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Volume 28, July 2014

The Family &

Money Issue

SOLDIER & FAMILY TOOLKIT 1/34 ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

20 Things for Kids

to Grow Financially

Page 4

Planning for your

Family’s Future

Page 8

Healthy Money

Habits

Page 10

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The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and important information. Please take a few minutes to glance at these resources and visit a few sites!

IN THIS ISSUE

The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and impor-tant information. Please take a few minutes to glance at these resources and visit a few sites!

3 BEYOND THE YELLOW

RIBBON EVENTS & DEALS

4 MONEY AS YOU GROW

6 MONEYSMART FAMILY SYSTEM

7 SMART MONEY SMART KIDS

8 FINANCIAL PLANNING

10 HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

12 RESOURCE LINKS

13 FAMILY ASSISTANCE

CENTERS

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Check out the Beyond the

Yellow Ribbon website and

sign up for exclusive email

updates on monthly local

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

events and deals.

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

Freedom 5K When: July 4, 8 a.m. Registration 8:30 a.m. Start Time

Where: Fairmont National Guard Armory

About: Run, bike, or walk in the 2nd Annual Fundraiser Event for

the Martin County Beyond the Yellow Ribbon. Gather the family

together and take a trip around Lake Sisseton on the 4th of July.

This event is free for military families.

More Info: Flyer

MN DEED Veterans Career Fair When: July 9, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Earle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Center

About: The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic

Development are hosting a veteran's career fair. This free event

will have employers with current job openings, college representa-

tives, service providers who can assist with your employment-

related needs, and much more.

More Info: Website

Operation Welcome Home When: July 11 to 13, 2014 (Military Families Retreat)

Where: Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch, Stewartville

About: Operation Welcome Home offers several faith-based re-

treats to provide encouragement, hope, and inspiration to veterans

and their spouses and families.

More Info: Flyer

Wounded Warrior Project When: July 12, 7 p.m.

Where: St. Thomas Ice Arena, Mendota Heights

About: Help Minnesota's local military by supporting the

Wounded Warrior Project with a game of hockey.

More Info: Flyer

Tween Overnight - Sleeping With the Wolves When: July 12-13, 2014

Where: International Wolf Center, Ely

About: Military youth ages 9-13 can discover the resilience of

wolves through hands on programs and teambuilding activities.

More Info: Flyer

The 17th Annual Bataan Memorial March When: July 12, 9 a.m. Where: Brainerd Armory

About: The 1st Battalion, 194th Armor Regiment (CAB) is

proudly hosting the 17th Annual Bataan Memorial March.

This event serves to commemorate all the individuals that

endured the Bataan Death March in April 1942.

More Info: Registration

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity - Military Veteran

Exploration Session When: July 16, 12:15 p.m. or 2:15 p.m.

Where: RSVP for location

About: Have you ever dreamed of owning a home, but the

costs seem too high? Well here is your chance for affordable

homeownership! Join the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

for an all military veteran exploration session to learn more.

More Info: Flyer

Women's Equality Day

When: July 20, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Hanger Conference Center, Little Falls

About: Servicemembers, families, friends, community

members, business agencies, organizations, and everyone

else is invited to attend. This event will begin with a discus-

sion on how far MN women have come in achieving equal-

ity and end with an interactive seminar focused on helping

women overcome fear and build confidence.

More Info: Flyer

Jesus Christ Superstar When: July 31, 8 p.m. Discount offer expires July 17, 2014

Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul

About: Jesus Christ Superstar, the global phenomenon that

has wowed audiences for over 40 years, is reimagined for

the 21st century as an arena rock spectacular. With over 50

cast and musicians on stage this is one arena show that can't

be missed! Save up to $14.50 on select seating to this amaz-

ing show.

More Info: Website

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I love the Economides family. When I see them on TV and read there books, I feel like they are extended family. They raised five kids on a income of $33-44,000 a year with a monthly grocery budget of $350. This is their third book and it is full of the nuts and bolts of how to handle day to day money life with kids. The first chapter explains their system and then the following chapters are topical. Each chapter ends with practical applications for each of the money stages raising chil-dren. They have the following stages $5/50/500/5,000/$50,000. Each stage works incrementally with the $5 stage is when children are ages 0-5, and the $50,000 stage being adulthood. This book is really designed for people that are in the midst of raising kids, since so much of it practical. This book would be great to keep around because the in-dex is easy to use and it can be used to look up issues as they arise. As someone who has read a LOT of par-enting books, my favorite part is the parts of the book focus on how to work together as a family and function with multiple children. The book also focuses on having order and harmony in the home, something lacking in many families today. This book would be a great gift for a fam-ily considering going down to one in-come since it provides an inside look into the lives of a real-life one-income family.

BOOK REVIEW

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This book is a parenting book disguised as a personal finance book. It is writ-ten by a father & daughter team. Ra-chel was born the year her parents filed bankruptcy and watched as they grew their small business into what it is today. This book is an extension of their finan-cial education and business leadership company. The focus of the book is to teach adults how to raise children that are content and know how to work, save, spend and give generously. While rich in thematic content covering all types of family situations, it does not necessarily dive in to the nuts and bolts of specific strategies to teach a six–year old to be content. They have a compan-ion website, smartkidslaunchpad.com, to do this.

The free website offers practical strategies to teach children the principles outlined in the book. There are lessons for children and sticker badges that they can earn. Some of these activities would be fun to do at a family event. The authors have a Judeo-Christian back-ground and focus on stewardship as opposed to ownership. This book would be a great gift for expectant parents since it explains how to start things at a young age. It also discusses building genera-tional wealth and brushes the surface of family businesses. Dave has a book planned that will specifically cover family businesses.

BOOK REVIEW

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American humorist Will Rodgers once said, "A vision without a plan is just a hallucination." Most families have a vision for their future. It might include buying a home, starting a new career after military service, sending the kids to college and retiring comfortably. But how many of us have a comprehensive plan for how we will achieve our vision? Financial planning is an important undertaking during each phase of a family's life to make sure visions turn into reality. This is especially the case for families that have a member with a disability, who may need support in adulthood.

Financial planning basics

Military families rarely have the financial means to achieve their visions for the future without making tradeoffs and sacrifices. A comprehensive financial plan is a framework to organize all the pieces of your financial life (income, as-sets, liabilities, etc.) in a way that brings your goals and the choices you will have to make to achieve them into sharp focus. The earlier you start to plan for your financial future, the fewer difficult choices you may have to make. A good financial plan will:

Provide a clear picture of your current financial situation

Establish and prioritize your financial goals and the timeframes for achieving them

Identify strategies you will use to address weaknesses in your financial situation and build on its strengths

Identify the financial products or services you will use to help you achieve your goals

Financial planning does not end once your plan has been created. Because life happens, you can expect to modify your plan as new or unforeseen circumstances affect your family's financial situation - an extended illness, birth of a child or job loss, for example. Maybe your goals and time horizons change, or perhaps fluctuations in the economy or tax laws make a positive or negative impact on your resources. It's a good idea to review your financial plan each year to make sure it continues to support your vision and goals.

Common financial planning areas

The typical financial plan will address several broad areas that encompass most families' specific goals for the future they envision. Military OneSource has information and resources to help you plan and refine your goals, so be sure to check out the links included with each of these planning areas.

Reducing debt - It is much more difficult to put your financial plan to work if you have or continue to accumulate debt from credit cards or other high-interest loans. Your first priority should be to reduce and eventually eliminate this debt so that more of your income can be applied to saving and investing for the future. See the article, Reduc-ing Your Dependency on Debt, for specific actions you can take.

Building up an emergency fund - Many financial advisors recommend having three to six months of your normal income in an account that's safe and liquid. This account should only be used to cover unforeseen financial emergen-cies and as a place to save for planned major expenses. Taking advantage of the Savings Deposit Program while you're deployed is one way to get a head start on building your emergency fund and other goals as well.

Saving and investing for college - If you envision paying for college in the future, it's important to have a good un-derstanding of the cost and the ways you can lower expenses, such as beginning a 529 college savings plan. Financing a college education is a goal you can start planning for as soon as a child is born.

MILITARYONE-SOURCE ARTICLE

Financial Planning for Your Family’s Financial Future

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Saving and investing for retirement - A comprehensive financial plan should address retirement, even when I seems very far off. Service members can participate in one or both of the Thrift Savings Plan options (traditional or Roth TSP), which make saving for retirement easy. Many military spouses work for employers that match contributions to a 401(k) plan. Any employer-sponsored retirement program that offers tax ad-vantages or matching contributions is a smart way to invest in having a comfortable retirement.

Providing for your family in the event of death - As a service member or veteran, you have the benefit of low-cost group life insurance through the government. For all of your family's insurance requirements

at each stage of life, your planning task will be to select the amount of coverage that best meets your needs for the least cost.

Financial planning when a family member has special needs

Families with a member who has special needs may also have special financial-planning needs, depending on the type and degree of the family member's disability. Your special-needs financial planning might address:

Making sure you're taking full advantage of tax benefits and strategies that can offset the costs associated

with your family member's care

Working with your teenage or young adult family member to plan a course of action that will lead to the

greatest degree of independent living

Making potentially complex arrangements for the long-term care and quality of life of a family member in

a way that does not put his or her eligibility for government benefits in jeopardy

Military OneSource has information in each of these areas. The article, Financial Planning for Parents of Chil-dren with Special Needs will give you an overview of tax benefits and estate planning. If you have a child with a disability who is approaching the age of adulthood, be sure to learn about person-centered planning. And if you'll be planning for the future care of a family member with special needs over his or her lifetime, you'll want to know about guardianships and conservatorships and special needs trusts. You can find articles and online tutorials about all of these topics and more on the special needs financial planning page.

Financial planning consultation

As you learn more about financial planning, you may realize that you need some professional expertise to help you plan. At your installation, the Personal Financial Management Program has classes and counseling sessions to help with all aspects of financial planning. The Exceptional Family Member Program can provide you with information and resources that may help you decide what to include in your planning for special needs. And the legal assistance office can help you with information and advice related to your estate plan-ning. Contact information for these installation programs is available through MilitaryINSTALLATIONS. You can also get financial planning assistance at no cost through Military OneSource by calling 800-342-9647.

Financial Planning for Your Family’s Financial Future (Continued)

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HEALTHY MONEY HABITS SETTING YOUR FAMILY

UP FOR SUCCESS CRISTY HOUSE –NORTHERN MN FRSA

Money. That one word can generate so many different emotions in people. I heard an interesting statistic that

many parents are more afraid to talk to their kids about money than drugs and sex. The most common causes

of divorce are related to the handling of money. Given the prevalence of divorce in this country, one can con-

clude that while parents aren’t having direct conversations with their children about money, their children are

probably witness to many money fights. I was one of those kids. My children will not be.

My children have never heard my husband and I have a money fight. They have heard us have budget debates,

but not the epic battles that filled my childhood. We have consciously made decisions that have helped take

the stress out of our finances. Personal finance is personal and not always about math. Our family is far from

perfect and has a long way to go to reach our financial goals. Here are some strategies that we have used and

they may be helpful to others.

Live below your means. Many Americans

have a negative savings rate, meaning they

spend more than they make.

Have a plan and work together on it. Hav-

ing a written spending plan or budget and

doing it together is vital to the success of

your relationships within your family and

finances.

Set goals. If couples and their kids set a

financial goal and work together to achieve

it, the results can be amazing.

Have a joint checking account. If you are married,

this is crucial for your financial success and commu-

nication.

Have an emergency fund. This turns most crisis

situations into annoyances.

Use cash to pay for things. We set aside cash in en-

velopes to pay for things like groceries.

Have a second job. This comes straight out of the

Jay Leno playbook. He has always worked two

jobs, living off of one income and saving the other.

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Save, save, save. Setting aside money for the future gives families op-

tions they would not have otherwise.

Wait to buy things. Hold off as long as possible to buy certain things and

you may find out that you don’t need those items in the first place.

Teach your kids about money. We talk about money with our three-year-

old. If you ask her about blueberries, she’ll tell you that they are

“spensive.”

Work in your strengths. Generally, one person is better at organizing the

budget.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Some couples avoid talking

about money at all costs. The ironic part is that the more you talk about it,

the easier and less stressful it is.

Have cars be a small part of your net worth. We share a car that is worth a

small percentage of what we own. The thought of purchasing another

vehicle makes me think of stacks of hundred dollar bills sitting in our

driveway.

Pay cash for cars. Car payments can be a drain on monthly income and

can cause people to buy bigger cars than they can afford. It is not uncom-

mon for people to be underwater on their cars when they have payments.

Have house payments be temporary and a small part of monthly income.

We have a ten-year mortgage on our house. The payment with taxes and

insurance is 15% of our monthly take home pay. This is very conservative

by most standards. We would love to have a bigger nicer house, but the

stress associated with a large payment isn’t worth it.

Have insurance. We have lots of insurance, especially disability insur-

ance. This gives me so much peace of mind.

Bring lunches from home and watch your grocery dollars tightly.

Have a garden and fruit trees. While this may not seem connected to fi-

nances, we have found it to be very rewarding. It will also yield hundreds

if not thousands of dollars worth of wholesome produce.

Give generously. There is a lot of research the connection between finan-

cial success and giving generously to others.

HEALTHY MONEY HABITS SETTING YOUR FAMILY

UP FOR SUCCESS CRISTY HOUSE –NORTHERN MN FRSA

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RESOURCE LINKS ARMY / NATIONAL GUARD minnesotanationalguard.com armyonesource.com militaryonesource.mil CHILDREN ADAPT: cehd.umn.edu/fsos/adapt operationwearehere.com mnchildcare.org ausa.org/family mdva.state.mn.us/child guardfamilyyouth.org militarykids.org DISCOUNTS beyondtheyellowribbon.org military.com/discounts/category EDUCATION education4military.com gibill.va.gov militaryonesource.mil militarychild.org EMPLOYMENT esgr.org mn.gov/deed FMLA: dol.gov/whd/fmla HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH tricare.mil militarymentalhealth.org Counseling 24/7: militaryonesource.mil MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS Marriage Retreats: strongbonds.org militaryonesource.mil PARENTS OF SOLDIERS bluestarmoms.org operationwearehere.com/Parents.html PET CARE dogsondeployment.org netpets.org guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org SPOUSES & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS militarysos.com spousebuzz.com milspouse.com msccn.org nationalmilitaryspousenetwork.org STRESS MANAGEMENT militaryonesource.mil defense.gov/specials/stressawareness

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