DECEMBER 27, 2022 - The Defense Department released the 2023 Continental United States Cost-of-Living Allowance (CONUS COLA) rates, which take effect Jan. 1, 2023. In 2023, $8 million will be paid to approximately 5,000 service members stationed within CONUS. CONUS COLA is a supplemental allowance designed to help offset higher prices in the highest-cost locations in CONUS … [Read more...]
5 Ways Military Parents Pay for College
DECEMBER 23, 2022 - Future college students who want an effective way to cover some or all of their educational expenses should think military. That's because there are several ways to get the armed services to foot at least a portion of a college, grad school, or Ph.D. degree. The good news is that there are multiple approaches for getting cash, stipends, scholarships, and … [Read more...]
DOD Increases Basic Allowance for Housing Rates
OCTOBER 20, 2022 – In a memo on the subject “Taking Care of Our Service Members and Families,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III directed that basic allowance for housing be increased for active-duty service members assigned in the 28 military housing areas where the average rental housing costs have increased more than 20% over the current BAH rates. This is an … [Read more...]
Tips for Putting Multiple Kids Through College
OCTOBER 19, 2022 - For most of us, putting one child through college – let alone two – is much more than a notion. It involves a lot of planning, saving, and tons of sweat equity. And that’s not counting all the other, intangible ways you’ll need to be supportive over the next four years. But if you have two offspring going to college at the same time? As the saying goes, … [Read more...]
Thrift Savings Plan Lets You Pay Yourself First
OCTOBER 5, 2022 - “Pay yourself first.” I don’t recall when it was that I first heard – or perhaps read – that simple bit of financial wisdom. But I do know it was sometime way back in my younger days, and that it sure sounded right – like something that I really ought to try to do. There was no Google back then, but if you enter the phrase “Pay yourself first” in your … [Read more...]