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Veterans: 6 Tax Moves to Consider in 2025

Military Veterans often face changing financial situations, from untaxed benefits and combat zone tax exclusions to special bonuses and, finally, the transition to retirement or a civilian career.

The Income Tax Surprise

Transitioning from military service to civilian life is a significant change, not just in lifestyle but also in financial planning. One area where veterans often encounter unexpected challenges is income taxes.

Understanding 529 Education Savings Accounts: Addressing Common Concerns for Military Families

As a financial advisor working with military veterans and their families, I often hear questions about 529 education savings accounts.

Stop Calling It Passive Income

As a financial advisor working with military veterans and others, I hear the term “passive income” thrown around constantly. People tell me they want to buy rental properties or established businesses as a way to achieve passive income.

Understanding Depreciation Recapture: What Small Business and Rental Property Owners Should Know

Depreciation recapture is a crucial concept for anyone selling assets like rental properties, equipment, or other business-use items. This tax rule often catches people by surprise.

5 Common Tax Mistakes Veterans and Small Business Owners Should Avoid

Navigating taxes can be challenging for veterans and small business owners who often juggle managing their business and their other responsibilities. In this article, we explore five frequent tax mistakes that can lead to financial issues.

Prepping 101: A Thoughtful Approach

When hurricanes Helene and Milton swept across the coastlines, they left more than just a trail of destruction. They sparked a conversation about the importance of emergency preparedness. For homeowners, emergency preppers, and animal...

The Case for Physical Cash: If You Can’t Hold It, You Don’t Own It

Recent events around the world suggest that having physical cash on hand is becoming more necessary even as many people are going completely cash-free. This post details those recent events along with the benefits and drawbacks of cash.

12 Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor

12 Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor (And My Answers) Are you a fiduciary? Yes, both by law and in word and deed. Why do I need a financial planner? For the same reason that people need doctors, attorneys, and CPAs. If you...

2019 Annual Letter to Clients

Dear Client: I want to open this letter by wishing you and your family a happy new year! Thank you for continuing to trust me on your path to financial independence and wealth. 2018 was indeed an interesting year in financial markets....

What's So Important About Disability Insurance?

What's So Important About Disability Insurance? One of the many benefits earned by active duty service members is the continuation of pay despite injury, sickness, or any other reasons that may cause a person to miss work. In other...

National Preparedness Month

National Preparedness Month In early September, my area of South Carolina went through last-minute preparations as Hurricane Florence prepared to batter our state and North Carolina with heavy winds, rain, and storm surges....

3 Reasons for a Service Member to Buy Life Insurance

3 Reasons for a Service Member to Buy Life Insurance In previous articles, I’ve written a summary of the life insurance and death benefits provided for military service members and also a guide on why people need life insurance...

Don't Panic

Don't Panic The sudden stock market drop of February 2018 took many investors by surprise. The U.S. Dow fell 7%. Other world markets also tumbled: Japan’s Nikkei by 4.7%; Hong Kong stocks, 5.1%; and London’s FTSE 100,...

5 Reasons Why the Military Pension is not the Holy Grail of Retirement

5 Reasons Why the Military Pension is Not the Holy Grail of Retirement While only a fraction of people who join the military serve at least 20 years to be eligible for retirement, those who do so enjoy many benefits. Retirement from...

The 2 Ways to Build Wealth: Start a Business or Buy Businesses

The 2 Ways to Build Wealth: Start a Business or Buy Businesses In striving for financial independence, a comfortable retirement, or any other worthy financial goal, only two methods exist to reliably generate needed wealth. Sure, one...

3 Factors That Determine the Size of an Emergency Fund

3 Factors That Determine the Size of an Emergency Fund Today’s article is a follow-up to another post, “5 Key Reasons to Establish an Emergency Fund Now,” which explained why you should have an emergency funds. As...

5 Key Reasons to Establish an Emergency Fund Now

5 Key Reasons to Establish an Emergency Fund Now The emergency fund is nothing new in the financial world. Many of us bloggers pontificate on the need to maintain a proper emergency fund and rightly so. But why should we hold a bunch...

PCS Time: Rent or Buy

PCS Time: Rent or Buy Warning Order As the summer months rapidly approach, so does the primary moving season for members of our military. With any move comes the inevitable debate over renting or buying a home. While this debate...

Stocks Crashed! What Do We Do Now?

Stocks Crashed! What Do We Do Now? Warning Order In the past two weeks, we have seen the largest single-day points drop in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We have also seen several days where the DJIA has traded in a...

The Most Powerful Variable in Investing: Time

The Most Powerful Variable in Investing: Time Warning Order When discussing saving and investing, people, including financial advisors like me, often explain the power of time in building wealth. We then go on to explain annual returns...

Paying Off Your Mortgage is Essential to Your Financial Plan

Paying Off Your Mortgage is Essential to Your Financial Plan Warning Order One of the hallmarks of the American dream is homeownership. We have an entire regulatory and tax structure along with government-sponsored entities to support...

Good Debt and Bad Debt: What is the Difference?

Good Debt and Bad Debt: What is the Difference? Warning Order Struggles with debt are common for most people. When companies are eager to offer loans or credit cards to help buy their products and services, it’s easy to get...

Inflation Hedges & April's CPI Report

Transcript: Hey everyone, this is a quick video discussing the reaction of different “inflation hedges” after the recent consumer price index reading. I’m recording this video on May 19th, 2021 and one week ago we...

Book Review: A History of the United States in Five Crashes

Book Review: A History of the United States in Five Crashes Warning Order From time to time, I will post reviews of books that I read as part of my ongoing professional development if I find them applicable to financial planning or...

Why We Need Life Insurance and How to Calculate Your Needs: Part 2

Why We Need Life Insurance and How to Calculate Your Needs Part 2 Warning Order Part 1 of this series explained the financial lifecycle and provided a general overview of life insurance. In Part 2, I’ll discuss the factors that...

Why We Need Life Insurance and How to Calculate Your Needs: Part 1

Why We Need Life Insurance and How to Calculate Your Needs: Part 1 Warning Order As we reach the halfway mark of 2021 many of you still likely are working on those New Year’s resolutions to work toward. While those resolutions...

The Coming Reckoning in Social Security

The Coming Reckoning in Social Security Warning Order Social Security, a federal program created in the depths of the Great Depression, provides significant financial support for retirees and is a pillar of financial planning. The...

Death Benefits for Military Service Members

Death Benefits for Military Service Members Warning Order While most service members are aware of their SGLI benefits, they are often unaware of significant additional benefits provided to the survivors of service members who lose...

4 Critical Financial Steps to Consider Before Overseas Deployment

4 Critical Financial Steps to Consider Before Overseas Deployment Warning Order Even as the number of military service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan dwindled in recent years, the reduction in the size of each of our...

How Much Does That iPhone X Really Cost?

How Much Does That iPhone X Really Cost? Warning Order The iPhone X recently arrived on shelves at Apple stores and mobile carriers everywhere with a host of new features. All these new features come at a high price, $999 to be exact,...

Savings Deposit Program: Is 10% Interest Good Enough?

Savings Deposit Program: Is 10% Interest Good Enough? Warning Order A continuing fact of life for many military service members is regular deployments, both combat and non-combat. The Savings Deposit Program (SDP) is a program run by...

TSP Lifecycle Funds

TSP Lifecycle Funds Warning Order Many service members today invest their savings through the Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP, which is the federal government’s version of a 401(k) for its employees. TSP Lifecycle funds, also known...

Blended Retirement System Part 2: Yes or No?

Blended Retirement System: Yes or No? Part 2 Warning Order In 2016’s National Defense Authorization Act, Congress created a new retirement system for our military. The majority of today’s military service members are...

Blended Retirement System Part 1: Yes or No?

Blended Retirement System Part 1: Yes or No? Warning Order (Summary) In 2016’s National Defense Authorization Act, Congress created a new retirement system for our military. The majority of today’s military service members...

Tip of the Week: TSP Matching Contributions Under BRS

Transcript: Hello, everyone, I'm Derek merkler fiduciary financial advisor and author here at military FA calm with your Tip of the Week. This week I'm discussing how matching contributions work under the military's new Blended...

Tip of the Week: What is Investment Risk? What is Safety?

Transcript: Hey everyone, I’m back with another financial planning Tip of the Week! The topic is investment risk versus investment & financial safety. The traditional notion of investment risk is the possibility of a decline in...

Tip of the Week: Veterans Group Life Insurance

Transcript: Hello folks, Derek Merkler here again with a new tip of the week, this time reviewing Veterans Group Life Insurance or VGLI. VGLI is offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs and is, in some ways, a continuation...

Tip of the Week: VA Healthcare for Transitioning Veterans

Transcript: Hey everyone, Derek Merkler here with your next Tip of the Week discussing VA healthcare options after separation. This episode is for a specific subset of Veterans: those who were discharged without any VA healthcare...

Tip of the Week: The Purpose of Annuities

Transcript: Hey folks, I’m Derek Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor and in this tip of the week, I’ll discuss annuities and where they might fit in a financial plan. Since my business focuses on helping clients navigate...

Tip of the Week: Side Hustles and Optimal Allocation of Time

Transcript: Hello, I’m Derek Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor and in this tip of the week video, I’m discussing the concept of side hustles and time allocation. Now I’m treading slightly into the waters of career...

Tip of the Week: Prior Year IRA Contributions

Transcript: Hello, everyone, I'm Derek Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor and author here at militaryFA.com with your Tip of the Week. This week I'll be explaining prior year IRA contributions. As I record this video in early 2019,...

Tip of the Week: New Client Reading List

Transcript: Hello, I’m Derek Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor for military veterans and in this tip of the week video, I’m sharing the three books that I expect my new clients to read. These books are foundational to...

Tip of the Week: Mortgage Interest Deduction

Transcript: Hello, everyone, I'm Derrick Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor and author here with your Tip of the Week. This week, I'm discussing the true meaning of the term tax free income that is used in whole life and Universal...

Tip of the Week: Life Insurance Tax Free Income

Transcript: Hello, everyone, I'm Derrick Merkler, fiduciary financial advisor and author here at military FA calm with your Tip of the Week. This week, I'm discussing the true meaning of the term tax free income that is used in whole...

Tip of the Week: In Financial Planning, Absolute Wealth is Not the Goal

Transcript: Hey everyone, I’m back with another tip of the week. I want to share a recent discussion that I had with a family around buying their first home. These are people who are military veterans who have moved around a lot...

Tip of the Week: Doubling Your Money

Transcript: Hey everyone, I’m back with another tip of the week! When discussing investments as part of a financial plan, we often get bogged down in the details… things like individual fund selection, expected annual...

Think You're a Passive Investor? Think Again!

Tip of the Week: Think You’re a Passive Investor? Think Again! Transcript:Hey everyone, Derek Merkler here again. In this video, I’m discussing the misconceived notion of “passive” investing. Whether you are new to financial planning...

Tip of the Week: How I Overcome Stock Market Volatility

Transcript:Hey everyone, Derek Merkler here with another tip of the week. I want to take some time in this video to discuss my personal technique for overcoming the emotions, especially fear, that are caused by wild swings in the...

Tip of the Week: The Big 529 Question

Transcript: Hey, I’m Derek Merkler, the Military Financial Advisor, back with another tip of the week video. I want to address a question about 529 education savings plans that I often receive from new clients and that I see...

The Lost Cause of New Year's Resolutions

Transcript: Hey, Derek Merkler, The Military Financial Advisor here to wish you a happy new year! Well… not only that but happy new decade!!! With the new year come new year’s resolutions! Unfortunately, as you may know...

Why I Prefer Roth IRA Accounts

Transcript: Hey, everyone! In this week’s tip of the week, I want to explain why I lean toward using Roth accounts, such as Roth IRAs and Roth 401Ks, as opposed to your traditional IRAs and 401ks as an investment and retirement...

Tip of the Week: The Type of Client That I Serve

Transcript: Hello! Once again, I’m Derek Merkler, a CFP® Professional and in today’s video, I want to share with you the type of client that I serve.

3 Factors That Determine the Size of An Emergency Fund

Today’s article is a follow-up to another post, “5 Key Reasons to Establish an Emergency Fund Now,” which explained why you should have an emergency fund. As promised, I will now describe the factors one should...

Tip of the Week: How to Destroy Your Wealth