Jarhead Online » Money

Almost Done with the Credit Card Debt

Flyboy — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:08:48 +0000

Once upon a time I was young and foolish and I ran up a lot of credit card debt. Nights out with the guys, car stereo, speakers, gas, food, you name it. The worst part is that I don’t have anything to show for it – not even the car stereo because I traded in that car for a newer, faster, shinier car. But that’s another story.

One of the fun things about becoming an NCO is the realization that not only do you have to start rating and leading young troops, but you actually become a mentor for them. I realized I needed to start leading by example. And slowly but surely I changed my ways.

Getting out of debt is easy – in principle

It’s not hard to get out of debt… at least the mechanics of it. Spend less than you earn, pay extra on your loans, don’t take on new debt, etc.

But the mental change and breaking the habits… that’s where it can be more difficult. It takes a lot of work and one little slip up can cost you months in interest payments.

So I came up with my own little plan and started chipping away at my credit card loans, and over the last couple years am almost finished with them all.

I wish there was a secret I could share, but the above methods are what I used. I guess the only thing I did that would be close to a secret is transfer my credit card balance to a zero percent balance transfer credit card. With these you need to open a new credit card and you can transfer your balance from another card to a 0% interest rate. It cost me 3% to transfer my balance, but at the old rate of 21%, I saved 18% interest. That was a HUGE blessing and saved me months of payments. Instead of over 20% of my monthly payment going straight to the credit card company and only 80% of my payment going to reduce the debt, I had 100% of the payment going to eliminate the credit card debt. I think it must have saved me at least $2000 (yeah, I had a lot of debt!).

So there is no magic bullet. Stop using your credit cards, spend only the money you have, and pay extra. If you have a lot of debt like I did, then it might take awhile. But it’s worth it. I sleep better at night and my credit score is improving. Not much more you can ask for!

P.S. The Jarhead is out of town for a few months, if you catch my meaning. He will try to pop his head in from time to time if he is able, but for now, I’ve agreed to drop by every so often and share some thoughts about the world. Send your positive thoughts out that way – those boys in the mountains need our support.

Did You Know Military Members Have it too Good?

Flyboy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:26:29 +0000

So I was checking out a favorite mil blogger site about military money when I saw this article: Military Members Have it Too Good and Whine Too Much.

All right, so before I even started reading it I’m getting hot. Who the hell is this guy, saying we have it too good? I mean the guy that runs the site is a vet. Turns out the entire article is a response to a comment left on his site that says military members are basically “undereducated, underpaid, whiny little bitches.”

OK, those were my words, but I didn’t have to stretch it too far to get there. The actual wording in the comments was that military members have it “TOO GOOD! So quit your whining!” The same commenter also said military members “get GREAT PAY and BENEFITS! Especially for active duty who have NO COLLLEGE DEGREE, and LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE.”

Wow. The commenter is some kind of doctor and he can’t even use spell check. He also goes through a 16 point list of military benefits that he obviously doesn’t understand.

So Ryan, the blogger over at Military Finance Network does a good job at ripping into this guy – listing his inaccuracies, providing facts and resources that basically make this dude look like a pretentious snob. I guess this doctor is in a higher class than us “uneducated, inexperienced, and overpaid” military members who protect his freedom of speech.

So go check out this article and drop a line of support in the comments. Start with this article explaining military compensation, then read the long comment that rips into military compensation. Then head over to read the response: Military Members Have it Too Good and Whine Too Much.

It’s a long article, but it is worth the time and will probably get your fired up.

Veteran’s Day Discounts

Jarhead — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:29:41 +0000

Veteran’s day is just around the corner, Nov 11th to be exact, and there are many discounts and deals to be had not only by active duty members of the armed services but also retirees. Here is a list of some of the things that I have come across either online or in my email from the SgtMaj and 1stSgt.

-Free Applebee’s meals on Veterans Day

-McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants, Sunday, November 8

-Golden Corral Military Appreciation, Monday, November 16,

-Knotts Berry Farm, November 1 through November 26

-Lowes – 10% off on Veterans Day

-Home Depot - 10% discounts

-Disney’s Armed Forces Salute at Disney Parks

-Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks - free park admission
Veterans and Armed Forces personnel can receive one free general
admission ticket or a Buy-One-Get-One-Free offer on reserved seats (up to 4
total tickets) to the UCLA vs Washington football game on Saturday, November
7th at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Present valid identification or be in
uniform at the UCLA Central Ticket Office M-F 10am to 4pm or at the Rose
Bowl on Game Day 11/7/09; or call (310) UCLA-WIN during business hours to
purchase tickets over the phone, pick up tickets at Rose Bowl on game day
with valid ID or be in uniform; or purchase tickets online at UCLABruins.com
<http://UCLABruins.com> using Pomo Code: GOBRUINS. Don’t miss the
pre-game Veterans and armed Forces Exhibit Fair in Lot H of the Rose Bowl.

*****Clippers will host a Military Appreciation Night on Friday, November
13th at 7:30 pm. Service Men and Women and their families will be honored
and all military personnel in attendance will receive a commemorative
T-shirt.

If any of you have any other deals that can be passed on please leave them in the comments and I will make sure that they make it into the main article.

The Money is Running Out

Jarhead — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:39:29 +0000

A few months go I posted about the Marine Corps’ Selective Re-enlisment Bonus (SRB) for fiscal year 2010. I mentioned that Marines would be eligible for up $90,000 to re-enlist. Well it seems that the money is starting to run out. In fact MarAdmin 471-09 listed several MOS’s that would not have a bonus available after 1 Oct. Now MarAdmin 590-09 states that even more MOS’s will loose eligibility for a re-enlistment bonus in the next 30 day. The MOS’s that will soon be loosing eligibility are:

Zone A:
————–
5942
6223
6253
6322

Zone B:
————–
0411
0619
0629
0659
1316
1371
2141
2171
3537
6283
6672

Zone C:
————–
0491

If you are in one of the above MOS’s and you want to re-enlist I suggest that you hurry up and get it done so that you do not loose out on some good money

Get Paid

Jarhead — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:16:32 +0000

Starting July 1st 2009 first term Marines are authorized to submit their re-enlistment packages. With the economy in the drains and the Marine Corps reinstating boat spaces competition is sure to be fierce. To add wood to the fire the Marine Corps released MARADMIN 378/09 today that establishes the bonuses for FY10 Marines. The Marine Corps is sticking with the lump sum amounts for bonuses that they have used for the past few years. Bonuses are based on MOS, and Rank and range in value from $0 all the way to $90,000. The last thing that the message states is that prior service Marines cannot re-enlist until Jan 2010 and there is no bonus for Marines coming back in.

Free Food at Chik Fil A

Jarhead — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:59:20 +0000

On May 20th (Wednesday) Chik Fil A will be offering free meals to Active Duty and Retired Military and their families from 5 PM until 8 PM. Only thing is I have been unable to confirm if this is a nation wide event or only occuring in the Southern California area. All that I do know for sure is that the Chula Vista, Sports Arena, Oceanside, Murietta, Temecula and San Marcos stores in San Diego and Riverside counties will be hookin it up. I know that my family and I will be attending as we love those chicken sandwiches and you can’t get much better sweet tea in Souther California than what Chik Fil A has. Hopefully more locations are doing something similar and more of you guys can get a free meal tomorrow.

Jarhead — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:04:51 +0000

I got a very intriguing email from my Family Readiness Officer today. Looks like there is something in this almost $800,000,000,000 (yes that is billion) stimulus for military homeowners. Instead of trying to relate all that is in the proposed bill I will just paste the message below:

The Senate Proposes Military Homeowner Relief The “American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act” (S. 336), the economic stimulus bill offered by the Senate
Appropriations Committee this week, includes a provision that would provide
significant relief to military homeowners on PCS orders who are upside down
on their mortgages or otherwise suffer a significant loss on the sale of
their homes. It would also cover certain wounded warriors and their
survivors.

The bill would temporarily extend coverage to these groups under the
Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP), which normally only applies to members
whose home values are depressed by base realignments and closures.

The provision would cover service members and federal civilian employees in
these categories who purchased a primary residence before July 1, 2006 and
who receive PCS orders or suffered a wound, injury, or illness while
deployed between that date and September 30, 2012. The wounded, ill, or
injured member/employee would qualify only if the condition were
subsequently rated as at least 30% disabling by DoD or the VA and the member
was reassigned for medical treatment/rehabilitation or was medically
retired. In the event the member died of the injury or illness or was killed
in the line of duty while deployed, the survivor would receive the coverage.

We asked the Appropriations Committee staff for the rationale for
establishing the July 1, 2006 cutoff date for home purchases. They indicated
the sense that the home market decline was underway at that point, and the
intent was to protect people who purchased homes before they had any warning
to expect a decline.

Under the HAP, a person who sells a home at a loss upon relocation (based on
fair market values determined by the Secretary of Defense) can be reimbursed
for the lost fair market value, with the service member/employee absorbing a
“deductible” amounting to 5% of the pre-July 2006 value.

If the person has difficulty selling the home, the Defense Department has
authority to purchase the home at a price not to exceed 90% of the pre-July

2006 value.

The stimulus bill language specifies this would be a special program that
could be used only once, and only for a primary residence. A homeowner who
previously received any payment under HAP would be ineligible.

The House version of the stimulus bill (H.R. 1), which passed the House on
Wednesday, does not contain a similar provision.

The full Senate is expected to begin consideration of the stimulus bill next
week. Once the Senate approves it – which could take a week or more – House
and Senate leaders will need to reconcile this and other differences between
their respective bills.

MOAA strongly supports the Senate provision. Once the full Senate approves
the bill – hopefully next week — we will generate an alert urging House and
Senate leaders to retain this provision in the final stimulus bill.

Just to clarify that this was passed in the Senate only and I am not sure if it will make it into the final bill. I hope it does as it will relieve those that bought a house and cannot continue to live in it due to the fact that they are being forced to move across the country.

Don’t Get a Refund Anticipation Loan

Jarhead — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:02:38 +0000

I wrote last week that tax time is finally upon us and that getting a refund anticipation loan is a bad thing. Well it seems that I am not alone in my thinking. Patrick at Military Finance Network wrote an article on the problem with refund anticipation loans. The APR on these loans can reach as high as 99% APR which is never a good thing.

In a second article on his site Patrick writes about free tax prep for military members. As you can see there are plenty of opportunities for you to get your taxes done for free. Go visit Patrick and get your taxes done for free.

Disneyland for Free

Jarhead — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:01:34 +0000

There are many great theme parks in Southern California many of which have have great military discounts. Up until now the most famous theme park in Southern California, Disneyland, did not offer any military discount. This has changed in the past few days. Disney has just announced that it is giving active and retired military members free multi-day passes to Disneyland or Disney World.

Disneyland/California Adventure (Anaheim California):

Through June 12, 2009, each active or retired member of the U.S. military can receive one complimentary three-day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute” ticket valid for admission to both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure parks. During the offer period, active or retired U.S. military personnel also may make a one-time purchase of an adult or child three-day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Companion” ticket for up to five family members (including spouse) or friends for the price of an adult 1-Day Park Hopper ticket.

Disneyland Resort hotels are also offering special room rates for active or retired military personnel. For example, at Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, active or retired members of the military and their families may find hotel rooms starting at $119 per night during value season, with great savings during other times of the offer period. This offer is available through June 12, 2009, and the number of rooms available at these special rates is limited.

For information regarding “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute” at the Disneyland Resort, or to make reservations, military personnel may call 714/956-6424

Walt Disney World Resort (Florida):

From January 4 to December 23, 2009, each active or retired member of the U.S. military may obtain one complimentary five-day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute” ticket with Park Hopper and Water Park Fun & More options. This ticket is valid for five days of admission into the four Walt Disney World theme parks, plus a total of five visits to a choice of a Disney water park, DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park or certain other attractions. During this offer period, active or retired U.S. military personnel may also make a one-time purchase of up to a maximum of five, five-Day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Companion” tickets for $99 per ticket, plus tax, for family members (including spouse) or friends. Although this ticket for family members and friends does not include either the Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More options, this ticket can be upgraded to add either such option, or both, for an additional $25, plus tax, per option. All tickets and options are non-transferable and must be used by Dec. 23, 2009.

Let us all thank the generosity of the Disney Company and make sure we use and abuse it. For those of you that don’t have the pleasure of living in Southern California you can take a week off and see all the great sites out here. Go to LA and visit Disneyland for three days then take a short trip down the coast to Sea World and take care of the discounts there. Also Southern California is a baseball fan’s paradise with multiple major and minor league teams in the area.

Veteran’s Day Discounts

2009 BAH Rates

Jarhead — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:01:10 +0000

As most of you already know the military has been approved for a 3.9% raise effective January 1st. This raise is .5% than President Bush initially asked for and it is most welcome.

Also effective on January 1st new BAH rates go into effect. BAH or Basic Allowance for Housing is a tax free allowance for military members not living in government furnished quarters. BAH can make up a large percentage (sometimes even more than base pay) of a Marine’s take home pay.

BAH varies from area to area and is based on one’s rank as well as if they have dependants or not. the number of dependants does not have a bearing on the amount that one would recieve (IE an E-6 with 1 dependant receives the same amount as an E-6 with 5).