"Lift The Spirits" November Winners Announced!

Military Benefit Association's “Lift The Spirits” contest was launched November 1st to support the brave men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thank you to everyone who submitted such great ideas! While MBA would love to honor all the November entries, we decided to carry out not one, but two ideas to lift the spirits. Our winners for November are Erin McQuaig from Nick town, PA and Kimber Stolz from Colorado Springs, CO.

We will be sending the gifts to Erin's husband and Kimber's fiance soon. Both men are stationed in Afghanistan.

To all our deployed troops, we send you best wishes for this holiday season.

If your name was not chosen, please enter again here. We will be selecting a new winner each month.

Excellent News from the DoD: Your Military Benefits are Improving

As a member of the armed services, it can be tough to stay abreast of all the changes, especially as it relates to your benefits. MBA wants to help you sort through and better understand some of these changes as they occur. There have been two recent changes that will help you improve your financial situation: the increase in Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and a new transferability option to the Post-9/11 GI Bill.


So What's New in the World of BAH

BAH is a housing allowance for those living off-base. The amount is based on geographic duty location, pay grade, and dependency status. The BAH rate increased an average of 6.9 percent for 2009! BAH tables are updated and released every year between December 15 and January 1. There are several types of BAH to satisfy various housing situations that occur among military members. For more information and to calculate your 2009 BAH rate, please visit the DoD information site and for types of BAH, visit militarypay.defense.gov.

Capitalizing On The Opportunity – Get More for your BAH Dollar

Have you ever thought about living off-base? This year’s expected 6.9 percent increase in BAH coupled with historically low interest rates provides uniformed service members with a unique opportunity to get into the housing market. The U.S. is experiencing a decline in inflation, from a 5 percent inflation rate to 1.3 percent, according to inflationdata.com. With this decrease in inflation and increase in BAH rates, uniformed service members now have more buying power. This presents an excellent opportunity to move off-base in the midst of lower housing costs and the lowest inflation rate in more than 54 years!

For a look at historic inflation rates, visit the USA Inflation Calculator.

What Should Uniformed Service Members Do

If you live on-base, take time to research housing costs near you to ensure you are getting the most for your BAH allotment dollars. Although house prices and rents have leveled off in some parts of the country since 2008, there are still other places where prices continue to fall. If you are thinking about buying a house, now may be the time to sit down with a financial planner to see what you can afford. If you are renting, what you agreed to pay a year ago for your rental might have been a good price then, but maybe there is a better deal today. Keep in mind BAH comes with individual rate protection, which prevents decreases in housing allowances, as long as the status of a uniformed service member remains unchanged.

For more on BAH, visit:

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/bahfaq.html - just FAQs
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/BAH-Primer.pdf - All you want to know about BAH (you will need Adobe Acrobat to view this file)

Sneak Preview: Post-9/11 GI Bill Transferability

Allowing career service members to transfer their GI Bill benefits to family members has long been one of the most requested items among military family readiness and advocacy groups and now it is finally a reality.

The buzz is out–look for further insight and tips on this new option that’s available to you! Follow our blog to see our post on Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability.

Financial Tips for Soldiers

Holidays are right around the corner, and this year, many of us are more worried about travel and gift costs than the joy that the holidays should bring. Military Benefit Association has a few tips to help you get through the next few months and protect your financial well-being.

1. Verify your charities.

Be sure you know if your donation is tax deductible for you. Also, be sure to know how far your generous dollars are going--some donation dollars end up going to professional fundraisers, mailings, and callers while some are volunteer-run. Check out the charities you give to on the internet and call to make sure the charity is registered at www.nasconet.org/agencies. Unfortunately, some charities don’t have the infrastructure to help their cause even if you give them money. Others end up being scam artists that take advantage of the generosity of others. Other great information on charitable giving can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel01.shtm

2. Register for online banking and overdraft protection.

Online banking is the easiest way to check your balances around-the-clock and make sure you're not overspending on gifts, travel, or other holiday necessities. Overdraft protection links credit cards to your checking account and bypasses $35-$50 overdraft fees in case you lose track.

3. Protect yourself from identity theft.

People lose and steal credit card information daily. One trick you can use to minimize damage is write "Ask for ID" on the back of the credit card in permanent marker (please avoid the magnetic strip and covering your signature). Cashiers will notice it and while you will have to show your id more often, it will protect you in case your card falls into the wrong hands. Many more helpful tips for avoiding credit and charge card fraud can be found here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre07.shtm.

4. Protect and improve your credit score.

Many don’t know that it doesn’t take much to damage your credit score. This often happens around the holidays. It will be a new year, why not start it off with a fresh score? You get one free report each year from freecreditreport.com. If it is above 700, little needs to be done. Tips for improving your score are: pay off as much of your balance each month as possible, pay on time, and don't close old accounts. Part of a credit score is your available credit ratio, and an empty, paid off credit card is not a bad thing.

5. In debt? Pay attention to interest rates.

It would be silly to keep money in a checking account that is getting you only 1% interest when your credit card company is charging you 11% per month in interest. That's 10% you're losing on every dollar in your savings account. Pay off your debt before you start saving.

6. Plan for the future

If you're worried about what might happen to your family should you pass away unexpectedly, now is better than never to reconsider and enhance your life insurance plan. Visit www.militarybenefit.org to review life insurance available to military members, veterans, federal employees and their families.

From Box Office to Military Base: Watch Favorite American Shows, Play American Games Overseas

It can be hard to stay entertained when overseas. The DVDs are in a foreign language. Your iPod freezes. Maybe you didn't have enough room in your bag to include all your favorite games and movies on your trip--and you know you miss classic board games from time to time. With the internet, it is now easier than ever to stay entertained away from home as long as you have internet access from time to time.

Hulu.com
For television shows, Hulu.com is great. You don't have to sign up and the clips are easy to view. The commercials are limited, so watching television shows on Hulu is easier than downloading it from the network's Web site--and it's free. Only drawback: not all television shows are on here, so you will have to download those shows elsewhere.

iTunes
You don't need an iPod to take advantage of iTunes. You can pay $1.99 for those television shows that are omitted from Hulu, and you can watch them on the easy-to-use iTunes program that keeps clips organized and ready to view.

Cinemanow.com
This site is the #1 movie download service in the world. Movies can be downloaded for $10-15 at the click of a mouse. Movies can be rented for $3.99 or pay-per-view if you don't want to own it forever and want to save a buck. New movies, old movies, and music videos are available on this site and will surely keep soldiers entertained for hours.

PublicDomainFlicks.com
This site is home to hundreds of oldies-but-goodies that are in the public domain. These full-length classic movies can be downloaded for free. Some of them star old Hollywood legends like Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra and Shirley Temple.

Youtube.com
Always a favorite, and a great way to stay in tune with mainstream culture from home, is Youtube. The drawback of Youtube compared to the other video sites is the inability to download favorite clips, so you will need a good internet connection to take advantage of the site.

Pogo.com
This free gaming site is home to hundreds of games and thousands more gamers. Classics like solitaire, checkers, and poker (with fun money) are played around-the-clock with people from all over the world. There are single-player puzzles and card games that will keep your mind sharp for bootcamp or combat. You will also find favorites from home that you wouldn't expect to see on an internet site--like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.

AddictingGames.com
For simple but addicting games, this site is for you. This site is home to sports-themed computer games, puzzles, pong-type games, and skill games like Greyhound Tycoon. If you have internet access and are craving a cheap thrill, visit addicting games and get hooked on something for a few hours.