tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:53:49 +0000http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)Blogger242125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-3370208251598149741Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:14:00 +00002008-07-15T04:21:32.286+02:00gi billpost 9/11 gi billnew gi billAs I promised in my last post, I will keep researching the post 9/11 "Webb-Hagel" Education Bill. I was searching through most of the internet and was finding the same thing posted everywhere. I found an article on Military.com by Tom Philpott (Philpott, 2008) and he writes: Transferability – This feature will allow longer-serving members to transfer unused education benefits to spouses or http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-information-about-new-gi-bill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-4315757539168123901Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:43:00 +00002008-07-14T04:46:21.919+02:00bloggingI went through my Military Blogroll today and deleted all the blogs that either have been deleted or have not been updated since 2007. August 26th will be my second year blogging so I wanted to spruce it up before then. If you have a military blogroll and would like to be added to my blogroll, please let me know. If you are one of my millions (and by millions I mean a handful) of readers and http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/07/updated-military-blogroll.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-6349797435826525092Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:32:00 +00002008-07-11T03:41:20.420+02:00To be "re-blued" in the Air Force is to have something happen that makes someone excited and motivated to stay in the Air Force. Lately, I've been contemplating about getting out of the military and I don't get re-blued very easy. That being said; yesterday, three of my work mates and I were driving off base for lunch one someone pulled up and screamed, "You guys rock, thanks for everything!" http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/07/free-for-military-re-blued.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-7500631673936462475Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:45:00 +00002008-07-06T21:54:00.066+02:00gi billeducationcollegeassistanceI'm sure everyone has been reading about the new post 9/11 GI Bill or the Post 9/11 - Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008. I've been a member of the Air Force Sergeant's Association (AFSA) since I've joined the Air Force in 1999 (pre 9/11). One of the biggest sales pitch was the AFSA was lobbying for the GI Bill to be able to be transferred to dependents. Finally this new GI Bill has http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-gi-bill-to-dependents.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-5460717329910078981Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:22:00 +00002008-06-28T17:35:11.794+02:00blogsmilitary blogssemper financeI was taking 3 weeks of use/lose leave in August of 2006. I was pretty bored and I think I reached the end of the internet twice. I read an article about a personal finance blog and how much money the person was making. I Googled "how to blog" and found the very successful http://www.problogger.net/ and found out that he made $15,000 in one month off of his Google Ads. I immediately started my http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/06/military-finance-blogs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-6911818065554727831Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:37:00 +00002008-06-20T21:39:06.414+02:00gas pricesdisposable incomebudgetI know everyone loves mathematics. I also know that everyone loves to budget and to see the affects of rising gas prices on their budgets. I decided to run through some calculations so everyone can see what gas prices do to their budgets. I don’t personally agree with budgets per se; however, I do agree with people budgeting their fixed expenses. Gas, groceries, entertainment, etc. shouldn’t http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/06/rising-gas-prices-affect-budgets.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-2788928894068382998Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:14:00 +00002008-06-11T07:27:13.314+02:00electronicssabreThe key to a great blog is to write on subjects that no one else is really covering. I have noticed that my SABRE electronics posts are the most popular incoming traffic. Except for the official website, my blog posts are the first entries listed in the search engine results. I've compiled my postings for easier search results on SABRE problems, fixes and general discussion. In November of 2006 http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/06/sabre-electronics-troubleshooting-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-475472570467113378Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:03:00 +00002008-06-07T22:11:16.450+02:00www.cashcall.comscamloansMy son loves the show, "Sponge Bob Square Pants." There is a commercial that comes on for www.cashcall.com. It's one of those unsecured loan places. It is similar to a payday loan. I usually ignore commercials and use them to go to the restroom. But I saw the disclaimer in .5 font at the very end of the commercial and saw the interest rates on a $2,000 loan. I went to the website and in normal http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/06/cashcallcom-rates-and-payments.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-9095627837944264742Fri, 30 May 2008 03:51:00 +00002008-05-30T06:08:14.073+02:00credit cardsI was helping a young troop with his finances. He showed me his credit card statement but didn't show me the top half, just the little breakdown sheet. I saw that he had a $3,000 balance and was paying over $100 in minimum payments. His interest rate was 24% a month and he didn't even know it. He was incurring fees for having more than $2500 on the card and he was not earning any rewards. He http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/05/get-best-credit-card.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-8025466731165941919Sat, 10 May 2008 23:39:00 +00002008-05-11T01:45:24.411+02:00payouthits4payIn June of 2007, I started a program called Hits4pay. It took me all the way until November to my first $25 and then I was paid out in December. You can read my proof of payment post here. I really only made $15 that whole time because you start off with a $10 bonus. Well starting 1 Dec 07 I started from $0 and have already reached my $25 minimum payment. I have referred a handful or more people http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/05/hits4paycom-second-payout.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-3775988417199670515Fri, 09 May 2008 16:04:00 +00002008-05-09T19:56:41.695+02:00sponsored postcreditdebtI was recently contacted by a website called Bills.com. They have just kicked off an initiative called "Operation Debt Storm" that will concentrate on military debt relief. Their main goal is to educate military families about debt problems and to annihilate debt. I haven't done any official calculations, but I'm sure that over 70% of my posts are about how to deal with debt and how debt can http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/05/debt-relief-for-military-members.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-361028114267862183Wed, 07 May 2008 02:28:00 +00002008-05-07T04:36:25.734+02:00opinionusaamutual fundsIn May of 2007, a reader named Adam suggested the USCRX mutual fund. I gave the fund a neutral rating. You can read about it here. Again, I wasn't then nor am I now a certified financial planner or a mutual fund analyst. Since then, the mutual fund price has gone from $28.35 on 27 May 07 (the date of Adam's reccomendation) to $23.85 on 5 May 08. That's a loss of 15.7%. Mutual funds are not like http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/05/usaa-cornerstone-strategy-fund-uscrx.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-4132629622245512504Thu, 01 May 2008 04:17:00 +00002008-05-01T06:25:51.142+02:00mutual fundswarren buffettsequoia fundinvestingI've been doing pretty well going against the grain. I'm an avid reader of Warren Buffett and he often teaches people to against the herd. I've made the mistake of following the herd into the private equity IPO of Blackstone (BX) and I lost money. For some reason, I somehow doubt the world's richest man and his investment knowledge. But here I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/05/sequoia-fund-sequx-is-reopening.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-8202566694333613455Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:57:00 +00002008-04-12T21:04:36.179+02:00after your servicemlm'sI recently made a post about a site that was reaching out to people on social networknig sites called http://www.afteryourservice.com/. You can read the full post here. The business is called an MLM or multi-level marketing business. Instead of purchasing Google Ads, magazine covers, or normal advertisement methods, they pay people to sell the product themselves and pay them for it. It starts http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/04/after-your-service-website.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-1852100376981968785Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:40:00 +00002008-04-10T02:54:23.119+02:00sponsored postcreditlinkworthdebtIf you read my blog often, you will realize that I mostly talk about not getting into debt. There are millions of blogs and websites about how not to get into debt and how to get out of it before it wrecks your life and credit score (which seems to be the same thing lately). Military members can be punished for not tanking care of their debt and personal finances. We are at risk to be solicited http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/04/credit-in-america-and-armed-forces.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-4911191891372724674Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:49:00 +00002008-03-29T19:52:14.152+01:00rebateeconomic stimulustaxesirsThe "rebate" check or the economic stimulus payment has been scheduled for payment to individuals. People will get differing amounts depending on your income and if you have children. A lot of people are asking me when they can plan to see their checks, which worries me. I'm worried that people REALLY need these checks. Here is the schedule link based on your last two digits of your SSN. http://http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-will-you-get-your-irs-rebate-check.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-370222902477229856Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +00002008-03-27T05:08:39.375+01:00taxes If you file a simple 1040 EZ or a normal 1040A and you have limited investments, then I suggest you use the free tax service provided by all military stations. Unfortunately, most military tax preparers are volunteers and only go through a one week class. They are not thoroughly versed in the "maze" that is our tax system. I've been studynig the tax system for five years now and I still don't http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/03/h-block-for-military-members.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-1369982225506234955Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:49:00 +00002008-03-12T02:00:19.515+01:00www.afteryourservice.comafter your servicemlm'sHave you recently received an e-mail or a Myspace message asking you to check out a site called http://www.afteryourservice.com/. Are you wondering if it's a scam? I have written on this topic a couple of times. A legal answer would be "NO," this site is not a scam. The realistic answer is "YES," because like gambling, the odds of success are very limited. The site http://www.afteryourservice.comhttp://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/03/afteryourservicecom-or-after-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-7706470181917729138Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:57:00 +00002008-03-09T19:01:42.761+01:00richest personwarren buffettWarren Buffett, the man I try to model my investing style by, has claimed the World's Richest Man billet. Too many people focus on short-term results and ignore the power of long-term investing. He is estimated to be worth 68 billion dollars; a 10 billion dollar increase from last year. His "A" class shares hit an all time high of $150,000 a share. The "B" shares will always be rought 1/30 of thehttp://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/03/slow-and-steady-wins-race.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-1627923947321636528Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:44:00 +00002008-02-22T05:53:55.458+01:00taxescapital gainsMost people in the military are, in my opinion, lower-middle income; middle income, or upper-middle income. That being said, in 2003 President Bush signed a tax cut for capital gains. Capital gains were taxed at a 28% rate and now they are taxed at 15%. Proponents (like me) of the tax cut say it will reduce the double taxation of people's money. Opponents say that it only helps the poor and does http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/02/capital-gains-tax-for-middle-income.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-5936591713863560439Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:43:00 +00002008-02-06T04:44:08.355+01:00debt seriesdebtI was interviewed on Debt Consolidation Care last week. Please click here to read my interview.http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/02/money-for-military-on-internet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-6673749832317018612Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:25:00 +00002008-01-27T23:28:00.525+01:00debtWhy is getting out of debt so hard? Here are some major reasons why Americans fall into debt so fast and can not get out of it. The biggest reason is the national debt. The national debt is at $9.1 trillion (source: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np). If you divide this up between the 300 million citizens of the United States, you get each person being $30,000 in debt http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-out-of-debt-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-2198965840846137280Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:03:00 +00002008-01-18T05:07:35.471+01:00military payCOLAJust in case you've never looked at your LES, some bases receive CONUS COLA. According to the Per Diem site, ZIP Codes that have Cost of living higher than 8% above the national average, gets CONUS COLA. Beale AFB used to get CONUS COLA and I used to receive $28. A lot of military members joked about this; but I will never joke about additional money. In 2008, the DoD re-assesed the ZIP code http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-lost-my-conus-cola.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33433718.post-783161225376546159Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:14:00 +00002008-01-05T02:15:26.670+01:00hits4paywork at homeI don't know why this is a big deal; however, I understand some people may not trust other people on the internet. Hits4pay is real; however, it's not a get rich quick scheme. At least it's not for me yet. Here is the payment history from Hits4pay: And here is the same incredible payment in my paypal account. http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com/2008/01/hits4pay-proof-of-payment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Money for Military)