Note: This section should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified legal expert and is for educational purposes only.

Military Courts and Justice info

Finances

IRS Pub 3 Armed Forces Tax Guide.pdf
IRS Pub721 US Civil Service Ret Benefits.pdf
PDF File 2009-R-0250 Acts affecting Veterans and Military.pdf

	Carla Campbell

This section will look at financial strategies that military families and veterans -- as well as defense industry workers – can consider. These will be common sense approaches to investing that the average person can apply and benefit from. Your guide will be Carla Campbell who, for two decades, has helped clients grow and protect their assets.

Carla is one of the few professionals in her field to hold both “Certified Public Accountant” and “Certified Financial Planner” credentials. She is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and a member of the Financial Planning Association and holds Series 7 and 63 Securities Licenses, Series 65 Registered Investment Advisor License, California State Insurance License, Long- Term Card Certificate. She is a Wells Fargo small business loan representative.


PCS Doesn't Have to Mean "Pain in the Cash" Supply

Three ways to take the financial pain out of your next military move

If you're like the 700,000 military service members who are reassigned to new locations each year, you shell out an average of $1,725 for non-reimbursable expenses.

When you combine moving costs with the difficulty of uprooting your life every few years, relocations can take a big toll. While some moving hassles are unavoidable, you can ease the financial pain of PCSing with a little advance planning. Consider following this timeline for your next move:

What to do now: Avoid budget blues
Whether your move is days or weeks away, develop a moving budget in advance to keep your finances on track and avoid last-minute costs.

• Find out exactly what the military will cover, and what costs fall on you. You can visit your family center for more information.
• Budget for shipping charges, temporary housing expenses, and start-up fees for utilities.
• Make a list of things you'll have to buy when you move in and estimate those costs.
• Use this budget to determine how much you should save for your next move.

What to do before you leave: Prevent moving mishaps
Some moving horror stories result from damaged or lost property. So it's critical to have the right levels of insurance before you PCS. In the case of a moving mishap, insurance can mean the difference between disappointment and financial disaster.

• Find out how much of your personal property the government movers will insure. If it's not enough to provide full protection, a temporary renters insurance policy could be an affordable way to cover the difference.
• If you're shipping a vehicle, review your auto insurance policy to find out if moving-related damages are covered. If they're not, ask your insurer about purchasing shipment coverage.
• Put a plan in place to track your moving expenses. Unreimbursed moving expenses can be an income tax deduction

What to do after you arrive: Fine-tune your finances
Once you settle into your new place, consider fine-tuning your finances to make your next move easier. The stop-and-go that comes with a PCS - stopping everything and starting over again in a new area - can be a shocker to your finances. Military members can find some relief by working with companies that "move with you" and serve your needs wherever you go.

• Consider using online banking so you don't have to worry if there's a branch bank near your new home. You can also set up automatic bill payments to make your life easier during future transitions.
• Choose an insurance company that offers coverage in all 50 states and abroad, so you don't have to change providers with every move.
• Open a separate savings account and contribute enough each month to ease the cash crunch before your next move.
• Set up automatic transfers for investment accounts to ensure your savings habits won't slip.

With the right preparations, your next PCS could be financially painless -- leaving a surplus in your cash supply instead of draining it.

For more information, or to order a free PCS guide, visit usaa.com.

Copy courtesy of USAA.

Keep Retirement Savings Rolling After Separation

Consider an IRA to get where you want to go

Leaving the military for the civilian world can be a shock, but it's nice to know that some things stay the same. Rolling over your retirement funds from the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) to a Traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA), for example, gives you the advantages of tax-deferred investing. If you're willing and eligible, you may even consider a move to a Roth IRA.

An IRA rollover allows you to consolidate retirement funds after separation, but there are pitfalls to avoid. Consider these five steps to get the rollover started and keep your savings on track:

1. Get Ready to Roll
First, set up a rollover IRA account that is ready to receive the TSP distribution. Contact your financial services provider to walk you through the process, or ask a financial planner to help with the transaction. Beginning this year, if you are eligible, you can also rollover directly to a Roth IRA.

2. Analyze Your Options
You can leave your money in the TSP until withdrawals begin, combine the funds in a future employer's retirement plan or transfer it directly to a Traditional or Roth IRA. A Traditional IRA is treated like the TSP -the earning may grow on a tax-deferred basis-- if you make the move to a Roth, you'll pay taxes now, but you may be eligible for potentially tax-free distributions at retirement.

3. Roll the Right Way
With a few exceptions, there's a 10 percent penalty (in addition to paying income taxes) if you withdraw TSP funds before age 59½. But a direct IRA rollover avoids this penalty and allows your money to continue to grow tax deferred. When requesting a TSP distribution, specify that the funds be transferred directly to your IRA custodian. Your custodian will have to certify that they will accept the funds from the TSP.

4. Continue Contributing
Even if you've earned a military pension, chances are you'll need to continue building your retirement assets to ensure a comfortable retirement. Before you fall out of the habit of contributing to your retirement, sign up for your new employer's retirement plan or set up your new IRA with automatic monthly investments in mutual funds, which can be as low as $20 per month in some funds. In 2009, the Traditional IRA allows contributions - which may be tax-deductible up to $5,000 per year ($6,000 for ages 50 and older) - above the rolled-over TSP funds. Although subject to modified adjusted gross income limits, Roth IRAs have the same contribution limits.

5. Rebalance Regularly
As some investments perform better than others, your IRA can become too heavily weighted in one asset class, such as stocks or bonds, that doesn't match your risk tolerance. Maintaining proper asset allocation is an important part of meeting your retirement savings goals, so it's wise to "rebalance" your portfolio at least once a year.

Information courtesy of USAA.

Save money the easy way -- use your commissary

A family can save $250 a month on their grocery bill

A buddy showed me an article touting 30 percent savings realized by shopping at the commissary. Not being a regular commissary shopper, that number got me thinking: My family probably spends $600 to $800 a month at the grocery store, which translates to nearly $200 a month in savings.

As a long-time financial planner, I'm hardly the guy to voluntarily throw away a couple hundred bucks a month. So, I came to the obvious conclusion, that 30 percent savings was a myth.

But ever curious, my wife and I decided to do some shopping research. I'm a logistician by trade and a financial planner by profession, so I implemented two pieces of a three-pronged strategy that anyone can use to shop smart and save money, no matter where or what you buy.

· First, we made a list. In fact, we mapped out a two-week menu as a baseline.
· Second, we had lunch before we went shopping.
· Finally, and this is the one we failed on -- leave the kids at home. They always seem to convince me to get something that doesn't help on several fronts like diet, cost, etc.

Into the store we went. Having walked through the budget numbers with hundreds of families, I estimate the average family spends about $900 a month on groceries and household items. On this particular trip we spent $246. We bought everything from dog food to deodorant.

The hard part came next, a trip to our local grocery store to compare prices.

We found that our same items would have cost $318 there. So we saved about 29 percent by shopping at the commissary. For the average shopper, that translates into about $250 a month savings!

Let's break it down and look at what you could do with that $250-a-month in savings.

· Credit card pay-down: An extra $250 a month above the minimum will make your balance shrink provided you don't charge more than you are paying off.
· Emergency fund: A year of commissary shopping and you've got $3,000 salted away for life's surprises.
· Roth IRA: Talk about super-charging your retirement plan.
· Life insurance: A couple, both 30, non-tobacco users, in good health, could add $500,000 for about $50 a month and still have money left over.
· Thrift Savings Plan: Treat this "found money" like a pay-raise, increase your TSP contribution or start it.

Copy courtesy of Joseph Montanaro, a certified financial planner with USAA Financial Planning Services.

Here are some tax filing tips for the military

1. Moving Expenses If you are a member of the armed forces on active duty and you moved because of a permanent change of station, you can deduct the reasonable unreimbursed expenses of moving you and members of your household.

2. Combat Pay If you served in a combat zone as an enlisted person or as a warrant officer for any part of a month, all your military pay received for military service that month is not taxable. For officers, the monthly exclusion is capped at the highest enlisted pay, plus any hostile fire or imminent-danger pay received.

3. Extension of Deadlines The time for taking care of certain tax matters can be postponed. The deadline for filing tax returns, paying taxes, filing claims for refund and taking other actions with the IRS is automatically extended for qualifying members of the military.

4. Uniform Cost and Upkeep If military regulations prohibit you from wearing certain uniforms when off duty, you can deduct the cost and upkeep of those uniforms, but you must reduce your expenses by any allowance or reimbursement you receive.

5. Joint Returns Generally, both spouses must sign joint returns. However, if one spouse is not available due to military duty, a power of attorney may be used to file a joint return.

6. Travel to Reserve Duty If you are a member of the U.S. armed forces reserves, you can deduct unreimbursed travel expenses for traveling more than 100 miles away from home to perform your reserve duties.

7. ROTC Students Subsistence allowances paid to ROTC students participating in advanced training are not taxable. However, active duty pay - such as pay received during summer-advanced camp - is taxable.

8. Transitioning Back to Civilian Life You may be able to deduct some costs you incurred while looking for a new job. Expenses may include travel, resume preparation fees and outplacement agency fees. Moving expenses may be deductible if your move is closely related to the start of work at a new job location and you meet certain tests.

9. Tax Help Most military installations offer free tax filing and preparation assistance during the filing season.

10. Tax Information IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide, summarizes many important military-related tax topics. Publication 3 is available for download at IRS.gov or may be ordered by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Link: IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide