Introduction #
Finding guidance to help one navigate one’s way successfully in matters of finance and figuring out what you do need and do not can be a tricky matter in this country. Whom can you trust is another issue. Below are few useful, one-stop websites with a concern for military servicemembers and military veterans.
National Veterans Financial Resource Center (FINVET) #
Forget the mental health tagging silliness which accompanies this new effort (as of about March 2024), the following site has broader application for finding helpful, unbiased financial tools and resources to advise and help one along one’s journey in life is often a tall order: FINVET.
This is a soup-to-nuts site for providing guidance in:
- paying for essentials like housing, food, clothes, and transportation.
- saving more money by budgeting, using discounts, and reducing impulse buys.
- increasing income by working, investing, going to school, and using benefits.
- managing debt by building credit and lowering medical, legal, and utility bills.
- protecting money by avoiding scams, using safe banks, and planning for the future.
The USAA Educational Foundation #
Founded in 1922 by twenty-five Army officers who decided to insure each other’s vehicles in an era when pay was low and the military neglected, USAA has grown into an organization which serves millions of current and former servicemembers and their families as a fully integrated financial services organization. As part of that mission, it has created The USAA Educational Foundation to provide trusted information and which does not endorse or sell any products. The product provided here is meant “… to empower people to take actions that increase their financial resiliency and improve their quality of life”.
Fraud and Scam Protection #
The surge of new VA benefits have made veterans, servicemembers and their families targets for bad actors, more and more. The result has been recent federal, intragovernmental efforts to provide better knowledge and tools to avoid fraud and scams because these bad actors who have become increasingly sophisticated. The most recent development, and probably the best one-stop effort, comes with the VA’s August 2024 announcement of the launch of VSAFE.gov and a call center/fraud hotline at 1-833-388-7273, a White House effort. The array of topics covered is vast — it even addresses romance :-).
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Last Updated: 11 August 2024
