FORT SILL, Okla.-- The statistics are frightening. About 43 percent of American families spend more than they make each year, average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt and personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.
Military personnel are not immune to financial woes. To combat the mounting personal debt, the Military Saves campaign is a Department of Defense financial readiness campaign to persuade military service members, family members and the wider military community to reduce debt and save money, thereby ensuring personal wealth and stability and positively impacting the nation's personal household savings rates.
"This year's theme is start small and think big," said Tamra Ivanoff, financial readiness program intern at Army Community Services. "The idea is to motivate military service and family members to reduce debt and save money."
Military Saves is sponsored by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America. The campaign was launched throughout the DoD in 2007. It is part of two larger campaigns the DoD Financial Readiness Campaign and the national America Saves campaign.
While it is an ongoing campaign, the entire military community comes together to focus on financial readiness during Military Saves Week, Sunday through Feb. 27. Col. Raymond Lacey, garrison commander, designated the week in a signed proclamation.
"Personal financial security of service members is a crucial aspect of military readiness. I call upon all members of our Army family to set a personal savings or debt reduction goal, make a simple savings plan, and take action on that plan, or take another positive wealth-building action during Military Saves week, and pledge to sustain that action the following year," said Lacey.
The Military Saves campaign encourages: developing a personal financial plan; establishing good credit; saving a portion of each paycheck; enrolling in the Service members' Group Life Insurance, the Thrift Savings Plan, and, when eligible, the Savings Deposit Plan.
Saver Pledge
Part of the campaign strategy includes the "Saver Pledge," a commitment to exercise good financial habits and encourage other Americans to do the same.
Zilpa Oseguera, financial readiness coach and trainer, said "I encourage everyone to show their commitment to exercise good financial habits by signing the Saver Pledge and encourage others in your organization to enroll at www.militarysaves.org and commit to saving and reducing debt. Savers who enroll online receive electronic newsletters and e-Wealth coach advice.
The Financial Readiness Program has partnered with the Employment Readiness Program, DECA, Fort Sill Credit Union and Fort Sill National Bank to help implement this wonderful program, said Oseguera. "We thank them for their support on this initiative."
More than 200 credit unions and military banks participate in a wide variety of activities to promote personal financial readiness each year. These organizations and 1'partners see the value in working together to empower members, employees, customers, and clients to become financially stable through saving, debt reduction, and wealth-building over time.
The campaign is a growing network of organizations and individuals committed to helping and supporting military members and their loved ones build personal savings arsenals to provide for their immediate and long-term financial needs.
"Financial stability is about a lot more than knowledge it takes consistent action over time. Most of us do better when we have a supportive environment. Military Saves is a campaign to make every military community that supportive environment. When enough military members, civil servants, contractors, retirees, other veterans, family members, military organizations, private organizations, and companies belong to Military Saves, the entire military culture will be changed. The U.S. armed services will have become a saving community," said Ivanoff.
"In a saving community, people encourage each other to save money regularly and habitually. They discourage excessive spending on non-necessities. Financial institutions help people save by offering incentives and other perks to favor saving over not saving," she explained.
Workshops and financial resources
According to Oseguera, social marketing is a process that takes time. "This is not a quick fix, a specific savings program, or a one-time promotional campaign. It is a long-term, on-going effort to make real change in our nation's future," she said. "The Financial Readiness program also offers education opportunities through workshops and a Savings Tour at the commissary."
According to Oseguera, financial workshops will be offered throughout the year and Family and MWR eligible patrons can also stop by Army Community Service for one-on-one coaching and access to resources to increase their savings. "They can also get a free FICO score and credit report," she said. "The key is to live below your means - not above your means. That means having a spending plan which covers the necessities first and then seeing if you have enough money for the variable expenses like entertainment."
The Financial Readiness Program mission is to provide financial education and training to Soldiers and families and enhance their personal financial readiness and deploy-ability through the use of sound money management and consumer skills.
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