Financial Information Day spotlights Military Saves Week

Fort Huachuca, Arizona -- In recognition of Military Saves Week 2017, Army Community Service hosted a Financial Information Day Feb. 28 at Murr Community Center to give individuals an opportunity to assess their savings and take financial action.

The topics covered in multiple presentations included: Blended Retirement System; Avoiding Scam and Fraud; Investing; Starting a Small Business; and Home Buying. Military Saves Week runs Feb. 27 through Mar. 4.

Jessica Richter, manager, ACS Financial Readiness Program, explained why they decided on one day for the presentations.

"A lot of people are not aware this is Military Saves Week, Monday through Friday," Richter said. "So this year, instead of spreading it out through the whole week, [we] picked one day to provide all the different resources the people here at Fort Huachuca would need to answer the financial questions."

Richter explained that they "based the choices of the presentations off of questions that I've gotten over the past year. So these [topics] are what the Fort Huachuca community has been wanting to know.

"The blended retirement system is a big topic with a lot of Soldiers right now," she said. "I get a lot of higher level questions about investing so I had the opportunity to bring Tom Manganello, of the Securities and Exchange Commission to do this presentation."

Richter said she also gets a lot of questions about starting a small business, whether it's transitioning Soldiers or spouses that want to run a home business. So I contacted our small business administration and they have a Veterans Outreach department that will be answering questions about that."

Another topic Richter said she gets many questions about is home buying because a lot of military families are first time home buyers.

Marjorie Hanes, Banking Center Manager at Armed Forces Bank, was one of the speakers at the Financial Information Day.

"We are trying to encourage our young Soldiers to start learning how to save for the future," Hanes said.

Investing in their future is important to start now, said Hanes. "The most important thing that Soldiers need to learn "is how to budget their money, how to set a goal, what is their five-year goal, their 10-year goal, and planning for the future. Learning how to save is the big thing. They have to crawl before they can walk. Day by day, step by step."

Col. Theresa Walsh, senior Army Reserve advisor, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE) said she was attending to "learn about some of the classes and get more information." Walsh said she's been investing for two decades, but she "wanted to make sure that I'm tracking. The diversification is important." One important thing she said she learned was "about the management fees, you have to invest money to make money."

Walsh had a piece of advice for those just starting out.

"It's really important for the young Soldiers to start investing as AIT students, it makes a difference on their savings. When you're ready to retire, it's a little too late then," she said.

Financial Information Day ties directly into the Financial Readiness Program services offered at ACS. Richter said the program helps with "creating the awareness that there are multiple services offered by the FRP."

Richter is a big advocate for budgeting.

"Budgeting is for everybody," she said. "It's not just because you're an E-1. If I had my way, the garrison commander would be in here getting a budget," Richter said with a smile. "Everybody has that capability of getting their financial goals met. Ultimately, we are giving people the knowledge and the confidence that they can make their financial goals."

Richter said budgeting was about control.

"I can take control of my money instead of it controlling me," she said. "You can make your money do whatever you want. If you want to struggle living paycheck to paycheck, you can make your money do that for you. If you want to have that emergency fund, be able to do the nicer things that you want to do, you can do that too. It's about being disciplined and having that motivation to make the changes you need to make to reach your goals."

ACS offers financial classes every month, Richter explained.

"Everything from basic money management, car buying and summer fun on a budget," she said "Unit briefs are offered and blended retirement is popular. The one-on-one counseling is very popular."

Richter said that people come to her and say, "'I need to know how to save better. I have a lot of debt, I need help making a plan to pay that down.' And the FRP can help them set up a budget to meet their goals. Debt is a concern, especially student loans," Richter said.

You can call, email or walk in and make an appointment.

"Services are available to any DOD card holder, including active duty and their families, retirees and their families or DOD Civilians," Richter said Richter.

To make an appointment or for more information about the Financial Readiness Program, call ACS at 520.533.2330.