Managing Your Finances Before Military Deployment

When Army Major Mark Stone (not his real name) deployed to Iraq last year, he found himself more scared about what was happening at home than in the Mideast.

Shortly after arriving at his duty station, he suffered an eviction scare. The rent on his two-bedroom apartment was paid a week late. He quickly switched to online bill payment and got the help of a trustworthy stateside friend to take care of most financial issues. He also convinced his apartment manager to waive any late fees.

Whether the deployment is planned or somewhat of a surprise, members of the United States armed forces and their families are seldom covered as far as financial planning for the service member's absence. One Army wife complained that when her husband first deployed to Iraq, he forgot to pay a credit card bill. When she tried to call the credit card company to find out the actual balance, the customer service representative refused to give her any information since it wasn't a joint account. Her husband's credit rating suffered as a result.

A number of Internet sites offer help for the deploying service member and his or her family. Meredith Leyva, of Pensacola, Florida, is the wife of a Navy officer. She founded the site CinCHouse.com to provide ideas for managing finances during deployment and general assistance for military families.

Another helpful site is Operation Home Front, at http://www.operationhomefront.org. Many service members and their families also find excellent advice at the site of the United Services Automobile Association (USAA). This organization was founded in 1922 by a group of Army officers seeking to self-insure each other for automobile insurance. It's located at http://www.usaa.com.

There are some logical steps all military families can take to make their financial lives easier, according to USAA. The first is to build an emergency savings fund of three to six months of living expenses. Families facing a deployment should put aside a minimum of $2,000 more to cover unexpected expenses such as car repairs, plumbing problems, or other unanticipated bills.