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Watch out for Scammers during the Government Shutdown
The government shutdown is having an impact on Americans (and the military community specifically) in numerous ways. The added inconveniences, costs (commissary closings), loss of income, reduced training opportunities and much more are adding stress to military families too. With this turbulence comes the opportunity for scammers to target you as well. These folks are out there and they take advantage of everyone; but the military lifestyle creates some unique challenges and many times the bad guys know this. With the current reduced government protective resources the identify theft folks are working overtime right now; the new health care law is new and a bit confusing which opened the door…
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Surviving the Storm – Hurricane Preparedness
Being prepared, it seems to be the motto of military-families worldwide. Hurricane Season is upon us and it is time to start making plans, thinking through what we need to do to be prepared. Some great tips from Hurricane Survivors include: Make sure you have lots of bottled water on hand and fill your bathtub before the storm. Tap water easily becomes contaminated and you won’t want to risk it before it’s checked. Make sure you have plenty of batteries, flashlights, candles, and nonperishable food on hand. – Cathy Keep those laptops and cell phones charged. If you have kids and have no power you’ll want to entertain them somehow.…
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One More Challenge for Military Personnel! Post Deployment Driving
They just keep adding up for our military folks – challenges that is! But this one is pretty close to home and the safety of our service members and their families should not be compromised. Insurance industry giant, USAA has released the results of a study of post deployment auto accidents for military members and they have tagged a large increase for some groups following deployments. An educated guess of the results indicates a lot of habits formed while driving in convoys in combat situations (to stay alive) can increase the chances of having an accident at home. So the best convoy and combat drivers may be at risk at…
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Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style Part Two – The Checklist
Sometimes a blog inspires new ideas and last week’s Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style brought up the idea of a checklist that might help others. Much of the same information but in a shorter format without personal details. Think of it as a guide and then add your own ideas too! Share your experiences with others too by commenting! 1 – Caring For Senior Family Member While Long Distance: print a copy of this list and put in your glove box. One never plans for an emergency long distance road trip. However, when called to go, arrive armed with a design for success. 2…
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Life Insurance Awareness Month Quiz – Win an iPod Shuffle
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. To celebrate USAA and MilitaryAvenue are joining forces to give away an iPod shuffle to one lucky winner! Simply COMMENT on our note at Facebook with your answers / “best guess” to the following questions. We will draw a random winner from those COMMENTS made by Sept 30th and announce our winner on Oct 3rd. Have fun! Life Insurance Awareness Month QuizCourtesy of USAA1. True or false. All active duty service members and Guard or reserves who are in a drilling status qualify for group life insurance.a. Trueb. False2. Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance stops: a. 90 days after you return from deployment.b. …
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Just a Mom Without a Clue
I spent the wee-hours of the morning in the ER. Baby Boy *L* has been running a high fever for about 72 hours and last night he didn’t want to nurse, he didn’t want to be held, he didn’t want to be put down. He just wanted to cry and be miserable (and drag all of us down with him. Wait did I just say that?) His misery had made for a long day already and I realized that if this went all night again we both might drown in a puddle of tears together. It is am awful feeling to feel helpless. Especially when the ones you love, those that…
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“Too Sweet a Deal”? You Decide!
The military lifestyle is a tough road! No one can deny that but many civilians do not understand why it is tough either! Long deployments, extensive TDY/TADs, frequent relocations (PCS), and caring for our families despite these conditions are frequently misunderstood. Also largely misunderstood is the impact on the lives of Reserve Forces including the National Guard and Service Reservists. Yep, some civilians may even ignore these situations but I think the major issue is education. How do we tell our fellow citizens that we are stretched as a community and in some cases would like them to “cover our 6 o’clock” for us? Checking 6 is when another aircraft…
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“They Helped Me Up” Staff Sergeant Eddie Peoples – DoD Blogger’s Roundtable
Staff Sergeant Eddie PeoplesHow do I start? This story is about one of our own, a hero for wearing his country’s uniform, a “Defender” in his one words and certainly a model for caring! United States Army Staff Sergeant Eddie Peoples came home on leave from Vicenza, Italy with his family to care for and see his ill father who had had a stroke. Stopping in the branch of the Sarasota, Florida Bank of America, he saw a robbery “go down” and elected to get involved! More defending to do and children to protect (two of his own were with him), he described himself as on call 24 hours a…
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USAA’s iPad Application – Be informed!
When we are informed we make better decisions.That is what USAA’s iPad application is all about! I have had the privilege of previewing their banking app for the iPad and I have to say I am mighty impressed. It just suits me. It is clean. It is organized. It makes me feel like I am in control. That is important when it comes to finances! I love the look of the Insurance Policy pages. Like a small library of policies. Pick a book. Open it up. Before you lies everything you need to know about your auto insurance policy, or your home-policy, or your life insurance. All at your fingertips,…
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Push Back… Hold Forward… Integrity
It is flu season, or at least I have heard the forecast, similar to a hurricane coming this way. Get ready! So we went forward. After seeing TV ad after TV ad about going into local pharmacy to get the shot, Dale and I decided to take a ride. Not being one who looks forward to pain, shots, pokes or whatever, I let him go first! We whipped out our military IDs; which is all that we need to show insurance when picking up medications at 2 local places here in Michigan. The registered nurse who sat at the table looked at cards, our faces and asked “What is this?”…
