00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Had of Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt. Today we're talking from military to millionaire with Lacey Langford.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, our guest today is like a money drill sergeant, but without all of the yelling, at least for the most part. I hear she yells at you sometimes on occasion, But Lacey Langford, she is a financial coach, a veteran, a mill spouse, and an entrepreneur who changes people's mindset from being fearful of money to having control and confidence with their money. She is an accredited financial counselor with over fifteen years of financial planning, counseling and coaching experience. And Lacey is all about the military and money, which is why we are pumped to talk with her, and because signing up to serve our country in the military it's an act of service that we feel that we should be honoring of and sometimes there's a financial sacrifice attached to that, but there can also be significant financial upsides as well that we're going to discuss today. So Lacey, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. I'm excited about this.

00:01:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're excited to Lacey and Matt and I we drink a craft beer every episode. It's something that we spend more money than most people would think is natural on while we're also being being smart, being wise, we're saving investing for our future. So our first question everyone out the gate is what is it that you like to splurge on? What's your kind of craft beer equivalent? Mmm?

00:01:40
Speaker 4: I think for me, safety insecurity is something that me and my husband are willing to splurge on, especially you know, with all the moving that we've done in our life, different locations, having kids, my husband be in a way, that's something that we're willing to spend a little extra on.

00:01:57
Speaker 1: Okay, so what do you got?

00:01:58
Speaker 2: Like, are you talking about insurance products? You talking about talking about Yeah, Like, I guess this could go in multiple directions.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, I think it just depends on for us, like who we are, what we need at the moment. But with all the moves, that might mean that we pay a little bit more in rent to live in a safer neighborhood because my husband's going to be gone, and a lot of people might think, well, you could save a ton of money if you rented somewhere else. Yes, but I wouldn't feel safe and secure. If so, I'm willing to spend a little bit more per month in order to be in a better location for me and my kids.

00:02:31
Speaker 3: Were more buy ourselves.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: Nice, I get it.

00:02:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, not only do you get to possibly enjoy a spot that's a little swankier perhaps, but yes, also the ability to you know, just kind of live your life. I guess the way you want to to be able to get outside, and that's obviously so important, especially with kids. But Lacy, talk with us specifically about your relationship with a military because you grew up as an army brat, you served in the Air Force yourself. How has just the military overall, how has that impacted your life and your relationships?

00:03:02
Speaker 4: I think one, there has been a lot of transition, which depending I think on your mindset how you look at that, that can come with some negatives, but I try to find the positive in things, and so for me, it's been great to have exposure to a lot of different experiences, a lot of different people, culture, and then also the ability to connect and communicate. You know, if you wait too long when you move someplace to find friends in the military, you're going to be leaving before you find friends, and so I have found that that's one thing that's positive about the whole military lifestyle, is really being able to meet new people and kind of put myself out there in order to make connections and community early on, because you never know when you're going to lose that. And I think you know, there are some things with transition that come with that, like always changing jobs and changing your community, which have impacted me kind of over my entire life as a child, as a service member, as a military spouse, as a parent. So there's I think in each phase there's been different things that have come with that.

00:04:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, some people go in the opposite direction. They'd be like, hey, I'm just going to move again in a year. Maybe I won't make many friends. I'll just kind of lean into family, I'll read more books, whatever. So I love that. I love that you're taking the opposite approach. You're saying, I don't have much time here, I'm going to make the most of it. And Lacy, you're one of six kids and you grew up living on a military salary, military income. I'm curious, like, how did money discussions go down inside your house? Because you guys weren't flush with cash, a lot of mouths to feed. What were those discussions like how did they happen around the dinner table and otherwise.

00:04:42
Speaker 4: I was actually one of four kids. There's six of us total, and I think for us, communication was key. My parents always communicated that we.

00:04:52
Speaker 3: Have a budget.

00:04:53
Speaker 4: There's not a blank check for anything in life. You know, there has to be some type of limit. And so we always had those discussions about how we are going to make a move and maybe incorporate a vacation on our move to our next location that we're moving to and make the most out of you know, killed two birds with one stone, and with four kids, you know, everybody can have an unlimited budget for sports that type of stuff, and so it was you know, being mindful that there are other people here that if you're trying to take up all the time doing your thing, then that impacts your siblings. So I really think discussion was important and being realistic. And then also we were always told that we need to we're being trained to be fully functioning adults, so we need to work. We need to learn what that's like to have hardships with that. You know, it's not going to always be easy to work with people, but you're gonna have to get used to that. You're gonna have to get used to managing your own money. And so early on, I think we all worked because if we wanted money to do things with our friends, that was going to come out of our budget, not our you know, my parents' budget. And so having ownership early on in our finances I think came out of being a military family, you know, having you know, more than a couple of siblings, I think was another factor in that, and then also wanting our independence. You know, there was a lot of restrictions on the money that my parents would give us. But if we wanted more, if we wanted a nicer pair of jeans, or we wanted to go on, you know, to the beach with our friends, then we were going to have to earn and budget, you know, and save for that experience for ourselves.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: It seems like too, based on the way you've talked about your relationship with your father, like there was no shame in these conversations either, right, it was like, hey, there's reality staring us down the face. But it seems like there was there were a lot of good, proactive, positive discussions around money, like money was a positive topic of conversation in your household, not not a negative, which is which is kind of rare.

00:06:50
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely.

00:06:52
Speaker 4: I think you know, both my parents are very practical and that you know has I've taken up that as well, that you know, you have to be real stick in life.

00:07:00
Speaker 3: We were very blessed.

00:07:01
Speaker 4: I mean I'm still very blessed and to have each other and the ability to work and to you know, make up for things or fix things. You know, problems are going to come, but it's really how you look at it, how you handle it. It's am I going to fall down and not get up? Or am I going to take any catch my breath, get up and go after it? And I think that was the message, like it is going to be hard, there are going to be bad times, but how you go after in your mindset and how you stay focused on the solutions to that problem instead of wallowing in whatever it is. I think was very helpful in having those conversations and just being practical and not shining away from it. My parents are always willing to talk about stuff in anything.

00:07:44
Speaker 1: That's so good.

00:07:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that communication is so key and I think that you talked about you getting a job and working. I think that is such an important way that you are able to teach kids how to be practical and how to be realistic, because if they are working, they understand the finite amount of money that not only that they have, but oh, I guess this is the case with mom and dad as well. I mean, so you started working as a team. Do you feel like getting a part time job like that? Do you think high schoolers getting jobs? Do you think that's something that's probably good for most kids?

00:08:17
Speaker 3: I do.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: I think that's you know, I have found benefit. I think everybody has a just different perspective in life. And you know, some people are like, well, we want our child to be fully focused on their education and not working, and you know, for different reasons that might not be a priority for us. But I learned early on too as a parent. I had a very scary experience where it almost died during my pregnancy, my first child, and wow, you know that really shaped a lot of the way that I look at being a parent is like, I'm not always going to be here. It could happen at any time, and my thing is I'm training you to do this on your own and all of these things, like, I want you to have those experiences as soon as possible so that you know I'm here to talk you through those things. And you know when you have a coworker that you're frustrated with, or you feel like you need to ask for a raise, or you know, having hard discussions or standing up for yourself those type of things. So I think having a job it is really training for so many things in life. And I'm already on our boys that they need to be working. And because I started working, I think when I was thirteen, I bagged groceries at the commissary, which is the supermarket on the military installations.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: So I grew up as my father was in the military. He was in the Army when I was a kid. So I remember riding in we'd going on post, going to the commissary, and yeah, that's where we would load up like in a costco like way, like multiple cars, and.

00:09:44
Speaker 1: Very fond memories of the commissary. Lacey, mine bagged your groceries, right, So yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, okay, so moving around fairly frequently. That's part of kind of military existence in so many ways, and it comes with some downsides. But like I guess, I'm curious, what are the unique money struggles that are men and women who who serve, what are the unique struggles that they face versus what traditional Americans might consider to be a typical money struggle.

00:10:11
Speaker 4: Well, first you have to think about the population that's serving, predominantly male, much younger force that's married and has children. So there are you know, a lot of people join the military at seventeen years old, so it's not uncommon to have an eighteen or nineteen year olds that is married and has two or three children. And so if you think about that group of people and then throw in the frequent moves, so maybe moving on average every two two and a half years, that is difficult because with transition, for example, comes the problem with and underemployment with military spouses, and so it's difficult for there to be two incomes or two steady incomes as a family in the military. And that's not to say that every military spouse wants to work, because many spouses want to stay home children, they're earning their education, that type of stuff. But there is this problem with an underemployment, which impacts the budget and a lot of times people get in the habit of let's say, for example, on your car payment. If your car payment is dependent on the military spouse working and you get orders and you move and they lose their job, then you're not able to make that car payment. Or if you move and they're able to get a job but they're not making as much as they used to, you're not probably going to be able to make it in full. And so it can the transitions can start this problem of getting behind and not making payments on time, but also not building up the savings, or you build it up and then you end up dwindling it down because maybe of underemployment. And so that is I think a really big problem or just at the heart of a lot of other issues that impact the military financially.

00:11:55
Speaker 3: I think some things.

00:11:56
Speaker 4: About you know, the age, you're younger, you're a very steady paycheck, and there are a lot of people that prey on that fact that you're younger, maybe don't have as much life experience, getting your first car, getting your first home. You don't want to get in trouble at work, so you don't want to get behind on stuff, so you might take out a loan that is riskier with a higher interest rate, and that can start also into a snowball problem. There's also things like identity theft, which are a huge problem for the military community because of the transition service members being deployed, those type of things.

00:12:28
Speaker 3: So I think.

00:12:30
Speaker 4: Those three and then sometimes the income depending on the location that you're at. So for example, if you're a service member station in San Diego, the cost of living is so much more expensive there. And then just the economy and the home market, it makes it difficult for a service member to get an affordable rental or even to buy a home. A lot of people can't even find a home to buy in some locations, and so that is very difficult where they start being in further into their budget money maybe they don't have in order to be able to afford a home in a decent location. Going back to safety and security area, so I think, you know, some of it compounds on each other.

00:13:14
Speaker 2: Sure does there seem to be more of a lack of financial instruction among new recruits or enlistees versus the general population. I'm curious if there are steps that are taken with folks who are joining the military in order to kind of get them up to speed because they are sort of, like you said, they are being thrust into life at a potentially younger age than many of their peers who might say, go off to school and you know, you're kind of like a part time adult when you're off in college. To a certain extent, you're making that slow adjustment. Yeah, it's more gradual and with that you get some that life experience. I'm curious if you have personally seen financial literacy be a big issue, be a big problem with the military.

00:13:53
Speaker 3: No, I think that there is.

00:13:56
Speaker 4: There are a lot of opportunities for service members and their spouse and their family members to get financial help on many different levels, whether that's just information, whether that's one on one counseling and coaching, And there's actual touch points that the Department of Defense has out from the time that you join until the time that you separate or retire that relate to finance. That starting at boot camp or your technical school. There's also some there your follow on education when you get to your first duty location. So there's all of these touch points that they actually have to by law receive financial help.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: That's awesome, Yes, it.

00:14:32
Speaker 2: Really is like instruction, like not help per se, but actual like guidance or where they're kind of being coached.

00:14:37
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, so there's classes.

00:14:39
Speaker 4: Now I'm not saying that they do sometimes do the best sure, like you know it's like right.

00:14:43
Speaker 1: After you be determined.

00:14:46
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, but there's it's definitely there. There's also free resources like military one source that isn't from within your unit, where you could go outside of your area maybe if you're not comfortable with somebody from your work seeing that you're getting financial help that type of thing. So there are these opportunities to get free help kind of no matter where you're at, whether you're in crisis, you just needed the little coaching you need it, you know, sounding board, you know, second set of eyes on something. They don't do financial advising, you know, for many reasons. You know, they're not recommending any products or you don't want that liability of giving financial advice. But they're definitely educating service members and their families.

00:15:27
Speaker 3: But I think that's all.

00:15:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really is, and it's just kind of getting the word out there. I think one of the major problems and kind of why do what I do, is that unfortunately, if you work for the government. Many times your education experience is discounted. So if I go to a military installation, I work under a contract for the Department of Defense, I might have a hard time getting people to come in and talk to me because it's like, what does she know, She's just kind of a government employee.

00:15:56
Speaker 3: She has this job. They can't fire her.

00:15:58
Speaker 4: Versus if I went in and said, hey, I'm a podcaster, I'm a blogger, i have my own coaching business. I'm taken more seriously because I'm not affiliated with the government, And which is you know, crazy, because I'm the same person, but just I get put into a different buckets.

00:16:16
Speaker 1: People.

00:16:17
Speaker 4: Yes, but I think that applies. It's not in issues that's unique to the military. I think that it is all over that it's the person that's giving the advice that really is the key to success. So if you are not authentic in who you are, if you're not sincere, if you don't have that street cred, you know, if you're serving a community that you have no experience with, like that would be me going and doing financial coaching for firefighters. I I don't know their world, I don't understand their struggles, so they would have to basically educate me on their life before I could even help them with money. And that's not where they want to be. They want to get right to solutions. They're coming to you for help. And so I think that has a lot to do with sometimes why people don't take advantage of free resources or opportunities to get financial help is because of the person that's you know, giving it in if they're real in their advice.

00:17:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think being relatable matters, authentic, being able to connect, Yeah, the actual person who they go to see, because that could completely change the perception as to oh, no, that program's totally bogus. But if you get some of the amazing and I know that you did a bunch of volunteering with you know, through some of those different programs Lazy and I'm sure you did a great job.

00:17:29
Speaker 2: And I'm sure a lot of folks were like, oh man, no, this is an amazing program because I was able to connect with this lady.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, so much depends on the individual you're learning promise. Same thing when we talk about personal finance education in high schools, where we like the idea of it, but it's not a certainty there's going to be a slam donk every time, because so much depends on who is actually delivering the information and how much they care about it right and how much they know. You touched on buying versus renting really quickly. I am curious. That is like such a particular conundrum for people in the military. Can you how do you like people through that whether or not they should buy. It seems like because of a limited time period in a specific place, even if they have the financial ability that and they've been able to find something, they're like, oh, man, this would be great for my family. Well if they're going to move, you know, twenty four months down the road. Anyway, do you kind of advise against buying for military families most of the time.

00:18:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say I, you know, help lead people to making a decision that's best for them, but definitely pointing out that, hey, there's a lot of investment that's going to go into buying this house and time. That's the other part that's difficult in the military is that you are basically restarting every two two and a half years and that and that's on the average. You know, some people are moving every year, so that's very difficult to you know, close on a home, get that all set up, get in your community, and all that time and effort that you put into it to just sell it or sometimes not sell it, because that happens a lot in the military community.

00:18:59
Speaker 1: And to no where's a great place to buy, Let's be honest, because usually if you haven't lived in that place, you're like, yeah, you're kind of shooting and shooting in the dark about where the specific area you might want to live in a particular town.

00:19:10
Speaker 4: Oh yes, especially in the military community. I always say, if you were even thinking about buying, you need to go check out that house morning, noon, and night, because there is.

00:19:19
Speaker 1: You learn a lot when you go.

00:19:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, the big thing for the military community is getting in and out of the gate. And so if you are in an area where a lot of military have bought homes.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: It's like the military carpool. I don't think about that.

00:19:33
Speaker 3: Correct it, And it takes so much more time.

00:19:35
Speaker 4: So this kind of comes back to you know, you might actually be able to buy a home for a little bit more in a different area, but that means that you can now spend more time at home, maybe come home after PT and then go back to work because your commune isn't as long as somebody else where. In some cases, service numbers leave an.

00:19:54
Speaker 3: Hour early or two to work.

00:19:57
Speaker 4: Because I was actually just talking with somebody that they they were saying that they used to you know, not her husband didn't come home till eight pm because he had to wait for the traffic to die down.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: Man.

00:20:07
Speaker 4: And so there's all these factors that go into it. And it's hard to sell a home if the person you're selling it to has done that check to say, wait a minute, this actually is not a really good location for commuting and stuff like that. And so there's all these things to go into it. Not to mention if you are moving to a location and maybe your spouse is getting ready to do deployment or do training, because often you know that going into it, like as soon as we get there, they're leaving. And so now you've put all this effort into in time, into buying a home versus just running a house, getting moved in and being together as a family before you leave.

00:20:42
Speaker 3: So there's all of these.

00:20:43
Speaker 4: Factors I think that go into home buying and renting that people don't often think about.

00:20:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly we've kind of covered a lot of the different challenges and hurdles that service members and military members have to consider.

00:20:58
Speaker 1: We're not trying to talk folks.

00:21:00
Speaker 2: Out of Tony the military, though, because there are some incredible benefits, specifically financial benefits, and we're going to cover a bunch of those right after the break.

00:21:18
Speaker 1: All right, let's keep the conversation going. We're talking about what it looks like to be in the military to serve the country but also become a millionaire at the same time. And we talked about Matt some of the hurdles to being in the military. It's not easy, right, It is a sacrifice, and we're talking with Lacy Langford specifically about that. But Lacy, we want to talk about some of these benefits in some of the ways that you can join the military and still end up with a seven figure retirement. But I guess I wanted to ask you about your sphere of influence, and that's something that you're big on. You talk about the controlling the things that we can control, and like, why do you put such an emphasis on that. I feel like there's so much discussion these days about things that aren't really in our control, things that politicians might or might not do ways that that could influence us financially, but a lot of that I don't know. It's hard to grab onto.

00:22:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's wasted energy.

00:22:11
Speaker 4: The only thing you truly have control over is yourself and how you react to something, and when you serve in the military, there are great benefits that come to that. I always tell people the best decision I ever made for myself was joining the military. You know, that was before children, before anybody else, and that I think was kind of a pivotal moment in my life. And it you know, there are hard times, but that's any job, that's anything in life that you do, but there are great things that come with it. And you know, the military has a lot of say in what you do and where you go, when you go, how you're going to dress, what you're going to do in your free time. You know, it's a twenty four to seven job and those things are completely out of your control. But the thing you can control is when you're told I'm going somewhere short notice, Okay, how can I handle this? How can I handle this best for myself and from my family? You know, how can I handle the thought that that's looming I might be leaving, I might be moving. You know, my spouse might be out of a job soon. So you if you spend all your time worrying about those things, that takes up the time that you could be spending on getting on the offense.

00:23:15
Speaker 3: Okay, let's build up our savings.

00:23:17
Speaker 4: Let's you know, make a PCs proof job, or let's get with a company that is, you know, virtually based. What do we have control over that we can do to make our financial situation and our quality of life consistent no matter what the military throws at us. I think is really important in knowing your goals and then you know, controlling what you can control, I think helps you find more success.

00:23:42
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's let's get to the goods, lazy, are what are the biggest financial perks of joining the military, because I think the pay might be low when you are first enlisting, but there are a host of other benefits that we would love for you to share with our listeners.

00:23:57
Speaker 4: Yes, so, well, first of all, it's a stay paycheck. That's one thing that is really good, especially when you're eighteen years old. I joined when I was nineteen, and that was huge. I was able to you know, pay off some credit card debt I had and save money, so that is wonderful. You also have medical benefits, so I was always taken care of when I was sick. I had one time had a pneumonia in every part of my body or every part of my lungs, and you know, all that was taking care.

00:24:23
Speaker 3: Of for me.

00:24:24
Speaker 4: You know, they you know, all the medication, the hospital visits, all of those things was covered.

00:24:30
Speaker 1: That's Tricare, right, and it's basically the best health insurance policy available anywhere.

00:24:35
Speaker 4: Essentially, yes, I mean some people will debate that, but I think it is.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: It is the best.

00:24:41
Speaker 4: In fact, now that my husband is retired and we still have Tricare all the time when I go to the doctor, you know, if it's a question of is it covered, you know, we'll have to research it. And then I'm like, well we have Tricare and that oh no, it's going to be covered. So it's like they you know it is. It is a really good benefit to have. That's really where the money's at.

00:25:01
Speaker 2: So again, being a kid, I wasn't an army brat, so we never moved around. But my father with him being in the being in the military, being in the army.

00:25:10
Speaker 1: I definitely remember many.

00:25:12
Speaker 2: Visits to the on Post hospital, but yeah, not having to basically pay anything for all the broken arms, but I had, like as a kid, I know, that's nothing that my parents certainly appreciated all those hospital visits.

00:25:26
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, definitely my parents too with four kids and just always pushing each other or doing something.

00:25:31
Speaker 1: Stupid stitches, broken bones. Yeah, well, I like that. You mentioned study paycheck, and you mentioned too how you joined at nineteen and for a lot of people, Matt mentioned, all, well, you know, the pay is not great early on necessarily, which is which is kind of true, but it's also kind of not true because compared to your peers and what they'd be able to earn, you kind of you're starting out of the gate earning a decent amount compared to other people who are in their teens.

00:25:58
Speaker 4: Right, Oh yes, I mean, because that's it's not just a steady paycheck and the income that you're going to make it to those benefits. So receiving free medical care is huge, and not to mention all the medication, you know, especially if you have something that you need all of the time, that's a huge savings as well. But then also the education benefits. I joined at nineteen. I earned a steady paycheck, but I also earned a free education or I had the old GI bill, and so it doesn't I didn't pay as much as the post nine eleven GI bill, but that still made it so I could get out of college without paying anything. You know. I worked to help make up the difference while I was in college, but I did a lot of non traditional things like I hosted parties for my apartment complex, and so they gave they discounted my rent for throwing a party.

00:26:47
Speaker 3: So wow, yeah, I know it's like.

00:26:49
Speaker 1: Joel's dream job. Could I get paid for Yes?

00:26:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had to do one once a month for all of the college students. And because I was older when I actually started back to school while it was on active duty, but then separated and finished my education, so that was you know, they were looking for somebody that had a little bit more life experience but was still a student, and it.

00:27:13
Speaker 3: Worked out well for me.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: So you mentioned the post nine to eleven GI bill, which changed a lot, and it really kind of opened up kind of even more educational benefits to people who serve. But it doesn't even have to be like a traditional four year degree. Right, that's covered like there's one you get room and board covered, right, And there's certification certifications or flight school that kind of stuff that there's all sorts of ways that this can be used. And you can even transfer benefits of the JIBILL to a family members that right.

00:27:45
Speaker 4: Correct, If you have a certain time left in the military and you commit to a certain time, then yes, you can transfer your benefits to your spouse or any of your dependents, so your child or anybody that's basically in your deer's account can receive that benefit. But yes, what you said too is true. There's so many ways you can use it now for certificates, you know, if you wanted to do a welding program, and to be honest, I mean even if it wasn't like you probably submit and ask for a waiver of some sort. But they really are trying to make sure that you know, when you get out of the military and make this transition to your next career path, that you have what you need to do, that.

00:28:23
Speaker 1: You are equipped. I love that.

00:28:24
Speaker 2: I love that they're also willing or you said welding. So it makes me think of just the skilled trades and the supply is low when it comes to folks who have who are blue collar workers who have those skilled trades. But I think that's fantastic. Let's kind of get more financial and nerdy with it, I guess. But retirement plans, can we talk about that that the just some of the different things that the military offers. How generous are they because my dad's got a pension, so like he's got that regular payment. But I know things have changed now, it's it acts a little bit more like a four to win K. Can you kind of outline what is available.

00:28:59
Speaker 4: These Yes, So basically, prior to the end of twenty seventeen, most people that served in the military, I think the stat was eighty five percent of people that served in the military left with no retirement. So that means that they separated or for some reason got out of the military before they were eligible to receive a pension.

00:29:19
Speaker 1: Which was what twenty years right, Yes, And.

00:29:22
Speaker 4: I mean there are some nuances like if you got selected in a force reduction, then you you probably could retire, you know, at seventeen, it just you know, they're in twenty eighteen, there was they did do that, they reduced the force, so and there's been other times in history of the military that that's happened, but that's an act of Congress that makes it so you can retire with less. But on the whole it's twenty years. So that was really, you know, not good that so many people were serving i mean ten years or twelve years, fifty missing out all that amazing benefit yep, and getting out and then never receiving their pension. And so what they did, and it's also to a retention feature and recruiting feature, is that they changed the retirement system so you are still eligible for a pension after twenty years. But now they've incorporated a you know, a type of four to one K, which it already had.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Was the TSP.

00:30:13
Speaker 4: The Thirst Savings Plan is the you know, the federal government's retirement contribution Plan. And so what it was was that you could give money to your TSP, but there was no match and you know, some people didn't take advantage of the TSP, which was a real bummer. Or in the beginning when it started out, they contributed your money to the G Fund, which was basically you know, government securities and was losing money with inflation. And so if you never went in and changed your funds. Then after twenty years you basically had no money or you know.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Like investing your four one K dollars within a money market account basically like two or three percent, yes.

00:30:50
Speaker 4: And so it basically hurt people in that way, and then they changed it to the life cycle funds.

00:30:56
Speaker 3: So they made some changes.

00:30:57
Speaker 4: But ultimately, now if you join the middle terry, now you are in what they call the blended retirement system, which is the new You can receive a pension after twenty years, but you also receive a matching contribution to your thrift savings plan. It's set up automatically when you join. You could, you know, opt out of it for I don't know why you do that, but you could.

00:31:20
Speaker 2: And so now like receiving a government match for right any amount that or I guess what is the.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: Match, It's five percent, So one percent is automatic, you know, doesn't matter what you contribute. The government is going to put in one percent, and then after that it's up to four percent if you put that in.

00:31:38
Speaker 1: And the fees are really low too, right, So I mean this is like one of the best retirement accounts available.

00:31:43
Speaker 4: Yes, it really is. It's you know depending all of them are low. You know, your return obviously is going to depend on which are the five funds that you put it in. So they have life cycle funds, which is the equivalent of a target date fund, and then they have five funds index funds that you could put your money into which it's you know, super low and then now receiving the match at such a discounted rate or low rate.

00:32:08
Speaker 3: And then also now they have.

00:32:09
Speaker 4: Incorporated mutual funds, which is a new thing for the Thrift Savings Plan, so you're eligible to do that, but it's something like you have to have forty thousand dollars in your Thrift Savings Plan and basically you create this window through your MyPay account and you're able to contribute money to start up a mutual fund account, but it requires a minimum of ten thousand dollars. So there's more requirements for that, and that's you know, within the last six months or a year. Is new, so they're still adjusting to that. But yeah, the Thrift Savings Plan is huge, and the big thing is that if you decide that you don't want to stay in the military for twenty years, you now will walk away with a retirement account, which is huge, which.

00:32:49
Speaker 1: Is something that's amazing.

00:32:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's you basically have the ability to have your cake and eat it too. I mean, you're getting the TSP with a match, but also if you stick it out and you end up, yeah, stand there for at least twenty years, the ability to walk away with that pension in addition to that TSP, that's pretty sweet.

00:33:05
Speaker 1: It Yeah, it sets you up. And most people like say, I'm sure don't join the military, thinking oh, the healthcare and the retirement, Like, look at this, twenty years down the road, I'm going to be completely financially secure. I just got to make it from nineteen to thirty nine, right. But I'm sure a lot of people once they wade into the details, if they realize these things, they're probably saying to themselves, wait a second, this could be my first career. I could be essentially financially independent after twenty years of service, and then I can get that education, I can have the retirement savings, I can have the pension, and then I can move on to do something, do something else, Like did it happen to a lot of people where it's like a next career, But I've already kind of taken care of all the financial stuff that's really important.

00:33:48
Speaker 3: It does.

00:33:48
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm sure that there are a lot of people also that don't financially prepare and then twenty years somehow sneaks up on you and then it's like, wait a minute, now, what am I going to do? I didn't save as much as I should have, But for a lot of people, they are actually saving big money on active duty. I had this one kid, he was I think twenty years old, and he didn't have a college degree, but he got trained up by the military for it work and heavy you know, under having a security clearance, so very private stuff that he was doing, and he received a very large bonus every year.

00:34:22
Speaker 3: That's another part is if you work in a critically.

00:34:24
Speaker 4: Manned field or you know where they're really trying to retain you because you could get out as a civilian and make a lot more money. You're receiving a large bonus. It could be, you know, fifty thousand dollars a year on top of your normal pay and benefits.

00:34:37
Speaker 3: But this that's a.

00:34:38
Speaker 1: Lot of money.

00:34:39
Speaker 3: It is it is.

00:34:40
Speaker 2: Wait, so what is a critically manned field? Is that just a department or a field where there's just it either requires a high level of skill or there's just a demand for that position to be filled.

00:34:51
Speaker 4: Yes, so you know combat arms, people that are going to be fighting. I don't know that there's it changes. It's based on recruitment numbers.

00:35:00
Speaker 3: So it just if.

00:35:00
Speaker 4: You, you know, we're able to get a lot of people in this field then and retain them, then probably not going to get a bonus. But if you're having a hard time getting people in a field like bomb disposal, then they're probably going to give a bonus to encourage people to join.

00:35:15
Speaker 3: So yeah, those type of things.

00:35:17
Speaker 2: But it's and yeah, well that makes sense. I mean if you're if you're the hurt locker, like you should be getting paid a heck of a lot more than somebody who's crunching numbers back in an office but air conditioned office, right yeah.

00:35:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, Or like doctors, you know, were dentists, attorneys, things like that, could that could get out and make a lot of money, they need to retain them.

00:35:38
Speaker 2: Okay, so you've got an interesting history you actually, I mean, so you left the Air Force, I do I understand it quickly, you didn't quite stick it out long enough to get that that pension. But I'm curious what it is that made you go ahead and pull and leave the Air Force.

00:35:53
Speaker 4: I got out after four years of serving. It was one of the most difficult decisions I made. I still sometimes think, man, did I make the right one? Because I really enjoyed serving in the military. Again, not not completely easy, but I served during peacetime. I actually got out just a couple months before nine to eleven. And but I come from a large military family. So you know, my siblings are still on active duty, you know, married in the military, a lot of friends in the military, and so that's something that really comes with I guess my family is serving, and so I think all the time was at the right decision. But I really wanted to go back to school. I was also at that point dating my husband. It was really serious and we were really wianing do we want to be what they call dual military, you know, and have children where there's a potential that we're both going to leave at the same time, which you know, ended up being a smart decision because nine to eleven was a couple of you know, months after that, and then my husband was immediately gone all the time. So that turned out to be be the correct decision there. But I really wanted to pursue my education and finance. I grew up in again, a blessed household where we talked about money. I didn't always listen to my parents, I will say, especially when I was young and enlisted, and you know.

00:37:10
Speaker 1: You glossed over the credit card debt part of your early on we heard you. We don't need to bring it up again.

00:37:15
Speaker 4: I did that a few times so but and still, you know, not perfect with money. I like to always say that on my podcast too, like financial professionals arm immune too, making the best decisions all the time. But but anyway, but I wanted to further my education. I wanted to take it to the next level for my children to learn more about investments and building wealth and you know, financial freedom. And that's why I think I started, you know, on this path, and I had good intentions of it. Being so traditional and being a financial advisor and then being a military spouse made that very difficult to have a traditional career in finance. And so that's how I've kind of lily padded or taken a non traditional path in my career.

00:37:56
Speaker 1: To get where I'm at kind of adapted. Yeah, because you have to, like you were talking about earlier, with military spouse careers and stuff like that, you've got to be flexible if nothing else. Lacy, We've got a couple more questions we want to get to with you, including we'll get one other specific financial and federal act that people need to know about if they're going to serve in the military that provides financial benefits. We'll get to questions on that and more. Right after this.

00:38:33
Speaker 2: We are back from the break talking with Lacey Langford on how to get from the military to millionaire status and Lacy. Right before the break, Joel hinted at this act. But let's talk about the Service Members Civil Relief Act because that offers some specific financial relief for members who are serving overseas.

00:38:52
Speaker 1: Is that correct?

00:38:52
Speaker 4: Well, the Service Member of Civil Relief Act is really focused on debt that you incurred before you join the military. Then there is the Military Lending Act, which focuses on active duty service members and their spouses and their families in order to protect them financially. So the Service Civil Relief Actor, the scra it makes it. So let's say you took out a credit card and you ran it up to you know, ten thousand dollars in your interest rate was thirteen percent before you joined the military. Well under the SCRA they have to reduce it to six percent. So that's a huge savings on your interest rate and being able to pay back that debt quicker for service members. And that's what it's meant, Like you're joining now and it provides that protection for them, and it actually goes through legal and you know the JAG offices on the installations to help people with that. But most banks now and financial institutions are well aware of this benefit and that you know they have to lower it to six percent.

00:39:55
Speaker 1: And like one of the things too, I forget is it part of the service Member Civil Relief Actor the Military Lending Act. But like if someone who serves in the military has a credit card with an annual fee, that annual fee is supposed to be waived while they're serving overseas, and some of these credit card companies say, ah, we're just gonna wave it all together every single year while you're serving. So sometimes you can have like an American Express credit card with like a six hundred and ninety five dollars annual fee that's just waived if you're in the military, right.

00:40:23
Speaker 4: Yes, Well, what it is actually is that the interpretation of those laws, the Military Lending Act and the SCRA more so the Military Lending Act, which that started with trying to protect people from payday loans. But yes, it's hard to interpret some of those laws. Financial institutions, credit card companies, and so that's what they end up doing is leaning towards like we're just gonna wave it because there's some nuances to things and it's easier to just go ahead and wave those fees. Lower your interest rate, and oftentimes they'll do that just especially if you're getting ready to deploy. That's another feature is a lot of especially military banks, will lower your interest rates during your deployments to six percent, even if it's something that you took on after you joined the military. A lot of times they'll put it down to six percent or five percent while you're gone. But yes, the annual fee, that's a huge thing with the American Express Platinum, especially for geting ready to get out. A lot of in the military community is like, go ahead and get it because I'll wave it for that first year. Then you get all those benefits.

00:41:27
Speaker 1: Very nice.

00:41:28
Speaker 2: So, Lacy, you talked about the GI Bill and how essentially a lot virtually anything can be covered out.

00:41:34
Speaker 1: I like that for you you went back to school.

00:41:35
Speaker 2: If somebody else wants to go learn how to weld, that's great as well as certainly that'll help a lot of folks to transition back to civilian life. But aside from that, aside from kind of the education and training, do you think that there is any sort of prep work that folks in the military should do as they're getting ready to exit military service?

00:41:54
Speaker 1: Basically, what are the biggest.

00:41:55
Speaker 2: Obstacles you think when entering civilian life after let's say a couple decades of service.

00:42:02
Speaker 4: That's a really great question, and one hundred percent yes, you should be preparing your finances to get out of the military at least two years out. And the reason why is because it is a major transition, especially if you've served twenty years. Your identity is changing, your career is changing, and it's not just you, it's your family, it's your spouse, and so it's really important for everybody to start preparing for this transition because you know, you may get a job making the same amount of money, but a lot of your benefits aren't taxed. So you receive a basic allowance for subsistence, your bas for food, you receive a basic allowance for housing or BAH. When it says allowance, that means that that's tax free. But when you get out, that money is going to be taxed, so you're not going to be making as much money as you thought. Also, too, a lot of service members that ops tempo has lowered a lot, but you've done a lot of deployments where you have received a year's salary or six months salary tax free because you're in a hostile duty area which has lowered your income and you haven't paid as much taxes or any taxes. And so then you get out and now you're paying taxes, and that's a shock to people. And so also the location are you moving? Are you going to stay in the same spot? Do you need a certificate to perform your duty in the civilian world? Aviation is a good example of that. If you want to be an AMP mechanic an airframe and power plant, you work on planes in the military without an AMP license. Well, if you're going to do that at a major airport, or anywhere in the aviation industry, you're gonna need amp license, so you should start getting that while you're on active duty where your education benefits can pay for it, and then you're ready to work in that job making that full amount when you get out. So there's all these nuances to prepare your finances for, but also your quality of life, your mental health to make this transition out. That starting early on can make the transition less stressful for you and your family.

00:44:01
Speaker 1: Sounds like in some ways you got to make hay while the sun shines. Prepare in advance, save well, taxes are low because of these allowances and stuff like that. We'll start saving and investing more during that time period. So when you get out, like there's not as much of a fire under yours. So that cultural to a strike culture shock. Yeah, yes, okay, so I'm quite I'm curious. We've got a lot of listeners who are in their teens and early twenties. That's like my favorite when we get listener questions from people who are still in their teams, still in high school. Yeah they listen, but that might be the time when it's most appealing to make a bigger life decision like joining the military, and I don't know, somebody might be listening in that, and they said, with perks like that, why not do you think people should let the financial benefits tail kind of wag the dog here? And what else should they be considering before they sign up to surf.

00:44:47
Speaker 4: If you're willing to do what's asked of you when it comes time, you know, nine to eleven is a really great example. Many people had served a long time during peace time and they were called up, you know, to deploy to be in combat. You know, medical personnel were required to be there to treat people that had combat wounds. So, you know, doesn't matter what your job is. You your ultimate mission is to support, you know, and defend the constitution. So if you're you know, the benefits are really great, but know that at some point that could be asked of you. That's what you're you're training for, that's what you're doing your job for, and so keep that in the back of your mind. But that doesn't mean that it's not a good thing or that that will actually happen. But and then also the moves, you know, moving is a lot on some people, if especially if you've grown up in a hometown and you've never been away from home, so that's something to think about as well. But there are so many great things, so many great friendships. I mean, there's so much you know, brotherhood and sisterhood bonding in the military, friendships that will last you a lifetime, even you know, no matter where or how you've served. So I think that you know, you just have to weigh the pros and cons before you make that decision. But you know, there's a lot of great things that can come out of it besides just the financial benefits. But you know, you have to be willing to do the job too.

00:46:05
Speaker 1: You've got to be willing to deploy.

00:46:07
Speaker 2: You've got to be willing to move before you think about the army, like Ben Folds did and when he chose not to.

00:46:13
Speaker 1: Join the army. But lazy.

00:46:15
Speaker 2: This has been an awesome conversation, and thank you so much for just sharing some of the insights, some of your personal experience, but also just some of the other things, some of the other benefits, but other things that you should consider.

00:46:25
Speaker 1: Where can folks learn more about you? You've got a podcast.

00:46:27
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that folks can learn even more about the military. Where can they find all that information?

00:46:33
Speaker 4: Yes, definitely, please check out my podcast anywhere they're found The Military Money Show. You can also find me at Lacylangford dot com and the podcast is there as well, and or anywhere on social media Lacey Langford and The Military Money Show.

00:46:46
Speaker 3: You can reach out to me. I love to chat well.

00:46:48
Speaker 1: Lacey will get link to all that in the show notes up on how to Money dot com. But thank you again for joining.

00:46:53
Speaker 3: Us, Thank you for having me.

00:46:55
Speaker 2: Nice all right, Jill, great conversation with late. Did you get my Ben Folds reference? Oh yeah, I love me chick fil a that I did as a teenager.

00:47:04
Speaker 1: Did you ever consider the army? Not really, No, but it wasn't My dad didn't serve and so it was not really in my family history yet, So I don't know why it was never really talked about. My uncle served. But did you Was there a ro OTC at your at your school? There was? Yeah, it wasn't something so it was more marching band than r OTC though.

00:47:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting with my dad being in the army, it was never something that where he was just like, hey, you got to join the army as well. So I don't know, I appreciate his willingness to let me blaze my own blaze, my own trail, my own path.

00:47:36
Speaker 1: But do you have a big takeaway? Yeah, okay, I do. So I think that what stood out to me was I've got to by the way, two quick ones. All right, I think people serving in the military have different problems, but they have different perks. Right, So some of the perks are astronomy, and they're insane. And so when you talk about serving the military, having that pension for life, getting that five percent match in addition to essentially free healthcare, right, all this and some of the tax free text free income and stipends allowances that.

00:48:02
Speaker 2: You're a the BHA or b yeah bah the that's a lot of income essentially that you're receiving that the government isn't they have control over other aspects of your lives or right, you're not getting taxed on.

00:48:14
Speaker 1: So the perks are insane, but also the problems are different, and so you're signing up there's a big they're big trade off on both fronts. And so it's like, Wow, I'm going to get this, this and this, but wow, I'm gonna have to sacrifice this, this and this, and so I think it does have to be in some ways a calling for people to say, all right, this is the direction I want to go in. Don't let the tail wag the dog. Sure, even though I think for a lot of people who are on the fence, this might help them. See wait a second, Oh man, I thought it was going to be a financial sacrifice too, but maybe in actuality it's not. No, maybe it's going to fuel my ability to reach financial independence. Yeah, especially like if you're a nineteen year old, like the ability to put it in.

00:48:49
Speaker 2: Twenty years, So nineteen twenty nine, thirty nine years old, like what a you know, great time. I think to potentially relaunch, or not relaunch, but just start an entirely new career to try to try something different.

00:49:01
Speaker 1: But you get that free education while you were at it. You got to you know, get the development and get the degree. It's so great for that next second career.

00:49:09
Speaker 2: I love it, and I think it's really important that we're taking care of our service members. So I get to reduce my two big takeaways down to one because you kind of touched on one of mine, which is the like the willingness, like you've you got to make sure that you're willing to take this seriously, like you don't just do it for the perks.

00:49:25
Speaker 1: You need to basically be willing to put your life on the line.

00:49:28
Speaker 2: And then so my other so my true takeaway is before we even really got to talking about the military stuff, I really liked how she talked about how her parents talked to her and her siblings about money, and it's how she is talking to her sons about money as well. But she said that I am raising you to be fully functioning adults, And I think that is such a great way to think about all the things that we encounter as we're raising our kids. Right, So, whether there's an obstacle that's in front of our kid, sometimes we want to remove those obstacles, right, but sometimes we want to let them remain in order for our kids to learn and for them to overcome those obstacles as well. The ability for us to teach our kids in ways via different lessons, whether it be through like a part time high school job, there are things that they are likely going to learn working for a company, having a boss somebody that isn't their parent, who has told them what to do. For the past sixteen years of their life they're going to learn some of these lessons. And I think that's just an awesome sort of filter to run some of these questions through. By doing this or by not doing this, for you, am I training you up to be a fully functioning adult. I think that's awesome parenting advice.

00:50:38
Speaker 1: I still think that high school job that I think it's just you know, a job at Chick fil across from the high school. But I credit yeah, going back to beIN full I credit that to a lot honestly in my life, just having to look people in the eye, having to show up on time, Like, there were a lot of intangible and tangible skills I learned working in fast food, you know, having to deal with an irate customer. Even if I wasn't the one who caused the issue, I would tell most parents, hey, I think it's probably a really good idea for your kid to get a high school job, even if it's only seven or eight hours a week. It's those skills that you learn. It's not about the money, it's not about the income. You don't make much. I was making five dollars and fifteen cents an hour. Yeah, it gave me a little bit of money and helped me figure out how to use the money that was coming in. But it was all those other things where they were even more important.

00:51:21
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, just that little bit of exposure I think can go such a long one. Yes, But all right, let's get back to the beer, and we actually have a crazy It's funny because this sort of seems like just a random Wednesday episode where we're talking to a guest, but we've got a crazy, crazy good beer that we're enjoying today. I thought you might actually even say something at the beginning. And it's so special because normally on our guests interviews, we don't really bore them with the details of what we're drinking, right, we say that for the end, but tell everybody what we're drinking.

00:51:49
Speaker 1: All right. So this is the Canty Young Goose, which is I mean, just one of the finest beers in all the world, the entire world. Literally. Yeah. This brewery is out of out of Belgium, and Emily and I we had the good fortune to go check out this brewery in person nine years ago and I bought this bottle nine years ago, brought it home and this is the last bottle, I mean I literally brought thirty seven beers home from that trip. This is the last, the last one, and we're sharing it on Today's.

00:52:16
Speaker 2: Really the reason it was up in the office because what didn't you bring it in after? Like when you all are moving so at the beginning of the summer, y'all, when the construction was happening to the house. Yeah, you had to move a lot of stuff out of your house, isn't that when you brought this cantillone to the office And so it kind of sat there in the fridge and we're like why not? And we're like, hey, why we should have enjoyed this one on our seven hundredth episode. That would have been a good way to commemorate.

00:52:37
Speaker 1: But instead, why not? Random Well, we're talking with Lazy about military millionaires. But man, yeah, so did you enjoy this beer? Yeah? Very much. I mean it brought back just the visit, all the Marines. The scent in that place was just it was I mean, I can't even describe it.

00:52:53
Speaker 2: It was beautiful at list visit for me, absolutely, the ability to go to Canton in person.

00:52:59
Speaker 1: I want to go back, so we'll do it together. But yeah, I'm all about it. This beer. I think the biggest word that you can that I can attribute to it is funky. Like these cante owned beers have this special funk because of the way that they are brewed and the way and I got to see it the way they put the beer in the cool ship with the windows open, like these natural yeasts of the air interact with this beer, creating this these like really unique funky flavors, but not overly funk, because that's the thing.

00:53:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've had some farmhouses that are produced stateside that were that I would say are funkier from like too much a blue cheese standpoint. The balance that they are able to pack into this bottle and the fact that yes, you got this nine years ago, and that this beer was so stable enough to not go completely like off the off the table ordn't enough to not basically go bad blows my mind. I was honestly, I was thinking, Man, there's a chance that this might be a letdown because it's not what you remember or we can just tell that oh wow, it continued.

00:53:59
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I lost something.

00:54:01
Speaker 2: All the sugars are like it continued to the yeast or the alcohol continue to develop and there's a zero sugar left and it's just turning our mouth inside out, basically. But I am blown away with the finesse, the balance, the flavors that are in this in this beer.

00:54:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, truly impressed. It only reaffirms my.

00:54:17
Speaker 2: Desire to go to Katis one of a con person. Absolutely and you're tasting, you're drinking the air in the surrounding village there.

00:54:25
Speaker 1: And there was one other brewer I didn't get two hours or dree Fontaine, which makes similar awesome lambi style beers. Same and so when I go back spontaneously fermented beers, I gotta get there also next time we go. But so good. We'll put on the list very appreciative if you're sharing bo oh yeah, man, I glad we got to have it all right, that's gonna do it for this episode. We'll put links to everything we mentioned in the show notes up at how to money dot com. And if you're like interested in joining the military and the benefits that come alongside of it, we'll link to Lacy's information, her website and her podcast too. You know it, buddy. That is going to be it for this one. So until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.

00:55:01
Speaker 4: The