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Finance Friday Articles
This one from Forbes is certainly interesting:
Valentine’s Day Massacre: U.S. Navy Eliminating $40 Billion In 6 Weeks
Here are my favorites this week:
Fiology: The Study of Financial Independence (FI)
High Earner Not Rich Yet – How to Avoid Becoming a HENRY
The Benefits of a Fixed Asset Allocation Portfolio
Here are the rest of the articles:
8 Perks of Being a Side Hustle Business Owner
Adding Up the Costs of Your Investments
Dealing With the Guilt of Early Retirement
Disability Insurance: Your Plan B to Passive Income
FarmTogether Review: A New Investment Platform
How to prepare your portfolio for the coronavirus outbreak
Inflation-Adjusted Annuities No Longer Available: Now What?
Losing My Balance – Should You Still Invest in Bonds?
ONE PORTFOLIO RISK TO RULE THEM ALL
Some Lessons From 92 Years of Market Return Data
Student Loan Refinance Ladder: A Case Study
The Biggest Problem in Finance?
The Biggest Risk in Crypto Today
The Courage To Be Disliked: Change Your Life Because You Can
The Importance of a Legacy Binder: The “ICE” Binder
Top 5 Ways to Spot (and Avoid) Investment Scams
When You Were Born > Everything Else
NDAA 2017 Section 703 Report on MTF Restructuring
There is no classic post on Thursday because the DHA just released its National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2017 Section 703 report on the Military Treatment Facility (MTF) restructuring. There has been a lot of press and info sent out, so here is what I’ve got:
Health.mil articles:
- Careful, deliberate changes ahead for select MTFs
- DoD to restructure 50 hospitals, clinics to improve readiness
Military Times article:
Health.mil page that has the entire report to Congress:
Here’s the entire report to Congress:
The February message from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs that discusses it:
Here is General Place’s message about it as well as the summary attachment he sent:
Teammates:
Today marks another milestone in Military Health System reform. This morning, the Department delivered a report to Congress outlining results from the MHS’s review of military medical treatment facilities (MTFs) and their contributions to military readiness. The extensive analysis was initiated in response to Section 703(d) of the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act. You can find the report here: www.health.mil/MTFrestructuring.
The report is the culmination of nearly three years of analysis that identified the MTFs critical to maintaining medical and force readiness. In other words, the department evaluated how facilities support service members so they are medically ready to train and deploy. Further, it assessed how well the facilities support our military medical personnel to develop and maintain the right clinical skills and experience required to support global military operations.
The report includes plans for changes in the scope of operations at 50 facilities across the United States. (See excerpt attached.) Some facilities will have expanded services while others will scale down. The largest change is the decision to transition more than 30 facilities to providing care for active duty personnel only. Seven of these facilities may continue to enroll active duty family members on a space-available basis.
We know these changes may cause concern because health care is very personal. Requiring our patients to leave a trusted provider at an MTF for another provider in the civilian network may cause anxiety for some. The DHA’s responsibility is to implement the changes the Department determined necessary, ensuring the least possible disruption for our beneficiaries.
It’s important for you to know restructuring changes will not occur immediately. We will only begin implementing these changes after thoroughly collaborating with local communities, MTF Directors, network providers, senior mission commanders, and others. The DHA will work closely with the TRICARE managed care support contractors to support the patients impacted.
In addition to creating implementation plans, the DHA’s next steps include a massive outreach and information effort. We will provide resources to MTF Directors so they can inform patients of what the changes mean for them. The process will take time and we will not transition any patients until we are confident the applicable local markets have providers available.
I’m committed to maximum transparency at every step so all stakeholders understand how these changes may affect them, and so those who rely on us retain uninterrupted access to health care. Above all, our focus must remain on producing great outcomes. That’s why the Military Health System exists. Together, we can adapt and strengthen the military medical enterprise so it is even more effective for the 9.5 million people depending on us.
rjp
Ronald J. Place, MD
LTG, US Army
Director, Defense Health Agency
Twitter: @DHADirector
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DefenseHealthAgency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-health-agency/
Web: https://health.mil/
MHS Minute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4tgyAgWUY
Deadline is Friday for the 149th Medical Corps Birthday Ball – 7 MAR in Coronado, CA
The Medical Corps Ball will be held on the evening of 7 MAR 2020 on North Island in Coronado, CA in celebration of our 149th birthday. The details and registration info are available here:
Please disseminate this as widely as possible to all MC officers. We’re looking for an excellent turnout!
Also note that although uniforms are strongly encouraged, formal civilian attire is permissible as an alternative to dress uniforms for ALL Ranks ALL Services at this event.
Multiple Director Positions Available at NMC/NMRTC Portsmouth in 2020
Please read the below announcements of upcoming Director position vacancies at NMC/NMRTC Portsmouth:
- Director of Strategy & Operations (DSO) Vacancy Announcement June 2020
- Director of Primary Care (DPC) Vacancy Annoucement June-July 2020
- Director of Expeditionary Medicine (DEM) Vacancy Announcement June 2020
The timeline for the selection process is below:
- All applications for DEM, DPC, DSO due by 13 March. Any applicants would need to either be at NMRTC Portsmouth, already have inbound orders, or have Detailer clearance to apply.
- 16 March – 1 April – 1st Round interviews – Directorate Level board
- Week of 6 April – 2nd Round Interviews – top 3 selections for DEM, DPC and DSO will interview with XO, CO, PXO
Please direct any questions to the POCs for each position (contact info in the global):
CDR James M. Nogle, MSC, USN
Director, Expeditionary Medicine, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training
Command, Portsmouth
CAPT Jose G. Pedroza, DC, USN
Director, Primary Care and Branch Clinics, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth/
Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Units, Portsmouth
CDR Shauna O’Sullivan
Director, Strategy and Operations, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth
Occupational Medicine Fundamentals Provider Course – April 20-24 – NMC Portsmouth
The info is in this document:
Personal Finance for the Military Physician – A 2020 Update
Here are the slides I used for this podcast, in both PDF and PPT format:
Personal Finance for the Military Physician – A 2020 Update – PPT
Personal Finance for the Military Physician – A 2020 Update – PDF
My Research on Crowdfunded Real Estate Investing
I periodically suffer from investment boredom because good investing is boring. Investing in all the world’s stocks and bonds through low cost index funds is effective but not very exciting.
Whenever I get financially bored, I consider adding a 5th asset class to the 4 that are already in my investment portfolio (US stocks, international stocks, US bonds, international bonds)…real estate. While I know for sure that I have ZERO interest in becoming a landlord, crowdfunding real estate investing has opened up a new way to passively invest in real estate.
While I ultimately decided (once again) NOT to add a 5th asset class and keep my financial life as simple as possible, anyone interested in researching this can benefit from my thorough investigation. Here are all of the blog posts I read during my research in outline form. Enjoy!
- Real Estate
- 16 Different Ways to Invest in Real Estate
- Taxes
- REITS
- Assessing the inclusion of alternatives in target-date funds (this Vanguard research is why I don’t overweight REITs like a lot of other people do)
- Real estate crowdfunding
- Crowdfunding Debt vs Equity vs Syndications
- The Best Real Estate Crowdfunding Sites
- Tips For Real Estate Crowdfunding
- Real Estate Crowdfunding vs REITs
- The Best Real Estate Crowdfunding Sites for Non-Accredited Investors
- Is THIS the Holy Grail of Real Estate Investing?
- How to Build a Real Estate Crowdfunding Ladder
- When it Makes Sense to Utilize Private Real Estate Investments
- 10 Things To Know Prior To Purchasing an “Accredited Investor” Investment
- The Guide to Real Estate Syndications, Part I
- The Guide to Real Estate Syndications, Part II
- The Life Cycle of a Real Estate Fund
- Investing in Opportunity Zones: What’s This Amazing Opportunity All About?
- Is Real Estate Crowdfunding in Trouble?
- The Sad Demise Of RealtyShares: What’s Next, Alternatives, And Lessons
- Should I Invest in a Real Estate Syndication or Fund?
- Why It’s So Important to Diversify Your Real Estate Portfolio
- Is It Better to Invest Early or Late in a Real Estate Fund?
- 3 Important Things to Know About a Sponsor Before Investing
- Different Ways to Make Five Million Dollars in Real Estate
- Active vs Passive Real Estate Investing
- 5 Major Things To Look For In a Real Estate Fund
- Your Fear of Investing In Real Estate Is Totally Normal
- 6 Ways to Invest in Apartment Buildings
- Sites that review crowdfunding companies:
- Companies:
The FY21 O6 Promo Board Convening Order Emphasizes Operational Medicine and Readiness
What better way to spend a Valentine’s Day evening when your wife is out of town than this…
There are some new things in the FY21 O6 convening order. Grab both the FY20 and FY21 below and let’s take a look page by page:
FY-20 O6 Staff Corps Convening Order
FY-21 O6 Staff Corps Convening Order
The Method to My Valentine’s Day Madness
I went through both convening orders and noted the pages in the FY21 order that represent a substantial difference from last year’s order. I focused only on impact on the medical community (MC, NC, MSC, DC). In other words, if something was different for the JAG Corps or Supply Corps, I didn’t highlight it. Any pages not highlighted are functionally the same.
Page 2 of FY21
- The promotion opportunities changed:
- Medical Corps went from 81% to 91%
- Dental Corps from 89% to 90%
- Medical Service Corps from 60% down to 50% (bummer)
- Nurse Corps stayed the same at 50%
Page 8 of FY21
This is where the meat starts, the section entitled “Medical Community Considerations”:
The bold portions highlighted below are new from FY20:
Knowledge and proven performance/experience in a variety of settings including operational medicine, joint medical operations, and current garrison health care and fleet/FMF support is necessary.
Additionally, Navy Medicine greatly values joint experience and formal education, including JPME, with knowledge and experience in a variety of settings including joint medical operations and current garrison health care delivery and operational support initiatives.
Do you see a pattern here?
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Pages 9-10 of FY21
The following sentence is brand new:
Excellence in operational support settings should receive special consideration as Navy Medicine shifts greater focus to readiness and operational support.
Which brings me back to…
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Here is some more brand new stuff in bold:
Best and fully qualified officers for the rank of captain will be those with proven leadership experience who have demonstrated experience and expertise across the spectrum of military medicine, especially inclusive of operational experience and operational platforms. With Navy Medicine’s renewed focus on operational support and readiness, our future leaders must have shown leadership excellence in those activities.
Oh boy! I feel like I’m beating a particular drum…
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Read that again, people:
With Navy Medicine’s renewed focus on operational support and readiness, our future leaders must have shown leadership excellence in those activities.
MUST have shown. That’s a strong statement!
The Bottom Line
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
MHS Director of Governance in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs – O6
Here is the advertisement for an amazing opportunity for one of our senior O-6s. A “best fit” would have some Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD)/Pentagon experience, big picture Joint understanding of Air Force, Army, Navy health care current and future priorities, and understanding of the Defense Health Agencies scope of Military Treatment Facility/Markets authority, direction and control. The person needs to be able to accurately interpret and document discussions across the Services’ SGs, DHA Director, Reform/Transition initiatives (OSD Congressionally Directed) and Health Affairs organization (Deputy Assistant Secretaries’ of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense four star position). Understanding of big picture and OSD organization is necessary.
Applications should be submitted to CDR Melissa Austin (contact is in the global) by 21 FEB 2020.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 