002: I wish you didn't have to care about this topic

Happy 2022! Jen Amos kicks off the new year with a commentary on her upcoming, yet-to-be-named book! She reads the transcript of the introduction, which talks about how she arrived to hosting The Spouse Benefit Plan, her background as a Gold Star family member, her award-winning podcast show Holding Down the Fort, why it's difficult to talk about the Survivor Benefit Plan, who this show is for and NOT for, and a hint to the next episode's topic.

Resources In the Order They Were Mentioned:

• Your Life and Military Retirement: Strategies on how to get the full value of your pension before its too late by Scott R. Tucker | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HM9XKT6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_8F64FVZQN0MCFZ5BNSBC
• Holding Down the Fort Podcast https://www.holdingdownthefortpodcast.com/
• Veteran Wealth Secrets: The Post-Military Playbook for Obtaining Autonomy and Financial Control in the Modern Economy by Scott R. Tucker | https://www.amazon.com/Veteran-Wealth-Secrets-Post-Military-Obtaining-ebook/dp/B08HM61QLR/
• Price of Freedom Foundation | https://priceoffreedomfoundation.org/
• Family Memories: A Military Father's Legacy of Love & Community | https://scalar.usc.edu/works/fpahm-timeline-project/family-memories-military-fathers-legacy
• The Rosie Network 5th Annual National Veteran & Military Spouse Entrepreneur Awards | https://therosienetwork.org/2021-entrepreneur-awards

The attached transcript was generated by AI and may read imperfectly.

Check out our growing list of resources at our website thespousebenefitplan.com or contact Jen at thespousebenefitplan@gmail.com

Connect with us on social media:

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-spouse-benefit-plan/
• https://instagram.com/thespousebenefitplan
• https://www.facebook.com/thespousebenefitplan/
• https://twitter.com/TheMilSpouseBP
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMUaLQy_PjUy8KjsoAcl0VOH61D_cJJZa

The Spouse Benefit Plan has been featured in ShoutoutSoCal and The Rosie Network's 5th National Veteran & Military Spouse Entrepreneur Awards

This show is intended to be educational and not to be taken as financial advice. To discuss your unique financial situation, reach out to our show sponsor, US VetWealth at USVetWealth.com or email Jen Amos jen@usvetwealth.com

Enjoy our show? Kindly leave us a 5-Star written review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or write a LinkedIn Recommendation for Jen https://bit.ly/3jNobz

Want to hear more from Jen? Check out our parent show and award-winning podcast, Holding Down the Fort https://holdingdownthefortpodcast.com/

The following is an imperfect, AI-generated transcript generated by https://otter.ai/referrals/UBPBEBE0

Jen Amos 0:00

Jen Amos 0:37

So today is going to be a mix of a casual update, as well as a teaser into the raw transcript to the second book, or really the second edition of my husband's book, your life and military retirement strategies on how to get the full value of your pension before it's too late. Now, if you just want to read this book, this is actually written in a white paper form. It's available on Kindle Unlimited, as well as just it's just available on amazon.com. And if you search for my husband's author profile, Scott R Tucker, you'll be able to find that book and just really get into the black and white of what I'm going to be talking about on this podcast show.

Jen Amos 1:22

However, the reason why I'm doing this podcast show is actually going to be what today's episode is going to be about. I've had some wonderful time, the last couple of weeks to really start working on this book transcript for like I said, the next edition of this book, your life and military retirement strategies on how to get the full value of your pension before it's too late. I'm really excited to I would say add more heart and stories around such a, you know what can often be seen as a black and white, if not morbid conversation. So without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and start reading the raw transcript to you. And because this is the podcast, I'm going to give you some side commentary as well. But of course, you won't be able to tell because you're not reading the transcript with me.

Jen Amos 2:07

However, one thing I am doing for this show is I will be providing the transcript of every episode, the transcript of this episode in the show notes. And so that's a fun treat for all of you. If you want to read along, I have a direct link where you could actually not just pull up the transcript, but actually listen along as you read the transcript.

Jen Amos 2:29

So this is my raw transcript for the next edition of this book. Which by the way, I don't know what the title is yet, you think I would probably name it the spouse benefit plan. But who knows. I hope at the end of this episode, though, you will get a grasp of the feelings I'm trying to exude and the heart I'm trying to put in this initiative. So here we go.

Jen Amos 2:48

I never thought I'd find myself working in finance with a special interest in military families. Yet, here I am. As I reflect on what led me to rewriting my husband's book and doing this show, the spouse benefit plan, on top of already running an award winning podcast show holding down the fort. I realized that my life's journey was leading me to this next chapter in my life, which is to help the military spouse make a confident and informed decision to keep or opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan. All right. So how does someone like me have their destiny point towards such a morbid conversation? You ask? Well, do I have a story for you?

Jen Amos 3:31

Jen Amos 4:40

Anyway, if you actually want to take the time to read more about my now husband story, I recommend checking out his book, veteran world secrets by Scott R Tucker, which once again, you can check it out on Amazon and Kindle etc, etc.

Jen Amos 4:54

Jen Amos 5:49

To say the least, this was very uncomfortable, and yet enlightening for many, many reasons. Now before I could tell myself a sad, resentful story that I was now going to be living under my husband's shadow, I was left with no choice but to uncover the most incredible story of all, a story I had dismissed for more than 20 years.

Jen Amos 6:13

The main reason why we moved to the east coast to begin with, was to work more closely with our colleagues. While we lived in San Diego, my husband would travel out here quite frequently to build our network and grow our business. So by the time I joined him, I felt like the new kid coming into the middle of the school year. While I was trying to get my bearings straight, my husband and our colleagues were already working at full speed. I had to learn and adapt very quickly, I had to figure out how does a woman like me who received her Bachelor's in journalism find her place amongst a bunch of men in the financial industry. Fortunately, and I say this with a ton of love and humor, it didn't take that long to notice the boy's blind spots.

Jen Amos 6:58

One of the biggest issues we came across in offering financial advice to the military community was when military couples arrived at the inevitable decision to keep or opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan. We often found a disconnect, misunderstanding and skepticism on what choice to make. Personally, being new in the financial industry at the time, I felt a sense of responsibility to understand where this disconnect between the service member, the military spouse, and our team's financial experts was coming from before I could put in a word myself. This disconnect was a catalyst for me to dig deep, and courageously venture back into my past. A past I never thought I had to unpack the past of being a former military child, to now a Gold Star family member to understand how my own story can connect to military families understanding long term financial planning today.

Jen Amos 7:54

So for this next part, I have to take a minute to acknowledge that it took a village for me to share what you're about to hear. I have to give special thanks to Dennis and Keith and the team at the Price of Freedom Foundation for wanting to document the stories of our fallen service members, especially my father's story. And also I want to give a shout out to Stacy at the Bulosan Center at UC Davis for helping me document and share my interpretation of my dad's legacy. For references on both of these organizations, please check out the show notes of this episode. So long story long. Here's my story and how I discovered my place amongst my colleagues at US Vet Wealth and why I'm talking to you today.

Jen Amos 8:40

Jen Amos 9:12

Jen Amos 9:39

Despite the countless deployments, I never felt my father's absence, only his presence. When he was home, he was home. He was very relaxed, attentive and affectionate to our family. It was second nature for him to always make me feel special. He'd often carry me in his arms, lend me money when mommy wouldn't, and sing lullabies as he'd bounced me on his ankles like a seesaw. I can ever do wrong by my father. And, and even if there was any trouble, he'd often deflect it to my older brother to take responsibility. Because how could his princess do anything wrong? You know? Anyway, I recall how normal it felt to always attend family parties, join him on his fishing trips, and simply be in community with loved ones.

Everything changed on October 17 1998. My father's last ship was the USS Kitty Hawk. They are traveling from Japan to South Korea when he had gone missing. They sent a search crew out for three days in the Pacific Ocean, and they continued the investigation for three months to no success. Eventually, they documented his death as unknown, or that he may have drowned. The news spread around the military base and being 10 years old at the time, all that matter to me was not necessarily the missing case of my father, but the attention I was getting. The friends that started to show up for me, the community that made me feel at home. Finally. Then, of course, without my father there to sponsor us, we had to move one final time as a military family and catapult into the civilian world as a Gold Star family.

Now, if you're hearing this term, for the first time, a Gold Star family member is the immediate family member or members whose loved one died in service for our nation. As you know, now for me this was my father. It's true, that being a Gold Star family member is a title that no one hopes to wear, or even think about while our service members are an active duty. Unfortunately, it happens. And sadly, becoming a Gold Star family member was just the start of my problems at 10 years old.

Now, I'll start to unveil these problems in upcoming episodes. But for now, rather than my existence as a surviving family member, be an unpleasant reminder of your mortality, and possible unexpected transition into civilian life, I've had the good fortune of getting the help that I needed, and continue to benefit from to recognize the value of my story, and recognize the lessons I've learned as a gift for today's military families.

Here's the thing, I understand why it's difficult to keep or opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan. In working with my colleagues, I've come to find that there's a general understanding and denial in the military community that the service member may one day lose their life. And it's easy to ignore this possible fact, when a military couple, and particularly the spouse is rightfully focused on the unforgiving pace and spontaneity of day to day responsibilities. The denial of possible death comes head to head when military married couples have to eventually make the choice of keeping or opting out of the Survivor Benefit Plan before military transition, in which it's actually the military spouses sole choice to make. But if a spouse and their service member isn't ready to have the quote unquote morbid talk of death, the last minute decision is to keep the Survivor Benefit Plan with little education and confidence that this is the best decision for the family.

Now, for the record, there's nothing wrong with the Survivor Benefit Plan. In fact, that's why I keep saying to keep or opt out. And we'll get into this more in the upcoming episodes. Obviously, if it truly fits you and your family's long term financial goals, then it's great. But I can't tell you how many tragic stories my colleagues and I have heard from clients, where it was too late to reverse whatever decision they chose to make. And worse, the long term repercussions it caused the dependents for that decision.

Now knowing firsthand how the lack of financial education, especially with long term financial education, can impact military family in post military life. You know, part of why I am doing this show is because I can't not talk about this, especially knowing firsthand how lack of financial education, especially when it comes to long term financial planning can really impact a military family in post military life. Now, depending on what season you're in, in your military journey, or your comfort level is to talk about personal finance, I understand that the survivor benefit plan can be a sensitive conversation. I want you to know that I understand these sensitivities. And I'm here to open up the dialogue that goes beyond, "what if my service member dies?" Or "how much more money can we make if we move our money elsewhere?" The conversation is much greater and much more emotional than that.

Now before you start to embrace yourself for a hard conversation, I want to share some good news and that this is actually more than a morbid talk. And it doesn't have to be difficult. With the spouse benefit plan, we are committed to take in an empowering approach to help military spouses and married couples to make an informative, intentional, confident, and joyful decision about their short term and long term financial goals. Here's the thing. We know that death is evident for all of us. You know, spoiler alert, we are not going to make it out of this world alive. And I think it's so interesting how, you know, when we think about life insurance, we think about death.

Instead, at least here at US VetWealth and with the spouse benefit plan, we want to celebrate life, we prefer to focus on today's positive benefits of being a military spouse, by providing a full understanding of the service members and military pay benefits and income. And as you follow our show, you'll start to have a better understanding of what we mean by our slogan, protect the family, protect the pay. Spouses are the cornerstone of military families, as many spouses already take on the role of managing the family budget, we simply offer ourselves as a guide to ensure that you have the peace of mind that you've secured a strong financial foundation from now to post military life and thereafter, starting with the simple decision, starting with the decision to keep our opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan. It truly all starts here.

Now fast forward to summer 2019. Back to my story. I realized that I had a unique experience. Having been raised as a military child for the first decade of my life, to becoming a Gold Star family member to now being married as a veteran spouse. I realized that I had a unique experience of the military community, compared to my US VetWealth colleagues, most of whom, and I say this again with love and humor, most of them are veterans who had been in service as bachelor's with no kids. But again, before I felt confident in speaking up about this disconnect, as I was talking about earlier, between the service member, the spouse and our financial experts, when it comes to talking about the Survivor Benefit Plan, it was really important for me to get a pulse of military families today.

Now remember, it's been 20 years since I've engaged with our community. So our team at US VetWealth decided that we were going to create a podcast called holding down the fort. Now get this, it seemed like we were tapping into something very special and very needed very quickly. The first podcast episode of holding down the fort was officially published on July 2 2019. By October 26 2020, I had received a confidential email by the Rose Network's Fourth Annual National veteran and military spouse Entrepreneur Awards that I had been selected as the media professional of the Year Award winner was

cray. Since then, our show has been featured in multiple media outlets. And on a professional level, I was given a platform to talk more about US VetWealth, holding down the fort, and my story in multiple other podcast shows as well as, as well as being a keynote speaker. If you actually check out the Rosienetwork.org website, and go to the 2021 Entrepreneur Awards recap, you'll see that I actually returned the following year for the fifth annual National veteran and military spouse Entrepreneur Awards to congratulate the award winners for 2021 as well as update everyone on my journey. So feel free to check that out I'll have that in the show notes as well. You're welcome.

So now you're probably wondering, what is this award winning show about? Not uncommon to the military community, our show has pivoted and redefined its purpose. Through the five seasons we've been on air. However, I do believe that today's description couldn't explain what we're about any better. In case you're wondering what the show is about here it is.

Military families are far from the average American family while on active duty, families learn resilience, resourcefulness, time management, organizational skills, flexibility, delay gratification, and of course, how to establish a new normal after every PCs. Our show focuses on sustaining a fulfilling and purposeful military life through conversation and community building. We converse with special guests from the military community and for the military community to share knowledge, resources and relevant stories and how we can best quote unquote hold down the fort for ourselves and our loved ones. Of course, if you want to learn more about the show and check out our media features and our accomplishments, you can always visit the podcast website holdingdownthefortpodcast.com also will be in the show notes. You are welcome once again.

Alright, so 130 episodes later, plus three more Award nominations. I finally finally got the understanding, confidence and conviction to contribute my voice amongst my colleagues at US VetWealth to create this new initiative, the Spouse Benefit Plan, which to keep it simple focuses, which to keep it simple focuses on helping career military families make the most important decision before transition to keep or opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan.

That's my story. Now, here we are.

So before I continue ahead, I want to be clear and share that I am not a financial advisor. As I mentioned in the intro music, this show is not intended to be taken as financial advice, you can always reach out to my team at USVetWealth.com That's usvtwealth.com, USvetwealth.com, to inquire more about your financial situation. I am, however, a former military child of a career military family, now a Gold Star family member, a veteran spouse, and the host, the co host of the award winning podcast show that focuses on our military families today called Holding down the Fort.

I say all that to let you know that I speak from personal experience, from observation in all the interviews we've been able to conduct on our show. And overall, the love I have for our military families of today, I'm a very, very small percentage of what could happen to a service member and their survivors.

I show up with pride and a sense of responsibility, that there is life on the other side of losing a service member. And also with wisdom on what kind of action steps or military families can take today, when it comes to their short term and long term financial planning. So that you don't have to live my fate. And based on statistics, that's a very, very high probability.

Now, if I've earned your trust, at this point, I want to be clear with who this show is for. And I do want to take the time to say thank you for listening to my story. You know, especially if you're joining me from holding down the fort, thank you for, you know, taking time to listen to my other initiatives, thanks to hold down the fort. And now I want to be extra clear on who this show is for moving forward, at least here on the spouse benefit plan.

So the most ideal people that would benefit from this show the spouse benefit plan are, one, are seasoned spouses. So who are seasoned spouses if you're hearing that, for the first time, seasoned spouses have been married to an active duty service member for at least 10 years, it's ingrained. It's a known fact in the family that your service member is going career. And so seasoned spouses would definitely benefit from listening to this show. I can't tell you how many times I have talked to seasoned spouses today, and how much they had admitted offline, how little they know about the Survivor Benefit Plan, or even their military benefits for that matter. So without calling you out. But so without putting you under the spotlight publicly. I do want to let you know that this is for you to listen to when you're ready to have this conversation. This show is for career military families. So this is not just for the season spouse but even for the service member. So I recall a story where I was mentoring a career military service member who was starting to plan his transition out from having served 20 years. And when he reached out to me, he said, you know, Jen, I initially reached out because I was going to ask you for some business advice. But the more I read your profile, the more I realized, oh my gosh, I mean, he didn't say oh my gosh, but you know, just go with it. He said, You know, I realized that this isn't just my transition as a service member. This is also my wife's transition. And I love that he said that and I immediately applauded him for that. I said, Wow, I am so glad that you reached out. And I'm so glad that you said that. Because you know very often when we think about transition, we think about the service member. But many, many times, especially when I get interviewed on other people's shows, I always like to say it's not just the service members transition. It's the spouse's transition. It's the kids transition. It's the family's transition. And I just loved that he brought that up to me. And so if you are that service member that loves and adores your spouse, and you want to make sure that you both make a unified decision to transition, and more importantly, a unified decision on the Survivor Benefit Plan, then the show is for you. Last but not least, this show is generally for people who are really invested in understanding the ins and outs of the Survivor Benefit Plan, or already consider themselves financially savvy, and you're just interested in finding others other ways to maximize your military benefits before transition. And even if you are already post military, that's fine, too, I think you'll benefit from this show.

Now that seems like a lot of people that would benefit from the show, but let me tell you, I have a longer list of who this is not for. So I say this with a ton of love. And to set healthy boundaries for both of us, I do have a long list of who this show is not for. Because once again, because I do have to say that this show is not a one size fits all, which is why I'm taking the time to be specific in who this show is for and is not for. So in no particular order. This show is not for people who are turned off by the quote unquote, morbid talk, you're just not ready to talk about death, you don't even want to think about it, you don't want to talk about the Survivor Benefit Plan. And you know what, that's okay. It's not your season to learn this, and to talk about it and to address it. And that's completely okay. The show is not for you. The show is also not for the young service member. And this is really the service member, and the couple for that matter that are less than five years in the service, and don't really have any intention of doing career. If you are a service member that's just planning on doing your four years to get your GI Bill, then the show probably isn't for you. However, I'm not going to stop you from listening. Let's see. And by that extension, this really isn't meant for the young married couple as well, from our experience at US VetWealth, we have just come to find that with young married couples, there's a lot to handle in those first couple of years of being in the military, especially if you start to have kids, and you're just trying to get used to the PCSs and the deployments and everything. I don't think that it's your time to listen to the show. However, again, I'm not going to stop you from listening either. The show is also not for the service member that makes financial decisions without the spouse, because here's the thing, if you decide to opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan, it has to be approved by the spouse in which they have to sign the papers and actually get their signature notarized. Now unless the spouse solely trusts the service member, and you know, their decisions on what to do with the finances. That's great. However, we at US VetWealth, we do value working with spouses that want to be involved in the financial decision making process, and more importantly, couples that want to make that unified decision together. Okay, I'm not done. Could you believe such a long list? It's a lot doing y'all a favor. Also, the show is not for spouses and military couples who are fully satisfied and confident, and even advocate for the Survivor Benefit Plan. And you feel very satisfied and confident with your long term financial planning goals. This show is absolutely not for you. The thing is SBP does work for a number of people. We argue that it doesn't work for everyone, but for the ones that it works for. Absolutely. So if you are already satisfied and confident and informed about your financial planning goals, especially long term, all good, this show is not for you. But again, I'm not going to stop you if you want to listen, couple more people here almost done. We don't want to work with people who believe that quote unquote, if it's not broken, don't fix it. And what do I mean by that? You know, basically the service member and the spouse, just like what the last one, you're content with what the government has given you. And you don't want to question it, like you are fine with what you have. And you know, if anything comes up and a problem comes up, you'll deal with it head on. And that's okay. I totally understand I can completely relate to that kind of focusing on the day to day operations and focusing on one thing at a time and whatever comes at you. If that's the case, then this show is not for you. Alright, second to last thing. If you are in the season of spending, because you deserve it, I get it. The last thing you want to do is hear about how do you save this show is not for you. And I say that with a ton of love. And really just I applaud you, I applaud you that you're in a space now we're like, I saved enough. I did all the right things. And now I'm ready to spend and enjoy my life. You know, or you know, you're in that phase where you're like, family's got to go to Disney World. Totally get it totally get it. Last but not least, you already have a financial advisor. People are often content and not interested in hearing about other options if they already have a good relationship with their financial advisor. I will say though, at US VetWealth, we have collaborated with other financial advisors who never knew that our types of solution existed and actually wanted to collaborate with us and refer business our way. However, if you feel like you have such a solid healthy relationship with your financial advisor, then by all means this show is not for you. And awesome. I'm so glad that you have an amazing financial advisor.

Alright, and that is pretty much an overview of who this show is for and who this show is not for.

So remember, as I start to wrap up here, this show isn't intended to be taken as financial advice, nor is it to go against the government offers, that is not our intention here, we are being very intentional when we say that, we're here to help you if you want to keep or opt out of the Survivor Benefit Plan. The show's primary objective is to educate you on what you have and what your options are. That's it, we just want you to be informed. And we just want you to be aware of everything that the government offers you and maybe suggest solutions outside in the private marketplace, that might work better for you. But it might not either. Either way, I always believe that it's good to know than to not know. Also, well, you know that this doesn't replace any survivor benefit plan briefings, or any of the briefings that you go through before you transition. If anything, I hope the show adds to how you digest the information at these briefings. And remember, this is more than a morbid conversation about death, which is why we're dedicating an entire show to this topic. Gosh, if only you knew, once you know that there is more to talk about than death, you are going to be so shocked and excited.

Alright, so now that I got sort of the black and white out of the way, I want to get into the heart of the situation. What is this show really about? And why should you care? Here's the thing, I wish you didn't have to care. I wish that I could be the idealist and say that things will work themselves out. It's true. It might. But I come from the other side of losing a parent. And watching the surviving one, which was my mother, financially struggle, things eventually worked out. My siblings and I are doing great. You know, we all were very fortunate to benefit from chapter 35. And our school was all paid for my siblings and I are all professionals making it out there. You know, mom is a proud empty nester, and she's doing great herself. But you have to know that it came at a cost. And there are still so many wounds that still need to be healed from that unexpected transition to post military life. This show is really for the intentional person wanting to participate in their own fate, especially if it's a positive one, which again, you know, based on stats, there's a high probability that this military life is really going to work in your favor. But even if you do come out alive, there are some emotional wounds that may not heal for a very, very long time. You know, I wish you didn't have to care. And I wish you can trust that the government will, quote unquote, take care of everything. And I wish you could say, well, if anything happens, we'll deal with it. I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish. Unfortunately, if and when you do reach that point, there's a lot of pain that comes with it.

So I'm putting this show together because I care about you. I come from the other side of death, I come from the other side of not having my father, of post military life, of growing up as an adult from a military household, from being a Gold Star family member. I care about you as a service member, I care about your spouse, I care about your kids. And I know for certain that you do, too, if you're listening to this show. Mainly, I care about you not feeling forgotten, not feeling overlooked, or like you don't matter. Again, I can't tell you how many stories we've heard at US VetWealth, where it was just too late. And it's a tragedy when if things do happen, if things don't work in your favor, the difficulty of trying to get your life back together while also trying to become financially stable. It's not a pretty sight.

Also, if you are the high probability that things will work in your favor. I care about you not just getting by and living paycheck to paycheck. I truly believe that your best years are ahead of you. If you start thinking about long term financial planning today, starting with just having a better understanding of the Survivor Benefit Plan, and if it's the right plan for you. Most of all, I want you to think about it this way. You know, this isn't really about me. I know I've been talking the entire time. And I thank you for listening. But this isn't even about you. And this isn't even about your children. This is about your children's children and their financial legacy. All thanks to you taking the time to understand the true value of the military pension which is really where this all begins in the next episode. So hint for later. My intent for us to get ahead of financial heartache in actually enjoy life.

Now I understand that it's easy to put off this topic, which is why I hope that you listen to the show whenever you get the chance whether you gets you going for a run and going for a drive, washing the dishes, which is what I do nowadays, when I wash dishes, because we don't have a dishwasher story for another time. We don't have a dishwasher in our new place. But like I said story for another time, I understand that it's easy to put off this conversation. Because again, it's an unpleasant one. And at the end of the day, you don't want to have an unpleasant conversation. Also, your military life is fast, paced, unpredictable, challenging, emotional. And there's still that odd stigma, to talk about mental health and financial planning. And there's a stoicism about all of that. And really just trying to get by day to day, trust me, I get it.

And here's the reality, it's going to end one day, whether it's by choice or by circumstances. Now, for me, it was by circumstance, I hope for you, it's by choice. And again, there's a high probability, very high probability that it'll be by choice. Either way, your life is going to flip. The last thing I want is for you to experience financial uncertainty in post military life, you deserve more than that after everything you've been through. Now, it may seem costly now to focus on this, but trust me, it'll get costly later, especially if you and your family retire career in one piece. But it may not just cost you financially as well, it may cost you emotionally, which again, is a story, especially about my relationship with my mom, that I will share in upcoming episodes. Such a tease.

I mean, what a tragedy for a military family to go through financial struggle, on top of the trauma of transitioning into the civilian world. Now speaking from personal experience, as a military child, becoming Gold Star family member, witnessing my mom, you know, do the damn thing and raise three of us under 11 years old, and try to make a living and try to live her best life as a widow. You know, one thing we often didn't talk about in the household was finance. And let me tell you, again, conversation for later. You know, what she had modeled for me was that money wasn't important. Money wasn't worth talking about on a day to day basis. And more importantly, if money was talked about, it was because someone desperately, desperately needed money. I don't want that to happen to you. My goal for you is to feel financially empowered, and truly proud of all the privileges that come along with being a military spouse, a service member, a career military family, because what you're going to find at the end of the series is that the Survivor Benefit Plan is more than a conversation about death. It's about life, just like what I said at the beginning, living life with intention and purpose. It's my hope that in understanding the survivor benefit plans so much better, it'll give you an opportunity to rekindle the hope that all of these challenges in military life was worth it.

Now, I do want to say that the Survivor Benefit Plan is definitely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding your finances. But it's definitely the best place to get started. And sometimes getting started is all that it takes. Alright, so the final, final, final, corny, corny reason as to why you should continue listening.

You know, at the end of the day, this, this conversation is really about love, love for your loved ones, your country, yourself, it's my hope that in getting started, you have a deeper appreciation of your service, especially once you enter post military life. And you appreciate the time you get back. When you get to spend time with your loved ones, or whatever you want to do in post military life, even if it's just to give yourself the rest you finally deserve. I also hope that if you decide to stay on this journey, once you get started, you start to see that there is life on the other side, and it's going to be a good one, it's going to be a life where you can once again continue to make a difference. You can reinvent yourself, rediscover yourself again. And above all else, you have a sense of purpose. Alright, I think I'm done trying to convince you at this point. Once again, this is a combination of the raw transcript to the next book that will be coming out. Remember, if you just want the black and white of the book that I'm talking about, you can check out Scott R. Tucker's book, your life and military retirement strategies on how to get the full value of your pension before it's too late. Available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. But if you stick around, I think you'll enjoy what you have to hear from me, you know, as well as me just commentating on my journey so far in doing this show, and also my commentary on tackling this initiative as sensitive of a topic it can be. I finally feel ready to openly talk about it. And I hope that as I continue to find my voice and talking about this initiative, I hope that you'll give me grace and look beyond what I'm actually saying and understand what this is really about.

Alright, so are you ready, what I encourage you to do is to make sure if you haven't already to subscribe to the show. And I encourage you to check out the show notes because I will be providing the transcript of this particular episode, which is something you can print out and take notes. And as we continue on, I'm going to be providing more information and more things that may be worth highlighting and noting and underlining and talking about with friends. But get ready. This is going to be a conversation to remember. And I promise you, it's not just going to be a morbid conversation. You know, once we work past that, you're in for a surprise. You'll be surprised what else there is a talk about beyond the Survivor Benefit Plan. All right, and, and that's it. That's all I have to share.

Once again, I'm Jen aImost, your host here at the spouse benefit plan podcast, also the creator and co host of the award winning podcast show the sister show holding down the fort and your community. And also I just have to say thank you to our sponsor US VetWealth for making this show possible. And I do want to set another final disclaimer that if you are interested in learning more about your financial situation right now, you can go ahead and reach out to us at our website usvetwealth.com That's usvetwealth.com. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening and I so very much look forward to speaking with you in the next episode. Till next time