Photo By Sgt. Tamika Exom | Soldiers of U.S. Army South spend the day making learning budgeting techniques, during...... read more read more
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FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – “I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.” E.E. Cummings' famous quote isn’t far off from depicting a large number of people today.
“The day to start working for retirement is the day you enter service,” said Joe Silvas, a Fort Sam Houston retirement services officer. “You don’t know what the future holds, whether you’ll have three years or 30 years [to save].”
This is what Silvas wanted soldiers to take with them from the Army retirement portion of the financial boot camp, held Feb. 21 and 27, at Dodd Field Chapel, here.
Sponsored by the Warfighter and Family Readiness Program, the financial boot camp is a basic budgeting and financial planning class designed to inform soldiers of how to get a hold of their finances and give them a foundation to begin to plan for their financial future. The training was an eye opening experience for many in attendance.
“I’ve never been grocery shopping on a budget in my life,” said Spc. Latosha Anderson, a systems analyst for U.S. Army South. “I just throw stuff in the basket and whatever happens, happens.”
During the budgeting session, students were given an exercise of going grocery shopping on a $200 budget.
“Write down everything you spend,” said Nadia Linares, a banking service representative for Broadway Bank. “You don’t know where your money goes if you don’t know how much you’re spending on things like groceries.”
Capt. Sharron Stewart, commander for Operations Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, U.S. Army South felt it was extremely important for all soldiers to take this workshop.
“Last year, when we almost had the government shutdown, soldiers were coming to me for Army Emergency Relief loans,” said Stewart. “But they weren’t asking for funds for unexpected expenses, they needed money to cover regular monthly bills.”
Monthly bills can become big problems when soldiers don’t have adequate savings to cover an unexpected loss of income. When soldiers began asking for AER loans, Stewart took notice and suggested soldiers of all ranks and ages could benefit from learning financial responsibility.
The round-robin event featured guest representatives from Army retirement services, Broadway Bank and the Better Business Bureau. In addition, Brian Novak, chief of legal assistance with the 502nd Air Base Wing, went over the “rules of engagement” of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, telling soldiers, “Come see us sooner rather than later.”
During the interactive boot camp, students learned check writing and balancing skills, proper budgeting techniques and the importance of maintaining good credit. They also learned how to dispute inaccurately reported items on their credit reports. The soldiers were also taught about the difference between short-term savings goals, long-term savings goals and retirement savings goals, in addition to basic tax principles.
The Financial Readiness boot camp is available to all active duty and their dependents, retirees, and Department of Defense employees. For more information about financial classes and future financial boot camps, call the Financial Readiness Program at 210-221-2380.
The Joint Base San Antonio Military Tax Assistance Center opened Jan. 30 for all active-duty military members, dependents, retirees and their families, to take advantage of free tax services. The main tax center is located at 2271 Reynolds Road and the office can be reached at 210-295-1040. There is also a satellite tax center located at San Antonio Military Medical Center, Room L44-6, and they can be reached at 210-916-1040. Both locations are by appointment only.
| Date Taken: | 02.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2012 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 84403 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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