‘Military Saves’ campaign aims to help Airmen plan for future

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The "Military Saves" campaign is running alongside "Military Saves" Week Feb. 22 to 27 and the goal is to educate Airmen, civilians and spouses in better financial planning.

A variety of classes are scheduled to run throughout the week and will include valuable information on making money go further, ways to avoid debt, tax preparation and preparing financially for retirement.

Military Saves is part of the Department of Defense Financial Readiness Campaign, and part of "America Saves."

"It's one big push a year to jump start getting people to set goals and start saving," said Tara Weeks, 100th Force Support Squadron community readiness specialist. "It's intended to be year round, but this is an annual push to remind people."

A licensed financial counsellor will be available at RAF Mildenhall from Feb. 22 to March 4, and will be both giving the scheduled classes and offering individual appointments. Sign up is required.

"There's also two classes we want to go to the squadrons to teach - 'Understanding and improving your credit' and 'Wealth-building'," added Weeks. "Our goal is to get into every squadron to teach one of those two classes - we'll go to squadrons at any reasonable time. For example, if you have a mid-shift then we'd love to come out on the end of that shift; if they start at midnight and finish at 8 a.m., then we could come at 6 a.m."

Squadron classes are by request, and Weeks said staff at the Airman and Family Readiness Center will gladly come and offer advice.

They also want people to take a pledge to save.

"We'll be taking pledges at the BXtra some time between Feb. 22 to 26," Weeks added. "The numbers are then submitted for all of the bases to see which are participating and saving. That's the ultimate goal - when you write something down you're more likely to do it and that's the point of the pledge card."

Scheduled classes are as follows:

Feb. 22: Stretching my money in a tight economy - 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 23: Avoid drowning in debt, and borrow wisely - 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 24: Strategies for home buying - 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 25: Tax preparation - 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 26: Making your ideal retirement a reality - 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Spaces are still available but limited. To reserve a slot for any of the classes, or to make an appointment with a financial advisor, call DSN 238-3406 or commercial 01638-543406.