Reevaluate your family’s retirement plan
Now you might be thinking – the MSRRA and health insurance topics are confusing enough…do I really need to think about investments when I first start my new job too?! The answer is YES! Most major employers offer competitive 401K plans for their employees. Your active duty spouse is probably also contributing a certain percentage of their pay each month to their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
When setting up your 401K, it is again helpful to do a comparison and determine how it makes the most sense to contribute across the plans for your family. For example, if your family as a whole can afford to contribute 15% of your total income to retirement, it may make sense to contribute more to one of the plans than the other to reach that 15%. If your employer offers matching, it usually makes sense to contribute at least that amount into your employer’s plan.
Beyond that, however, it might help to compare the return on your spouse’s TSP from the last year to the historical information provided for your employer’s plan to determine how the rest of should be distributed.
If you’re like me, finance probably doesn’t come second nature to you and you’d prefer the experts guide your decision. For that reason, take advantage of any free advice resources available to you through both your military base and your employer as it relates to retirement planning.
Understand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Family and Medical Leave Act is a robust federal policy that allows employees certain quantities of unpaid, job-protected leave based on certain criteria. While FMLA is usually used to cover health care needs for the general population, there are certain military family leave entitlements available to military members and spouses. These include leave for specific reasons related to military deployments, military ceremonies, and care for an injured servicemember. Again, most HR partners will not be familiar with this aspect of FMLA, so research the details depending on your specific situation, and advocate for your rights!
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