LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- Military Saves Week started Feb. 26 to educate Airmen and their families about finances. This year marks the campaigns 12th anniversary for installations and organizations to promote good savings behavior and provide a chance for service members and their families to assess their own finances.
The Department of Defense campaign is supported by the America Saves program, which helps people pledge to get out of debt.
“The intent of the pledge is three fold,” said Rick Tomaskovic, 19th Force Support Squadron community readiness consultant. “Saving money, getting out of debt, and building wealth. These are the three best purposes to which you can apply any of your financial resources.”
To take the pledge, members can go to https://militarysaves.org/, fill out some basic demographic information and choose a savings goal.
For those who take the pledge online, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation and SaveAndInvest.org continue to make the myFICO® credit score and analysis tool available to active duty service members and their spouses free of charge. This easy-to-use online tool shows how the information on your credit report is helping or hurting your credit score, and the steps you can take to improve it.
Last year’s campaign reached approximately 26,000 military, DoD civilians and their family members encouraging them to take the pledge.
“Last year we had approximately 700 people take the pledge,” Tomaskovic said. “We are hoping to at least double that number this year.”
Although Military Saves officially wraps up on March 3 this year, members and their families can still go online and take the pledge throughout the year. The Airman and Family Readiness Center also provides yearly help to those pledging or not to reach financial success with classes and counseling.
“We never stop providing financial classes or one on one appointments,” Tomaskovic said. “We have six financial classes every month. In addition, every year for the last three years we have added an additional accredited financial counselor at the Airman and Family Readiness Center to provide that personal experience for every customer that seeks information.”
For more information call the Airman and Family Readiness Center at 501-987-2667.