{"id":20825,"date":"2016-12-21T20:43:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T20:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/12\/21\/financial-advice-young-military-families-need-an-emergency-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:49:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:49:33","slug":"financial-advice-young-military-families-need-an-emergency-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2016\/12\/21\/financial-advice-young-military-families-need-an-emergency-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial advice: Young military families need an ’emergency fund’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Ensign Zachery Christensen\u00a0asked to participate in Military Times’ annual financial review for troops, he\u00a0wrote, “Money is TIGHT right now!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 26-year-old wanted “some advice\u00a0on keeping my financial ship afloat \u2013\u00a0especially as I’m just getting started in\u00a0the service.”\u00a0Christensen joined the Navy’s Civil\u00a0Engineer Corps in September 2015 and\u00a0has been adjusting to life at his first duty\u00a0station, Naval Facilities Engineering\u00a0Command Washington. But adjusting to\u00a0the cost of living near Washington, D.C.,\u00a0has not been exciting, especially compared<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with their former home, Utah. Christensen is one of four service members who volunteered for this year’s special report on Troops And Their Money<\/a>.\u00a0Military Times put out a call for troops to have their finances\u00a0reviewed by financial professionals. A variety of service members of\u00a0different ranks, and in different financial\u00a0circumstances, responded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife, Jessica, are seeking\u00a0ways to ease their financial situation, especially\u00a0with another baby due next May.\u00a0Jessica is a full-time mom to Roman,\u00a0who turns 2 in January. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zachery\u2019s gross income is $6,300 a\u00a0month, including his housing allowance;\u00a0of that, he brings home a net of $5,200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With monthly expenses of $5,149, the\u00a0family has precious little extra.\u00a0Some setbacks and financial missteps\u00a0mean they’re paying about $980 a month\u00a0toward debt, including a car loan. They\u00a0are trying not to add debt, managing\u00a0money by keeping a budget worksheet\u00a0that tracks expenses. They each get $25\u00a0a week for miscellaneous spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zachery isn’t contributing to his Thrift\u00a0Savings Plan because money is tight, but\u00a0the account has about $3,800 from prior\u00a0contributions. They are putting $100 a\u00a0month into a low-risk mutual fund that\u00a0they intend to use for retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reason money is tight\u00a0comes from lower-than-expected reimbursements\u00a0after a recent permanent\u00a0change-of-station move.\u00a0Another issue: An “impulse buy” two\u00a0years ago of a new car for their growing\u00a0family, which landed them a reliable automobile,\u00a0but a $580 monthly payment.\u00a0 “We went to the dealership with zero experience or expectations,” and without\u00a0any pre-financing, Christensen said.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
A good start to having healthy finances is creating a budget to track monthly expenses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Then they had to buy a second car\u00a0when they moved and found out Zachery\u00a0would split time between two bases and\u00a0couldn\u2019t use mass transit. A co-worker\u00a0helped them find a reliable vehicle, but\u00a0after putting $1,250 toward it from the\u00a0emergency fund, they were down to $50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the last few months, they’ve been\u00a0making minimum payments on their\u00a0credit card, at an annual percentage rate\u00a0of 12 percent.\u00a0If they carry their $5,000 debt for a\u00a0year, that’s $600 in interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also took out a $15,000 personal\u00a0loan to consolidate debt. Although the\u00a0interest rate is lower than a credit card,\u00a0that monthly payment is $313.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This hurts the bottom line, but at\u00a0least we will be guaranteed to pay it off\u00a0within the next couple years,” Zachery\u00a0said. The balance is down to $13,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, auto insurance premiums\u00a0are double what they paid in Utah, plus\u00a0they’ve added a car. Higher gas, maintenance,\u00a0and registration fees added to a\u00a0burden they weren’t expecting. A financial snapshot:\u00a0

  • Consumer debt:<\/b> $5,000 credit card debt; $13,000 personal loan; $34,000 car loan<\/li>
  • Emergency fund:<\/b> $50<\/li>
  • Education fund:<\/b> $2,500<\/li>
  • Other assets: <\/b>Mutual fund, $4,000<\/li>
  • Retirement assets:<\/b> $3,800 in TSP<\/li> <\/ul> <\/p>\n\n\n
    <\/atype-video-jwplayer>
    Find a happy medium between paying off you debt and saving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

    THE REVIEW<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Financial advisers Nancy Matteson and\u00a0Linda French of Navy Federal Financial\u00a0Group said the top priority should be to\u00a0build the emergency fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “They understand with the small\u00a0amount they have available to save each\u00a0month, it is very important to have any\u00a0savings accessible in the event of an\u00a0emergency,” the advisers reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Paying off high-interest debt is a priority\u00a0over saving in an account earning a\u00a0low rate of interest, the advisers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once they get that emergency fund\u00a0beefed up, the Christensens can think\u00a0about longer-term investing. They might\u00a0consider a mix of stocks and bonds,\u00a0available through mutual funds and\u00a0exchange traded funds. That also holds\u00a0true for Zachery’s TSP investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One good thing about investing in\u00a0the TSP, the advisers noted, is that the\u00a0money is pulled directly from his pay. It\u00a0should be his first choice for long-term\u00a0investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    WHAT’S NEXT<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Christensens have started using\u00a0any extra cash to paying off credit card\u00a0debt and loans. They had been making\u00a0the minimum payments on their credit\u00a0card debt, “but after the meeting, we\u00a0want to get rid of that debt first,” Jessica\u00a0said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Their goal is to pay it off by February,\u00a0then go back to their saving routine.\u00a0They’ll stop investing in the mutual\u00a0fund outside of retirement accounts, and\u00a0Zachery will restart TSP contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They’ll leave the money they have in\u00a0an education fund intact for now, and\u00a0once they’re able to start saving again\u00a0for the children, they’ll use Ionger-term\u00a0savings vehicles rather than low-interest\u00a0accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They also plan to use military legal\u00a0assistance to draw up a will and to establish\u00a0guardianship for their children, as\u00a0the advisers suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Zachery said he thinks sitting down\u00a0with a financial adviser should be mandatory\u00a0for all new service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “We’re more informed than we were\u00a0before,” Jessica said after the review.\u00a0“We learned some things we could do\u00a0better. This was a great experience.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A young officer seeks to keep his ‘financial ship afloat.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3300],"class_list":["post-20825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pay-benefits"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2OKJI6HHLBHMRGTWOIDETA4JKY","arc_canonical_url":"\/pay-benefits\/2016\/12\/21\/financial-advice-young-military-families-need-an-emergency-fund\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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