Author: Joel Schofer, MD, MBA, CPE
Finance Friday Articles
Here are this week’s finance Friday articles:
5 Reasons To Invest In Choppy Markets
7 Ways the IRS Supports Your Charitable Desires
Avoiding the Hedonic Treadmill
Buying When Stocks Are Down Big
Here’s how much money to save if you want to retire ‘rich,’ according to wealth manager David Bach
Introduction to Commercial Real Estate Investing
Paper Tigers (a discussion about how futile it is to make market predictions)
Real Estate Investing Without the Hassle
Seven Ideas (to manage your own money)
Tax Loss Harvesting with Fidelity: A Step by Step Guide
Three Questions (to ask when the markets are down)
Using Side Income to Fund Multiple Tax Advantaged Retirement Accounts
What is the Best Month to Buy a House?
All the Posts About Letters to the Board in One Place
The question most people ask me is answered in these posts:
Should You Send a Letter to the Promotion Board?
Do You Still Need to Send the Above Zone Letter?
The bottom line is:
Pretend that you did not send a letter to the board, the board is over, and you were not selected for promotion. Are you going to be kicking yourself for not sending the letter? If the answer is yes or maybe, then send the letter. As long as you keep it short and sweet, there is no real downside.
Frankly, I think that when officers send letters to promotion boards they are often just making themselves feel better, and there is nothing wrong with that. You want to make sure that when the promotion board results come out, no matter what happened, you feel like you did everything you could to get promoted.
Letters to promotion boards have a new due date. You can’t send them the day before the board anymore:
Letters to Promotion Boards Now Due 10 Calendar Days Before the Board
If you know you are getting out of the Navy and really don’t care about getting promoted, you should read this post:
What is a “Don’t Pick Me” Promotion Board Letter? Why Would You Send One?
Have you been on active duty for less than 1 year? Read this:
How to Be Considered for Promotion if You’ve Been on Active Duty for Less Than 1 Year
You now need to use your DoD ID number and not your Social Security number on letters to the board. Read this:
Use DoD ID Number and Not Your SSN on Letters to the Board
Happy holidays!
Finance Friday Articles
Here are this week’s personal finance articles:
2019 Tax Brackets, Standard Deduction, and Other Changes
FEDVIP gift: Military retirees, others get extra three months to enroll in dental, vision insurance
How To Invest In International Stocks in 2019
Index Investing And Rock-Paper-Scissors
Navy Medicine West Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) – O4-O6
BUMED is looking to fill the Navy Medicine West CMIO position in the summer of 2019. The position description (PD) is available here.
Interested candidates should be in their PCS window and can submit their CV, Bio, and Letter of Intent to the incumbent (CDR David Paz – address in the global and in the PD) no later than 11 JAN 2019.
How to Get the FY20 Medical Corps Promotion Lineal List
The spreadsheet with the FY20 promotion board zones has too much PII to post publicly, but you can find it here (make sure you pick your e-mail certificate):
https://es.med.navy.mil/bumed/m00/m00c/M00C1/SitePages/Home.aspx
It is halfway down on the right side under “Career Management.”
USNS COMFORT Director Positions – O4+
The USNS COMFORT (TAH 20) is seeking qualified applicants to serve as Full Operating Status (FOS) Directors. This is an outstanding opportunity to lead Sailors in this rewarding, high operational tempo environment. Specific requirements are identified in the attached position descriptions:
Director of Medical Operations Announcement
Director of Surgical Services Announcement
Applications are due 9 JAN 2019. Interested applicants will provide the following items:
- Letter of intent
- CV
- CO’s endorsement with statement acknowledging the time commitments (you have to be in the Norfolk, VA area as you need to be local to the COMFORT)
Packages submission instructions are in the announcements above.
Updated FY19 BUMED Special Pays Information Posted
The FY19 BUMED special pays guidance is now posted on the BUMED Special Pays website. The changes largely involve the Retention Bonuses (RB) and changes are highlighted in yellow on each Corps specific document.
If you want to read the BUMED talking points on the changes, they can be found here.
Navy Medicine East Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) – O4-O6
Here is the position description for the Navy Medicine East (NME) Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) position.
Desired characteristics include:
- Medical Corps Officer
- O4 or higher
- Eligible to be stationed in Portsmouth, VA in summer 2019 (need to be in PCS window)
Applicants should submit their CV, Bio and Letter of Intent to the incumbent NME CMIO, CDR Michelle Perkins (e-mail is in the Outlook global address book) no later than close of business on 21 JAN 2019.
Navy Times – New BAH Rates for 2019 Rise 2.5 Percent
Here’s a link to the article:
New BAH rates for 2019 rise 2.5 percent
Here’s the updated BAH calculator.
Big Changes to Navy Medical Pay – FY19 Medical Department Special Pays Guidance
Here are the official BUMED talking points on the FY19 special pays plan. The pay plan guidance for each Corps is expected to be released early next week.
NOTE: The guidance currently posted on the BUMED special pays website is from FY18 and not FY19. This new guidance only applies to FY19 pays.
Background:
Navy Medicine’s mission does not change – to keep the Navy and Marine Corps family healthy, ready and on the job. Ensuring the Department of the Navy has a ready medical force to meet assigned operational missions remains paramount. To do this, we must maximize recruitment and retention tools such as special and incentive pay to attract and retain medical department officers with critical specialties.
Navy Medicine is responsible for properly aligning its uniformed force structure to support the medical capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps operating forces. The Fiscal Year 2019 special pays guidance focuses on meeting congressional intent of NDAA 2017 which specifically focuses on the improvement of infrastructure and alignment to operational readiness.
Navy Medicine analyzed current manning data, end-strength forecasts, loss and retention rates, training timeframes, recruitment rates, and Department of Labor statistics to craft the FY19 Medical Department Special Pays Guidance.
Key Messages:
- The Department of Defense and the Navy are taking a critical look at force structure across the services and within each military department in an effort to align to defense planning guidance priorities and to meet CNO guidance.
- Navy Medicine is managing its medical force to meet the needs of the Navy and Marine Corps.
- Navy Medicine must have properly aligned uniformed force structure to meet the medical capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps operating forces.
- Navy Medicine uses special and incentive pay, coupled with other personnel management tools, to influence recruitment and retention behavior and ensure we have the right specialty mix, experience, and talent to meet our mission.
Talking Points:
- Changes to the FY19 Medical Department Special Pays Guidance provide Navy Medicine with significant flexibility and enhanced options for the recruitment and retention of needed specialties.
- Navy Medicine increased accession and retention numbers in key specialty areas.
- Navy Medicine carefully considered these changes to optimize personnel career progression and talent management.
- The vast majority of officers eligible for special and incentive pays within Navy Medicine will be minimally impacted; there will be some impact on a few select specialties.
- Updates include the following:
- Accession Bonus:
- Updated list of eligible specialties for the Critically Short Wartime Skills Accession Bonus to include cardio-thoracic surgery, trauma/critical care surgery, and medical technology, and eliminated internal medicine, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and pediatrics.
- Increased accession bonus amounts for critical specialties to include aerospace medicine, anesthesia, emergency medicine, family practice, orthopedics, preventive medicine, psychiatry, pulmonary/critical care, radiology, urology, and nurse anesthetist.
- Authorized a direct accession critical care nurse to forgo the accession bonus and request retention bonus upon reporting to the first permanent command (must meet board certification & education/training criteria).
- Retention Bonus:
- Added 6-year retention bonus for critical specialties to include general surgery, category I subspecialties, orthopedics, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, family practice, psychiatry, pulmonary/critical care, comprehensive dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral maxillofacial surgery, physician assistant, clinical psychology, critical care nursing, psychiatric nursing, perioperative nursing, psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioners, family nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists.
- Added additional eligible specialties for the retention bonus to include graduate prepared Clinical Nurse Specialists in medical-surgical and emergency room nursing (must meet board certification and education/training criteria).
- Authorized critical care nurses and family nurse practitioners to take retention bonuses while under obligation for graduate education through Duty Under Instruction (DUINS), incurring a consecutive obligation.
- Authorized critical care nurses to apply for selection to DUINS as Clinical Nurse Specialists in critical care nursing while under retention bonus.
- Removed language allowing 2-year Retention Bonus for non-certified critical care nurses.
- Limited ability to terminate early and renegotiate contracts for certain specialties to include pediatrics, radiology, radiation oncology, general dentistry, endodontics, exodontia, public health dentistry, oral pathology, pediatric dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, pediatric nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwife.
- Limited Nurse Corps retention bonus to Commander/O-5 for all specialties except nurse anesthetists.
- Limited Medical Service Corps retention bonus to 22 years of commissioned service or less.
- Limited retention bonus length to 2 or 3-years for pharmacy, optometry, pediatric nurse practitioner, and certified nurse midwife.
- Accession Bonus:
- All personnel who are eligible for medical department special pays should review their corps specific guidance available on the Navy Medicine website.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 