Yet, despite the sacrifices they have made to protect makees, many veterans and their families find themselves struggling financially. The following is a list of resources for programs and organizations that assist veterans experiencing financial difficulties. Take a look at these financial resources for veterans. Designed to help families with minor children, this program offers cash grants to pay for housing, utilities, food and vetwrans expenses. The goal is to encourage a stable home life for children. Veterans who were severely disabled while serving in Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom can apply for grants to pay for medical bills, emergency transportation, vehicle repair and housing.
How much of your wages can be garnished?
The Veteran Directed Care VDC program , previously called the Veterans Directed Home and Community Based Services VD-HCBS program, is designed to allow veterans who are potential candidates for nursing home placement to receive that level of care in their homes, their caregivers’ homes, or in non-supportive, independent living communities not assisted living residences. The program provides veterans with a budget and allows them to choose their own care providers in place of receiving care services from the VA health care system. In some cases, family members of the veteran can be paid for the care they provide. It is a stated objective to make the VDC Program available nationwide. However, no timeline has been given toward reaching that goal. Having said that, these programs are not appropriate for everyone. A substantial amount of effort is required of the veteran and their family in the determination of care requirements, selection of providers, and ongoing management of the care services. However, for many families, the independence to choose care providers, the potential to pay family members for their assistance, and the ability for the veteran to continue living at home make participation in this program well worth the effort. The Plan is reviewed and any required modifications, are agreed upon through a collaborative back-and-forth process. In conclusion, a spending budget is established for the veteran. For veterans who do not have the cognitive capacity to take on this role, an authorized representative may do so.
Military Debt Consolidation Loan
VA’s Insurance Service provides beneficiaries with free, professional financial advice from FinancialPoint, an independent company whose team of professionals are experts in handling a wide range of financial matters. They simply enter their information into FinancialPoint’s website, and a financial professional will prepare a customized financial plan based on the details provided. Learn more about Beneficiary Financial Counseling. The Career Center on eBenefits offers Servicemembers in transition and Veterans with opportunities to translate their military skills into careers in the public and private sectors. The tools and resources available in the Career Center allow Servicemembers and Veterans the ability to search for jobs, identify professional strengths, and create and post resumes. Learn more about the Career Center. VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service provides educational-vocational counseling for veterans and certain dependents. This service can provide a wide range of educational and vocational counseling services to Servicemembers still on active duty, as well as Veterans and dependents who are eligible for one of VA’s educational benefit programs. These services are designed to help an individual choose a vocational direction and determine the course needed to achieve the chosen goal. Learn more about Educational and Vocational Counseling. VA’s Fiduciary Program was established to protect Veterans and other beneficiaries who, due to injury, disease, or due to age, are unable to manage their financial affairs. The fiduciary is responsible to the beneficiary and oversees financial management of VA benefit payments. Generally, family members or friends serve as fiduciaries for beneficiaries; however, when friends and family are not able to serve, VA looks for qualified individuals or organizations to serve as a fiduciary. Learn more about the Fiduciary Program. The Independent Living program is designed to make sure that each eligible Veteran is able, to the maximum extent possible, to live independently and participate in family and community life increasing their potential to return to work. Those who may qualify are Veteran’s whose service connected disabilities are so severe that they are currently unable to pursue an employment goal. Learn more about Independent Living. In cases where loan servicers are unable to help Veteran borrowers, VA’s Loan Guaranty Service has Loan Technicians in eight regional loan centers and a special servicing center who take an active role in interceding with the servicer to explore all options to avoid foreclosure. Service members or Veterans with VA-guaranteed home loans can call to reach the nearest Loan Guaranty office where Loan Specialists are prepared to discuss potential ways to help save the loan. Learn more about Mortgage Delinquency Assistance. VA is developing innovative ways to help Veterans make the transition to college life. The VetSuccess on Campus VSOC program aims to help Veterans, Servicemembers, and their qualified dependents succeed and thrive through a coordinated delivery of on-campus benefits assistance and counseling, leading to completion of their education and preparing them to enter the labor market in viable careers. Learn more about VetSuccess on Campus. Veterans Crisis Line: Press 1. Complete Directory. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, visit VeteransCrisisLine. Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps. Please switch auto forms mode to off. Hit enter to expand a main menu option Health, Benefits, etc. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow.
VA Communication
NBCC has advocated for increased recognition and hiring of professional counselors by the VA for years, efforts that resulted in passage of a law in adding licensed professional mental health counselors LPMHCs to the list of professions eligible for VA employment. However, barriers remain to counselor employment in the VA, which continues to hire counselors in much lower numbers than other mental health professions. NBCC has continued to work with the VA to further integrate the counseling profession into the VA health care system and increase hiring. Although VA officials acknowledge the value of counselors for their mission, the pace of counselor hiring by the VA has been unacceptably slow. In addition to letters requesting information and action to address the inadequate hiring of LPMHCs, NBCC has met with VA staff on numerous occasions, both one-on-one and with other stakeholder organizations. While continuing to work with the VA on the issue, NBCC is seeking congressional involvement to address the low level of counselor employment. This has resulted in members of Congress voicing their dissatisfaction with the situation both in hearings and in letters, as well as bills to address the issue. While professional counselors became eligible for VA hiring with the release of the handbook update, it took until for counselors to be added to the program. However, counselor participation severely lags behind the other professions, and NBCC is pursuing legislation to increase access to the profession. To learn more about this proposed federal legislation, read this summary. President Obama signs legislation, H. President Obama signs the omnibus appropriations act, which includes language in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Appropriations report urging the VA to add counselors to the VA Health Professionals Trainee Program and requiring a report within 90 days. All rights reserved. Search Our Webite:.
Beneficiary Financial Counseling
Most people look forward to retirement. This is a period of life in which you can step away from the grind of daily employment and follow your dreams. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to retire without worry or regret.
Unfortunately, many people fail to prepare financially. This article was co-authored by Michael R. Michael R. Lewis is a retired corporate executive, entrepreneur, and investment advisor in Texas.
Categories: Featured Articles Financing Retirement. Log in Facebook Loading Google Loading Civic Loading No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Article Edit. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Co-authored by Michael R. Lewis Updated: October 22, There are 27 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
Determine basic living expenses. An important first step is to determine the amount necessary to cover basic living expenses each year. There are different perspectives on how much this will be. Some experts believe you should simply calculate your current expenses.
Then, expect you’ll need about the same amount to live on once you retire. From this perspective, the amount you need each year will be about the same as you need. Others believe that many retired people can live on about 65 percent of their working income.
This assumes that you have paid off your house and you aren’t expecting to retire in luxury. Whichever approach you opt for, you’ll need to add up all the routine necessities of living. This should include: Any housing costs you expect to have after retirement Average monthly utilities e. Food and clothing Transportation Insurance Any other monthly bill you still expect to pay after retiring e. Their costs for transportation come in the form of auto insurance, gas, and routine maintenance.
This only covers the most basic expenses. Calculate extra expenses. Many people have plans to pursue new interests or hobbies during retirement. Many parents have continuing financial responsibilities for disabled children. Others have health problems that will add expenses. You should include these future costs in your projected retirement income need. Add the extra costs that you might face during retirement to your base retirement need.
Here are some examples: Andy and Mary recognize that, due to family history, one or the other is likely to need long-term nursing care. Bill likes to restore American automobiles manufactured before Sally likes to take her grandchildren to a major theme park for a weekend every year.
This may not seem like much, but if she doesn’t budget for it, she might not be able to do take them next year. Include travel expenses. Many retirees want to see the world in their free time. If this is something important to you, you’ll need to add this to your monthly cost estimates as. Be as specific in your estimates as you.
If you and your spouse intend to travel, what is the likely annual cost? Will you travel 30 days a year or days? Will your normal living costs at your home base decline if you are traveling? If so, by how much? This included fuel, upkeep, food, and other travel expenses. They expect to travel during coldest days of the year when snow is on the ground, or about days per year. Bill and Sally want to take a trip to visit their children on the east coast every year.
This figure would be added to their base budget. Recognize the impact of inflation. Inflation will reduce the value of the money you save. You must consider this in your calculations. You can calculate how much more money you’ll need in 15 years by multiplying your annual need by one plus the rate of inflation, raised to the fifteenth power. If we assume a conservative projection of 3. Many online retirement calculators will compensate for inflation.
Using one of these tools is strongly recommended. You can also calculate how much you will need in an Excel spreadsheet. In the last years, the United States economy has experienced 13 years of deflation and 87 years of inflation.
Excludingevery year since has experienced inflation ranging from 5. Consider post-mortem obligations. Any sums that must be available after your death reduces the amount available to you during your life. This includes any money you wish to leave to a surviving spouse or heirs. Determine how much money you’d like to leave to each person you want to how much money counseling to veterans makes something. To make sure your wishes in this area are carried out, consider drawing up a will so that your money is distributed the way that you want it to be.
Predict the length of your retirement. How much you need to retire will hinge on how long you will be retired. This means you’ll need to estimate how long you expect to live. The Social Security administration provides averages for men and women retiring at different ages. Consulting this table is a good place to start. Do people in your family tend to live into their late 90s? If so, your prediction should probably be in that range, above the average life-expectancy.
On the other hand, if people in your family tend to die young, or if you have already experienced a lot of serious health problems, a lower estimate might be more realistic.
Calculate total retirement funds needed. Calculating how much money you must accumulate to provide a certain income at retirement. You may use an online retirement calculator or a spreadsheet. Convert the annual retirement income need into a lump sum.
Your retirement income also needs to keep pace with inflation. Add any post-mortem obligations you wish to fund. Alternatively, you could use a spreadsheet. Doing this on your own can be complicated. If you want to use an online calculator, skip this and the step on calculating accumulations.
Create columns for the annual expenses addressed in the previous steps: basic living expenses, extras, and travel. Fill in the amounts you calculated. Adjust for inflation. If you haven’t already done so, adjust these amounts for inflation, as directed. This is the amount you will need for a single year. Repeat this process in an additional row for each year you expect to be retired.
You’ll note that the amount will grow every year as a result of inflation. When you’ve reached the bottom, calculate a subtotal for annual expenses. This final amount is your total amount needed for retirement. If this is all a bit too complicated, there are free Excel templates you can download that are already set up for you. Consider accumulations.
Types of wage garnishment and how it happens
Members of the military run into unavoidable factors — constant relocation, financial inexperience and unemployment among spouses — that make them more vulnerable to falling into debt than civilian peers. Find out if you qualify for debt consolidation, lower interest rates and lower payments. Banks make the loans. It helps that there is a federal law the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act that offers a wide range of protections against financial disaster for people on active duty. Still, the youth and financial inexperience of many members of the armed services — especially enlisted personnel — make dealing with debt a regrettable part of the experience. When members of the military encounter a financial crisis, or even just hit a temporary wall, there are ways to rally — especially if you have a VA loan on your home. The MDCL operates on the same premise as a regular debt consolidation loan: take out one loan to pay off all unsecured debts, such as credit cards, medical bills, payday loans. That means you are refinancing your current loan for more than the amount how much money counseling to veterans makes and taking the difference in cash. There are closing costs involved, which get subtracted from the final amount you receive. How much money counseling to veterans makes, there is a limit to how often you take out VA loans if you have trouble repaying. The advantage of a Military Debt Consolidation Loan MDCL is that you typically pay a lower interest rate and closing costs than civilians and far less interest than you would trying to pay the same bills with credit cards. These refinancing loans can be spread out over 10, 15 — and sometimes even 30 years — giving you a wide-range of repayment choices, depending upon which lender you use. The obvious drawback to this choice is that you lose the equity in your homewhile taking on more debt. There also is the matter of paying closing costs, which vary depending on the lender. Other questions to ask should be whether there is a pre-payment penalty or if there is a balloon payment involved. Be aware that you must also meet certain qualifications to help ensure that you can and will repay the loan. Lenders will take into account your income and credit score when determining your eligibility.
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