If you are a military couple and are facing a deployment, there are many things that you can, and should, do to prepare for your time apart. One of these things is to sit down together and have a serious discussion about your finances. Money issues can have an adverse affect on any marriage, but when you are sharing the same money but not the same dwelling, it can be even more difficult.
Men and women that are willing to answer the call to duty and leave their homeland to serve and protect the rest of us should not have to do so with worries about finances. They should be able to leave with the confidence that everything is going to be taken care of to the best of the ability of the couple as a whole. Most of the responsibility will fall onto the partner that is at home, since our soldiers are dealing with different issues.
Military pay should be going directly into a bank account that you and your spouse both have access to. This enables the spouse at home to make the payments that need to be made and to have the funds to survive on while their husband or wife is deployed. There should be not be a time, though, that the person on deployment does not have the funds that they need to be as comfortable as possible.
This can be difficult, especially if money is tight as it is. There may be limited communication between the partners during their time apart and neither will know what the other needs at each moment. For this reason, it is a good idea to have two accounts going during a deployment. When the monthly pay goes into one account, transfer an amount that you and your partner have agreed upon into a separate account for his or her use. By doing this, he or she will have some financial security in knowing what the account that they will primarily use has in it.
If only one of you has been in charge of paying the bills in the past, and if this has been the person that is being deployed, the other will need to get a crash course on what the bills are, when they are to be paid, and the method of payment.
During a deployment, the partner that is staying at home will be responsible to take care of the things that the deployed soldier was once in charge of. This may include finances and if that is the case, it is an opportunity to learn and grow. Finances are an important part of life for all of us, including the men and women of our military.