Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
From Military Paychecks to Civilian Budgets: Creating Your Financial Battle Plan
Financial transitions can be just as challenging as emotional ones for our military service members. Veterans who once had legal, financial, and human resources support readily accessible suddenly face navigating these complex systems alone—often at significant out-of-pocket expense.
The Warrior Retreat at Bull Run's innovative Financial Literacy Program addresses this critical need head-on. Led by dedicated volunteer Jeff Schlegel, this one-day workshop distills essential financial knowledge into digestible, actionable strategies specifically tailored to veterans and transitioning service members. What sets this program apart is its education-first approach—no sales pitches, no product marketing, just valuable information veterans can use immediately.
From developing a healthy "money mindset" to understanding budgeting both before and after separation, the workshop covers comprehensive financial ground. Participants learn about investment vehicles appropriate for different risk tolerances, insurance needs assessment, retirement planning, and navigating today's challenging housing market. Most importantly, the program encourages veterans to bring their financial decision-making partners, recognizing that successful money management requires household alignment and shared understanding.
"The best time to plant an oak tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today," says Schlegel, emphasizing that financial planning is never too late to start. The program helps participants develop personalized 30-60-90 day action plans focused on their unique "why"—because understanding your motivation for financial security makes the necessary sacrifices worthwhile.
Expected to launch within months, this program represents the Warrior Retreat's continued commitment to expanding practical support services for veterans. Subscribe to our podcast for updates on program availability and to hear more inspiring stories from the military community. Your financial future starts with knowledge—and we're here to provide it.
Good morning. I'm your host, larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run this week. Our guest is Jeff Schlegel. He's a volunteer here at the Warrior Retreat and he's heading up a new program that we've launched on financial literacy for veterans and active duty soldiers that will be separating soon just to help them kind of transition from their life in the military into the difference financially, what you need to think about when you separate. Or maybe you're a veteran and you've been out for a while but you're having trouble financially with budgeting and getting a long-term goal all that kind of stuff we're going to talk to him about today. So, jeff, welcome to the podcast, hey.
Larry Zilliox:Larry, thanks for having me so if you would tell us a little bit about your background and how you became involved with the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run.
Jeff Schlegel:Yeah, larry, as you know, the Willing Warrior Retreat here is very important to the local community and I worked at a department of defense contractor here in the Manassas area. You all came on campus to participate in one of our family days. I had a chance to talk to some of your ambassadors and I just became enamored with the mission that comes here and I promised myself that when I retired which I did about two years ago I would seek out a volunteer opportunity that would allow me to give back to our veterans, especially as they come home. And so the Willing Warrior Retreat and my ambitions and goals for retirement volunteering perfect synergy. So it's been everything I hoped for by coming here.
Larry Zilliox:Wow. Well, we're very lucky to have you. We really appreciate it. In addition to this program, I will say that Jeff is heavily involved in our crowns team and gets the place looking amazing for when our Wounded Warrior guests show up, so he wears many hats here at the Warrior Retreat.
Larry Zilliox:And this one, though, is a brand-new program that we're going to launch here soon, and I'm pretty excited about it, because I know that the transitioning can be a shock on many levels for our warriors and veterans, and just the loss of tribe, the loss of purpose, but also then just trying to navigate the financial world when you get out of the military, because, let's face it, a lot of services were provided for you in the military.
Larry Zilliox:You had a legal problem. You just went down legal and you handed it to them and they took care of it. You know all your pay was handled by HR and finance and direct deposit and any issues. You go see them, and they would put a person on it and they would straighten it out for you. This is really going to be a great program that helps veterans and active duty, as they're thinking about separating. So it's not. They don't have to wait until they get out of the military to think about coming to one of these programs. Transitioning soldiers should be thinking about what they're going to do when they separate, a year or two in advance for sure.
Jeff Schlegel:So if you would just tell us a little bit about this program and really how it came to be yeah, thanks, larry, and couldn't agree more with your setup of the program and one of the things that the Willing Warriors has had a vision of expanding services for the current veterans and, you know, those looking to transition out of the military.
Jeff Schlegel:And the PenFed Grand Lodge has just brought us so many new opportunities to expand those services for the warriors and their families. And so when Sarah approached me about hey, what about a financial strategies, financial literacy program, that was something I was so excited about because way back when I was much younger, people took time to just educate me, help me understand the basics of finance. They didn't sell me anything, they taught me things. And so when this program came along, it was just such a great opportunity to take advantage of the conference center here at the Penfitt Grand Lodge, bring the veterans and their partners or spouses in and just talk to them, share knowledge, empower them, if you will, to then look at their own personal situation, take what applies to them. So that's what got it started, and it's just such a great new opportunity to share additional information to help those that could use it.
Larry Zilliox:And the basis of the program comes from. How was it developed?
Jeff Schlegel:The network of great partners here with the Willing Warrior is something that we lean on all the time for expertise outside our domain and in this particular instance, people that we knew that were proud sponsors and partners with the retreat exposed us to the Pinnacle Group, who had an established financial strategies course, but it was a 12-week course, larry, and when we looked at that the valuable time of the warriors and their partners and spouses we didn't see that being a great fit.
Jeff Schlegel:But we saw a foundation of financial literacy components that if we narrowed it down, we could create a one-day workshop, touch on the most critical, vital elements that we think would apply to, you know, the warriors and their families and then deliver that here at no cost to them. So by leveraging the partners, taking a foundational workshop put together by Pinnacle but then leaning on our broader partner set to bring in the experts, because we're not the experts, I'm not an expert, but I can say that what we'll share can work if it applies to your situation. So that's how we kind of got here. We're very excited.
Larry Zilliox:Wow. So Pinnacle came in and they had a whole program that was set up. I like the idea of being able to pick and choose what you feel works best for the veteran community, but also to put it into a kind of mini program that actually works from a time element, because it's very hard. It's very hard to get people involved in some sort of training that takes weeks or even days. What was the process you used to kind of distill it down? What were the things that you were looking for to say, okay, this is really important, this is really important. We've got to include these elements. Yeah.
Jeff Schlegel:So our focus was, first of all, if you're currently in, or have experienced, financial insecurity, there are immediate financial pressures that need to be addressed, but there's also that longer-term strategy, whether it's retirement planning, paying education, funds for children, covering elderly parents and the family. So what we want to do is cultivate a menu of items that address both. Short-term what can I do today? What can I do in 30, 60, 90 days to get me on the right track financially? But then what can I do that I won't reap the rewards until maybe 5, 10, 15 years. So we want to help folks now, but we also want to set them up for success when they need it the most down the road.
Jeff Schlegel:And in today's environment, company pensions and all that are just a thing of the past. Right, so we have a self-funded retirement generation in play right now, and so how do we assure that if they don't know how to maximize that, how to take advantage of those opportunities presented by their companies or within the financial community? Our goal is knowledge and empowerment. We want them to walk out of this workshop saying, okay, I know what I need. I now have an idea how to acquire it. Then they're going to go chase down the best way to follow their dreams go chase down the best way to follow their dreams.
Larry Zilliox:So, looking at the overall program, the target audience is veterans, male or female doesn't matter. It's not a guide thing, but is there a space in this program for is it a certain age group that you're targeting, or would some a veteran who's established and maybe been working for 10 years but really doesn't have a handle on what their retirement looks like? Is that somebody who might benefit from this?
Jeff Schlegel:Larry, I think this is a age group neutral type of workshop, and what I mean by that is, unless your retirement is fully funded and you're in retirement and you're comfortable, there's still time and in the financial world, time is almost more valuable than the actual dollars, because the time value of money, which we will cover in the workshop, talks about how, in your earlier years, smaller amounts invested consistently over time is the best way to build long-term growth. If you can find $50 today, it might be hard, but you have to ask yourself can I find $500 10 years from now? And what we have found is when folks haven't been exposed to just the concepts of finance in a meaningful way, it can be intimidating, right? There can be a belief that if I'm not a day trader, if I don't have all AI tools on my desktop to follow the market, I can't participate, I can't get ahead. Now.
Jeff Schlegel:I think folks are far more savvy than they give themselves credit for, and hopefully we're going to reinforce that. What they've already started, they're on the right path, and here's some adjustments or enhancements. If they haven't gotten started, that's okay. What can we do? 30, 60, 90 days to get you going.
Jeff Schlegel:What can we do? 30, 60, 90 days to get you going? There's an old saying that if you need a full, mature oak tree, the best time to plant it was 20 years ago, yeah. The next best time is today, yeah. So if you didn't start saving before, shrug that off. What can we do? Starting today, going forward? Yeah, it's never too late, absolutely not.
Jeff Schlegel:And it's not what we want to share with folks and this is, I think, an important point I want to make. Nobody at this workshop is coming here to market or sell anything to the warriors and the attendees. We want to make that very clear. The Willing Warrior Retreat is all about delivering knowledge, understanding, comfort, peace all on the benefit of the warrior, not the people that work here, not the partners that work with us. So while they're at this workshop, we're going to be sharing a lot of information, but we're not going to be selling anything. There's no commitment beyond their time. And we're going to bring in our partners and have experts in the room, but they're going to be answering questions generically, using hypotheticals and examples, but nobody's going to be handing out a pamphlet like you're at a timeshare right when to get the free lunch that you've prepared for them they've got to sign up for this, right, although your lunches are worth paying for, to be honest with you.
Jeff Schlegel:But that's, I think, the important thing. And because what we want them to do when they leave here is take that action plan and then decide okay, I want to make some changes. Should they go talk to their own personal financial advisor? Should they participate in the military financial readiness program that's available to them? How do we prepare them, empower them to then go take those steps, because they're going to be unique to every individual attendee, everybody's why. Why do we save? Why do we want to acquire wealth? That's going to be different for every single person, but the methods of acquisition of that wealth, the methods to get to that why, are pretty fundamental, and that's what we're going to focus on in the workshop.
Larry Zilliox:You know I see, one of the hardest things, I think, for transitioning soldiers especially those service members who've made it a career very often is the concept of when they get out, they need to pay for services, and I know a few who have resisted that to their detriment. You know, if you need a lawyer, you need a lawyer. You have to pay a lawyer. You don't have the legal department to just walk down and hand your problem to, but you can't ignore your problem because you don't want to pay a lawyer. You know you want to start a business, you need a lawyer. You need an accountant, you want to do your taxes. You might be able to do your taxes, but you know, if you pay a professional, you may get more money back. It's that concept of having to pay for services that I see sometimes, and especially with some that think, well, I'll just put my money in a savings account instead of investing in it in the stock market or eventually maybe buying real estate or some of those ways in which you can build wealth. You ignore because you don't know how to do them and again, to your detriment, but also because they don't want to pay a financial advisor and I know for how important a financial advisor is, because they do all the research and the work for you and either they're a fee-based or they take a percentage, and neither one is really bad if you have the right financial advisor. I know, typically my wife and I when we're invited to weddings for younger people, we find an independent financial advisor near where they live and we pay for two-hour consultation for that couple as a wedding gift. I think it's better than a toaster and hopefully it gets them to think and it gets them started in the right direction, and I think that's true of our veterans and our separating service members. They need to sort of develop a mindset of what finance and civilian life is really all about, and I see this course as going to be godsend for them. I really do.
Larry Zilliox:I've got to applaud you for this. It's just a fantastic approach to educating, which really is so valuable, because the other thing that service members aren't used to is that when they're out, they're out, they are on their own. You know, I remember recording an episode with Colonel Baker about his first time he traveled to see his son in Korea. He had just gotten out of the Army. He was a colonel, he had just gotten out of the Army. He was a colonel. Every other time when he went to Korea there was a guy there waiting for him with a car and they took him to billets and they checked him in. And this time he got off the plane and was standing there all by himself and it finally set in that, hey, I don't have the military anymore. And that's the same thing here for our service members. It can be daunting, and arming them with this type of education, I think it's just invaluable.
Jeff Schlegel:Couldn't agree more, Larry. And if you don't mind, I'll run through a quick summary of the topics, because the listeners might be thinking, okay, this sounds really good, but what are they going to cover? Yeah, Right. Well, the first things we're going to talk about and you use this word it's having a money mindset, right, Before you get into any of the details. It's how to think about money, how to think about how it can work for you. Right, when there's financial pressure, it can feel like money's working against you. Right, there's bills, there's debt, there's challenge, and sometimes that can dim the forward-looking, the how can I turn this around? Can I turn this around? So we're open the money mindset part. We'll start the workshop off on the right foot. Success ahead of us.
Jeff Schlegel:Second is budgeting, and I'm going to circle back to something you mentioned. We're going to encourage the attendees to think about budget, of their current situation, but also what would they need to absorb out of their direct pay as they transition out of the service. So we've talked about how the cost of housing today that may be covered In the future. It's not. So we're going to talk to them about budgeting the as-is state, but also the to-be state and if they plan to stay in the service for a long time, then the as-is may equal that future state. But if they're going to be transitioning in any time frame, you know two, three, five years.
Jeff Schlegel:Thinking now about those additional costs that have been kind of hidden from them because of the way they're covered in their payroll. That's part of the veteran focus, if you will, of how we're tailoring this workshop, you know, to their needs. Giving yourself a raise, you know, you talked about interest rates and there's so many financial vehicles out there and there's the time and a place for all of them, depending on where you are in your life, whether you're looking for long-term growth, whether you're looking for short-term stability. Are you looking to take some risks? Are you playing a conservative? Short-term stability Are you looking to take some risks? Are you playing a conservative? But one of the things that we're going to focus on is how do we take that dollar that maybe is stagnant and can we turn that into $1.25? Can we turn that into $1.50 by just adjusting the vehicle that we choose to put that dollar in. And it doesn't have to be high risk, right? It doesn't have to be an individual stock. There's so many investment vehicles out there and what we want, and we don't pretend to know what's right for the individual, but we're going to take the time to share those options so as then they look at their plan, their needs, their goals, their budget, what's the safest thing for them to do where they are today and where they plan to be in the future.
Jeff Schlegel:Insurance there's multiple types of insurance out there. We're going to focus on life insurance, property, home. We're going to touch on insurance mainly from the why do you need it? Types of insurance that are out there and give you the facts on all of them and there's no one answer. That's going to be the answer, right, but where you are in your life, who's depending on your income? Focus on life insurance for just a second. Life insurance can be viewed as simply income replacement. So if you take the view I'm going to work for 20 more years and I've got dependents relying on this income, do I have enough life insurance that, if something happens to me in the next 20 years, I've got replacement funds coming in to take care of the family? That's a very simple way to look at life insurance.
Jeff Schlegel:Some people look at it as insurance and an investment. There's pros and cons to both of those viewpoints. We're not going to advocate for one or the other, but we're going to educate on both of them and then let the individual decide what makes sense for them. Because one thing about and all these financial strategies, larry, is if they make the person nervous right If they're. If they think it's high risk, if they feel they have to check the New York Stock Exchange every day. If every dip in the market is going to make them feel insecure, they're probably not in the right investment vehicle for them. Yeah.
Jeff Schlegel:So our goal isn't this product, that product, it's.
Jeff Schlegel:Here's the products, here's how they work, and your risk tolerance and your ability to ride the wave of the market if you choose to invest in it has a lot to do with it, because while your money's working for you, you should be out living your life, doing your job, experiencing your family, and not watching the ticker every night and worrying what have I done? And then investing and retiring and those can be two different things, but they can also be the same thing. There's investing for short-term goals college education, 529s, a new house, a new car. Then there's, ultimately, long-term investment in retirement. We're going to talk about the foundational strategies and the opportunities available to balance out the short term and long term. And then, lastly, especially in this market, just talking about home buying would be a good idea.
Jeff Schlegel:People hear interest rates and it can be pretty scary. You hear a lot of people who have interest rates that are low so they're not selling because they don't want to give up that low interest rate. You got people that can't afford to buy because the interest rates are too high. There's different types of mortgage products, both in length rates, adjustables, and again, what we want to do is help somebody if home buying is in their future. How do we prepare them so when they sit down with that lender and they talk 15 year versus 30 year, they talk adjustable rate versus fixed rate, balloon payment right, all those kinds of options can be a little overwhelming, especially if you're a first-time home buyer. And so our goal there is we thought that would be a good idea. And also, what about renting? Is there an opportunity where that may be the better choice for that individual right now?
Jeff Schlegel:So those are the key areas and, as we mentioned, we're going to bring in some of our partners and for each section we'll have a kind of an expert, qualified, licensed expert to answer questions, guidance and really, you know, give the attendees a sense that they're not talking to a salesperson pushing a singular product. They're talking to a panel of experts pushing knowledge. That's our goal Educate, empower and have them go with an action plan 30, 60, 90 days. Here's what you're going to do and have an idea of how do I fund my why. Because the why matters more than the balance sheet. Because if you focus on the why, you're willing to sacrifice If you just want to grow wealth. To grow wealth that can get distracted by many, many things. But that why, if we can help them see that, visualize it and then put a plan together for it, we think that'd be a powerful tool for the, for the attendees.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, wow. Well, I think you know it's going to cover a lot. It's a great, great program and we're really excited to see it get going here at the Warrior Retreat. Pretty soon it'll be up and running, and how will people, how will veterans, sign up for it?
Jeff Schlegel:Yeah. So right now we're in the course curriculum development. We've got the categories laid out, we're lining up the panel of experts, we're targeting a rollout in a couple months Perfect. And we're going to start working with our network, all of our MilVet contacts that we know well, that have the inroads to the right people that would benefit the most from this. Great. And then, after we get that first one, we'll do some lessons learned. We'll get great feedback from the attendees and this is going to be an evolution of the curriculum, right?
Jeff Schlegel:Because, first of all, the financial industry and the current situation is volatile, it's changing. So we're going to take that constant feedback and adjust, adapt and that's where taking a foundational program but then tailoring it to this specific group the veterans and their spouses. And, by the way, larry, I can't I want to stress this We'd like the warrior and their plus one to attend this. Whoever that plus one is that's critical to the financial decisions in their family. Because one thing we have found if you talk to just one and then they try to deliver the message when they return home, hey, jeff said we have to stop spending money on this and start investing in that, who the heck is? Jeff Right, but if we can get them both in the class together they hear the same information, they hear the answers, they build that plan together it's got a much higher chance of success. So we want to open it up to both the warrior and their significant other. That's really a key to their financial decisions Wow.
Larry Zilliox:Well, it sounds awesome and I know everybody here at the retreat is really excited about expanding some of the programs. We've got other programs that are coming up, but this one in particular, I know is going to be very well received. Jeff, thanks for joining us today. We really appreciate it.
Jeff Schlegel:Oh, of course, Larry, one thing I found since I started here you mentioned I started on the ground crew, right. I actually started in the dunk tank, right. When you guys came out to the workplace you sponsored a dunk tank and my employees love standing up there and dunking me over and over again.
Jeff Schlegel:Some even sent their kids up to dunk me. I think it was in fun. I choose to remember it that way. But ever since I've been involved with this, just watching this leadership team listen to the veterans, listen to the warriors, hear their needs and then develop programs tailored to provide them assistance, focused assistance it's one of the best things about this place, and I couldn't be more excited to expand my participation beyond the ground crew into an ambassador role. Financial strategies, anything to help the warriors I'm all in.
Larry Zilliox:Wow, we really appreciate that and thank you for joining us today For our listeners. We'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. You can find us on your favorite podcast platform, also on YouTube and Wreaths Across America Radio. So listen and like and subscribe. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach us at podcast at willingwarriorsorg. Until then, thanks for listening.
