This week has been quite interesting to say the least. I am on day two of the conference and I missed the entire morning portion... I tried to stick it out yesterday all day but my fever got the best of me so I slept in today. If I wasn't five months preggo right now I'd probably try to get up but I get nervous with the little one.

Anyway, at least I'm here!!

This picture is a view from my hotel near Dupont Circle in downtown. I reached the hotel at 2 a.m., Feb. 8th and then slept until 6 a.m. 

Unfortunately many of the speakers couldn't get into the city to do their briefings, but some did.

The first speaker I saw gave a great presentation on financial fitness. She was a representative from USAA and she talked about Roth IRAs, thrift savings plans, and how to retire securely - even if you choose to leave the military.

Three Money Fundamentals:

• Save, save, save
• Manage your credit and debt
• Invest for retirement

Some Other Key Points:

• New trend is stealing children's identity - do an annual credit check on your children (yes, even 1-year-olds) in case someone has taken their social security number to get credit. This scam allows bad guys to get away with credit fraud because the child almost never finds out until they turn 18 and tries to get a credit card. Can you imagine?
• Do not use commercial credit report services, like the one with the guy who sings in the commercials, use annualcreditreport.com.
• Stop thinking about purchases in monthly payments, instead focus on the interest rate. Visualize each interest rate you pay - car, home, credit cards - as different size holes in your pocket. Companies advertise monthly payments and show the lowest possible in order to get you to sign the contract, then you're stuck.
• Pensions may disappear and social security is a question mark because of the average life expectancy increase. Save in addition to your military and civilian retirement accounts to be safe.
• Deployed service members can save money in TSPs and Roth IRAs under their TAX FREE status. Only during deployment. Penalties occur if you take money out of these accounts early.

The next speaker I saw was Marshal Hanson, who is working very hard to increase benefits for the Army Reserve on Capital Hill. He has so many irons in the fire, but is passionate about veterans' rights and it's obvious when you hear him speak about the lack of benefits for Reserve Soldiers versus active duty.

He is working on legislation for all services and here are some of the things he mentioned:

• Getting TRICARE extended to 180 days before deployment versus 90 days.
• Get free dental restoration for veterans after deployment
• TRICARE for vets at age 60 retirement
• Authorize transitional care for wounded warriors
• Permit individuals who accumulate 20 years of service while in Selected Reserve to elect non-regular retirement
• Allow Reserve Component retirees to sit on active duty councils
• Enforce the expanded travel pay law for Reservists who travel for training weekends
• Give equal treatment to wounded National Guard and Reserve members, same as the active duty receives

Other ROA Goals

• Adjust duty travel reimbursements to include lodging and meals, and decrease mileage requirement to 50 or more miles, vs. 100 or more
• Allow retirement years of service to be based on actual years in the Reserve versus only counting the active duty days for deployments and training. It is possible for a Reservist to serve 20 years but only get credit for half that time - or less

How ROA Helps

• Develop position papers
• Publish articles in officer magazines
• Serve on committees to influence national policy

Our next speaker talked about the G.I. Bill. The biggest point she stressed was making sure to research each benefit on the VA Web site so you know what option offers the best benefits. If you are eligible for two benefits, you must choose one of the two. But, if you are eligible for three benefits, you can choose two out of three and all are transferrable to dependents. 

*If you aren't a member of ROA, JOIN NOW! They are thinking of raising the price soon. You get linked up with a great network and the benefits are great. Check out their Web site.

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Well, those are all my notes from yesterday. I saw other speakers later that day, but unfortunately didn't take good notes:(. I hope to post better photos as soon as possible but I forgot my camera battery charger and card reader! Not likely to find an open camera store here either... 

Until tomorrow, I'm off to today's events. I'm starting to feel way better.