Hey everyone,
I recently joined the USAF and in doing so have occurred expenses I never would have thought of that drained my bank account (literally). I currently am in the process of selling my home from my civilian life but right now have had to pay a security deposit and last months rent for a home locally, a mortgage that is around 40% of my pay, and various personal debts.
For some background, I was making around 85k a year and my wife was making 65k a year. Since joining my wife has been unable to find new employment and my pay (naturally) took a major hit. While I am an officer, losing over 80k as a family a year is stressful. I thought I had saved up enough to get us through the first year of this transition, but have drained my savings of around 20k
I have gotten TLE, DLA, Travel voucher, and PPM funds. I was denied advanced pay as they reported the expenses listed weren’t authorized (mortgage back home for instance). I’m quite confused as having to pay for that mortgage in addition to a new home is directly due to the AF moving me and my family. I’m in the process of selling the home, but the housing market isn’t the best right now.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to overcome this or adjust advance pay expenses? I’m operating at around negative $2500 monthly and at the breaking point financially.
New to the Military and now broke
byu/Heavy_Matter_3565 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Heavy_Matter_3565
4 Comments
To be frank, having 2 homes isn’t the AF’s problem.
You need to sell the house or rent it out ASAP. Cut your spending. Yes, you lost income – which means you now need to lose spending. Until you can get it under control, no fun stuff.
Follow the stickied post about how to handle money. It’s no different now.
Cut everything to the bone until the house gets sold or rented. And then look at expenses closely. Fight the urge to buy at every location. As often as we move it’s not worth it. I never wanted to be a long distance landlord or have to juggle two mortgages. I didn’t buy after my first base error until I retired this past summer for this reason. It’s the first house I can expect to live in 5 years minimum to make purchase make financial sense. We rented or lived on base for our last 18 years. No regrets.
I wouldn’t say your income took a major hit. If anything, you’re making the exact same amount as you were as a civilian. I don’t know where you are stationed, but using [this](https://militarypay.defense.gov/Calculators/RMC-Calculator/) calculator and plugging in the zip codes of some of the bigger AF bases, you’re basically at $85k when you factor in total compensation and benefits.
There’s plenty of [resources](https://msepjobs.militaryonesource.mil/msep/) out there for military spouses!
All housing stipends and expenses are geared towards renting. Anything associated with a mortgage is a personal choice the SM can make. With interest rates currently renting is the cheaper option most of the time. The AF or DOD does not calculate any pay based off of mortgage rates.