Financial Conversations for A PCS Part 2
Let’s finish the conversation on preparations that need to be made before a PCS. These are good things to discuss and prepare for, regardless of whether a PCS is on the immediate horizon for our families. We just moved, and it’s really unlikely that we’ll move again before our three years here are up, given my husband’s career field. But we are fresh off a PCS, which means that hard parts are at the forefront of our minds, and we are in a better position to understand and prepare for next time.
1. Cut costs and make living more comfortable by keeping essentials with you during a move
This obviously depends on the type of PCS your family is doing and the circumstances surrounding it. Going OCONUS ultimately limits what we can keep with us. Some people use that limited space to keep household necessities like their coffee maker or some cookware. But for other families, that space needs to be used to keep sentimental things safe. And we can’t overlook the fact that many families going overseas leave a lot of stuff behind in storage or sell it because it is easier to buy something new rather than deal with the hassle of moving it.
For our PCS, we only had two nights without our stuff in an empty space. We stayed one night in the house after the movers took everything and one night in the new house before they brought everything. We stayed on an air mattress that definitely had a small hole and was thrown away as soon as we were done with it (they probably aren’t supposed to sit balled up in a closet and only be used once every four years). Besides cleaning supplies, we didn’t keep many other essentials with us since we were staying with a friend. Most of our car space was reserved for stuff to cover the three weeks, including a week of vacation (we had to have a week of summer and winter clothes) and any sentimental things we didn’t want to risk getting lost or broken. We spent a lot of money eating out during that time, but we also didn’t want to grocery shop and end up having a bunch of stuff to take with us or leave at our friend’s house.
2. Have a budget
There are two pieces to this. We have to have a budget for our everyday life. We need to know how much is coming in and going out. A PCS can really throw that budget off track, though. Knowing how much extra is in the account at the end of the month and how much we have saved are important factors in planning for the cost of a PCS.
3. Know your entitlements and stay within budget
The second piece to budgeting is knowing your allotments for this move. Between per diem, the dislocation allowance, and any other program that your service member qualifies for, we can get a good idea of how much we should be spending. This amount may not come close to what it actually costs to make this transition, but if we have the metric, we can do our best to stay under it. It’s also a good idea after a PCS to keep track of the additional expenses that weren’t covered. This can help with a baseline of costs when we prepare for the next PCS.
4. Prepare for career change and temporary loss of income
This is probably one of the hardest parts of a PCS. There will likely be weeks or months
of an income gap during the move, even if a career transfers relatively quickly to a new state. There’s almost always new licensing or training required, even if we are staying within the same career field or company. This loss of income can have a significant effect on families. And we cannot overlook the fact that constant moves affect someone’s promotability. Companies are often more inclined to look in-house for promotions and usually want people who can make longer-term commitments. Sure, not everyone follows through on those commitments, but they have a better ability to do so than a military spouse with an expiration date on how long they will live in that state.
5. Save for PCS housing expenses
For rentals, this means first and last months’ rent, pet expenses, utility turn-on, and rental insurance. For buying, this means closing costs, inspections, homeowners insurance, VA funding fee or down payment, and utility turn-on. These costs constantly change as the housing market fluctuates and our family’s needs change. A family that was outgrowing their house may have stayed in it for a few more years before moving, but when forced to move, it doesn’t make as much sense not to accommodate the family better.
This stuff is important for any family. We need to be able to have financial conversations with our spouses and make decisions that support the family on all fronts. Here’s my problem with military websites sharing this advice, though. It misses the point. Families are struggling enough without being told that they should have prepared better. Whether we saw the PCS coming from a mile away or it hit us out of nowhere, most people do not have the savings in place to cover these additional costs, especially if the PCSs happen too close together. For something that military families have very little say in, it is wrong to put the responsibility on them. Finances are stressful enough for families without being told it was a failing on them for not preparing for something that they couldn’t control.