Military Officers Association of America



In this issue:

• Chapter item 1

• Chapter item 2

From National MOAA

• Key Takeaways from the 2018 Council Presidents’ Seminar

• How You Can Become a Millionaire After Leaving the Military

• Your SBP Payments Will Soon Be Deducted from Combat Related Special Compensation

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Key Takeaways from the 2018 Council Presidents’ Seminar

Council and chapter leaders from across the country convened Thursday at the Council Presidents' Seminar to receive updates from national MOAA headquarters. 

Capt. Jim Carman, USN (Ret), vice president of Council/Chapter and Member Support, introduced Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, USAF (Ret), president and CEO, highlighting Atkins' impressive streak of 58 council and chapter visits in his 2-1/2 year tenure.

Atkins touted recent developments to maximize MOAA's reach and to pursue partnerships with media outlets. “We've been able to explode what MOAA in the marketplace can do,” he said.

Kathy Partain, vice president of Membership & Marketing, brought chapter and council leaders up to speed on membership goals. She aims to sustain paid membership while laying the foundation for growth in the long-term. She envisioned that thriving chapters will strengthen a vigorous network of active and engaged affiliates. “Local community engagement is important,” she said. 

Alan English, vice president of Communications, briefed council and chapter leaders on the new audience engagement team, created to develop a bigger online audience. 

“We want to convince prospective members there's value across all platforms,” he said. 

English highlighted department achievements, such as a redesigned magazine, new advertising opportunities in print and digital, MOAA's improved online newsletter, and the goal to completely revamp the website by the end of the year. 

“Our focus is getting the new website to be best in class so you can be proud of your digital space,” he said.

Col. Jeri Graham, USA (Ret), briefed chapter leaders on MUSNAV (VC-01), the virtual chapter for nurses. She emphasized that virtual chapter membership could enhance the potential for local chapter membership. 

“There was concern a virtual chapter would take away membership from local chapters, but this was not the case,” she said. 

Connecting the chapter's 66 members, spread throughout 22 states, requires simple technology such as conference calls with screen-sharing, a website with a password-protected section, e-newsletters, email and social media. 

Gail Joyce, chair of the Surviving Spouse Advisory Committee, shared her thoughts on the Surviving Spouse Virtual Chapter (VC-02). She outlined the ways surviving spouses can become members of MOAA and urged chapters to actively recruit them.

“If you're not using your spouses to fill [chapter leadership] roles, you are really missing out,” she said. 

Col. Mike Turner, USAF (Ret), vice president of Development, discussed the MOAA Scholarship Fund and the MOAA Military Family Initiative, as well as the unique ways they assist military families. He shared recommendations for 2018 Community Outreach Grants. 

“We want to see actual involvement,” he said of projects likely to become full grant recipients. 

When describing projects that were likely to receive full funding, he emphasized the benefits of partnering with veterans councils. Examples of appealing service projects include providing mentorship for veterans recovering from drug addiction, renovating a home for a disabled World War II veteran, and helping the children of fallen servicemembers. He said his team soon would distribute best practices to inspire chapters applying for the grants.

Capt. Erin Stone, USN (Ret), director of Engagement, discussed her goal for member-facing engagement: increasing MOAA national support of state-level advocacy for councils and chapters. Building headquarters support for state-level legislative priorities would ultimately result in building MOAA brand awareness and further national-level advocacy efforts, she said. She mentioned virtual chapters, with its shared advocacy mission, as an area of potential collaboration. 

Col. Terri Coles, USA (Ret), senior director of Councils and Chapters, brought chapter and council leaders up to speed on upcoming events, leadership workshops, committee module updates, chapter rescue procedures, and the chapter and council 2023 project, which envisions what chapters and councils will look like in five years. 

Coles said she has received positive feedback about the quarterly leaders training workshops. The purpose of the workshops is to share best practices among chapter leaders and equip leaders with a takeaway workbook, which covers topics like chapter management, recruiting and retention, leadership succession, a state advocacy overview, revenue generation, and ideas for community impact.

Coles talked about the committee module, now used by more than 200 chapters and councils, which will soon become part of the Levels of Excellence scoring criteria.

How You Can Become a Millionaire After Leaving the Military

Ordinary people become millionaires in their 50s all the time. You don’t have to win a lottery, inherit from family, or become a web sensation. When you’re in your 20s (or 30s if you buckle down), all it takes is dedication, discipline, and a plan.

Get and read the book The Millionaire Next Door. Though it’s 20 years old, the lessons and research are timeless. Find out how 80 percent of millionaires in America are regular wage earners who built their wealth in their working lifetime.

To build wealth, you have to be thrifty. Not the “eat mayonnaise sandwiches every day and have no fun” kind of thrifty. Thrifty where you “skim a portion of your income off the top to invest and live off the rest” kind of thrifty.

As stated in the book The Richest Man in Babylon, “A part of all you earn is yours to keep.” Wealth is not about how much you earn; it’s about how much you keep. Paying yourself first is a critical component to building wealth. Figure 10 to 15 percent of your income is what you pay yourself. You’re worth it right?

Surely you can budget to live off 85 to 90 percent of your income. Once you pay yourself first, the rest you can spend guilt free! Live within your means and don’t fall into the credit trap.

Every increase in pay should be used to increase the amount you pay yourself. Increases in pay represent money you didn’t have and weren’t living on. It should be easy to pay yourself most of the increase and slip a little to your spending account for grins.

Be disciplined in your approach to build wealth. Trust your plan and stay focused. Don’t be distracted by the financial media or marketing campaigns. Don’t base your investments on the crisis of the day or any news-related events. Worldly events are a natural part of life, and we have history into their impact. With a solid investment strategy, your plans don’t need to flex to outside issues — you expect them.

Your plan can and should be simple and based on history and data. We know markets rise and fall in the short-term. That’s a given. We know markets consistently rise in the long-term. That’s a given. Have a plan that exploits these historical realities.

Building wealth can happen by averaging down and having a stock-heavy portfolio. (Read “The Power of Averaging Down” for more information.) Finally, time is your greatest asset. Don’t waste valuable wealth-building time by chasing after pots-o-gold schemes or getting greedy.

Your SBP Payments Will Soon Be Deducted From Combat-Related Special Compensation

Did you see the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) notification that Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) premiums are now deducted from Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) payments?  Written into the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and first announced by DFAS last fall, this change notification was released again this year because the first deductions were about to start April 1. This deduction will not result in any loss of total compensation for combat-injured veterans. What it will do, is “clean-up” what I would call an accounting issue.  

How did this “accounting issue” come about?  

For some retirees, the “VA Waiver” (see note below) subsumes some or all of their retired pay — such that there isn’t enough left for DFAS to deduct SBP premiums. In this case, DFAS works with the VA to have SBP premiums deducted from the veteran’s VA tax-free disability compensation. This way there is no tax implication for the veteran; this upcoming change will not impact veterans. Their SBP premiums will still be deducted by the VA and sent to DFAS to cover SBP premiums.

Note: when total VA disability rating is 40% or less, or if in receipt of CRSC, the “VA Waiver” is the dollar amount equal to VA disability compensation that is deducted from military retirement pay.   

However, retirees receiving CRSC, whose “VA waiver” was subsuming retirement pay, had to remit SBP premiums (meaning they wrote a check) directly to DFAS. Some of these veterans didn’t always remember to send their SBP premium payments to DFAS, putting them in a debt status. To “clean-up” the possibility of debt, DFAS was ordered to institute a fix. Since these retirees don’t have enough funds to pay their SBP premiums from pre-tax retirement pay but receive tax-free CRSC, the fix is to deduct SBP premiums from tax-free CRSC payments. This new accounting action not only prevents a possible debt, but also eliminates additional paperwork for both DFAS and the veteran. These retirees will have a smaller CRSC check, but they won’t have to write a check for their SBP premiums from post-tax funds. It also prevents the possibility of severely disabled veterans falling behind on their SBP premiums, and potentially leaving the surviving spouse with a liability when the veteran passes.  

Deductions from CRSC payments to cover SBP premiums began April 1, covering the month of March 2018. Few, if any, MOAA members should have been impacted by this change — but we felt a more comprehensive explanation of why this change was implemented was in order.

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