The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom | Personal Finance Books

by Spencer C. Reese

You work hard serving your country. Let your military money work hard for you.

In this practical guide, Air Force Major Spencer C. Reese, founder of the popular personal finance site MilitaryMoneyManual.com, offers invaluable tips and tricks to help service members reach financial independence.

A must-read for any service member, this comprehensive personal finance book covers the fundamentals of saving money while serving and how to take advantage of the unique financial perks available to military members.

Reese offers invaluable advice on topics such as how to :

Budget, save money and build wealth while servingTake advantage of unique perks available only to service membersGet fee waivers on high-end credit cards to earn money and points for travelUse tax-deferred savings plansInvesting and planning for the futureFinancial self disciplineThis practical financial roadmap is for service members of all ranks, branches and income levels. Whether you’re a new cadet, active duty or reserve, this financial guidebook is essential reading to gain more control over your finances.

With a down to earth tone and easy to understand language, The Military Money Manual shows readers that yes, it IS possible to reach financial freedom while serving in the military.

"Every ROTC Detachment should make this book part of their syllabus for senior cadets." - Ryan M.

Genres: Money, Nonfiction

130 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2022

Reviews

[January · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom by Spencer C. Reese
2h 28m narrated by Chris Roman, 118 pages
SWITCHED TO 77-Page Hoopla Ebook

Genre:Money & Finance, Investing & Trading, Money Management & Budgeting, Credit Rating, Loan Payoff, Military Finance

Featuring: Note from the Author, Quick Start Steps - If You Don’t Have Time to Read Anything Else, Military Training, Financial Independence, Inflation, Trinity Study, 4% Rule, SWR - Safe Withdrawal Rate, Annual Expenses x 25-33% = Retirement Needs, 9 Financial Principles (Steps) - Nine Principles to Achieve, Do You Want to Work Forever?, My Wake-Up Call, Financial Independence: What It Means for You, What’s the Point of Financial Independence?, Financial Independence Game Plan, Starting Early Matters, Financial Independence Principle One Spend Less than You Earn, Principle Two Avoid Debt, Principle Three Pay Down High-Interest-Rate Debt ASAP, Principle Four Save a Three-Month Emergency Fund, Principle Five Maximize Your Tax-Advantaged Accounts, Principle Six Savings Rate Beats Rate of Return, Principle Seven Keep Your Investments LADS: Low-cost, Automatic, Diversified, and Simple; Principle Eight Spend Money on What Matters Most to You, Principle Nine Buy Income-Producing Assets, Establishing Your Financial Foundation, Buying Your First Car, Housing Choices: On or Off Base, Rent or Buy; Online Checking and Saving Accounts, Lifestyle Inflation: Live at Least One Rank Below Your Current Rank, Budgeting, Tax Hacking, Credit Cards, Scores, and Reports; Debt: Interest Working Against You, Insurance: Auto, Renters, Home, Life; Investing While Serving in the Military, Why Bother Investing?, The Thrift Savings Plan Explained, Where to Start Investing: Roth TSP and Roth IRAs; LADS: Low-Cost, LADS: Automatic, LADS: Diversified, LADS: Simple, Asset Allocation, Can You Beat or Time the Market?, Non-Retirement Investment Accounts, A Collection of Investing Wisdom, Unique Aspects of Military Finances, Deployment, Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE), Extra Combat Zone TSP Contributions, Savings Deposit Program (SDP), The Blended Retirement System, Military Travel Hacking, Philosophy of Financial Independence, Happiness, Compounding Returns in All Things, Control What You Can, Don’t Sweat the Rest; Less is More: Experiences (with People) > Things, Additional Reading - Books on Investing, Books on Personal Development, Websites on Financial Independence, www.militarymoneymanual.com

Rating as a movie: PG for adult language and topics

Quotes: Whether officer or enlisted, active or reserve, you might be like I was not too many years ago: new to the military and completely confused about what to do with your money. You may recall hearing about the “TSP” or a “Roth IRA”—whatever they are—and think that saving 10 percent of your income is a decent goal. But no one has explained what the endgame is. What’s the point of all of this saving? Allow me to show you what the endgame looks like, and why it matters—a lot. I’ll show you what I did with my money to set myself up for long-term financial success and how you can do the same.

Ask yourself: “Do I want to work forever?” Or would you rather have enough invested money and/or passive income to make work a choice instead of a necessity?

SWR is the percentage of money someone can withdraw from their total investment portfolio while maintaining a survival rate of greater than 95 percent for more than 30 years. Survival rate here means that after 30 years of annual withdrawals, one would have at least $1 left in his or her portfolio. The original Trinity Study found 3–4 percent as a very safe withdrawal rate, especially for stock-dominated portfolios. This became known as the “4 percent rule.”

Joining the military right out of high school or college means you probably don't have much experience buying cars. You may think that now you're earning a paycheck, you deserve the best car you can get an auto loan for. Don't fall into this trap! Just because you're making a bit of money now doesn't entitle you to an F-150 or Dodge Charger.
Remember that most of your driving will be to and from work. Commuting will consume about 80 percent of your driving time. Buy a car optimized for that 80 percent.
Your car will also sit there unused for 90 percent of the day. It will sit idle even more if you deploy or go on TDY/TAD orders. If you live on base, especially when you are in training, you may not even need a car since you can get to everywhere you need to go on a bike or by walking.

Books and Authors mentioned: The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko; Personal Finance For Dummies by Eric Tyson, MBA; The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey; Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns by John C. Bogle; A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Including a Life-Cycle Guide to Personal Investing by Burton Malkiel, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siege, Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel


My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🪖💵

My thoughts: 📱34% 50:44 The Military Money Manual 7 -Establishing Your Your Financial Foundation - These tracks don't have chapter numbers only titles so I have no idea what chapter I'm on. I knew I should have just waited for the ebook. I'm cooking Thanksgiving Dinner so I can't take notes so I'm switching to another audiobook, this one is really good though.
🔖Page 64 of 77 Unique Aspects of Military Finances - This book is kinda awesome. I'm only stopping to call my bank to check on a benefit I wasn't aware of. 😆

This book was good and I discovered some services I wasn't utilizing. I did list the books mentioned throughout the book but I didn't list the booklist for Additional Reading at the end of the book. I took a break from this book and my husband read it in the meantime, he gave it high praise but said the military offers briefing on the basics from a personal experience point of view in layman's terms.

Recommend to others: I highly recommend this book, even if you're not a military family there are some great strategies here.

[Jeff VanGuilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been following Spencer’s advice from the start! Spencer lays out simple and easy methods to take charge of your own finances. For folks in the military - this is a very comprehensive guide to ensure you take full advantage of the benefits you are entitled to! For those not in the
Military - Spencer’s principles for saving and investing are universal and will lead you to financial freedom!

I can’t recommend Spencer any higher - excellent content and and excellent person!

[Jenny Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really well done with just enough information to get you started on your path to financial independence, then leads you to where you should look into next to know what is good for you and what isn’t. The author mentions Vanguard a lot, but just keep in mind that that is what works for him and there are a lot of other financial institutions out there! Make sure you do your research before just doing the same thing the author does. Overall, a really great book, especially for anyone at any stage in their military career. But, the earlier you start, the better you’ll be!

[Ryan Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of financial books recently but for anyone active-duty, I would say this is the one stop shop, and something everyone should read to help them with financial understanding and getting ahead on this in the military.

[Ryan McCourry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most comprehensive investing/personal finance book written specifically for military members I have read so far. This book should be handed to every new LT at commissioning! Every ROTC Detachment should make this book part of their syllabus for senior cadets.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that is one of a kind, focusing on military members unique benefits. No other book is so practical and full of wisdom to help military members to start their journey towards financial independence.

[James Cogbill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in less than 24 hours. The compactness of the book (at about 116 pages), and the easily digestible chapters and sections, made it compelling and hard to put down. As marketed, this is an excellent book for Cadets getting ready to commission or young Soldiers or NCOs who are just learning how to manage their money and/or looking forward to the goal of “financial independence.” Although I’ve learned many of the tips in the book throughout my career, it certainly would have been preferable to have all these tips in one place before I even took the first step on my financial journey. Looking back on my military career from the vantage point of 25 years of service, a couple items that I would suggest for the next update to the book would be a section on investing for college (529 plans) for oneself or kids, as that is a fairly common expense that all adults will have to deal with in their lifetimes. Also, as investors gain more wealth, an umbrella insurance plan and trusts are something else that should be considered. All in all, this is a great book that I plan to pass around the office and then potentially share with my Cadets.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

For what this is supposed to be (a financial guide for people who are just joining the military), I think this is a phenomenal book. I read the e-book and I’m considering buying it to be able to read again and loan out because I really think anyone could benefit from reading this book, and I find it essential for new military members. Certain things were fairly cursory, and in a technical sense, a lot of the investment advice is illegal given he doesn’t have the proper certification, but the advice is extremely solid and even though I didn’t really learn anything new (as someone who spends a ton of their free time learning about finance), he got me to think of a few ideas/concepts differently and more positively. I also really appreciated the additional reading he recommend and have read some of them and think they’re great (and more in-depth) resources for continued learning. My two complaints are: I don’t necessarily agree with the advice to max out your TSP before moving on to taxable brokerage accounts. Most people in the military will retire from the military before traditional retirement age, and if talking about the freedom to work or not, saving for that gap is more important than completely maxing out the TSP in my opinion. I wish he touched on this as it’s the much sooner problem than retirement. Also, it’s much easier to save 45% of your salary like he talks about when you’re an officer — for young, single enlisted personnel coming in at E-1 that is completely unrealistic. A great goal, sure, but he acts as if that is attainable for everyone. I also think the book was highly repetitive and read a bit like a podcast transcript, though in his defense, I think for an 18-year-old new military join, it’s an effective way to write!

[Katie Halbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone in their finance girlie era! The Military Money Manual is all actionable steps and no fluff. The general financial game plan steps are the same as all other finance experts, but Spencer offers unique advice into how to leverage advantages offered to military members during their service. And it’s a modern book that reflects the modern economy (no 2008 real estate mogul finances, sorry I wasn’t buying foreclosed real estate in elementary school!) The advice is sound for many ranks across the military, but is especially relevant for junior officers starting their careers on the same path as the author.

The podcast version of this book is available under the same title on most music streaming platforms and I also cannot recommend it enough. I started there and listened to hours of the podcast before reading the book as a nice summary. Alternatively you could read the book as the summary and then dive deeper into specific topics with episodes of the podcast. I found both resources extremely helpful in helping me understand the TSP since most of the other financial resources I have accessed refer to the more common 401K.

[Cory Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Must for Military Members

Something that needs to be in every ROTC detachment and military members book collection. These are the answers to questions that took me multiple years and hours of research to figure out. No matter where you're at in your military career this serves as a powerful tool not only for yourself, but for the members you lead and mentor along the way. I have no doubt a small investment in this book will pay for itself a thousand times over.
Keep it LADS!

[Lan Luo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need more than basic information

I love the Podcast, so I bought a copy and gifted to my friend who was on her way to the Coast Guard. I then bought another copy for myself seeking information that I missed in the Podcast. The book however is good for young or new service members who just started their careers. I was hoping to find more information at the intermediate level at least. The best part to me was the list of recommended books at the end. Anyway, thanks for the Podcast. I always enjoy listening to it.

[Jo Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the name of the book, you don't have to be in the military in the book. This is a great starting point and platform for learning financial literacy and freedom. It had great information and resources that anyone can benefit from. The strategies he teaches are straightforward and his voice serves as a great and direct mentor. If you seek to achieve financial success or simply want to ease up some financial burdens, I recommend reading this book for excellent money management skills.

[Rachel Segerstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are obviously a lot of nuances to the military. This book is a good resource to unveil some those as well as some good financial literacy content. Financial Independence can seem a bit daunting - Spencer Reece does a good job filtering the exhaustive amount of avenues one could take in a stress free, practical way.

[Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight to the Point

Financial success isn’t complicated. And here, Reese lays it out in easy-to-understand terms for anyone to grasp. I’m glad I read this book. I’ve read numerous financial books and this ranks in my top three favorite. If you’re active duty, you seriously need to read this book, at least twice.

[Lusajo Mwaisaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great quick read to Financial Independent, not only to those in the Military, all you have to do is remove military and put whatever you do to make a living - and this guide to financial freedom will apply to you too.

[Ray Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly "Practical Guide," as it's subtitle states. Direct and specific instructions in a succinct book. If you are in the military, especially if you have questions about what to do with your paychecks, please read this.

[Conn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be on every DoD Reading List

Spencer’s book provides a succinct, informative, and relatable guide for service members of all ranks to achieve financial well being and begin their path to financial independence.

[Elizabeth Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable guide! Every service member should read this - set yourself up for financial success. Great for a stocking stuffer or wedding gift for new military families.

[Steve Brinkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down to earth advice that is fantastic for the early investor. Highly recommend.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on personal finance, whether you're military or not. Awesome!

[Rich Kappel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical guide for anyone desiring to reach Financial Independence. Good insight into military programs to be aware of to maximize your FI strategy.

[Bud Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Lots of notes

[Jillian Pashneh-Tala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. This author is against purchasing a home as a young officer which I like because I had FOMO about buying and thought renting was a “waste”.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t teach me anything insanely new, just reinforced what I’ve already been told. Good for anyone in the military who doesn’t know much about how to manage personal finances.