Military Saves is a social marketing campaign that is designed to help influence, motivate, and support members of the military and their families to save money. Studies have shown that members of the military are woefully neglecting their financial education and not saving enough money for key financial events such as retirement, their children’s college expenses, and an emergency fund. The culmination of the program every year is Military Saves Week. Next week is Military Saves Week from Sunday the 27th of February to Sunday March 6th. Check with your base and your unit’s leadership to see if they have any events planned for the week.
The History Of Military Saves Week
Military Saves was developed by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) which is the program’s non-profit sponsor. The Department of Defense and the branches of the military have been using the program from 2003 to 2006. And, the Department of Defense officially spread the program throughout all the services in 2007 as part of the Department of Defense’s larger Financial Readiness Campaign and in conjunction with the national America Saves campaign. Each year, the Military Saves and Military Saves Week program continues to grow as more volunteers and bases pick up the fight to education military members and their families on their financial wellbeing. The campaign continues to grow its network of organizations and individuals who help and support the military community encouraging military families to build personal savings and emergency funds to meet their financial needs.
Outreach To The Military Through Military Saves Week
One of the primary focuses of the event is to earn leaders and organizations buy in to the program and commit to a lifestyle of saving every month. The program has been aggressively promoting automatic savings. While Military Saves is an ongoing yearlong campaign, the group encourages the entire military community to come together in an effort to focus on financial readiness, and they especially stress its importance during Military Saves Week during February into March.
The Military Saves campaign is committed to working together with members of the military to teach service members and their families the importance of becoming financially stable and independent. The program has continued to focus its efforts teaching saving, debt reduction, and how to build wealth over time to the community that is severely lacking in financial education. Check with your unit leadership to see if they have any events planned for the week. If not, consider starting your own financial education event down at your lowest unit level. There is not a member of the military formation who does not need a little more knowledge in managing his or her finances. Find more resources at the Military Saves website.
Graphics Courtesy of Military Saves
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