Farley - Mission transition: managing your career and your retirement

Mission Transition

Mission Transition

Managing Your Career and Your Retirement

Janet I. Farley

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

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Copyright 2018 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Farley, Janet I., author.

Title: Mission transition : managing your career and your retirement / Janet I. Farley.

Other titles: Managing your career and your retirement

Description: Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017016563 (print) | LCCN 2017019456 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442281622 (electronic) | ISBN 9781442281615 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Retired military personnelEmploymentUnited States. | VeteransEmploymentUnited States. | Military pensionsUnited States. | Career changesUnited States.

Classification: LCC UB357 (ebook) | LCC UB357 .F37 2018 (print) | DDC 646.7/908835500973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016563

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to those who have served in the United States Armed Forces and to those who have supported them on the home front.

Acknowledgments

As a general rule, it is appreciated by other authors that the process of writing a book is not an easy one. Even if you have divine inspiration and a driving ambition to spread the word on good stuff that genuinely matters, it is still really hard work that is both time and life consuming. It certainly doesnt happen without the gracious support of others, and the process of writing this particular book was no exception.

First and foremost, I owe a great deal of thanks to Kathryn Knigge, associate editor at Rowman & Littlefield, for her continued support and patience. I am grateful for her genuine concern for our military service members and their families and for her admirable willingness to create good books for them. Thanks are likewise given to Patricia Stevenson, production editor, for moving the manuscript forward in the publication process.

I am also grateful to the team of many unnamed, yet highly appreciated, professionals at Rowman & Littlefield who spent their valuable time reading, editing, designing, and launching this book into the world. These unsung publishing heroes are awesome, and all the behind-the-scenes hard work, expertise, and dedication are very much appreciated.

While I consider myself fairly guru-like on military-to-civilian career transition topics, I do not in any way, shape, or form claim to be a financial expert at this point in my career. This book does, however, focus on financial matters as they relate to the military transition process. Lucky for us, I happen to know a few great financial experts, and they were graciously willing to share their expertise with me in this book.

In writing chapter 2, A Crash Course Plus in the Blended Retirement System, I reached out to a few of my favorite financial experts for their sage advice and wisdom, and they reached back. I am so grateful to them for their willingness to contribute their expertise and advice to the readers of this book.

Specifically, heartfelt thanks go to Mr. Joseph J.J. Montanaro, CFP, the relationship director of the Military Advocacy Group for USAA; Mr. Shane Ostrom, CFP, deputy director of finance and benefits information for the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA); Mrs. Starlett Henderson, AFC, who is a veteran and family member employment specialist; Mr. Doug Nordman, author of The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement and The Military Financial Independence and Retirement Pocket Guide ; and Mrs. Attiyya Ingram, AFC, who is the owner of Ingram Financial Management. I greatly respect and appreciate all of your professional expertise, your own personal military service and family member experiences, and your selfless dedication to helping others.

I must also say thank you to Mrs. Kelly Buchfink, a financial advisor for First Command Financial Services, and Mrs. Jackie Nasca, an independent financial counselor, for their insights when asked and for further leads that helped me to craft this book in areas where I consider them the experts. Im also very glad that they are my longtime friends.

Id like to thank Mr. Wayne Boswell, who recently retired as the DoDs financial readiness director, for pointing me in the right direction to learn more about the militarys new Blended Retirement System at a time when finding information on it wasnt quite as easy as it is now. Id also like to acknowledge him here for his lifelong service and faithful commitment to all our service members and their families. I had the great honor of working for Mr. Boswell at Headquarters, European Command, in Stuttgart, Germany, with the J1 Quality of Life Program, and I know that his skilled ability to connect diverse groups of people, craft meaningful policy, and make a positive difference will be sorely missed by many in federal service.

To all those other federal employees, military service members, military family members, contracted service providers, military family advocacy organizations, and private industry employers out there who do more than they have to for our service members and their families, both because its the right thing to do and because they know that doing their part well, regardless of its size, will contribute to the greater good somewhere along the line, I say thank you, too.

While I didnt directly contact anyone at Blue Star Families for assistance with this book, I did find their 2016 Military Family Lifestyle Survey extremely helpful. Youll find it referenced throughout the book. I, as both a military spouse and an author, am grateful for the timely research and advocacy that they do on behalf of service members and military families.

Much love and appreciation goes to my family, my favorite people ever. To say that this past year in our lives has been eventful would be a gross understatement. After living what seems like a lifetime abroad between military and federal service, we transitioned ourselves from one side of the world to the other. Much like the process of writing a book, we found that it just wasnt easy. Change, it would seem, never is. Still, throughout the many challenges of global repatriation, my favorite peeps rose to the occasion and cheered me on to the finish line as they have done before.

Im not sure how many grande mochas my daughter Frannie brought me from Starbucks, but there were more than a few, and they helped to motivate me accordingly. My other daughter, Terrie, always knew when to leave me an encouraging note or give me a you got this fist pump. Farley, my husband, was very encouraging and had an uncanny ability to know when to suggest ordering takeout for dinner. Even my dog got in on the support act by keeping my feet warm as I pounded out chapters on my laptop. #MyFamily #GottaLoveThem #IDoIReallyDo