Editor’s Note: Here’s a guest contribution from Doug Nordman of The-Military-Guide.com.
If you’re running a U.S. personal finance website, then you have U.S. military readers. They may be in uniform or veterans or family members, but 10% of American citizens are related to the military.
These readers may not ask specific military financial questions on your blog, but they have their own concerns. Military compensation is very different from civilian pay systems, and most military pensions have a cliff vesting of 20 years. Service-members (and their families) are intimately familiar with separation, hardship, frugality, and deprivation. They have different questions about saving, investing, and insurance. At times they seem to be speaking a foreign language of acronyms.
You only understand the military lifestyle if you’ve served or been part of a military family. Even then you don’t know everything about military compensation and benefits. You may be a CFP or a CPA, but you may have never learned about a whole dictionary of cryptic military acronyms. You might be unable to help a significant number of your readers.
I know you don’t understand those things, because I read that complaint in my e-mail and on social media every day.
No worries: I’m here to help. My spouse and I have over 50 years of combined U.S. Navy experience and our daughter is also in the Navy. I’ve written a book about military financial independence and I write for a blog. I’m paying it forward by donating all of my revenues (not “profits” or “a portion”, but all the money) to military charities. I have no profit motive, but I’d like to pay it forward by reaching out to your readers too.
What can I do for you? I’d be happy to discuss your questions on my blog or in a guest post on your blog. I can guest for your podcast or video. I may not know all the answers, but I know where to look. I also know military-friendly bloggers & FinCon attendees like Rick Ferri, Ryan Guina, Jeff Rose, Ellie Kay, Jay Money, Ninja, Jason Hull, Rob Aeschbach, Kate Horrell, Darrow Kirkpatrick, J.J. Montanaro, Scott Halliwell, Hank Coleman, and more.
We can get together in the hallway, meet somewhere for a beverage, or gather a group in a conference room. If there’s enough interest in a full-blown military personal finance blogger seminar then we can talk to PT.
Let me know how I can help.
Doug Nordman is a U.S. Navy submariner who reached financial independence on active duty and retired over 12 years ago at the age of 41. He and his retired Navy Reserve spouse raised their daughter in Hawaii, and now she’s an ensign aboard a destroyer. Doug enjoys surfing, writing, reading, taekwondo, home improvement, and describing himself in the third person. You can read the rest at The-Military-Guide.com.
Image Credit: The U.S. Army
