Page 83 - A Soldiers Exposition

Do you remember when you were seventeen or eighteen? How much did you know about money?
Could you balance a checkbook?

Remember the statement I just made about the poor education the soldier received. I believe today’s
soldiers should receive extensive budgeting, financial planning, and retirement education during Basic
Training.

The military should make it mandatory (pass a law if necessary, to make it a provision of service) that a
minimum of ten percent of a soldier’s pay is deposited in a savings account each month for the duration
of his or her service.

I firmly believe that money not received, is money not spent. The soldier will not have access to it to start
with and therefore will not miss it.

The government should pay interest at five percent and should match the deposits for the duration of the
soldier’s initial term of service or four years maximum.

The soldier only has access to the money if he is discharged after his initial service and he only receives
the matching government money if he is discharged with an honorable discharge. A general or
dishonorable discharge would result in the loss of the matching funds and interest.

Now, let me make this easy to understand for me and anyone else interested.

Private Smith has ten percent of his monthly pay deposited in an account he cannot touch. He serves for
three years. If he saved at least $200.00 per month he would have $7,200.00 in the bank. If the
government matched his money, he would have right at $15,000.00 in the bank when he is discharged.

If the soldier decides to reenlist, he will continue to be required to save five percent of his income. The
matching funds will be reduced to two percent and the interest rate will be three percent. This program
will remain in effect for the duration of the soldier’s service. The requirement for an honorable discharge
remains in effect. Bad service would result in the loss of all interest and matching funds. The incentive to
stay out of trouble would be huge.

Can you imagine the amount this soldier would have accumulated during a twenty-year career? The
number is most assuredly more than $100,000. How many people have that kind of money after working
for twenty years? And, remember, the soldier never had access to the money, so therefore he never
missed it.

How about this for more ground-breaking thinking?

All military personnel regardless of the branch of service will be required to complete at least one year of
college during the first three years of service. If the soldier decides to reenlist, he will be required to
complete one year of college for each three-year period of service.

If he continues to remain in the service, he will have obtained a four-year college education by the time he
serves twelve years - no exceptions allowed.

A Veteran, college graduate with $100,000 should not have any problem re-entering society.