Veteran Financial Education Center
Know the fine print.
Guides that break down the benefits, bills, and financial decisions that affect military families.
The benefits you earned come wrapped in fees, fine print, and offers that aren't always in your favor. We break them down without the jargon: no sales pitch, no lead-selling, no spin.
Free guides that skip the jargon: money topics first, then the money side of military life events. Tap a topic or search to filter. Looking for an answer rather than a page? Ask StandWatch answers questions from these guides, with sources.
The SITREP
The editorial column: opinion, current events, and first-person takes on military money, every number sourced.
Read → Free ToolReported Rates: How Did I Do?
VA loan, VA refi, auto loan, and savings rates readers actually got, each shown against the published benchmark for the month it was locked. Post yours in thirty seconds. Reviewed for completeness, not confirmed.
Open → Rate WatchVA Loan & Refinance
Loan Estimates, fair fees, IRRRL & cash-out, and spotting a bad refi.
Read → Rate WatchVA Refinance (IRRRL)
The streamline refi start to finish: the 0.50% funding fee, the recoup math, and the fee traps.
Read → GuideA Baby Is Coming: The Money Checklist
The DEERS and TRICARE deadlines, 12 weeks of parental leave, the BAH change, child care help, and the budget reset, each with its source.
Read → GuideSaving for a House on Military Pay
What a VA loan still needs cash for, where to keep the money, why the TSP is the wrong piggy bank, and how to turn the savings into a price.
Read → GuideMoney After 50: The Six Decisions
The VA rating, SBP, Social Security at 62 or 70, Medicare and TRICARE For Life at 65, the TSP at 73, and DIC for survivors, each with its official figure.
Read → Free ToolHow Much House Can I Afford?
Base pay, BAH, and what you owe, turned into a home price estimate at the VA 41% guideline, with your own comfort ratio beside it. Runs on your device, no signup.
Open → Free ToolVA Funding Fee Calculator
The official VA rate chart turned into a 10-second estimate: purchase, cash-out, or IRRRL, with the exemption check. Runs on your device, no signup.
Open → Free ToolShould I Stay or Should I Move
You have a rate you will not get again. See what giving it up costs each month and over time, plus the rate that would hold your cost level. Taxes, insurance, and HOA optional. Runs on your device.
Open → Free Tool2026 Military Pay Chart
Every DFAS rate by grade & years of service, drill pay, BAS, pay dates, and the GS scale for the federal-civilian move.
Open → Home BuyingFirst-Time Home Buyer's Guide
The whole journey around the loan: rent versus buy with a PCS clock, the cash you need at zero down, free HUD counselors, and the closing timeline.
Read → Savings WatchHigh-Yield Savings
What APY means, HYSA vs. CD, FDIC limits, and the military SDP.
Read → Investing BasicsPersonal Finance & Investing Basics
The vocabulary, the fee math that costs six figures, how to verify any advisor free on BrokerCheck, and the fraud armor. No picks, no products.
Read → Debt & CreditDebt & Credit Rebuild
Why finances are the most cited security clearance issue, the free credit tools you are owed by law, and the rebuild ladder that works.
Read → Auto WatchAuto Loan & Refinance
APR vs. rate, refi break-even, SCRA/MLA protections, and dealer traps.
Read → Car BuyingThe Car Buyer's Guide
First cars, used cars, the long-loan trap, and the dealer plays, plus an interactive calculator that runs your own EV-versus-gas numbers.
Read → Insurance WatchInsurance Shopping
Why rates jump, comparing quotes fairly, deductibles, and military savings.
Read → Life InsuranceMilitary & Veteran Life Insurance
SGLI, VGLI, VALife, and VMLI: who each one covers, what it pays, and the enrollment windows you cannot get back once they close.
Read → Solar WatchThe Solar Guide
Real cost & payback, current incentives, net metering, and installer discounts.
Read → ProtectionsSCRA & MLA Protections
The 6% interest cap on pre-service debt, lease termination rights, and the 36% limit on new credit: what each law does and the steps to use them.
Read → ProtectionsMilitary Credit Card Benefits
The MLA and SCRA rules behind credit card military benefits, the account-timing trap that decides eligibility, and what service members report about annual fee waivers at Amex, Chase, and others.
Read → ResourcesMilitary & Veteran Money Resources
A verified directory of free VA, federal, and nonprofit money help: financial counseling, emergency aid, legal and wills, utility discounts, career tools, and VA home loans.
Browse →The Money Moments Hub
All the life-event guides in one place, in the order they happen, with the benefits and deadlines most people miss.
Read → DeploymentDeployment Money Guide
SDP at 10 percent, the SCRA 6 percent cap, combat zone tax, family separation allowance, and a pre-deployment checklist.
Read → Saving & investingThe TSP Guide
The match precisely, every fund in one line, the 2026 limits, the combat-zone edge, and the exits.
Read → Home & housingThe Military Landlord Guide
Orders made your house a rental. Pricing, screening, Schedule E, and the SCRA from the landlord side.
Read → VA benefitsThe VA Disability Claims Guide
File free, the exam demystified, current timelines, the three review lanes, and the claims-predator rule.
Read → PCS & MovingThe PCS Kit
The whole move on one page: timeline, allowances, calculators, and the moving discount stack. Print it, fridge it, execute.
Open → PCS & MovingThe PCS Guide
Allowances, the timeline, government move vs. PPM, and the money traps.
Read → PCS & MovingThe Military Mover's Guide
TLE and TLA lodging rules, overseas moves with pets and a POV, the retirement move deadline, separation moves, and moving after service.
Read → Home Sale & PurchasePCS Home Sale & Purchase Guide
Selling on orders in a down market, the military capital gains rules, VA loan assumptions, renting it out, and the disability housing grants when you buy.
Read → Spouse & FamilySpouse Employment & Childcare
Every employment door for military spouses (SpouseWorks, federal hiring, spouse preference) at every stage, plus the childcare ladder that makes it work.
Read → GI BillGI Bill & Education Money
Tuition Assistance, Guard and Reserve programs, what the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays, the expiration clock, and the transfer that only works while serving.
Read → EmploymentEmployment & Job Search
SkillBridge and TAP while serving, veterans' preference and federal hiring decoded, the free mentorship bench, and the resume-and-interview craft.
Read → ETS & SeparationETS & Separation Money Guide
The SGLI to VGLI deadline, the health cliff (TAMP and CHCBP), unemployment (UCX), selling leave, and the separation timeline.
Read → Transition SupportVeteran Transition Support
Free VA claims help, jobs and training, counseling, and emergency money, from the VA, Vet Centers, and vetted nonprofits.
Read → VA BenefitsVA Benefits Orientation
The four doors of the VA, the 2026 disability pay table, what a rating unlocks, and the free accredited help system.
Read → RetirementMilitary Retirement Money Guide
Retired pay (High-3 and BRS), the SBP decision, VA disability and concurrent receipt, and retiree TRICARE.
Read → Aging & CareAging, Long-Term Care & Caregivers
The VA care spectrum from in-home aides to nursing homes, the Medicare gap, the caregiver stipend programs, and the pension poaching scam to avoid.
Read → Surviving FamiliesSurvivor & Burial Benefits Guide
The first 30 days, DIC and its 2026 rates, the Survivors Pension, SBP after the offset ended, and burial benefits.
Read →Companion tools for the guides. Fill them in your browser, print or save as PDF. No account, and nothing you type is sent to StandWatch.
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