A&FRC to kick off Military Saves Week

  • Published
  • By Michael Peterson
  • 30th Space Wing public affairs
The Airman and Family Readiness Center will be hosting a variety of financial awareness and education services during their Military Saves Week campaign here Feb. 22 through Feb. 26.

The goal of the campaign is to provide Airmen a forum to focus on their financial health and educate themselves on a wide range of topics including developing spending plans, ID theft protection, tax preparation, home buying, budgeting and investing. The event is hosted by the A&FRC community readiness consultant, Sue Voshell.

"We try to appeal to just about every slant of financial need there might be," said Voshell. "Those who are fairly new to the military maybe never had the background at home of handling money much, so it's really useful for them to realize we have a starting point here for them to sit down and plot out their finances."

Military Saves Week will begin with a kickoff event at the A&FRC on Monday Feb. 22 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., and continue with various workshop and classes throughout the week. The keynote speaker is Barbara Ghazarian, a certified financial planner, who will also be available for one-on-one consulting appointments for active duty military and their spouses through Mar. 11; a benefit to Airmen in need of financial advice.

"What we've discovered in the past is that some people will come in for an appointment with very minor things - just needing a tune up - and in 15 to 20 minutes they are good to go," explains Voshell. "Other people come in with what they think is an issue, but then something else comes up. At that point they can schedule a follow up appointment to go over those issues in more depth, and that has worked well."

With a motto of "Start small, think big," Military Saves Week stresses the importance for Airmen to get in the mindset early of saving money, reducing debt and building wealth. Airmen are also invited to sign the Military Saves Pledge to work towards better financial health.

"Over 200,000 military members signed the pledge in 2015," said Ghazarian. "Check out www.Militarysaves.org for more interesting facts."

To sign up for Military Save Week classes or a consulting appointment, contact the A&FRC at 606-0039.