Financial Readiness

ü      Article on “Savings to Spend: the Missing Piece of your Budget Puzzle”
       Savings to Spend_Missing Piece of your Budget Puzzle 20070208.doc
       Savings to Spend_Missing Piece of your Budget Puzzle 20070208.pdf

ü Paper “Military Saves” pledge
Military Saves (America Saves)
Military Saves Paper Pledge National 20070213.pdf

Link to the Military Saves Web Site ( http://www.militarysaves.org )

National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) 2008
The theme is “Financial Literacy: a Sound Investment.” Learn more at the Federal Trade Commission’s NCPW Web Site ( http://www.consumer.gov/ncpw/index.html )

You can left-click on the MS Excel (.xls) or Acrobat Reader (.pdf) files to open, read and use them on the internet; you can also right-click on the files to download the them for your personal, future use.

ü The missing puzzle piece: “Yearly Spending Plan – Enhanced.” This spreadsheet can help you forecast your PYF STS save-outs as described above
Yearly Spending Plan 20070201.pdf
Yearly Spending Plan 20070201.xls

ü The picture on the cover: “Monthly Spending Plan.” This spreadsheet lets you integrate your net income with Future, Present, and Past expenses – and your expenses should not exceed your income – or you are going deep into debt.
Monthly Spending Plan 20070201.pdf
Monthly Spending Plan 20070201.xls

ü Your score card: “Net Worth Statement.” It is not the money you make; it’s the money you get to keep” (a quote from Financial Planner Ric Edelman). Your Net Worth Statement is your actual score card on how well you are doing in your personal finances.
Net Worth Statement 20070201.pdf
Net Worth Statement 20070201.xls(

ü Creditor Debt List. Keep track of your creditors to pay them off! Who do you owe; how much do you owe to them in total; what is the monthly amount due; what is the annual percentage rate (APR)?
Creditor Debt List 20070201.pdf
Creditor Debt List 20070201.xls

ü Monthly Spending Plan in Weekly Bands. Build your budget based upon your income by the week. Great for forecasting pay and expenses when you are paid weekly or bi-weekly.
Monthly Spending Plan in Weekly Bands 20070201.pdf
Monthly Spending Plan in Weekly Bands 20070201.xls

ü Savings Record Worksheet. Want to keep track of the monies in your savings account? You are putting money away for different reasons, but your savings account just has a total amount in the account. Use this spreadsheet to track your monies by purpose.
Savings Records Worksheet 20070201.pdf
Savings Records Worksheet 20070201.xls

ü Budget Balance Remaining Worksheet. How far can your money go? Use this MS Excel spreadsheet and “count-down” your money so that you do not overspend. You can list your expenses in priority so the important items are paid for first.
Budget Balance Remaining Worksheet 20070201.pdf
Budget Balance Remaining Worksheet 20070201.xls

There are four control documents for your personal financial management (PFM):

(1) Net Worth Statement (the money you get to keep)

(2) Non-routine expenses (money future)

(3) Creditors (money past)

(4) Total budget (money present, with past and future)

Click on this link and learn about how to really control your personal finances.

Learn about the pitfall of taking out a Pay-Day Loan. Click on the icon for a 3-minute news clip from ABS News regarding the impact on your personal finances if you borrow money from high-interest lenders (you will need a video-viewer program to see the clip).

Budget: Monthly or Bi-Weekly Spending Plan. Remember the Three Christmas Ghosts in “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens? Ghosts of Christmas: Past, Present, and Future – Well, money is spent the same way:

MS Excel version of a budget in weekly bands that you can download and use as a changeable spreadsheet -

Budgeting for Extended Absences (for example, deployments). Here are two spreadsheets (MS Excel .xls) that you can view, print or download to help you prepare for extended absences. One sheet lets you plan expenses based on who pays. The other sheet lets you analyze income before, during and after deployments, and plan who pays what expenses with what monies. Please consider separate checking accounts.
1 Extended Absence Financial Plan Analysis Worksheet 20051128.xls

Creditor List. Want to keep track of your creditors? Here is a spreadsheet to help you!

PowerPay Program 5.0 for debt liquidation now available on the web for free !

PowerPay is the way to get out of debt. You can calculate your pay off now using the internet to navigate your way to www.powerpay.org
This is a free service provided to you and your family from the University of Utah Extension Service.

The PowerPay technique is simple:
        Treat your creditors as a group and pay the same amount to your group every month.
        Try to add no more to the debt.
        As one creditor is paid off, you take what you were paying to that first creditor and “roll” that payment to a second, targeted creditor. As other creditors are paid off, you keep rolling the extra amounts to remaining creditors until the group is paid off.

The software will let you calculate different methods (by highest interest rate, lowest balance, etc.) and their associated costs. The software can print out a payment calendar so you can track your debt pay-off. It also has budgeting and personal financial management advice, plus PowerSave software.

Budgeting for Baby! Expecting a new arrival? Here is a spreadsheet to help you plan your additional expenses (idea adopted from the Navy Relief Society’s “Baby Seabags” program)
         Baby Budget Generic Work Sheet 20030409.xls

Pay Yourself First Savings = Savings to Spend! Here is a spreadsheet to help you estimate the amount of money to save for future, non-routine expenses. Have you ever used a “Christmas Club Account”? You know that Christmas shopping is expensive, so you save small amounts each paycheck, and the amount grows over the year, so that you have money for Christmas Shopping! Well, “Christmas Club everything!” You can save for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Christmas, military balls, starting school in August, car services – it beats paying credit charges if you borrow money.

MS Excel work sheet for keeping track of your saving account monies and what the amounts are for. You can also use a “save out” notation in your checking register or envelopes or folders to Pay Yourself First Savings
Pay Yourself First Savings Worksheet.xls

Services Offered:
Budgeting and Money Management, Debt Reduction Counseling, Consumer Information and Education, Credit Information, Basic Investment Information, Dealing with Creditors, Renter and Homeowner Rights, Insurance Information, Amortization Tables, Tax Information and Referral (Free Electronic tax filing January - April), How to Save on Your Utility Bills, Reducing Your Food Bill, Retirement Planning and Saving, How to Meet College Costs, Request 6 free installment lessons mailed to your home or work in "Take Control of your Finances", Access to Internet for Up-to-Date Consumer News.

Point of Contact:
For information on the Financial Readiness program, call (309) 782-0829 or DSN 793-0829 for an appointment. Hours are Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
email: RIA-ACS@ria.army.mil

Financial and Consumer Awareness:

Budgeting and Money Management - Example of monthly budgets and worksheet to set one up.
Federal Trade Commission
Social Security Administration - Latest information on social security.
Veteran's Administration - Information on services and benefits.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission- Latest consumer alerts and information.
Perdiem Rates - Information on the latest per diem rates.
Consumer Information Center - Information on tons of free informational brochures and more!
Internal Revenue Service - Free information on taxes and hard to find publications.
Salary Calculator - Thinking about taking a job in Chicago? Find out how much more you would have to make to have the cost of living compare.

ACS RIA can assist you officially register consumer complaints. While the main office for consumer complaint services is the garrison Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) [(309) 782-1443, E-mail: amsta-ri-gc@ria.army.mil ACS can assist you fill out the DA form 5184, Consumer Complaint. Do you need help explaining your situation and desired corrective actions? Do you desire further information on contacting the Better Business Bureau or the States’ Attorney Generals’ offices? Need typing support? ACS can help (see our ACS contact information).

An Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) file of this Army complaint form can be down loaded from this web page.

DA Form 5184 Cons Cmplaint.pdf

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) for the Quad Cities Area (QCA) is an office from the Des Moines, Iowa, chapter; their web site is www.desmoines.bbb.org The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has partnered with the Department of Defense and Department of the Army to provide services to our military and their family members, plus employees and retirees. The web sites are: www.military.bbb.org and www.army.bbb.org

Illinois State Attorney General’s Office web site is www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov
Iowa State Attorney General’s Office web site is www.iowaattorneygeneral.org
You may also register a complaint on-line directly to the Department of Defense Staff Judge Advocate and the Federal Trade Commission. Visit www.consumer.gov/military/ for the Military Sentinel site.

Education Financial Sites:

The Financial Aid Page - This is THE SITE for information on federal programs, state programs, and it offers 4 free scholarship searches and tons of other important information.
Illinois Student Assistance Commission - This is the page for all information on state programs for Illinois. (Iowa does not have a homepage yet.)
Department of Education - Federal site for information on all Department of Education programs.

For your educational use are the parts of the Basic, Financial, Retirement Planning Workshop Lessons.

The Purpose of these lessons is to get you started or to continue your retirement planning explorations, discussions and decisions for yourself and in coordination with your family members, significant others and your advisors and coaches.

· Each person and family is unique – basic methods and factors need to be adapted to each.

· The class is “basic” and regards “financial” aspects; retirement is complex and made up of many factors: wealth accumulation, debt, risk management and insurances, health care, long term care, tax planning, and estate planning (to name a few).

· Make no immediate decisions and seek advice and consent of other involved people (family members and advisors).

· The following information is provided as a service by the Financial Readiness Center (Contractor Supported) of Army Community Service (ACS). Clients and readers are responsible for making their decisions on actions to take. This planning information could be of great interest to the extended Arsenal community. The information presented below is neither an endorsement nor any sort of recommendation. The information is provided only for educating readers in order to broaden their knowledge of options that may be available. For this educational purpose, the following information is provided. Also, because of changes in policies, this information is subject to change without notice.

(Click on the link to view, or right-click on the link and "save target as" to save)

Note 1: Described in the workshop lessons are software packages entitled “PowerSave” and “PowerPay.” The software originates from the Utah State Extension Service. Army Community Service (ACS) at Rock Island Arsenal has received a site – license to reproduce the software sets. Persons may obtain copies by coming in to the ACS center, or you may contact ACS at the contact e-mail and phone numbers listed earlier on this web site.

Note 2: Persons who are unable to open and view the MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents are welcome to request paper copies to be mailed to them. Please contact our ACS office at the phone or e-mails provided at our homepage.

Learn more about the Financial Readiness Program at Army Community Service at Rock Island Arsenal. Click on the file below and view a video clip from a local news broadcast from November 2007.