What are your goals and dreams and how will you reach them? The purpose of a financial plan is to provide a roadmap for your future. Think about what you would like to do and what it is going to take to get there. A promotion with a pay raise is always a good time to review your goals. If you need some help to get started, visit our Goal Setting section at https://www.milspousemoneymission.org/goal-setting/.

A strong family spending plan (or budget) will help you stay on track and provide a framework to achieve your goals. Think about how the pay increase can help fund your short- and long-term goals.

Visit Money Ready - Create a Budget, to learn the four steps to creating a sound spending plan, which includes revisiting your budget often to make adjustments as your life changes. Be sure to check out the spending plan worksheet offered there, too.

Watch this video to learn how Shaun, an Air Force spouse, and his wife use each promotion and pay increase to get ahead on their financial goals.

Eliminating debt is one way to put your new income to work. This way you can focus on funding long-term goals, like saving for retirement or your child’s college education. Two well-known ways to pay off debt are the snowball method and avalanche method. First, make a list of your debts and include the balance, interest rate and minimum payment.

• Snowball — Attack the smallest balance first. Pay the minimum balance on every other debt, but pay extra on the smallest debt first. Once that debt is paid off, move on to the next smallest balance and keep going until all debt is paid off. This method can give you an emotional boost as you begin knocking out debts. Use our online calculator below to assess your financial situation using the snowball method.

Open Snowball Calculator

• Avalanche — Attack the largest interest rate first. Pay the minimum balance on each debt and pay extra on the loan with the largest interest rate. As that loan is paid off, move on to the one with the next largest interest rate. This method will save you money long term because you will pay less in interest.

  The most important thing to remember is to find a plan that works for you and stick to it! In addition, this calculator can help you decide whether the avalanche strategy works best for your financial situation.

Open Avalanche Calculator

Learn how to Manage Debt and also watch the Debt Destroyer™ video series for a step-by-step guide.

Experts recommend having at least $1,000 with the goal to have three to six months of living expenses saved in an emergency fund to cover unexpected repairs, a job loss, or other unforeseen events. Consider using your increased income to fund this account.

Also consider setting up an automatic transfer from your checking to a savings account to fund this goal more easily. Check out this video on Understanding Emergency Funds to quickly learn how to build your reserve.
 

Investing your spouse's pay raise and letting it grow for retirement is a great idea. Putting the pay increase aside for retirement sooner than later is helpful so you pay your future self before you get used to the money in your current cash flow.

With a pay increase, the dollar amount into the TSP will also increase as the contribution is a percentage of income. But again, a promotion is a great time to consider increasing the contribution percentage!

The maximum contribution to the TSP is the IRS limit of $20,500 in 2022. If your Service member falls under the Blended Retirement System (BRS) then take this time to ensure they are contributing at least 5% into the TSP. This will allow them to receive the full automatic and matching contribution total of 5%. Otherwise you're missing out on free money!

Visit Money Ready 301: Plan to Retire for more information on this topic and for videos on the Legacy System, BRS and TSP.

Changes to the TSP contribution must be done on myPay. Your Service member will need to visit https://mypay.dfas.mil and log in.