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As I mentioned in my first post, Why I’m Starting MilitaryDollar.com, I got to where I am today largely through many, many, many hours of studying personal finance experts and bloggers. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve read dozens of books and innumerable blog posts about the topic. So while I’m busy writing more posts for Military Dollar, why don’t you check out some of the people who inspired me?
J.D. Roth – Money Boss
J.D. used to own the first finance blog I ever read, Get Rich Slowly. He now blogs at Money Boss. J.D.’s writings speak to me. He isn’t spouting off some nonsense about picking winning stocks and leveraging yourself to make millions. No, he gives solid, useful advice for the average person to employ. He wants people to realize that money is a tool, not a goal. That’s how I feel, too.
Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez – Your Money or Your Life
I’m not kidding when I say this book changed my life. A few years ago, I was dealing with some pretty significant personal stuff and I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. Now, I’d already been following the FIRE movement for nearly a decade and had a not-shabby plan to retire around age 50. Reading YMOYL made me rethink everything. I reworked my budget based on my priorities, and stopped spending money on things I didn’t care about. By doing so, I freed up nearly $1000 in my budget each month. That enabled me to max out my TSP, in addition to the IRA I was already maxing out. In the subsequent four years my investment accounts have more than tripled, counting both the money I’ve put in and what I’ve earned. I’m on track to be financially independent at age 41. I’m also happier because I spend my money much more thoughtfully since reading this book. I know what is important to me and what just isn’t worth it.
Doug Nordman – The Military Guide
Nords is the quintessential military personal finance blogger. He retired from the Navy in 2002, amid the tech bubble recession. When he was looking into a post-military career, he realized he didn’t like any of the options. Instead he and his wife ran the numbers and realized they could retire on the money from his military pension and their investments. Since then, he has published The Military Guide, a book that teaches military members how to achieve financial independence. I highly recommend you check out his book and website.
Dave Ramsey
As I mentioned in Why I’m Starting MilitaryDollar.com, I used Dave Ramsey books early on in my personal finance journey. Specifically, I read Financial Peace and Total Money Makeover. And while I have long since outgrown Dave’s teachings, I think his ideas are fantastic for someone learning the ropes. That is, his ideas on budgeting and paying off debt. I usually warn people not to listen to him when he talks about investments! Also, his advice on credit cards is good for people that can’t/won’t pay off debt but I think it really depends on your individual ability to deal with credit. Credit cards can be a powerful tool if used appropriately.
I’ve served as a coordinator for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course several times. I understand why some people don’t like Dave, but I will always think it’s a good program. Seeing people’s faces when they realize they’ve paid off thousands of dollars in debt in a few short weeks, and even better when they realize their new budget is something they can maintain over the long haul – there’s nothing quite like that.
Who inspires you in your personal finance planning efforts?
Thank you. i love this story of super charging your saving once you got a bigger and more honest picture of your life. I’m curious about the finances of people in the military. Where i live we have a base and we discovered that sailors and their families are using social services and even food banks off the base. Are people simply not making enough money? Or are there repercussions for using services on the base? Are military people and their families given any financial education? Is it aligned with YMOYL or is it more traditional information? I’ll bet a lot of young people end up in the military with NO financial education.I’d love to hear from you on these questions.
Hi Vicki! Thanks for asking.
It’s hard to say that military members are making “enough” money because of course everybody has their own idea about what “enough” is. I can tell you that most military members are able to live comfortably on their military salaries. In addition to our Basic Pay, we also receive allowances for housing and subsistence if we don’t live on base and don’t use the chow halls. But the situation will be different for everybody.
Luckily, there are lots of services available on base to help those who may need it – including free financial education! The financial education is what most people would consider more traditional – basic budgeting, debt reduction, and so on. There are no repercussions for using these services and in fact I’ve known plenty of Non-Commissioned Officers who went out of their way to ensure the younger troops knew about and took advantage of these services. Unfortunately, lots of people don’t know about all of the services available. That’s why people like me are trying to spread the word! I have a post in works that covers some of the lesser known benefits for military members and I included financial planning in the list. Hopefully word gets out; the free financial education is a fantastic benefit and I wish more people took advantage of it.