How the right financial planner can help your military family succeed

Charlene Wilde and her military family found economic success after working a financial planner who understood the military lifestyle. (Charlene Wilde)

This is sponsored content paid for by AAFMAA.

Charlene Wilde and her husband had always been savers.

It was when they started thinking about his Army retirement that they realized they weren’t financially where they wanted to be.

The couple had been living overseas with their two sons and costs had been minimal. With hopes of a final duty station in the expensive area around Washington, D.C., they realized their longtime habit of taking emergency fund cash whenever they needed it wouldn’t help them succeed.

“As we looked at it, we wanted those funds to be for our real retirement when we quit working,” Wilde told The Spouse Angle. “We didn’t have an emergency fund there. We wanted our slush fund to be bigger and didn’t know how else to build it.”

They aren’t the only ones. Less than half of adults would be able to handle an unexpected $1,000 expense, according to a 2020 CNBC report. And many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

Wilde and her husband started meeting with a financial planner at AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AAFMAA (American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association), where Wilde now works. AAFMAA is the longest-standing nonprofit association exclusively serving the U.S. military and Veteran community.

AAFMAA’s expertise helped the Wilde family breathe easier and get where they wanted to be.

“We could actually start putting money aside for a retirement fund instead of just talking about it,” Wilde said. “Plus, finding the right insurance policy for our family helped put our mind at ease. We no longer stress about having enough money for ‘what ifs.’”

‘Someone who understands’

It was more than financial freedom that AAFMAA brought Wilde and her husband.

“We wanted someone else to help us plan that understood the military lifestyle,” she said. “Someone who understands the acronyms, understands what TSP means. You don’t have to explain.”

AAFMAA’s knowledge of the military community helped Wilde – an Army Veteran herself who grew up with two Marine parents – and her Army husband feel confident in their choice of a financial planner.

Nearly half of AAFMAA’s employees are military spouses or veterans themselves.

“I never had to explain what my husband’s retirement benefits were to our financial planner,” Wilde said. “They knew and did the research for our cost-of-living adjustment and basic housing allowance.”

Together, the family and their financial planner came up with a plan to meet their goals, by going over cash flows, retirement planning, estate planning, college planning and more.

“They even worked with us to understand how much coverage we needed based on our current and projected expenses — including a home in the D.C. area and our children’s projected education costs,” Wilde said.

They got the full picture of what it meant for a military family to be financially secure, starting with better life insurance to replace their Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, or SGLI.

Life insurance was AAFMAA’s original offering, Wilde said. From its beginnings, AAFMAA has provided the crucial financial safety net that life insurance provides for the uncertainty of the military lifestyle.

Additionally, AAFMAA policies do not include a war clause, terrorist clauses, or aviation clauses or exclusions.

With a dedicated team of Veterans’ benefits experts on the staff, AAFMAA can help military families navigate the often-complex VA claims and government benefits processes swiftly and efficiently.

“They really understand the full financial picture and make it easier for us to understand, too,” Wilde said.

‘I feel more freedom’

With the help of AAFMAA’s resources and first-hand military experience, the family is in a much more “financially confident position.”

They even got there while comfortably living in the Washington, D.C. area, as they had hoped.

Finding the right financial products has helped more than just the family savings, Wilde says. It also has helped the family grow closer together – and given her more confidence as a wife and mother.

“If there’s a decision to be made when purchasing something I feel more freedom to do it,” Wilde said.

A conversation with an AAFMAA Member Benefits representative about your needs and options is a great way to start taking control of your financial future, Wilde said.

One tip she could offer to other families looking for financial success: Talk about it together.

Don’t be afraid to talk about goals and plans as a family, she says.

For more information on AAFMAA’s financial services and other offerings for military families, check out aafmaa.com