Best products from r/MilitaryFinance

We found 5 comments on r/MilitaryFinance discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 5 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/MilitaryFinance:

u/mferna9 · 2 pointsr/MilitaryFinance

Absolutely! We've never had much money, so we always tried to find ways to get into each with with little to no money out of pocket. Overall, we've been able to do that pretty well- most deals we bring $2K or less to closing. We sort of stumbled upon our first property. It was a double in a great neighborhood that needed A LOT of work. I actually called the sign because we were looking for a place to rent and found out it was for sale. We got an FHA 203K (renovation) loan to purchase it and fix it up. Since we did much of the work ourselves, we ended up getting a great deal on it and it cashflows really well! While fixing it up I read this book and it completely shifted my mindset and helped lay out a plan moving forward. Next we used the VA loan for the 4-plex, which also needed a lot of work. Same thing, we lived in one unit and fixed up the ones that needed to be completely renovated. Most people don't realize you can use the VA loan for multi-family. As long as you live in one of the units, you can use it for up to 4 units (can get 5 or more units if 2 or more eligible vets are in on the deal). The property can also have commercial space as well, but it is restricted to a certain % of the square footage- I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head. After the 4-plex, my wife wanted a regular house, we we bought a house for us to live in. Bad idea in my eyes because it slowed us down and restricted cashflow, but happy wife happy life, right? lol. From here it got tougher because we couldn't use primary residence financing anymore (VA, FHA, etc.) and had to find creative ways to make deals happen. For me the easiest way has been finding properties that need a good bit of work and using renovation loans from local banks- they typically will lend up to 80-90% of the AFTER repair value, so if the deal is good enough you can finance the whole thing without any money out of pocket. The next one was a SFH we scooped up really cheap at an auction. Starting bid was 50% of the appraised value from the local government and somehow I was the only one who bid on it. Put 10% down and we had 30 days to get the rest of the financing. We got the rest of the money ($35,000) from a hard money guy until I can refinance with a bank.

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Sorry for the long response, and I'm happy to dive deeper into anything you have questions about. I'd say the biggest success factors for us were 3 things: 1) cashflow is king. When times get tough, cashflow (and reserves) will keep the house of cards from falling over (especially when you're playing with little skin in the game like we do). 2) You have to be disciplined and plan on not using any of the money you make for personal stuff. The more you can reinvest, the faster you can grow. 3) Don't be afraid to pull the trigger. A lot of people get cold feet. Know your numbers and when the right deal pops up, don't be afraid to take the plunge.

u/My_soliloquy · 2 pointsr/MilitaryFinance

Congrats on achieving what you have. That is more than most have achieved at that age. You can plan ahead or you can just wing it, but if you plan, you are better able to weather the changes that life will throw your way, because the only real constant in life is change.

As for the MGIB, pay attention to the expiration dates of the benefits, some plans are 10 years after separation, some are 15, who knows what your life will be like farther down the road. And the only way you can transfer benefits to a spouse/children is before you separate/retire if you were to do so, and since you don't have any plans in that direction, it doesn't seem to be currently applicable. Also different plans are usable for different directions, vocational, graduate, apprentice, etc. But you could use those benefits several years later (and not have to work while doing so) as well. Unless the rules change, because they always have, and the current administration is predicting (and promising) drastic change. Regardless, go to the various websites and read the rules for yourself, many times I got "advice from experts" that was completely erroneous. Double check for yourself.

Regardless of IF you decide to stay in or not, I suggest reading Nord's book, it has some good planning advice for anyone in the military.

u/Kazoo989 · 1 pointr/MilitaryFinance

35% I started at 10% My quality of life it great. I still have money for cycling gear and vacations. I just have to plan for them better and do some price shopping. I'll save up money to purchase something rather than digging into my savings account with is meant for only emergencies. My going out money is added into my groceries and eating budget and when it gets low at the end of the month I have and decide whether ramen for the rest of the month is worth going out again. It sounds boring but I'd rather control where my money is going than have my money control where I'm going. There are some great ideas from Ramit about setting priorities and the latte factor.

u/kotov9syndrome · 1 pointr/MilitaryFinance

Good on you for trying to learn!

Read this

It's a simple book and puts all the typical financial information. It's a lot of common sense stuff, but its only 200 pages.