A Family's Guide to the Military for Dummies (ISBN - 0470386975) PDF
Preview A Family's Guide to the Military for Dummies (ISBN - 0470386975)
by Sheryl Garrett and Sue Hoppin Foreword By Tanya Biank Author of Army Wives A Family's Guide to the Military FOR DUMmIES ‰ A Family's Guide to the Military FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Sheryl Garrett and Sue Hoppin Foreword By Tanya Biank Author of Army Wives A Family's Guide to the Military FOR DUMmIES ‰ A Family’s Guide to the Military For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2008936637 ISBN: 978-0-470-38697-2 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Authors Sheryl Garrett, CFP and founder of The Garrett Planning Network, Inc., has been dubbed “The All-American Planner,” possibly because of her zealous mission to “help make competent, objective fi nancial advice accessible to all people.” Sheryl’s fresh approach as a fi nancial advisor working with clients on an hourly, as-needed, fee-only basis has evolved into an international network of fi nancial advisors, the Garrett Planning Network. As a consumer advocate, Sheryl has been honored to work with the House Subcommittee on Financial Services regarding predatory lending regulation, fi nancial literacy and Social Security reform. She also works as an expert witness in lawsuits against fi nancial advisors who rendered inappropriate fi nancial advice. She has authored or served as a technical editor on over a dozen books and a couple of monthly magazine columns. These books include Garrett’s Guide to Financial Planning (National Underwriter), Just Give Me the Answer$ (Dearborn Trade), Money Without Matrimony (Dearborn Trade), Personal Finance Workbook For Dummies (Wiley), Investing in an Uncertain Economy For Dummies (Wiley), as well as this book, A Family’s Guide to the Military For Dummies (Wiley). As vocal advocate for fi nancial education, Sheryl has been frequently interviewed on CNNfn, Bloomberg, ABC World News Now, Fox-TV; NPR’s All Things Considered and Marketplace; and in Business Week, Newsweek, Time, Forbes, Kiplinger Personal Finance, Money, Smart Money, MarketWatch, U.S. News & World Report, the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For four straight years Sheryl was recognized by Investment Advisor magazine as “One of the Top 25 Most Infl uential People in Financial Planning” and was honored by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) honored Garrett with the prestigious Robert J. Underwood Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to the development of the fi nancial planning profession. Sue Hoppin is passionate about quality of life issues for military families because she lives and understands the challenges of the military lifestyle. Elements of her story are shared by any number of other military spouses. She met her husband when he was attending the United States Air Force Academy and fi nished school while he attended undergraduate pilot training. The couple married shortly thereafter and a son followed. Their transient life- style, deployment schedules and other demands kept Sue at home with their son while her husband deployed around the world. Although she holds multiple degrees, it wasn’t until recently that Sue was able to enter the work force. Before then, she served the military commu- nity as a volunteer. Her responsibilities ranged from squadron fundraiser and spouse club membership chair to the presidency of both the Kadena Offi cers’ Spouses’ Club and of the Ramstein Elementary School PTA. She currently serves as the 2008–2009 President of the Air Force Offi cers Wives Club at Bolling AFB. Sue was recognized for her volunteer efforts with awards as Volunteer of the Year at McConnell AFB (1999) and as the 76th Airlift Squadron Spouse of the Year (2002). She joined the Benefi ts Information Department staff of Military Offi cers Association of America in 2005 and quickly established herself as an expert in military spouse issues. In 2006, Sue was selected to be MOAA’s fi rst assistant director for spouse outreach. In 2007, Military Spouse Magazine named Sue on their 2007 Who’s Who of Military Spouses list recognizing 12 spouses who have made signifi cant contributions in the military community for all military spouses. A tireless advocate for improving the lives of military spouses and families, Sue is the consummate connector — bringing together government, corpo- rate, and nonprofi t organizations to meet spouses where they live and work. She is the driving force behind the annual Spouse Symposium held in Norfolk, VA that brings key legislative, spouse, community, and DoD leaders together in an interactive forum to achieve real change for military spouses. In addition to her work at MOAA, she writes a monthly column for Military Spouse Magazine and serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Military Spouse and Family Legacy Association. Sue holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Oklahoma. Dedication This book is dedicated to all of our military families. Your support and devotion are essential to the mission, and we all know too well the sacrifi ces you make. Our heartfelt thanks to you and your military member for your service to our nation. Authors’ Acknowledgments From Sheryl: Because of the love and devotion of my family, staff , and col- leagues in the Garrett Planning Network, I have the freedom and support to carry out the mission of my life’s work, which involves helping to make com- petent, objective personal fi nancial advice accessible to all people. But I have a special place in my heart for military families and veterans. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to do a little for those who do so much in service to our country. This project would not have been possible without the amazing talent and devo- tion of my co-author, Sue Hoppin. She taught me a lot more than she meant to, I’m sure. I wouldn’t have got to know Sue without the most perfect introduction from the energizer bunny himself, Phil Dyer, CFP, RLP. This book required the talents of a lot of people. Sue and I needed one another and both of us relied on Phil as our Technical Reviewer extraordinaire. We also had great support from the folks at Wiley, specifi cally Mike Baker and Jennifer Connolly. Thanks for your faith in us and for recognizing the need for this book. From Sue: Without the love and support of my husband Kevin and my son Garrett, writing this book would not have been possible. Balancing work and writing the book, I missed out on endless regattas, other school events, and any number of social activities with them. I can’t even count the number of times they had to endure frozen dinners or take-out meals, so I thank them from the bottom of my heart for being such good sports. They both really picked up the slack and encouraged me when sometimes it just seemed like too much. Between them and our amazing support system of friends and family, no one could ask for better cheerleaders. Thanks to Phil Dyer, my colleague, friend, and mentor who introduced me to Sheryl Garrett and started us down the path of writing this book together. Thanks to Sheryl for being such a pleasure to work with and for taking a chance on me. You both had more faith in me than I sometimes had in myself. Many thanks to Mike Baker, Jennifer Connolly and the other folks at Wiley Publishing who made this experience such a tremendous one. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to create a product to benefi t military spouses and families. There were some sections of this book that were diffi cult to write and wouldn’t have resonated as well without the guidance of other people. Thank you Phil for your expertise and DeDe for providing your insights. A fi nal thanks to my friends and fellow military spouses: Tanya Biank, Babette Maxwell, Nicole Alcorn, Krista Wells, and Robin Prior whose words of encour- agement remind me daily about all that is best about the military spouse community. When we get it right, we really get it right — I cannot imagine a greater group of friends or role models. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor: Jennifer Connolly Acquisitions Editor: Mike Baker Copy Editor: Jennifer Connolly Technical Editor: Phil Dyer Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich Editorial Supervisor: Carmen Krikorian Editorial Assistants: Erin Calligan Mooney, Joe Niesen, Jennette ElNagger, and David Lutton Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Cover Photo Credit: Kriss Russell© Composition Services Project Coordinator: Katie Key Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Christin Swinford, Christine Williams Proofreaders: Melissa Bronnenberg, Amanda Steiner, Evelyn W. Still Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
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