When you leave the military, your money situation changes a lot. Good veteran retirement planning means thinking about both your needs right now and your future. As a Veteran, you’ve earned special benefits. This guide will help you protect those benefits and build a secure future for you and your family.
Understanding Money Risks in Veteran Retirement Planning
When you leave the military, you face new money challenges. Your steady military paycheck stops. You start getting civilian pay, which might be less regular. Your TRICARE health coverage changes to VA healthcare or other options. And you now have to handle money tasks that were taken care of for you during service.
A 2022 study found that Veterans are 40% more likely to have money problems in their first year after leaving service. This time is both risky and full of chances to set up good money habits for civilian life.
Protecting Your Identity and Military Benefits
As a Veteran, you need to watch out for identity thieves. The government benefits you get make you a target for scammers who might try to steal your benefits or get into your accounts.
Steps to Protect Your Identity:
- Use two-step login for all money accounts, especially VA benefit sites
- Check your credit often using free services for Veterans– like GoVA’s platform, The Edge!
- Set up alerts for any bank account or credit card activity
- Keep your DD-214 and other military papers in a safe place
- Look at your VA benefit statements each month for any strange changes
- Think about using identity protection services made for military members
These simple steps help make sure the benefits you earned stay safe and come to you as planned.
Resource Spotlight: The Edge offers a simple “Guide to Getting Started With Identity Protection” with easy steps to keep your personal info safe.
Life Insurance After Military Service
Your military life insurance (SGLI) ends 120 days after you leave service. This means you need to decide how to keep protecting your family.
Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) is one way to keep coverage. You can switch from SGLI within one year and 120 days after leaving service. If you apply within 240 days, you won’t need a medical exam. But you should also check prices for other insurance options, as many Veterans find they need different or cheaper coverage.
Term life insurance often costs less for healthy Veterans. Whole life insurance lasts your entire life and builds cash value that can help in retirement.
Resource Spotlight: The Edge has easy-to-use tools to help figure out how much life insurance you need based on your family size, bills, and future goals. These tools can help you decide if VGLI or other insurance is better for you.
Long-Term Care: Protecting Your Retirement Money
The VA helps with some long-term care, but it doesn’t cover everything, especially for health problems not caused by your service. Long-term care costs over $100,000 a year for nursing home care. Looking into long-term care insurance in your 50s—when it costs less than when you’re older—can help protect your savings.
When looking at long-term care insurance, think about:
- Coverage for care at home, in assisted living, and in nursing homes
- How long you must wait before benefits start
- How much it pays each day and if this amount grows over time
- How stable and reliable the insurance company is
- Plans that protect some of your money even if you use all the benefits
Getting good long-term care coverage protects your retirement money and helps preserve assets for your spouse and family.
Resource Spotlight: The Edge offers simple videos explaining long-term care options and tools to help guess what your costs might be based on where you live.
Building a Strong Veteran Retirement Planning Strategy
If you retire from the military, your military pension gives you steady retirement income. You are likely also eligible for disability benefits, although the rating and monthly payment is different for everyone. Either way, you need more than just that. Good veteran retirement planning should include:
- Military pension as steady income
- Disability benefits
- Social Security benefits
- TSP/IRA withdrawals
- Maybe some part-time or other work
- Money from investments
Other retirement accounts offer tax breaks and growth that work well with your pension. Try to put as much as you can in your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) before retirement. Then decide whether to keep your money in the TSP or move it to an IRA based on what investments you want and how easily you need to take money out.
Resource Spotlight: The Edge has veteran retirement planning tools that let you see different money situations and understand how various choices might affect your future money security.
Choosing Where to Retire
Where you live after retirement greatly affects your money and benefits. When picking a place to retire, think about:
Tax Savings:
- States that don’t tax military pensions
- Property tax breaks for disabled Veterans
- Overall taxes including income, sales, and property taxes
Healthcare Access:
- How close VA medical centers are
- How good the nearby VA healthcare is
- Finding civilian doctors who accept VA programs
- Access to special care for service-related health issues
Job Options:
- Areas with programs to hire Veterans
- Places with defense contractors
- Employers friendly to military experience
- Jobs that match your military skills
Research tax rules, Veteran job rates, and healthcare access before deciding. Some states are much better for military retirees
Creating Your Veteran Retirement Planning Protection Plan
Build your money protection plan with these simple steps:
- Look at What You Have: Check your current insurance, identity protection, and money safeguards.
- Find the Gaps: See where you need more coverage or protection based on your situation and family needs.
- Research Veteran Options: Look for special products and discounts just for Veterans.
- Set Up Regular Checks: Create alerts and schedule regular times to review your credit reports, benefit statements, and insurance.
- Write Down Your Plan: Make a simple guide that your family can understand and find when needed.
Money security after military service needs planning and upkeep. By protecting your identity, having good life insurance, planning for long-term care, building different retirement income sources, and choosing a good location, you set up strong protection for the future you worked hard to build through your service.
Start Using The Edge’s Veteran Retirement Planning Tools
You don’t have to figure out these money decisions alone. The Edge gives free veteran retirement planning tools made just for the military community. As a Veteran, you can use resources that understand your special needs.
The Edge offers:
- Simple money calculators for military benefits and transition planning
- Step-by-step guides for identity protection, insurance choices, and retirement planning
- Short videos explaining money topics in clear, simple terms
- Personal action plans that fit your specific situation and goals
These tools work with the advice in this article, giving you more help and support for your veteran retirement planning.
Join The Edge today to get these free resources and take control of your money future. You protected our nation—now let us help protect the money security you’ve earned.
