Who I Work With

You’re a Military Member

Who Has Put Time & Dedication Into Serving Our Country

You are looking to move into a new opportunity or you’ve recently transitioned. Whether you would like to become a government civilian or take a turn and do something completely different, like start your own business, I’m here to help you create a plan that accounts for your unique goals and circumstances.

While I primarily focus on former and current military personnel, I also specialize in helping families, both military and civilians, plan for college and pay off student loans. As a whole, my clients are family-oriented individuals that want to be sure they can take care of and support their loved ones. Below are two types of typical clients I work with and how I’m able to help improve their outcomes.

Case Studies

Dan & Maria

Maria and Dan need to plan for when he retires as a Colonel

Dan & Maria

Maria and Dan need to plan for when he retires as a Colonel.

Background

Dan, 47, is a Colonel in the Army currently assigned to the Operations Directorate (J-3) on the Joint Staff located in the Pentagon. He flew the Apache assault helicopter and did three deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He has an MBA.

Maria, 42, is a Registered Nurse working at the Fairfax Hospital. A few years ago she got her master’s in nursing specializing in clinical care and has an outstanding student loan of $125,000.

Dan and Maria have three children: Scott (16 years old), Emmy (8 years old), and Dan Jr. (5 years old).

Questions

Dan has less than a year until he retires from the Army. They are potentially facing numerous changes and many decisions that have significant financial consequences. Dan is worried about providing for his family should he not have a job lined up by the time he retires. They are also wondering if they should stay in the same location for their children’s current schooling. Finally, they’re thinking about college expenses, given that Scott is only two years away from graduating high school.

Analysis

Dan has $200k in his TSP, and Maria has $85,000 in a 401(k) plan. Their 529 plans hold $25,000 and $10,000 for Scott and Emmy respectively, and their savings account has $5,000. Dan and Maria currently rent their home for $3,800 a month, which is offset by Dan’s military housing allowance of $3,570. However, his housing allowance will go away when he retires.

Dan's current military pay excluding housing allowance is $12,528/month. His estimated military pension will commence upon retirement at $5,674/month (a 55% reduction in his income). Maria earns a gross of $7,500/month. Their total debt, excluding Maria’s student loan, is $42,000.

Outcome

After completing a cash flow analysis, I helped them create a short-term financial plan covering the next 6 months based on expected changes to their cash flow. Dan was offered a position 3 months following his retirement, so we evaluated his offer. Additional planning included tax planning, college savings plan and additional retirement planning.

Dan and Maria opted for continuous financial planning to include investment planning.

Rebecca

Rebecca is a nurse who is soon to be married yet has outstanding student loans

Rebecca

Rebecca is a nurse who is soon to be married yet has outstanding student loans.

Background

Rebecca is a single 33-year old nurse. She has been working for a non-profit hospital since 2010 where she makes $80,000. Rebecca pursued an advanced nursing degree between 2016 and 2019 and now has $120,000 of outstanding student loans. She is currently in an income-based repayment plan (REPAYE) and is getting married in 6 months. Her fiance’s adjusted gross income is $120,000.

Questions

Rebecca would like to know how her student loan payment will be impacted when she gets married and if she should consolidate her loans.

Analysis

We determined that Rebecca is eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). She has been contributing $10,000 a year to the hospital’s tax-deferred retirement plan. This also means that her adjusted gross income (AGI) is $70,000/year. Her current payment in REPAYE is based on AGI of $70,000 and is $476/month ($5,712/year). Once she is married, her spouse’s income is also considered, and her new payment will be $1,438/month ($17,258/year) based on their combined AGI of $190,000.

Recommendations

I recommended that Rebecca file the appropriate forms to get PSLF credit for the 54 payments made to date and that she does not consolidate, as that will reset the clock for PSLF.

I also recommended that she change the repayment plan to PAYE, so her future spouse’s income does not count toward repayment calculations. This would require them to file their taxes as Married Filing Separately (MFS) after they are married. They have up to 3 years to file an amended tax return to change to Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) to get credit for items lost resulting from MFS. Finally, I suggested that she consider increasing her retirement plan deferral to lower her AGI.

Outcome

Rebecca acted on all recommendations. Her new payment after they are married will be reduced to $438/month ($5,258 / year) since the household is now 2 people, but the student payment only uses her AGI for calculating the payment. She also filed the appropriate form to get credit for previous PSLF qualifying payments, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars of tax-free loan forgiveness if she stays with a non-profit employer for the next 5 ½ years. Lastly, she increased her retirement deferral, thus lowering her AGI.

As a result, she and her future spouse will have a loan cost avoidance of over $12,000/year, which opens up many other options for their lives.