For most Soldiers, a savings account is something that's not on their agenda, and in many cases, if they think about it at all, it's in a vague, sometime-in-the-future sort of way.
"Maybe after my next promotion, I'll start saving," or "I just can't afford to put anything away, I'm living month-to-month right now" is an all-too-common frame of mind.
Regardless of the rank or marital status, the Soldiers who make regular deposits to a savings account are by far the minority, and even fewer are planning for retirement, according to recent surveys by the Thrift Savings Plan, a voluntary retirement plan for DoD employees and uniformed service members. They recently surveyed almost 20,000 uniformed and civilian federal employees and discovered that less than 21 percent of active-duty servicemembers are saving for retirement. Lack of funds was cited as the largest reason for not contributing to a savings or retirement account.
The US Army is one of the highest paid Armies in the World. Are these Soldiers merely living beyond their means or are they not getting paid enough? What do you think?
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All our military soldiers deserve a raise. Our son is in the Army & paid well but not enough! It's not that he spends freely either. Our son spent 13 mos. in Iraq, yes, he got 3 types of pay but after what he went through & survived, you darn bet ya, they deserve more pay!!!!
