Soldier teaches troops how to invest money now

Photo By Sgt. Judith Dacosta | Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jason L. Bierman, a 452nd Ordnance Company Soldier and a regional marketing director of North and South Dakota, gives a financial awareness class discussing the importance of investing at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, May 17.  

IRAQ

06.10.2006

Courtesy Story

3rd Corps Support Command

With the support of the 8th Finance Battalion, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jason Bierman, a 452nd Ordnance Company Soldier, taught a financial awareness class at Logistical Support Area Anaconda to help Soldiers understand the benefit of investing their money now.

"Timing is important when it comes to investment," said Bierman, who is a regional marketing director of North and South Dakota for The Hartford Financial Services Group as a civilian.

"I attended a Thrift Savings Program class offered by the 8th Finance Bn.," said Bierman. Having spent five years working as a financial advisor, he realized his knowledge could assist in providing training for Soldiers, he said.

During the two-hour finance training, Bierman defined and compared the benefits of placing money in checking/money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, fixed annuities, savings deposit programs and mutual funds.

Bierman said the best investment one can make now is to place their money in the Savings Deposit Program, which has a 10 percent annual percentage rate.

Also, Soldiers can invest the maximum amount of $10,000 all at once with a lump sum check and a memo from their commander.

The next best investment move, said Bierman, would be to invest in the Roth Individual Retirement Account.

"Something that a lot of people don't know about the Roth IRA is that the principal can be drawn back out of the account at anytime without penalty," said Bierman.

This is extremely beneficial to Soldiers, said Bierman, because in the States the principal amount invested is usually taxed in a Roth IRA. Since we are deployed to a tax exempt zone that money and any gain is not taxed either, he said.

Furthermore, when a Soldier files their taxes, in most cases, unless they were a full-time student, they may receive a tax credit based on their income bracket for the year filed, said Bierman.

There appear to be several ways for Soldiers to earn money with their saved money and Bierman is eager to teach Soldiers how for free.

"I won't make a dime from this training," said Bierman. "If I can help someone avoid a financial mistake and make good decisions with their money, for me the satisfaction is like watching someone hit their first home run," he said.

Several Soldiers were impressed with the information in Bierman's presentation slides which he said were the same ones he used for his seminars in North and South Dakota.

"That is a lot of good information about the Roth IRA," said Spc. James Doherty, a Company C, 563rd Aviation Support Battalion Information Management Office representative.

"I also found out that a lot of the investments that I have already made were on the right track. It feels good to know that I haven't made any mistakes," he said.

"I thought this was a good class," said Spc. Robert Foster, Co. C., 563rd ASB IMO representative. "I think more people could benefit from this training," said Foster.

The following day, Bierman conducted a workshop to calculate individual financial plans for Soldiers.

Currently, there are no other financial awareness classes scheduled with Bierman; however, if Soldier's show an interest in attending additional financial awareness classes, more classes will be scheduled, said Capt. Carmen Iglesias, the 8th Finance Bn. detachment commander. "It depends upon the demand," she said.

Bierman said he will continue to help Soldiers as much as he can. Therefore, if Soldiers have an interest in learning more about their finances, they should act soon.

• Date Taken: 06.10.2006
• Date Posted: 06.10.2006 11:34
• Story ID: 6779
• Location: IQ