050: Veteran Wealth Secrets with Scott R. Tucker & Jen Amos

Jen Amos 0:00

Welcome to holding down the fort, a podcast show dedicated to curating knowledge, resources and relevant stories for today's military spouses so they can continue to make confident and informed decisions for themselves and their families. Because let's face it, we know who's really holding down the fort. I'm Jen a Moe's, a gold star, daughter, veteran spouse and your host for holding down the fort by us that wealth. Let's get started.

Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of holding down the fort. Actually, this is our first Friday episode. I'm still coming up with a name for it. Reform. Now I'm probably going to call it financial freedom, Fridays or financial Fridays. If any of our listeners have a better way of naming our Fridays, then let us know. But this is a special episode. And again, I am your host, Jen Amos. And every Fridays I have decided to bring on someone on the US bet wealth team us bet wealth is the company that I am so proud to be working with, alongside with my husband, Scott R. Tucker. And so for this first Financial Freedom Friday, finance Fridays, who knows so figure it out? I have brought on my husband with me here. So Scott are Tucker Scott, welcome to the show.

Unknown Speaker 1:22

Hi, how are you?

Jen Amos 1:23

I'm doing great to be here. So it's fun to have you on the show, I tend to find that people seem to enjoy us for some reason.

Unknown Speaker 1:31

Oh, gee, I wonder why.

Jen Amos 1:33

Right. So the reason why I have you here today is because I thought it would make sense for you to kick off this Friday show with me, it's pretty much going to be an open dialogue, what is going on with our company, and you know what our spouses specifically need to know in regards to their finances. So today, we have some exciting news. Scott's book veteran wealth secrets, is at its pre launch right now. So we have this book available for free via PDF. And just off the bat, if you are interested in taking a look at it or getting that free download, visit veteran wealth secrets.com You will also see that in the show notes. But once again, that is our new upcoming book really excited about it. Veteran wealth secrets.com. So Scott, why don't we start with you just sharing a little bit about briefly. How did us vet wealth start?

Speaker 1 2:27

when I was getting out around: 2008

Jen Amos 9:18

Yeah, well, thank you for really elaborating on that. I think it's always important, especially when we have new listeners on the show, to know what our company is about and where holding down the four podcasts was birthed from. I was thinking about how we all know that during that transition time, a couple of years before you get out a lot of our service members go through that program, the Transition Assistance Program, I think, from what I understand is probably

Speaker 1 9:44

there's various names, depending on which service and they keep changing it because they keep trying to improve it.

Jen Amos 9:48

Right, right. Yeah. And so of course, we are very well aware that there are organizations and programs available to help with that transition. One of the issues we have found is The transition for the spouses and the families that usually get that, let's say secondhand information from the service member if they do, or they have to kind of figure it out themselves or within their own community of other military spouses. And so I wanted to just briefly get your thoughts on that, and how, really at a disadvantage that puts spouses in. I mean, don't get me wrong, we know that spouses are resilient, we know that they are resourceful, we know that they will figure it out. But wouldn't it be easier if they had, you know, more tools so that they didn't have to always it's

: 10:34

not even about it being easier, it just do better than you deserve? After all the sacrifices coming in, to deserve to be able to do it, the best way that you can couldn't do it. But if you don't know about it, then you can't even possibly do the best. And that's when people come to us so frustrated, like, Man, I wish somebody would told me this. And then that's true. And, you know, ironically, just this last week, the DoD made it, or I think it was just the Secretary of the Army made a big push, the Chief of Staff of the Army made a big push saying, hey, you know, what, we haven't been doing enough for family readiness. So we've been doing too many deployments. So they're gonna make a conscious effort now. It's 2020. Remember, when 911 was that was in 2001. So now after 19 years of deployments and war, and separating these families and making this really, really hard. Oh, now we're gonna take a good hard look at it. And again, what typically happens, that just another big band aid, they do some surveys, they throw a bunch of money at it, and they create a program, put a funny name on it, you know, Soldier for Life. Think about that SFL tap Soldier for Life Transition Assistance Program, that's the Army's thing. The language itself doesn't benefit the transition Soldier for Life, you're actually leaving the military? It makes no sense. And so it's just like, No, you need to be the individual or the family unit separate from the military and not follow orders. And if you want that control, that's otherwise you're only going to see the few options. And then so to your point, getting the information to the spouses, if only so that they can help guide their service member because they're lost in chaos during this period for about 18 months or so. The checklists are endless. They tell us how stressful they are other exhausted, they don't know what to do. The money thing just seems like I just need to get you a job. That's just another checkbox, right? It's like, no, what do you want? What do you want for your family? And if you guys don't have that conversation about, you know, what's the real priority here and all these lists? How much is this for the military? And how much is this for you. Because once you're out, you're out, they don't care about you. And, you know, that's what we're pushing to give yourself the best chance and seek out the resources that help guide you down the path you want to go versus just what other ones that went before us did, let's just kind of follow this path, because this person went to that, you know, training program, they had a good result, you know, now's the time where if you really want to end up finding your thing, you have to start seeking it yourself, don't put it off, you know, this is the opportunity. The transition seems like a scary thing in it is, but it's actually an opportunity to finally get what you want, you're not getting orders to which duty station you have to go to and that kind of thing. And I think that's what makes it so cool. And that's where a lot of opportunities missed.

Jen Amos: 13:29

Yeah, this week, we just released an episode with Enrique. And he was talking about how as a service member, whose primary goal is to show up to the duty station at a certain time, you know, like, if they have to, you know, change stations, he has to be at a certain place, specifically at a certain time, and everything else falls onto the spouse, you know, the spouse has to kind of figure out like what to do with the kids what to do with the housing, etc, etc. And kind of established like that new normal. And so the reason why we bring all this up, and the reason why we are us that wealth, is because we are bold enough to say that our military families deserve so much more than what the government is currently giving them. Of course, we appreciate what the government has for them. But as you know, as a family, you know, Scott, being a veteran and myself being a gold star daughter being far removed from the military at this point, we're looking at the active duty service members and families today. And we really believe that you deserve so much better. And for today's conversation, we want to dive more into the context of you deserve better, you deserve more when it comes to your finances. And so going back to veteran wealth secrets in our book today, even though Scott it's titled veteran wealth secrets, we highly recommend that our active duty military spouses, whether it's a couple of years before transition or close to transition, or even while you're still in active duty and you don't know when you're going to transition out. We encourage you to download this book and take it to read as well. See, while it's still in pre launch, and especially while it's still available. Scott, I wanted to get your thoughts on that, and how important we believe it is for our spouses to check out this book.

: 15:10

Yeah, cuz we're all going to be a veteran or dealing with a veteran at some point. That's what I call it Department of Veterans Affairs. It's all about the service member, that's technically why all the benefits are based around the individual service member, not necessarily the family unit. It's all a technicality. And I mean, the military is made to win our nation's wars. It's not to make sure everybody's taken care of like they do a lot compared to all other armies and exists, they're all the militaries currently in existence, let alone in all of human history. So, you know, we're kind of in the best situation in all of human history to be a veteran family in the United States of America in the year 2020, in the internet age. And that's what I'm alluding that we're positioned so uniquely, even within American society, for the amount of benefits Pat's on the back, right? I mean, you can get going for if you use it properly. And so you position yourself to that advantage. And so, you know, to truly understand how how you position yourself to, honestly take advantage unfortunate, I think a lot of people do abuse their military benefits. But hey, leverage what you got, don't use what you don't need. That's a lot of the distractions, gi bills, VA loans, you know, that pulls people away off the path, if it's not really their thing, but they do it anyways. Because they think it's a benefit, I need to use it. And so things like that need to be understood in the context with how does money actually work? how taxes work, how does the financial world work, especially today, and I'm not even talking about things like Bitcoin yet, this is still, that standard tools and products, there's just new technology out there, there's new ways of doing things. In the financial world, there's new technology. And so the better you use it, the easier things become, a lot of it can be a lot of the stress the stuff that can be automated. Now, a lot of the budgeting and things that people used to worry about, you could take that off your place, so you can focus on the things that you want to focus on. And so, you know, so really, for the spouse to read this book, to understand while yes, I write it more for that veteran who needs to understand it from their perspective and getting out of the military, because it also got to figure out, you know, now that I'm not a soldier, or sailor, airman Marine, what am I, you know, the personal branding, the identity aspect of it is so important. And so yes, I'm writing to that. But I think a lot of that will speak to the military spouse as well, they're in this very much similar boat. And sometimes they can see it in each other, you know, as you and I do want to point things out a little bit like, it always adds a little bit to Oh, I didn't know that about me, or I forgot that about me. And that kind of put it back into my identity. And in you separate yourself into what you want to become. That's what makes it fun.

Jen Amos: 17:58

Yeah, and even as myself, who was not an active duty military spouse, I was able to experience that through my mom and what she went through. And even though as we mentioned in the title is about veterans veteran, well, secrets, I just feel like there's this universal lesson that you're teaching in the book. And it's really about waking up to the fact that you already have a pot of gold. And it's just masked with standard military benefits. And you can help me elaborate on this more. But it's like the money that you already have the benefits that you already have, there is a way to better maximize it, so that you have more control of it. And therefore you have more options. When you transition. You don't just like what Scott was saying earlier. Like you don't have to just maybe get that next job. You could, you know, do something else. You can do apprenticeship, you can travel, you can have more options, I think, is what we're trying to say. And part of that is just getting educated. Another, I guess, cliche, I want to say like how to make lemonade out of lemons that you already have that's already given to you.

: 19:06

Yeah, well, usually that implies that something's bad. Well, then help

Jen Amos: 19:10

me with the cliche. Give me a better cliche. Make a rock into diamond. I don't know.

: 19:16

Cool. And diamond. Yeah, you know, it can't be that dramatic. I mean, honestly, sometimes when you look at the numbers either, just do it. But that that can be said for anybody, like people who get into real estate investment while they're in the military, and then just build on it. Like, they often come out of the military millionaires. And it's like, the other guy next to him is like, oh, man, I should have done that. Right. You know, so you know, we're not doing rocket science over here. It's simply just looking at different aspects of the financial space, given the modern economy we're in and how you can create wealth around that. So there's just new ideas. But you know, also, this isn't just about military benefits. It's just not frankly, it's not even just about money. It's really back to that identity because I think that It's not even just about the military, this is our American system of go to school, get a job, pay taxes, retire and die. You know, I think now more than ever, again, as a veteran and 2020 veteran family in 2020, we have opportunities to break out of that system. And, you know, goes back to remembering that, when we were kids, we all had something that we liked doing, you know, creatively, whether it was drawing or speaking or being an engineer building stuff. And the people that tend to tap back into that tend to find their new way in the modern world a lot easier. And that's what I want to remind people to do is in the your post military life doesn't necessarily have to be associated with what you did, or who you identified with when you're in the military. This is the opportunity to choose.

Jen Amos: 20:54

Cool. So I think at this point, what I want this special episode to be every Friday, is an opportunity to engage with our listeners, and maybe answer any questions you have in regards to the we have three pillars us about wealth, that we primarily focus on financial education being one of the obvious ones, but also self development, and identity. We think that all three of these pillars can equate to you having more personal autonomy, more personal control in your life. And so if this conversation that we had sparked your interest, and you want to be a part of it, we encourage you to check out the show notes of this episode and contact me. And we'll be happy to address your question or your comments on our next show. Other than that, it's got anything else you want to add about veteran world secrets? Or I would

: 21:44

say if you are going to ask a question, read the book first so that you understand the contents. Because if you're coming to me saying, Should I buy a car or lease a car, this isn't what this is about. We don't do that. There's plenty of resources out there. One, Google works very well. But obviously, lots of financial blogs and stuff that get into that traditional financial advice. And once you read the book, you'll understand the real questions you should be asking that nobody told you. There's always the frequently asked questions, right. And then there's the should ask questions. Every other financial professional or whatever blogger or transition assistance, they're doing the Frequently Asked Questions stuff, I tell you what you need to be looking for what nobody's pointed out. Yeah, the new world that exists.

Jen Amos: 22:29

I like that. So the requirement the requirement for you to ask a question on our show, or to get featured on our show, or given a shout out, is to read the book, even read just enough till something stands out to you something perked your ears, and you want us to maybe elaborate a little bit more on it. But, Scott, we've already been getting some feedback on the book. And so can you share a little bit about what some people have shared? So far? I know that we had one of our clients actually say that they read the book twice already.

: 22:58

Yeah, it was just the, I think a lot of people will this book resonates with one guy said the first half that book could practically been my life. And so a lot of people are just realizing this is what I'm feeling. I didn't know how to say it. And that's because I'm just saying, This is what I went through. This is how I felt, I wish somebody had talked to me about this kind of stuff. And you know, that's the kind of feedback I'm getting like, they just go Yeah, that makes more sense than all this other stuff I've been told. Yeah, it just feels more, right.

Jen Amos: 23:29

Yeah, I think that's a great way to wrap it up and to kind of put a little teaser for our listeners to encourage you to download the book. And so again, if you are interested, we would love for you to join us and be a part of this because really, veteran Wealth Secrets summarizes what we stand for here at us fight wealth, and where our podcast show holding down the fort is birthed from and so again, you can check out the website veteran wealth secrets.com. With that said, that's all I have to say any closing thoughts before we go?

: 23:58

No, thank you so much for having me on. I look forward to being on in the future and get into some more stuff.

Jen Amos: 24:05

Yes, more bonding time together. Might as well be part of her. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, let's just thank you all so much for joining us. We hope that this episode today has given you one more piece of content, resource education or relevant story for you to continue to make confident and informed decisions for you and your family. With that said, we look forward to speaking with you in the next episode. Tune in next time