The Army is partnering with television host and personal finance expert Suze Orman to teach soldiers and their families about handling their finances, the service announced Tuesday.
“There comes a time in life where everybody has to serve country, and they have to serve those that are giving us our freedom,” Orman said Tuesday at a briefing alongside Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy. “If anybody deserves the best financial advice in the world, which I am more than capable of giving, it’s the men and the women who are serving all of us.”
Orman said free online seminars will offer advice on “every aspect of personal finances out there,” including credit card debt, when it makes sense to buy a home and how to plan for retirement, among other topics.
{mosads}An Army press release said the advice will be especially important as the Army implements its new blended retirement system in 2018, described as “one of the most wide-reaching and significant changes to military pay and benefits in the last 70 years.”
Under the new blended retirement system, about 85 percent of service members will receive some form of portable retirement benefit, compared to about 19 percent today, according to the release.
Orman is offering the service pro bono through a gratuitous service agreement. She said she’s hoping to work on it full time since she ended her CNBC show in 2015.
Orman has previously worked with the Army Reserve in a similar partnership.
The program is meant both to help soldiers be ready for civilian life and to ensure they aren’t worrying out their finances on the battlefield, Murphy said.
“When our soldiers don’t have their hearts and minds on their job, it is not good for their security and for the team,” Murphy said. “And that’s why we are just so excited to partner with Suze.”