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About Us
About Us
This site is designed to provide US military families with money management information and education. It developed from my passion for helping military families deal with the unique challenges they face because some member of the family has chosen a military career.
My background and experience in this area gives me a unique perspective and understanding of those challenges.
I have been the spouse of an active duty career Naval officer, an active reserve Naval officer myself as a member of the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), and the spouse of a retired career Naval officer.
As a Navy JAG attorney providing advice to service members and military families about their financial problems, I am personally aware of the financial struggles our service members face, and the unfortunate existence of unscrupulous merchants who prey on them. My proudest stories about my time in service are stories about being able to help fellow service members and their families.
In addition, as a Navy spouse, I have had the opportunity to observe and experience first-hand the challenges our military families face. In my first seven years as a new Navy spouse, I moved six times, built my first house (and moved in while my husband was gone, of course), completed my first year of law school while my spouse was an ROTC instructor, and took six months "off" between my first and second years of law school because of an unexpected change in duty stations for him. In those six months, I also moved twice and transferred law schools.
And that was in peacetime! But it is not unusual - it is typical of the life our military spouses face, mostly without complaint.
Also as a result of my status as a military spouse, I have had numerous opportunities to travel this great world we live in and see places I never would have seen otherwise. Those experiences have given me a much better appreciation for how truly unique these United States and their form of government are.
Having the opportunity to see how other cultures live reinforces my belief that the system we have, although far from perfect, is the best that exists on the planet. It is worth the sacrifices that have been made to create it, and will continue to have to be made in order to preserve it for our children and grandchildren, and their grandchildren.
Yes, there are challenges for military families, but there are rewards as well. Not the least of which is a tremendous sense of pride, not only in your own contributions, and/or those of your spouse, but also in your fellow service members and their families. It is truly a unique society, and one that firmly believes in "taking care of our own."
It is in this spirit that this program was born, to educate military members and their families so that they can create a better standard of living for their own families, while they continue to protect ours.
After completing my active service, I was divorced, which also happens frequently in military families. I later married a retired Naval aviator. Together, we founded a company that pioneered the out-sourcing of military pilot training services and adversary services for US and allied forces -- a sort of civilian "Top Gun." The struggle to change the paradigm of the active US military Establishment, to convince the powers-that-be that a civilian organization could train fighter pilots at an equal or better proficiency level, and at a lower cost than it could be done by the military itself, was an epic battle worthy of its own book! But I digress. I mention it only to highlight my entrepreneurial experience as well.
I always knew there were "money secrets" known to the very wealthy, and I became determined to learn them for myself. They certainly weren't taught in any of the classes I had taken in law school, and the accountants I had used over the years didn't seem to know about them, so I made it a point to find people who knew them and were willing to teach them to me. I was fortunate to study financial management secrets with a number of millionaire mentors over the years.
Then I realized -- our service members and their families could utilize some of those secrets to achieve a better standard of living on their military paychecks! The only problem -- they don't know about them. Here was something I could give back, to show my gratitude for their sacrifices. That's where this program was born.
We are producing a comprehensive money management program for service members and their families which will be presented in a series of live seminars as well as offered in written and recorded media, and we're very excited about the possibilities it presents to help our military families. We think you will be too.
So please bookmark this site, and/or subscribe to our blog, either by e-mail or RSS feed, and come back often to see what's been added since your last visit.
This program has grown from my gratitude for the service of all those brave men and women, past, present and future, who have answered the call to serve with dignity, honor, and pride. And for the sacrifices made by their families, who also serve. May God bless each and every one of you.
So, as much as it pains me (as a Navy vet) to use this phrase, I have become "An Army of One", with a personal mission of helping to provide a better standard of living and quality of life for our American service members and their families, through education about money management.
I agree with Senator John McCain that it is a national disgrace that the United States of America has even one military family paid so little that it qualifies for food stamps, and I intend to do everything in my power to solve that problem. It is a travesty that we have charitable food distribution outlets, such as Feed the Children, that make regular stops on military bases to provide food for families who can't afford to live on their military pay. Congress has made great strides in recent years in attempting to solve this problem. But we cannot stop in our efforts until all military families are able to live above the poverty level.
This serious problem can be solved without Congressional appropriations, without causing a dent in the military budget, and without taking resources from other military programs. It can be done simply through education.
New information and links we believe you'll find helpful are being added continuously. There are two easy ways to stay current:
Subscribe to our RSS feed here:
(right-click)
About Us
This site is designed to provide US military families with money management information and education. It developed from my passion for helping military families deal with the unique challenges they face because some member of the family has chosen a military career.
I have been the spouse of an active duty career Naval officer, an active reserve Naval officer myself as a member of the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), and the spouse of a retired career Naval officer.
As a Navy JAG attorney providing advice to service members and military families about their financial problems, I am personally aware of the financial struggles our service members face, and the unfortunate existence of unscrupulous merchants who prey on them. My proudest stories about my time in service are stories about being able to help fellow service members and their families.
In addition, as a Navy spouse, I have had the opportunity to observe and experience first-hand the challenges our military families face. In my first seven years as a new Navy spouse, I moved six times, built my first house (and moved in while my husband was gone, of course), completed my first year of law school while my spouse was an ROTC instructor, and took six months "off" between my first and second years of law school because of an unexpected change in duty stations for him. In those six months, I also moved twice and transferred law schools.
And that was in peacetime! But it is not unusual - it is typical of the life our military spouses face, mostly without complaint.
Also as a result of my status as a military spouse, I have had numerous opportunities to travel this great world we live in and see places I never would have seen otherwise. Those experiences have given me a much better appreciation for how truly unique these United States and their form of government are.
Having the opportunity to see how other cultures live reinforces my belief that the system we have, although far from perfect, is the best that exists on the planet. It is worth the sacrifices that have been made to create it, and will continue to have to be made in order to preserve it for our children and grandchildren, and their grandchildren.
Yes, there are challenges for military families, but there are rewards as well. Not the least of which is a tremendous sense of pride, not only in your own contributions, and/or those of your spouse, but also in your fellow service members and their families. It is truly a unique society, and one that firmly believes in "taking care of our own."
It is in this spirit that this program was born, to educate military members and their families so that they can create a better standard of living for their own families, while they continue to protect ours.
After completing my active service, I was divorced, which also happens frequently in military families. I later married a retired Naval aviator. Together, we founded a company that pioneered the out-sourcing of military pilot training services and adversary services for US and allied forces -- a sort of civilian "Top Gun." The struggle to change the paradigm of the active US military Establishment, to convince the powers-that-be that a civilian organization could train fighter pilots at an equal or better proficiency level, and at a lower cost than it could be done by the military itself, was an epic battle worthy of its own book! But I digress. I mention it only to highlight my entrepreneurial experience as well.
I always knew there were "money secrets" known to the very wealthy, and I became determined to learn them for myself. They certainly weren't taught in any of the classes I had taken in law school, and the accountants I had used over the years didn't seem to know about them, so I made it a point to find people who knew them and were willing to teach them to me. I was fortunate to study financial management secrets with a number of millionaire mentors over the years.
Then I realized -- our service members and their families could utilize some of those secrets to achieve a better standard of living on their military paychecks! The only problem -- they don't know about them. Here was something I could give back, to show my gratitude for their sacrifices. That's where this program was born.
We are producing a comprehensive money management program for service members and their families which will be presented in a series of live seminars as well as offered in written and recorded media, and we're very excited about the possibilities it presents to help our military families. We think you will be too.
So please bookmark this site, and/or subscribe to our blog, either by e-mail or RSS feed, and come back often to see what's been added since your last visit.
This program has grown from my gratitude for the service of all those brave men and women, past, present and future, who have answered the call to serve with dignity, honor, and pride. And for the sacrifices made by their families, who also serve. May God bless each and every one of you.
So, as much as it pains me (as a Navy vet) to use this phrase, I have become "An Army of One", with a personal mission of helping to provide a better standard of living and quality of life for our American service members and their families, through education about money management.
I agree with Senator John McCain that it is a national disgrace that the United States of America has even one military family paid so little that it qualifies for food stamps, and I intend to do everything in my power to solve that problem. It is a travesty that we have charitable food distribution outlets, such as Feed the Children, that make regular stops on military bases to provide food for families who can't afford to live on their military pay. Congress has made great strides in recent years in attempting to solve this problem. But we cannot stop in our efforts until all military families are able to live above the poverty level.
This serious problem can be solved without Congressional appropriations, without causing a dent in the military budget, and without taking resources from other military programs. It can be done simply through education.
And I intend to do it!
Janet Pearson, Publisher
Military-Money-Matters.com