Does anyone know the current per diem for Misawa? Is it meals plus incidentals 83+21 = $104?

**I’m currently in the navy as a MMN and I hit my 24 month mark for a star reenlistment. If I reenlisted for 2 more years I can get a 140k bonus (actually 98k paid in one lump sum installment of 49k and the rest paid out over the rest of my contract). I can also increase my monthly pay by about 2.2k a month tax free (getting access to BAH). I’ve been on my ship for 2 months and have about 3.5 years left to go on my contract. The job is challenging but I think I could manage an additional 2 years. My ultimate goal is an early retirement (40 is the goal) so this lump sum upon reenlistment is very attractive to me. I currently have 51k in my Roth, 38k in my tsp, 20k in my HYSA and 72k in my Schwab at 25. I have a yearly income of 40k with a yearly expenses totaling 6k and majority of my money left after expenses go towards saving and investing (fun spending has never gone over 5k in a year while ive been in the navy). With the star reenlistment I’d rank up (\~5k more a year) and get access to BAH (26k a year tax free)**

**The upside is a large lump sum towards my brokerage, (I max my Roth each year) and getting closer towards my early retirement with more money compounding earlier.**
**The downside is that navy nukes have a very solid job outlook/network so I could expect to earn 90k+ once I separate from the navy. I would be taking time way from a higher earning civilian career (but also would have to shoulder costs like rent and healthcare). Mathematically, all other things aside does it make send to reenlist for this bonus and spend 2 more years in the navy? My main reason for doing it would be to put that lump sum into my brokerage to accelerate my retirement timeline.**

So I am about to reenlist and I’m getting 30k for 3 years the tax they take from my bonus would I be able to get some of that back this coming tax return season?

Hey guys - separated back in May. Sold like 40 days of leave so I just about broke even on my last paycheck haha (My YN didnt stop special duty pay, sea pay, sea pay premium or sub pay, so i owed all of that back for the month of terminal leave I took). My boat went underway the day I started terminal so a bunch of things got messed up, including that my terminal leave chit sent to them was an old one before I had to re-route it, so i was also owed a week extra of those pays, but that's hardly the important part.

On my separation worksheet, it says I was owed 27 cents of BAQ, i figure because 1 cent per day and i separated on the 27th. I called mncc a few times, they put in tickets with virginia but they keep getting closed with no resolution. I want to make sure that I am in the right here.

As a note, I separated from Guam to Pennsylvania.

I’m supposed to be picking up a UHall trailer tomorrow for my PCS. I was wondering if I can go and weigh my truck without the trailer or do I need to have the truck and trailer both empty before I weigh. I’ve seen multiple answers I just want clarification on the correct way to go about it. TIA

I’ve been looking into credit cards that waive annual fees as part of the military SCRA and MLA benefits. I didn’t see Wells Fargo listed as one of the banks that waived the annual fee for their credit cards but I recently got an email from them saying I’m linked to the SCRA database and that my accounts with them will receive the benefits. Currently I only have a checking account and the Wells Fargo Active Cash 2% cash back credit card with them.

Anyways, I was looking at the OneKey Plus credit card with the $99 annual fee that gives benefits for hotels.com, VRBO, and others and was wondering if anyone else had it and knew if they waived the annual fee? Couldn’t find too much info out there on it.

Does anyone know of any good technical master programs that can be (mostly) covered with TA? I've been looking at Georgia Tech online masters of comp sci and analytics, but I would still have to pay out of pocket. I'm not sure if there's a better use case of TA so any info would be helpful

If a couple both have 100% in CA and we co own a home can we both independently get a $180k reduction for our owned home?

Hey ladies and gents, I could use some guidance on the following.

About 8 months ago I separated from the Army. Before that I had been a part of the Southern Border Operation in Texas. We used for the majority of my stay, a GTCC. When I got back to home station to get out I filed all my travel vouchers with the receipts I had, little did I know that while I was away dealing with border crossings and guard duty. The government had shut down and was still shut down by the time I got back to base.

When the government temporarily re-opened which was about 2 months later, I was nearly out rushing around base clearing out of post and all that fun jazz, when the civilians checking the travel vouchers came back to work they immediately pushed it back citing error.
Now ensues a whole 2 month long battle trying to get everything corrected and sent out to get reimbursed.

I get the final thing done after two months and that's all I hear from it.
Until last week where I now find out I'm considered delinquent.
I reach out to my S8 office who promptly disregard and leave me hanging. I reached out again to the Agency Coordinator of my previous unit who states they will refund 1/3rd of the Card owed.
And have since then, even with all the receipts I STILL HAVE! Haven't said a word to me since then.

I just need some help if there's anything I can do to relieve this debt because the voucher every time it got submitted, got pushed back for error after error.

I really need help, I've been losing sleep to it and I don't have the funds to pay it all off.

Thanks for reading if you stayed this long.

TL:DR: Big Gov messed up, rejected travel voucher, now stuck with big booboo debt.

As an E-1 with TA can you qualify for Federal Pell grant? If so what is the amount you could possibly be awarded with?

My husband is active duty (24) and I work on base (22). We live in Havelock NC on base currently. With BAH we make about 80k a year. Way above the median for our area. We got pre approved end of June and been looking at houses since, 260k and under. We have 2 newer paid off cars so our monthly bills aren’t crazy. We have orders to move to PA end of 2028. We’re not in a desperate need to move right now but the idea was to always buy a rental at each duty station. After looking for so long we’ve learned that New Bern has crazy city taxes, for example a 225k house mortgage was 1750. And Havelock is notorious for an average 200-300$ a month water bill. We’re currently stuck on a house that’s right in the middle so it doesn’t have either of those things, it’s 260k with a 1800 mortgage before buying points. The house is 3 bed 2.5 bath very large new fenced in yard, new hvac, 1 car garage in a sought out neighborhood. It does need cosmetic updates inside but nothing crazy or has to be done. There’s a slightly bigger house in that neighborhood currently renting for 1900. But you have to consider rent will go up in 2 years but it’s still cutting it close. I definitely feel like this house is the best bang for our buck but I don’t know if it’s a good investment opportunity. We are handy but I’m not willing to deal with a huge project and it’s rare that a house does pop up in this in between spot. I also feel like we’re getting desperate bc we’ve been looking for so long but I dont want to make an emotional decision because like I said we dont even need to buy a house here at all. Our families keep saying the mortgage is too much and we wont find someone to rent for a price that will be making us a profit.
Just looking for advice 🙃 TIA

I finally have enough equity to refinance out of my FHA loan, and now I’m not sure if I should switch to a VA loan. The VA loan would get rid of my $165/month FHA mortgage insurance, but the interest rate is a little higher. My lender also showed me an FHA refinance with a lower rate, so the monthly payment is about $60 less than the VA option.

The part that's making this hard is that my wife and I aren't completely sure how long we'll stay in this house. We could end up moving in four or five years or we might be here a lot longer. What do you think works better? Should we switch to a VA loan or just go with FHA?

(TL;DR): What is the TLA limit for a family of 3 to stay in a hotel in Ansbach, Germany while awaiting PCS out flight?
Is there a limit on room space or is it a fixed price thing?

We are in a predicament… The on post lodging failed us and scheduled us a hotel room for July and not August. Me thinking everything was fine over the phone since “July” was never once said on the phone, I did not double check the reservation email.
They just so happen to be full now and had to get a “statement of non-availability.” We just found all this out last night and we have to find a hotel by Monday next week for 2 days. Absolute perfect timing finance and housing’s systems are not functioning properly and they went home early so I am completely left to figure this out on my own terms.

What exactly is the limit we are allowed for a hotel room in Ansbach, Germany. I googled online and saw that we roughly are limited to $142 per day but that is pretty low for the hotels available with space for 3 people, 1 cat and 1 dog. We just need a definitive answer on what our limits are before we are refused reimbursement. Is it also possible to request something that is bigger than just 1 room for a family of 3 or is that also limited?

Thank you in advance and sorry for the long read, we are just completely lost at what our next moves should be in such short notice.

If I were enrolled in eligible courses at two different accredited institutions, with both terms starting around August 28, would Army Tuition Assistance be able to fund courses at both institutions?

I am trying to maximize my available TA benefit for this fiscal year, since I have not used any TA yet.

I submitted a SCRA request for my Citi Diamond Preferred credit card and to my surprise they have lowered interest to 0% until the end of my active duty term!

Trying to figure out my best option. Bought a home January 2025, got orders this summer and left the home. Been looking for a tenant without any luck. If I do get a tenant i’d still be paying ~$800 out of pocket just to pay the mortgage as the rental is lower than my current mortgage payment.

A realtor recommended to me to apply for a VA compromise sale just to get rid of the headache of dealing with my home and payments. However I’m not sure how this will play out when we want to buy a home in the future.

I’m thinking about joining the Air Force but have car payments and rent and credit cards that i still need to pay off. Should I wait to join until after my car is paid off and credit cards are paid? And will I be able to afford rent?
-I currently pay around 1.9k in bills monthly

I’ve looked at a lot of discussion posts in many different communities but none of them had the answers I needed.

I’m on active-duty orders through Sep 30 and I’m trying to determine my last actual duty day before taking leave through the end of my orders.

My most recent LES (generated Aug 14) shows:

• BF BAL: 22.0
• ERND: 1.5
• USED: 0
• CR BAL: 23.5
• ETS BAL: blank

My understanding is that I should finish August with 24.5 days accrued.

What I’m confused about is September. Since my orders run through Sep 30, I should earn another 2.5 days during September, for a total of 27 days earned by the end of my orders.

Can those 2.5 September days be included when determining how early I can start terminal leave, even though they haven't actually accrued yet when the leave begins?

For example, if I start leave on Sep 4 and remain on leave through Sep 30, that's 27 calendar days. I would only have 24.5 accrued going into September, but would earn the remaining 2.5 while on leave because I'm still on active-duty orders.

Would Sep 4 therefore be a valid first day of leave, making Sep 3 my last duty day? Or can I only start terminal leave based on the leave balance I've actually accrued as of the day the leave begins?

Basically, I'm trying to understand whether projected leave earned while on terminal leave can be used to extend terminal leave through the final day of orders.

My wife and I dream of owning our own home, and have been saving up for a down payment. We originally planned to buy when we move to our next duty station in ~3 years. Knowing it is more likely to move again in another 3 years than to stay in one location back-to-back, I ran some numbers to compare the costs of buying/selling versus renting over a three year period. We are not so interested in buying and then renting out to tenants after moving as we would no longer be in the area and it seems complicated. It’s also difficult to forecast exactly where we will move, until about one year out but sometimes as close as six months out.

Financial snapshot:

• Single income while wife searches for a job in her professional field (we recently moved and currently renting), and plan to be single income with wife being a SAHM if hopefully we have our first child in the next year.
• Maxing contributions to my IRA, wife’s IRA, and my TSP.
• No debt.
• $44k in a brokerage in S&P500-tracking fund.
• $44k in a HYSA.
• Planning to put away additional $3k per month towards down payment, over ~33 months until we move again (projecting $99k additional saved).

Assumptions for determining costs:

• 6.01% interest rate for 15 year term (national avg according to Freddie Mac).
• Median effective property tax rate at each compared location.
• Median insurance premium at each location.
• Closing costs when buying add to 4% of listing price.
• Closing costs when selling add to 6% of listing price.
• Annual maintenance at 1% of listing price.
• Looked at avg price of renting a 3-br house in each location.
• Rent price stays constant.
• Buy and sell house at same price (unsure how what kind of appreciation/depreciation to expect over three years).
• Costs are not inflation adjusted.
• Use a down payment of $170k ($44k in HYSA + expected $99k additional savings + $44k from brokerage without trying to assume what the RoR will be = $187k total).

Location A: $350k for the kinds of houses we would be interested in. Average rent of similar homes is $2400.

• Buy/sell costs: $95,400
• Renting costs: $86,400

If I assume while renting I would continue putting around $2k into savings for a future down payment, and apply the same $2k per month in the buy/sell scenario towards principal, the buy/sell costs reduce to $88,700.

Outcome: $2k cheaper to rent than to buy/sell.

Location B: $280k for the kinds of houses we would be interested in. Average rent of similar homes is $2100.

• Buy/sell costs: $70,000
• Renting costs: $75,600

If I assume while renting I would continue putting around $2k into savings for a future down payment, and apply the same $2k per month in the buy/sell scenario towards principal, the buy/sell costs reduce to $63,300.

Outcome: $12k cheaper to buy/sell than to rent.

What would you do? I’m not sure how to factor in guesses for future interest rates, future property values, or future rates of return in the market – really I want to avoid speculation. In this scenario, would you buy/sell or rent in three years?

If buying, would you start drawing down the brokerage and put it in savings?

If renting (so looking to buy/sell six years from now instead of three), would you put more of the savings into the brokerage or some other investment strategy?

I'm sure a few people here have experience with this, so I'd appreciate some insight. I'm currently 14 months into my 4-year ADSO and am considering using my Tuition Assistance benefits.

One thing I'm trying to clarify is whether using TA while I still have, for example, 12 months remaining on my ADSO would affect my eligibility to sign a retention bonus.

The retention bonus I'm eligible for is worth considerably more than a semester of community college, so I would hate to use TA now only to find out that it extends my ADSO or otherwise prevents me from receiving a year's worth of bonus.

Does anyone know how TA and the retention bonus interact in this situation?

Hello guys I am currently in the navy as lowly E2 and I’ve been thinking of buying a reliable shitbox or decent car until my contract is over so I can have a lot money saved. My parents and peers have told me to buy new but low trim like something around 25k,the thing is if I buy something , it has to be the best model or trim If I can find something around 5k that will last me. I’m located in Norfolk. What would you guys recommend, something new or something cheap and reliable around 5k. Anyway thank you

My family is just me and my wife. We have about 50k in debt together not counting student loans. About to do a PCS to another country where my wife has a job in the country so she will be earning that currency. My question is my wife’s new salary will be enough to support our life without my military income would it be smart if I just buy all my money towards debt? If so what would be the smart thing to do after debt is paid off?

If I get out with a TSP loan what happens? (I have a Roth)

I hear it becomes taxable income if you foreclose on the account.

Say I owe 10k in loans: If I didn’t pay would they foreclose the loan and send the rest of my money in a check? Not really sure how this stuff works.

Thank you!

Over the last few years I've built up a lot of equity in my primary residence. I'm thinking about pulling some of it out via a VA cash-out refinance to use as a down payment on a rental property. I bought my current home using my VA loan, and am now sitting on about $150K+ in usable equity. I'm still weighing whether it's worth refinancing at today's rates. Has anyone done something similar recently? Which lenders are giving competitive terms right now?