Military Family
Finances Made Easy
Two of the most respected organizations
in the nancial and business realms have
joined together to provide a handy nance
guide speci cally for military families.
Personal Finance for Military Families is
published by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
and the Council of Better Business Bureaus;
it is available free as a downloadable PDF
6 Ways
to
Your Food Budget
$tretch
Commissaries partner in DoD program to
help promote nancial tness
through Military Saves.
By Kevin L. Robinson, DeCA Public A airs Specialist, and
at www.kiplinger.com/money/military. Kay Blakley, DeCA Home Economist
The easy-to-read booklet is subtitled
Your One-Stop Guide to a Secure Financial AZ2 Karen Amador Lesetmoe, USN, described herself as someone
Future, but what makes this publication who got in over her head in debt. Between credit card debt, a car
so valuable is that it is geared speci cally loan, and a low-paying job that made shopping for food a constant
to service families, with an understanding challenge, the single mom needed a new direction. So she went on a
of those families’ diet— nancially, that is.
special needs and
circumstances. “I decided I’d had enough of living paycheck to paycheck and
For example, the worrying about money all the time,” said AZ2 Lesetmoe, whose
article “Saving testimony to get out of debt is posted with others on www.
Strategies” MilitarySaves.org. “When I paid o my credit cards, I didn’t relax
starts with the and fall back into my old spending habit; I was on a mission to save
Thrift Savings money. I opened a savings account and started putting all the money
Plan. One I would have spent on my debt into my savings.”
article details AZ2 Lesetmoe’s story of nancial distress is all too real for many
nancial scams people in uniform and their families. For her and people like her,
that target the Consumer Federation of America, a nonpro t partner of the
the military, Department of Defense (DoD), has developed Military Saves
with tips on to enlist the military community in a yearlong commitment to
how to avoid nancial responsibility. e website o ers free nancial services and
becoming suggestions to help save money.
a victim. Another story is titled e Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) has joined the Military
“Strategies Before and After Deployment,” Saves campaign to echo the bene ts of reducing debt and building
covering everything from life insurance wealth. “Extending the paychecks of military members with savings
and tax issues to identity th