Military Money Manual Podcast

Everyone's seen the ads, but what does Wounded Warrior Project actually do? Spencer opens with a confession — he didn't really know either — and gets a candid, myth-busting tour from Julie, who leads WWP's Financial Readiness program and is an active-duty Navy spouse herself. The big news: WWP has expanded beyond the traditionally "wounded, ill, and injured" to serve all post-9/11 service members, including active duty. It's an honest conversation about the "deadly gap" of transition, why so man

Jonathan is about to run 700 miles across North Carolina in 17 days — roughly 40 miles a day, fueled by maple syrup swigs and pickle juice shots. But this conversation goes far deeper than the miles. He opens up about failing out of college, enlisting as an 18X hoping for Special Forces, losing a soldier to suicide, and the dark post-service spiral that ended with a scooter crash and an ultimatum from his wife. Out of that came Operation Warrior Fit, a nonprofit getting veterans and first respon

One decision in your first year of service can make you a military millionaire and most people never make it. In this long-awaited 2026 refresh of their most popular episode ever, Spencer and co-host Jamie break down the Thrift Savings Plan from the ground up: what it is, how the 5% match really works, Roth vs. traditional, the combat zone triple tax benefit, and exactly how much to contribute to retire with seven figures. Whether you just left boot camp or you're 15 years in and think you're to

Most people dread PCS season for how much it drains the bank account — Jared flips it into a $7,500 payday. Back on the show, the host of the Military Miler podcast breaks down the exact moves he used moving his family from Italy to Japan: circuitous travel memos, leave in conjunction with official travel, stacking credit card credits, and pocketing thousands in COLA and utilities along the way. But this one goes deeper than travel hacking — it's a candid conversation about budgeting overseas,

That magazine you grab on your way into the commissary? It's been there for nearly 70 years — and there's a four-generation family story behind it. In this episode, Spencer sits down with Joe Mugnai, whose grandfather launched Family Magazine in 1958 to help military families stretch every dollar. Today it distributes 400,000 copies a month across commissaries worldwide. But Joe isn't just carrying the torch — he's building the next chapter: The Garrison Ledger, a free suite of always-accurate m

There is no perfect portfolio. A Bogleheads study looking back over 20 years found no diversified portfolio beat a similarly risky one by more than 1–2% per year — and that edge usually gets eaten up by advisory fees, behavioral errors, and poor tax management anyway. Stop optimizing. Spencer Reese walks through 10 reasonable asset allocations for military service members, from the simplest set-and-forget option to the one he uses himself. The goal isn't the best portfolio — it's a low-cost, au