Please assume all links below are affiliate links and I may be compensated if you click or sign up for a service through the links below. I do my best to find the best offers and will only post links that contain the best offer, even if it means I do not post my own referral link here. Thanks for supporting my veteran owned small business!
Credit Cards, Points & Miles
- Travel Freely app, keep track of all your credit cards without spreadsheets
- CardPointers – keep track of all your benefits, automatically add American Express and Chase offers to your cards
- Use Your Credits – Find restaurants, hotels where your Amex and Chase credits work
- PointsYeah.com – Search award ticket availability
- Seats.Aero – Search for award ticket availability
- amex.point.me and Point.me – search for award tickets
- MaxFHR – Find the best use of your Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) American Express Platinum Card credit
- Flights Connections – see the direct flight connections between airports and which airline flies them.
- Flights.Google.com – Search all the airlines for the best routes and cheapest tickets
Business
Check out my recommended business tools for military entrepreneurs.
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Pilot Stuff
MilKeep – convert your military flight records to civilian format and easily apply to the airlines.
Investment Accounts and Banks, Brokerages
Business banking, checking and savings accounts – Mercury
Donor Advised Funds (DAFs)
- DAFFY
- Vanguard Charitable
- Schwab Charitable (rebranded DAF Giving 360)
- Fidelity Charitable
Investment Accounts or places to open a Roth IRA
- Schwab
- Fidelity
- Vanguard
- Interactive Brokers
Military Friendly Banks and Credit Unions
- Navy Federal Credit Union
- USAA
- Ally
- Recommended High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA)
Money Tools
Budget and Expense Tracking Apps
- YNAB – Jamie's favorite tracking app.
- Monarch Money – track expenses automatically and see beautiful cash flow and spending reports. Makes tracking your budget easy and easy to look it.
Financial and Investing Datasets
ProjectionLab – model your net worth growth
Portfolio Visualizer – great for back testing portfolios
Kubera – Track your net worth across multiple accounts, like the TSP, Roth IRA, taxable brokerage, etc. If you sign up hello@kubera.com and mention spencer@militarymoneymanual.com sent you.
Trusted Financial Advisors and Money Mentors
Nectarine – Financial Advice from licensed financial advice professional, most of whom are Certified Financial Planners CFP, for $175 to $400 per hour. Save 10% with our link. Please note: I will be compensated by Nectarine if you use my affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. I am not a current client or employee of Nectarine.
Spencer's Military Money Mentor – not a Registered Investment Advisor, but willing to have conversations around Financial Independence and military money management.
Military Financial Advisors Association – any of the Enrolled Agents, CPAs, and Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) are fee-only, military veterans or spouses, and many have appeared on the Military Money Manual Podcast
Financial Independence FIRE Calculators
Fitness, Sports, Health
- Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar
- vuori clothing. I especially recommend the Kore 5″ shorts. Get 20% off with my referral link.
Tech
Google Fi – Read my full Google Fi Review. An essential cell phone service if you're stationed overseas or travel outside the US frequently. I've used it for 10+ years now and it provided high speed data for free in every international location I visit.
Google Pixel Phones – best Android alternative to iPhone.
Kindle Paperwhite – best digital ereading experiences. Allows me to read dozens of books a year and travel with dozens of books in my backpack.
I noticed that you don’t have Empower/Personal Capital on this page. Do you not use or recommend that product anymore? If you aren’t using it anymore what made you change to these new tools?
I stopped using Personal Capital when they sold to Empower. I wanted something with less cold sales calls. Also it often had syncing issues with accounts.
If a product is free they’re usually selling your data or you’re the product. Kubera coats a bit every year but it’s simple and comprehensive, well worth it.