The Military Money Manual Podcast

Roth limits? IRA limits? TSP limits? We get this question often: "How much can I contribute to my Roth each year?" There are several DIFFERENT limits at play here and lumping them all as "Roth" isn't quite correct. Public Service Announcement: Roth IRA is not the same as Roth TSP. You can contribute your maximum to your Roth IRA and still the maximum to your Roth TSP. Or you can do traditional. Bottom line- IRA and TSP limits are NOT the same. IRAs are not the same as employer-sponsored retirement accounts like a TSP or 401k. In 2024, that means up to $7,000 (per spouse if married filing jointly) PLUS up to $23,000 in your TSP (plus up to $23,000 more in your spouse's TSP or 401k)! Document your retirement contributions carefully on your taxes. Your TSP contributions are captured on your LES. Your IRA contributions are reported separately on your tax preparation software. Do not combine your TSP and IRA contributions and think you over-contributed and owe a penalty! Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

Want elite status with Hertz for free? Want to skip the line at the rental car counter? Want a free upgrade? Easy! As a military servicemember or spouse, you get top-tier credit cards with amazing benefits like this with no annual fee. Today we discuss: What is Hertz President's Circle? How do military servicemembers and spouses get this elite status for free? How do you maximize Hertz President's Circle benefit on your next TDY or vacation? Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

In this episode, Jamie transparently shows how he profited over $14,000 from his last PCS by doing a full PPM (Personally Procured Move). The government will pay you 100% of the amount they would pay a contractor to ship your HHG. It's not easy, but you can earn a lot of money with this strategy. We talk through the pros and cons of handling yourself, what a DITY/PPM means, exactly how the reimbursement works, and what it means to my taxes. Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

The DoD now allows up to $500 for a CONUS move and up to $2,000 for an OCONUS move for one pet per household. This benefit begins for any PCS effective dates of 1 January 2024 or later. We discuss exceptions, mil-to-mil benefits, documentation requirements, and more! Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

Today, Spencer talks with Zac Hood, founder of TravelFreely.com and CashFreely.net and their amazing apps that are free! We personally use these apps to find the best offers on cash-back credit cards and travel cards. Zach's apps even monitor your Chase 5/24 status, recommend which card to get next and when, and track your annual fees (while accounting for the Military Lending Act waivers on credit card annual fees for military servicemembers and their spouses). The apps are secure with no bank information or login info exchanged. On today's episode, we discuss: Having a mindset of gratitude while traveling free on points and miles Tracking credit cards with an app, not a spreadsheet with TravelFreely and CashFreely How to find secret cash-back card offers and how to know which cards' welcome offer is the best value for you Find Zac free apps and web-based software at militarymoneymanual.com/freely. Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops

It's tax season! Start collecting your 1099s, W-2s, and charitable donations. Whether you do your own taxes or not, you'll need all the documentation ready to go.    Most military families should be able to do their own taxes via MilTax from MilitaryOneSource, especially if you have W-2 income only with a simple tax situation. The software is FREE, our favorite one, and what we've personally used when our situations were more simple. Once you start having multiple rental properties, side hustles, or are having to pay taxes, it's probably worth $400 or so to hire a CPA.   We also discuss tax planning for military families, what that means, and how to reduce your tax bill and withholdings smartly. If you like getting a big refund each spring, but you're living paycheck-to-paycheck, we discuss why you might want to change that strategy too. Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

Are you stressed about money? Do you have a lot of debt? What are you general feelings about money and your future? In this episode we cover the top 3 things to do with your money this year. No, there's no gimmicks or get-rich-quick schemes. Just simple and easy-to-follow, pracitical advice: Clarify your goals Add a little bit more to your retirement accounts Automate your financial life Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE!  If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5-star rated book, The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

What is the MFAA or who is it? How do I find a good financial advisor who has my best interests in mind and understand the uniqueness of military families' finances? When is the right time to see a Cerified Financial Planner?  In this episode with Sean Gillespie from the Military Financial Advisors Association (MFAA). Sean began his second career as a finanical advisor in 2013 after 20 years of active duty Navy service. After practicing solo for 5 years, he partnered up to found Redeployment Wealth Strategies, a fee-only financial planning investment firm that specialized in serving military service members and their families.  In this episode we discuss: What is The Military Financial Advisors Assosiciation (MFAA)? What does MQFP mean? (Military Qualified Financial Planner) What is a fee-only planner? Why is the term “fiduciary” important? When does a more complicated situation drive outside expertise or help? Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

Can you boil down all the best financial advice into a perfect list of 10 items that all work for our military listeners? Ramit Sethi's book "I Will Teach You to be Rich" is one that we reference often. In this episode, we review Ramit's 10 Money Rules, how they fit into our personal investing philosophies, and how military servicemembers can apply them to their lives. Ramit's style encourages his readers and podcast listeners to enjoy life while saving money without being overly extreme. Sometimes we get into an obession about saving money that we get too out of balance. What do you think of the 10 money rules? Any you particularly relate to or don't agree with at all? Let us know via e-mail or Instagram. Our NEW course is out! Confident TSP Investor course is on sale now. For every course purchased, we'll donate one to an E-4 and below! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

Managing day to day finances, having little to no debt, and controlling spending are three of the top ways for couples to build wealth together. Today Spencer and Jamie are talking about a paper entitled "Financial Management Practices of Couples with Great Marriages" published in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. Our NEW course is out! Confident TSP Investor course is on sale now. For every course purchased, we'll donate one to an E-4 and below! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email podcast@militarymoneymanual.com. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.