"The military is just so extensive, and the rules so complex, that it takes a lot more effort to get up to speed," says Jennings, one of the advisors participating in the Garrett Planning Network/MOAA program.
Knowing the differing pay grades and ranks, and the way promotions work in military culture, aren't just for making small talk. In the military, promotions often equate to longevity, and whether or not a military person will be able to hit the 20-year mark in service. Service people who reach that plateau are eligible for lifetime medical benefits and a military pension that typically pays between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.
Military personnel who fall short of the 20-year mark, no matter how close, get no pension. This is why Jennings and other planners generally tell military personnel to plan as if the pension doesn't exist.
"Even folks who want to make the military their career may not necessarily make their 20," says Dyer of the MOAA.
Some of the other terms advisors will confront are Tri Care, the military health benefit plan that can, with 20 years of service, relieve military retirees of a significant burden by giving them a medical benefit package that covers them right up to Medicare. Other terms an advisor needs to be aware of, says Jennings, are acronyms such as TSP, or Thrift Savings Plan, which is the military equivalent to a 401(k) plan, and SBP, or Survivor Benefit Plan, which gives military personnel the option to decide how much of their pension a surviving beneficiary will receive.
But beyond the layers of complexity, advisors say, are the same principles that apply to anyone, such as setting goals, starting early and being disciplined. Dyer, for instance, says the most important message he tries to convey to young service people is to max out their TSP contributions every year. Like the rest of the population, he says, military people aren't putting enough away for retirement.
Robert Gerstemeier, owner of Gerstemeier Financial Group in Naperville, Ill., is a Navy reservist with experience advising clients in the military. He says sudden or extended deployments shouldn't be a problem if the groundwork is done ahead of time.
This includes updating wills and making sure there is adequate life insurance. Through the government military personnel are entitled to a $12,000 death benefit and can get term life insurance with a death benefit up to $250,000.. Married couples need to plan ahead who will control the family accounts when one member of the couple is away for long periods.
Gerstemeier says, for example, that joint custody of accounts can make the process easier, but can also make things more complicated if you have a husband and wife drawing from the same account while they're on opposite sides of the globe.
"It really is not significantly different as far as what you're going to do whether or not you're going to be sent to Iraq," he says. "Many times I sit across the table and tell them, 'I'm preparing you for anything that might happen, whether it be war or getting hit by the bread truck when you cross the street."