonus but man it’s put me in a horrible spot I just can’t do it. Anybody got insight ?

I just retired, am about to get my first payment, and noticed they put me into the SBP even though I opted out (spouse signature, notary, whole nine yards). Looking through reddit i see dozens of similar posts. Is there any way people found to fix this faster then a Congressional Inquiry? Ive submitted the Retirement question but it looks like many other people dont get this resolved until well after a year or 2 and some extreme actions.

Update: I submitted the problem via the AskDFAS question, and its not only fixed, but its even fixed for this months pay.

Has this happened to anyone else? I am 8 months past my 2 year mark and only getting the auto 1% still.

In short, I call TSP customer service and they say it is a local finance problem. I go into base finance and they say TSP should fix the problem. I’m getting the run-around treatment.

I finally got finance to open a CMS case, but it has been stuck/open for almost 5 months now.

I’ve informed the squadron’s first sergeant of the situation.

Any advice?

Branch: Active Duty USAF

Military spouse here- lived in VA my whole life and currently have a VA driver’s license + my vehicle is still registered / insured in VA using a close family member’s permanent address. My husband has been in training for most of the year so I moved to FL to be closer to my side of the family. I have lived in FL for over a year now but never updated my license / vehicle insurance information because I knew we would be moving states again as soon as his training is over. I just receive mail through that family member in VA & it hasn’t been an issue.

Husband has orders to get stationed in NC, so we are moving in a few months & will be there permanently / settling roots. My husband claims FL as Home State still & will continue to until he’s retired.

Am I able to claim FL as my state of residence / home state as a spouse, because that’s my husband’s state of residence, even if I don’t have a driver’s license there? Would it be an advantage to update my driver’s license to my family member’s FL address to claim residency as a tax advantage for work, or do I not need to & can still claim it due to his residency?

Also, say I claim residency in FL to match my spouse and have tax advantages - do I need to have my vehicle registered & insured at the FL address, or my new NC address? Is it okay if the insurance & registration state do not match my residency state or license address?

Sorry if this seems complicated, I’m new to this whole thing and it seems like there’s a lot of stipulations to certain situations in the military & I can’t find very black and white answers online. If you have experience moving multiple states in a short amount of time or know what would be the smartest decision financially please share.

Need some advice from you guys.

Never thought I'd be here but I may need to take a TSP loan as a property I co-own needs repairs. We can't get a HELOC on it because there's structural repairs in-progress and the automated appraisal system doesn't work for the address.

There's additional repairs/home improvements needed so with the HELOC the plan was to one-shot the repairs but now sounds like I have to phase it:

TSP loan > Phase 1 repairs > Appraisal > HELOC > Pay TSP back ASAP > Phase 2 repairs

$50K is about 8% of our retirement investments and we are relatively young still.

Do we have any other options?

Just finished submitting my DD2278. I was a bit confused. The Airman at Finance put my Weight Ticket cost and Penske Rental truck cost on the DD2278. However, he told me that I will file my gas expenses for the Penske on my taxes when tax season comes around. I thought that my gas expenses would be put on my 2278 as a tax deduction.

I also forgot to ask about flight tickets. My wife is flying separately to join me later this month(I completed the physical PPM earlier this month). Will I also be reimbursed for her flight tickets if I submit them or is that out-of-pocket?

Thanks in advance

Hi! I’m an army spouse. To the quick and short, we’ve not been very financially responsible for a few years, we have realized we were on a bad path a little over a month ago and have decided to start making changes. Budgeting now, working on making a savings account. We’ve paid off 2 accounts already and have about $200 in savings, we know it’s not great but we are starting somewhere. We have his TSP. Currently, we are stationed in Japan, and both made a silly choice to put both of our US lines on hold and opening new lines here. Our lines are on hold with AT&T. We were thinking about opening a HYSA to help reach our savings goals faster. We can live reasonably off his paychecks alone and should have all of our debt paid off by 2028, while budgeting about $400 a month towards standard savings. I do have a remote job but my hours range from low to very low (like 2 to 18 hours a week @$25/hr) and want to use my income to supplement paying off debt or our savings account. I am hoping to pick up another job in person but I’m just playing the game that is USAJobs currently. Is it even worth opening a HYSA right now? If so, what’s a good route considering we don’t have our American lines right now? Any helpful advice on just getting started is appreciated.

House in question is $430k. Been approved for $500. Would I be able to get a quote for a pool and have that factored into the house loan? Or would it have to be done separately after purchasing the house?

I am a military spouse who claims residence in a state with no income tax (where my spouse and I are from). I was working in a state with state income tax at the time of filing for short term disability (maternity leave). We are living in that state on orders.

The short term disability management company deducted state income taxes for the state that I was working in. They said that the SCRA does not apply to short term disability payments. Therefore I owed the state that I was working in state income taxes even though I am not a resident of that state.

Does this sound right and/or does anyone else have experience with this scenario?

Anyone here know why navy finance is taking so long to approve and release payments for childcare fee assistance now? Last I was told it's awaiting for release by them. A couple of my other coworkers have still not received payment for September as well.

Does anyone know a good insurance for military? USAA does not give me a good rate compare to Allstate- my current insurance.