The war has added to the financial disarray that can sometimes result from the demands of the military. This is especially true for reservists and members of the National Guard, who are seeing their tours of duty extended. The Army, in fact, recently announced a "stop-loss" policy in which personnel in or going to Iraq or Afghanistan can be forced to remain on active duty with their units after their enlistment period expires.
This situation could grow worse, Dyer says, because employers who have been supplementing their employees' military pay, to keep their incomes level, are in some cases rethinking those policies as tours of duty are extended.
The need for financial safety nets in the military is one of the things that sparked a recent agreement between the MOAA and the Garrett Planning Network, in which participating members of the network are knocking 20% off their hourly fees for military personnel.
It's believed to be the first effort to proactively give military personnel access to fee-only financial planning. The program started at the end of May and will be evaluated in six months, says Dyer.
Dyer hopes the program will be successful, but he's taking a wait-and-see approach. It's no the participation level of planners he's concerned about. It's the enthusiasm of military personnel.
Dyer, who lectures military people on financial planning at bases throughout the country, says military personnel are often too busy to think about planning. Plus, so many of their needs are taken care of while in the service that retirement isn't on the top of their minds, he says.
"Up until a couple years out from retirement, a lot of both the officers and enlisted personnel are not interested in financial planning," he says.
Advisors with experience dealing with military people say that serving this clientele is indeed a specialty, considering the circumstances and culture they're dealing with.
Ben L. Jennings, owner of Navigator Financial Planning in Lakewood, Wash., has extensive experience dealing with military personnel due to the fact that his office is within convenient driving distance of at least six military bases.
The financial planning basics are the same for military people as everyone else, he says, but the circumstances in which such clients live are not. To adequately plan for military personnel, he says, an advisor needs to know military culture, rules and benefits-as well as the lingo.