“That was a massive expense.”In fact,service members and their spouses ranked financial stress as their greatest concern, even over deployment, according to Blue Star Families’ annual military family lifestyle survey. As a result, about half of service members and their spouses of service members say they rely on the gig economy to stay afloat, the NFCC found. You can keep on top of the many benefits the military offers, as well as whatever financial education it makes available, through Military OneSourceor other channels. For its part, the NFCC offers financial education and credit counseling through its member agencies. Institutions such as USAA also regularly work with current and former service members and offer a range of banking and insurance products.

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