Married to Military: The Financial Challenges Unique to Military Spouses and Families with Lacey Langford

[00:00:00] Eric Brotman: Welcome to Don’t Retire, Graduate, the podcast that asks you what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with purpose and passion. I’m your host and valedictorian, Eric Brotman, and I’m here with a guest, Lacey Langford. Who is a financial coach, a military veteran, military spouse, and an entrepreneur who changes people’s mindset from being fearful of money to having control and confidence with it. And couldn’t we all use some of that? She’s an Accredited Financial Counselor with over 15 years of financial planning, counseling, and coaching experience, and military and money are her jams. She’s the founder and the CEO of Military Money Show. I was pleased to be a guest on her show at one time. It’s a podcast dedicated to helping the military community with personal finance and MilMoneyCon, a national conference for financial professionals united by military service. Lacey, good to see you again. Welcome to Don’t Retire, Graduate.
[00:00:59] Lacey Langford: Thank you so [00:01:00] much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
[00:01:02] Eric Brotman: It, it feels like it’s been a long time since, since I was on your show, and a lot has changed in the world in general, but also particularly where money’s concerned, where the economy’s concerned. Interest rates, inflation, and certainly there have been changes within the military as well during the last x number of years and, and with conflicts around the world and so forth. So, we’ve got a lot we can talk about today, but I’d like to begin with first of all, thank you for your service in our military. Talk a little bit about that background and, and how you became passionate about helping the military and the military families with money.
[00:01:37] Lacey Langford: Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Well, it really started, I grew up in the military, so my father was a military police officer in the Army. And then after high school I wasn’t quite ready for college and I decided that I wanted to serve.
[00:01:50] Lacey Langford: So I joined the Air Force and that’s where I met my husband. So I became a military spouse shortly after leaving the military. But along the way, that’s why I decided [00:02:00] to become a financial professional. I was blessed to grow up in a household where we were taught to spend less money than we make and save. I’m not saying when I was 20 something that I always listened to that advice, but the, the, the, the teachings were there.
[00:02:15] Eric Brotman: You’re saying you didn’t always listen to your parents at all times?
[00:02:19] Lacey Langford: No, no. I feel like I’m, I’m constantly apologizing now as an adult.
[00:02:23] Eric Brotman: I’m shocked. I would never have guessed that. So, so you grew up in a household where there were some money lessons? Maybe not personal financial literacy education per se. But at least some good, some good habits were were made, made available to you and introduced to you at a young age. How, how long were you in the military? How long were you, were you in the service?
[00:02:44] Lacey Langford: I served four years.
[00:02:46] Eric Brotman: Four years. And is your husband still active?
[00:02:50] Lacey Langford: No, he’s a retired infantry officer. So he is retired from the military.
[00:02:55] Eric Brotman: And, and what is, what is he doing with his, with his days? Because we all know [00:03:00] retirement should not be disappearing and retreating and doing nothing. It should be engaging and graduating into the next phase of life. So what’s, what’s he doing with his days?
[00:03:09] Lacey Langford: Well, he didn’t retire, retire for a while. He was teaching.
[00:03:12] Eric Brotman: Okay.
[00:03:12] Lacey Langford: He wa before we met, actually, when we met, he was a, a crew chief. He did maintenance on wide body aircrafts, like C17s, C130s. And then he took a commission as an infantry officer. So after he retired from the military, he started teaching aeronautical maintenance. So still kind of in the same wheelhouse, but as a civilian.
[00:03:34] Eric Brotman: Excellent. So he’s already successfully graduated into retirement in quotes.
[00:03:39] Lacey Langford: Yes.
[00:03:39] Eric Brotman: So let’s talk about, let’s talk about h how you are able to help families. And specifically let’s talk about how military families have some different financial circumstances and considerations than maybe civilian families in ways that for those of us who haven’t served, we may not fully understand or appreciate.
[00:03:57] Lacey Langford: Yeah, so I work in the capacity as a coach. I’m really trying to [00:04:00] help people that are on active duty service members and their spouses get to where they wanna be with money. I think we all walk through life differently in our careers, how we raise children, how we want to successfully graduate into retirement.
[00:04:15] Lacey Langford: So it’s really about helping people reach the goals that they want, not necessarily telling them how to be. Everybody also has different things that they value. So really aligning their goals and their values and making a plan to get them to that spot that they feel good about their money, and they have that control and confidence to say, “hey, I know how to do this.” or “If I don’t know how to do this, I at least now have some knowledge where I can find help, find resources”, those type of things. Because the lifestyle is different for the military, there are some things that still apply. You know, save, save your money, spend, less than you make, put it towards retirement, put it towards your goals for the things that you want, and need.
[00:04:56] Lacey Langford: But the lifestyle, the constant transitions is a big [00:05:00] thing for the military community. So that throws a wrench in your budget no matter how hard you try to plan for it. They, there always is something that’s gonna come up. And then another big component of that is military spouses are un and underemployed because of the transitions. So if the military is calling for a service member to move to a new duty location, that means military spouse often has to quit their job and move to a location where there might not be a job opening. They may be in a, you know, a more rural area or places where there’s not as many jobs, or especially in your career field.
[00:05:32] Lacey Langford: So that either means you’re not working or you’re underemployed. You’re taking a position where you are more than qualified to work there and maybe making a lot less than you normally would make. And that one has ramifications on service members’ budgets, and the family is that if you’re used to making a certain income in order to be able to make a car payment and you lose one income or it’s significantly reduced, that’s definitely gonna have an impact on your [00:06:00] financial success. And that’s not just one time that’s happening, that’s happening, you know, every two or three years for military families. So that constant transition does have a major impact on their budget and their earning ability.
[00:06:15] Eric Brotman: And, and I would think not only on their short-term budget. You said earning ability because building a career and building a vitae the, the, the tenure plays a role in your, in your work so that you wind up making more money later on too, and that can be impacted. I also are, are there issues regarding employee benefits or do most military spouses utilize the, the active duty spouse for the, the government provided benefits? Is that as much of an issue? Because, you know, I, we’ve, we’ve talked to lots of folks who, you know, young couples where one of the couple, one of the spouses is in med school or, or becoming a physician and has to move to three or four different cities over the course of, you know, half a dozen or a dozen years in order to advance his or her career, [00:07:00] and the spouse really can’t dig in and get traction in a career that way. It’s a little different though because at least the military has some, some meaningful employee benefits. Am am I correct?
[00:07:12] Lacey Langford: Oh, yes, definitely. That’s a huge benefit that you have medical care, you know, dental, vision, those type of things, that comes with a service member. So if you are taking a job as a military spouse, one huge advantage of negotiation for your salary or your hourly rate is to say, “Hey, I actually have medical benefits. I don’t need yours, but you should be paying me more per hour or my salary”. So that is a, a huge benefit negotiation.
[00:07:39] Lacey Langford: But also if you are taking a job, if you’re underemployed and they don’t provide those benefits, at least you’re still covered under the service member. So there are definitely pros in that area for benefits for military spouses.
[00:07:53] Eric Brotman: How does relocating internationally play a role for military families?
[00:07:59] Eric Brotman: Because I [00:08:00] imagine more than more than civilian situations, you know, when you’re in the military, you’re sometimes asked to be stationed elsewhere for a period of years or what have you. Sometimes it’s active duty and it’s, it’s sort of in the, in the front, but sometimes it’s just for a, for a role that’s that’s in Germany, for example, or in some other country. How does that impact financial wellness for the military families?
[00:08:23] Lacey Langford: Well, on the most part for the moving expenses, those type of things, they’re gonna make you whole to get you to the other country where you’re going, they’re gonna pay your travel, they’re gonna move one of your vehicles depending on what you want.
[00:08:35] Lacey Langford: Some places people wanna store their vehicle in the United States and then maybe buy like, you know, a $3,000 car when they get overseas.
[00:08:43] Eric Brotman: Okay.
[00:08:44] Lacey Langford: But employment is an issue because many of the installations for service members have a status of forces agreement, and that agreement is with the United States and that country where the base is located.
[00:08:57] Lacey Langford: And often there’s rules on [00:09:00] military spouses working. And often there are rules on how many locals have to work on that military installation. So then that’s, you know, limits how many military spouses are able to work there and in some status of forces agreements, military spouses aren’t allowed to work at all.
[00:09:16] Lacey Langford: So you can imagine that has a huge impact on if you have, you know, two incomes, you have a career you’re building, you have a business that you own. That’s another major issue. I actually just, I have a show coming out with a military spouse that’s currently in Japan talking about having a business and ha having to give that up or work around, you know, the agreements.
[00:09:39] Lacey Langford: Maybe you come back to the United States for the summer to work on your business, things like that. So those can have major impacts on, again, the budget and the earning ability.
[00:09:49] Eric Brotman: That’s, I, I’ve, I’ve never actually heard that before. And so that’s, I, I want to dig into that because so much of the, the workforce now in various industries can be [00:10:00] fully or mostly remote.
[00:10:03] Eric Brotman: And I imagine that the military bases in virtually all, if not all, cases, have access to certain technology and, and wifi and connectivity and those kinds of things. Are you saying that a military spouse, even if it’s not taking a job locally, from a local as part of an agreement, might be told that they can’t work even remotely or online for an organization?
[00:10:26] Eric Brotman: They’re told they can’t work at all, or they just can’t work on the base in a physical job?
[00:10:31] Lacey Langford: Yes, might be. And it depends on the country that they’re in and the status of forces agreement for that country. So it really just depends or they’re limited. I’m definitely not an expert on all the different agreements, but there are some countries, I believe Italy is one of them, where military spouses aren’t allowed to work.
[00:10:50] Eric Brotman: Wow. I have not heard that before.
[00:10:52] Lacey Langford: Don’t quote me on that.
[00:10:53] Eric Brotman: So, so then I imagine military couples have to make… what has to [00:11:00] be a gut-wrenching decision around A), can we afford to even be together during a, a, a, a stretch of, of work there? Do we need to have to maintain two residences or to, or, or do we, do we take the kids with us to that base if we can’t afford to, to continue to support them?
[00:11:17] Eric Brotman: And that’s a whole level of financial complexity I had not considered and had not thought about. And it, this is something you’re seeing in your, in your work and in your coaching on a regular basis?
[00:11:28] Lacey Langford: Yes. Yes. I mean, for the people that are serving overseas or, or know that they’re going, they have to start preparing for that.
[00:11:34] Lacey Langford: But it also happens stateside. Often a service member gets orders to a duty location that is going to be very rural and there are no job opportunities or maybe the schooling system that spouses don’t, you know, they want their children, maybe they’re getting ready to graduate. They don’t wanna have to move their kid their senior year.
[00:11:53] Lacey Langford: So there’s all these different factors that go into that decision, and often, unfortunately, military spouses make the [00:12:00] decision to live separate for a year or two in order to meet some type of goal that they have and maybe that, you know, they’ve gotten themselves in a financial position where they cannot afford for that military spouse to give up their job, that maybe the income is much higher.
[00:12:17] Lacey Langford: And if they’re going to a different location that position may not be virtual. Fortunately, COVID has been very helpful to the military community in that opening up remote positions for military spouses. There were a lot of military spouses that were working around that and finding ways to work remotely, but it wasn’t as big as it is now. So that is very helpful that many companies are willing to, in order to retain a really good employee, they are gonna make that a virtual position and maybe, you know, fly in quarterly, something like that. So there are adjustments to that, but it really just depends on the family and their goals and their values and what they’re trying to do.
[00:12:54] Lacey Langford: Whether they’re getting ready to get out of the military and that home that they’re in is gonna be where they fully [00:13:00] retire. And they’re not picking up their whole family to move for two years. You know, they wanna keep their kids put in that community. So there’s a lot of things that have to be weighed to make those important decisions.
[00:13:13] Eric Brotman: So, my goodness, Lacey, I, there’s so many things I want to ask you now. This is opening up all kinds of different avenues and you know, you talk about the, the impact of transitions and in the private sector and in sort of non-military situations those happen usually… every 5 to 10 years, there’s something- whether it’s the, the loss of a, of a loved one, whether it’s the a new job or a geographic move, or the birth of kids or a marriage or divorce or life changes, you know, and that’s when most people do seek out either financial coaching or consulting or or financial planning because there’s a transition that’s coming and they wanna make the right decisions because those transitions are incredibly expensive if they’re, if they’re handled incorrectly and they can be very impactful. You’re [00:14:00] talking about a lifetime of almost constant transitions every, every couple of years as opposed to a few times during a career.
[00:14:07] Eric Brotman: How do you coach people through what is really a, almost a transient lifestyle? That’s, that’s insanely challenging. How do you, how do you coach folks through that?
[00:14:18] Lacey Langford: First and foremost is for them to control the things they can control and not worry about the things they can’t control. So you can control savings, spending less than you make, building a good buffer financially for yourself for all the transitions.
[00:14:32] Eric Brotman: Okay.
[00:14:32] Lacey Langford: If you are in a position where you have large savings, the decision to separate as a family in order to go to a new duty station that might not be as hard of a decision for you to make as if you are in debt and you can’t afford to make that decision. So really
[00:14:49] Eric Brotman: Got it.
[00:14:49] Lacey Langford: Focusing on what they can do in order to manage every transition that comes up, because there’s no way that they can plan for all of those and, and often it’s stack [00:15:00] transitions.
[00:15:00] Lacey Langford: For example, even just myself, I moved when I was eight months pregnant. You know, so I’m getting ready to have a baby. I’ve just moved and my husband was in a new branch of service, and so that was three right on top, you know?
[00:15:12] Eric Brotman: Wow!
[00:15:12] Lacey Langford: And, and many people are, you know, that’s nothing compared to what some other people have gone through.
[00:15:17] Lacey Langford: And my, my husband almost didn’t even make the birth of our first child, you know, because of what he was doing in the military. And so it’s all of these things,
[00:15:23] Eric Brotman: Oh my goodness.
[00:15:23] Lacey Langford: That you’re having to cope with. And so making sure that you have your life in order, you know, that you’re working on your career as a military spouse, a service member, you’re planning from the day you join what you’re gonna do when you get out. Because at some point, one way or another, you’re leaving the military. And what is that gonna look like for you and your family? So those things should always be planned. Those are the things they can control, and that’s how they can navigate this constant state of transition that they’re in.
[00:15:51] Eric Brotman: So you, you just brought up something that was my, my next question. So we’re clearly kindred spirits and we’re on the same wavelength, and that is sometimes military careers are [00:16:00] shorter than civilian careers. Not always, some people are life lifelong military, but, but many aren’t. How do you make sure that either your skillset or your interest set or your, or, or that you have a plan for your post-military career?
[00:16:15] Eric Brotman: Because it, it really isn’t a fully funded retirement at a, at that young an age. I, I presume you still need to be doing something for for income. How do you, how do you coach people through that? Making sure that they still have the, not only the skills and but, but also the interest and the enthusiasm to do something different?
[00:16:35] Lacey Langford: I really wanna make a plug for a purpose- finding purpose. That’s what I try to tell service members, especially that are in combat arms. Kicking in doors doesn’t translate real well to the civilian world. Like, what, what is that gonna look like for you? What… you know, it might be law enforcement, but if you don’t wanna be in law enforcement, what are you gonna do?
[00:16:52] Lacey Langford: And it’s really thinking over time: always have an exit strategy. I mean, even if you’re a civilian, you should have an exit [00:17:00] strategy. What if you hate your job? What if you, you know, don’t get that promotion? What if you don’t get that raise? You should always be thinking about what the next step is gonna be, because life definitely is not gonna go according to plan, I hate to break it to everybody, but it’s,
[00:17:14] Eric Brotman: yeah, well….
[00:17:15] Lacey Langford: So I say if life throws curve balls, the military life throws wrenches. That’s, that’s the way it works. So I think really thinking about early on what you wanna do, the purpose that you wanna have, because you do have an advantage. Let’s say you retire from the military.
[00:17:32] Lacey Langford: You could take a job where you’re earning less income, but you really enjoy it because you have that retirement pay.
[00:17:39] Eric Brotman: Right.
[00:17:39] Lacey Langford: If you don’t retire from the military, let’s say you only serve four years like I did. What does that look like for you? Are you gonna start your education while you’re on active duty if you don’t have your degree already?
[00:17:50] Lacey Langford: Or is there some type of certification that you need? Aviation is a really great example. If you are a mechanic in the military, you don’t have to have the [00:18:00] same requirements to work on an aircraft that you do in a civilian world, which has to be approved by the FAA. So you have to have all this training, and if you’re waiting till the day you get out now you’re not working, you’re doing the training instead of doing the training while you’re on active duty in order to be able to walk out the door making the same or more income. So really thinking about what you wanna be when you grow up…. I think is really important for service members, especially because their sense of purpose changes at a young age.
[00:18:30] Lacey Langford: Many service members are given a great amount of responsibility and moving into the civilian world, maybe working in a cubicle… it just doesn’t… it changes their identity and that’s really hard for a lot of service members. If you don’t have purpose and knowing what you wanna do when you’re older, that can be devastating. This identity shift that you have getting out.
[00:18:53] Eric Brotman: So we talk on this show a lot about how Americans specifically, but people in general, [00:19:00] tie their identity- who they are to what they do. And when you ask someone, you know, I’ve often said, you ask someone, you know, tell me about yourself. The first thing they’re gonna say is, “I, I’m, I’m a mechanic, I’m an accountant, I’m a ballerina”, whatever it is.
[00:19:16] Eric Brotman: The first thing we think of is what we do– not, I’m a husband and a father and a volunteer and a hockey fan. You know, the first thing we think of is what we do all day. And your identity is so tied to that, that in the military- and you mentioned kicking down doors, not translating to too many other careers, although here at our office it does happen occasionally. I, it, it, it’s, it’s frowned upon,
[00:19:38] Lacey Langford: It’s a good skill set.
[00:19:38] Eric Brotman: It, it’s frowned upon, but it does happen occasionally here at, at the financial company. No. But, but you have these you, you have these transitions. You, you, I love the idea that you’re telling folks to make sure that they have the certifications or the education that they need.
[00:19:50] Eric Brotman: The military, if I’m not mistaken, does a really good job of providing those resources, the educational opportunities you know, e- even some, I think, [00:20:00] reimbursement for school, either before, during, or after your, your career. Is that, is that correct?
[00:20:05] Lacey Langford: Yes. Yes. And they have a SkillBridge program where you can go work at a company for a year before you get out of the military to see what that’s gonna be like.
[00:20:13] Eric Brotman: Are, are are young people who are- who, who join the military as, you know, 18 or 20 or 22 year old folks or what have you- are they getting coached to make sure they do that? Is this happening internally or does it require a resource like yours to say, “Hey, guess what, this isn’t forever and you’re gonna need a plan B”.
[00:20:35] Eric Brotman: Are they getting coached that way and, and is the message resonating or do they need to hear from somebody like yourself?
[00:20:40] Lacey Langford: They’re definitely getting coached and have resources on all fronts through the military, through civilians that are trying to do it. People like me that serve the military and maybe have affiliation in some way.
[00:20:52] Lacey Langford: They’re getting that, but I think often they’re not getting it soon enough, and it’s not that it’s not there, they’re not seeking [00:21:00] it out maybe as soon as they possibly could, and then also taking it to the next level. There’s a really great program, it’s called Vererati, it’s connected to LinkedIn. And it’s mentorship for service members and their spouses, and I’m a mentor on there, and it’s wonderful.
[00:21:16] Lacey Langford: So you can connect with people that have the skillset that you’re looking for or are in the industry that you’re looking for, and you can set up informational interviews with them to understand the playing field that you wanna go into, what kind of income you can make. If I, you know, if you think about the financial professions, you know, am I gonna be working in a counseling capacity, a coaching or advisor? You know, if I’m an advisor, is that fee only? Is that commission? Commission based? You know, explaining the whole field- and whatever it is that you’re interested in, that’s a really great resource for people to start getting that information. Because if, if somebody like me describes my day to you and you think, “oh man, that sounds soul sucking”, that’s probably not the career field that you wanna go into.
[00:21:59] Eric Brotman: That’s right. [00:22:00] None of us sign up for, for having our soul sucked on, on purpose, so that that’s logical.
[00:22:06] Lacey Langford: Yes.
[00:22:07] Eric Brotman: Some of our days are that, some of our days are that way too, anyway, Lacey, you know that.
[00:22:10] Lacey Langford: Yes, yes.
[00:22:11] Eric Brotman: You know as well as I do, we have those days even if we love what we do. But I, I get your, I get your point. Can we talk about the conference that you run?
[00:22:18] Lacey Langford: Yes.
[00:22:18] Eric Brotman: A a little bit. Tell, tell, tell our audience about that. First of all, maybe when’s the next one? And because I, I don’t know if how well the military promotes the fact that that happens and that it exists, but I would love you to promote the fact that, that this exists and, and how folks can get involved or participate or attend.
[00:22:37] Lacey Langford: Thank you so much. I sincerely appreciate that. It’s a conference that is a passion project for me. I think, you know, I started my business out of frustration from being a military spouse and being a service member, and I’ve seen what a lot of people are going through the same things that I am. I didn’t have a lot of mentorship when I got out of the military.
[00:22:55] Lacey Langford: To understand the financial playing field. And as a military spouse, I [00:23:00] really struggled to build my own earning ability in my career around my husband’s infantry career. And I created this conference MilMoneyCon. It will be in Nashville, Nashville, April 27th through the 29th.
[00:23:13] Eric Brotman: Okay.
[00:23:13] Lacey Langford: And it’s for financial professionals that are united by military service to bring us together to have conversations because often there are resources that people aren’t aware of that are out there.
[00:23:24] Lacey Langford: There’s also connections, people that are doing the same work and maybe they need help or maybe you don’t wanna reinvent the wheel, but having these conversations, and new trends that are helping the military community or things like “buy now, pay later”, that should have been on people’s radar very early on.
[00:23:42] Lacey Langford: So it’s really a hub for us all to get together and create a community where we can help each other. I always say, and it’s a big saying in the military, is “rising tides lift all ships”, we can help each other, you know, service members that are coming out and wanna be in this career field. We can help them up and over the wall of that [00:24:00] transition getting out. Military spouses, we can help them not have to take a knee every time they move and help them find a career path or a way of working and earning income that might be non-traditional, might be preschool hours.
[00:24:14] Lacey Langford: So that’s really what the conference is about, is getting everybody together and helping improve each other’s lives.
[00:24:20] Eric Brotman: And and where can folks- I know we’re sharing some of the information on our screen right now- where can folks who wanna learn more about that conference, where can they check that out online?
[00:24:30] Lacey Langford: MilMoneyCon.com is a great place. It has all the information about this year’s conference, some videos so you can get a taste of what it looks like and some of the speakers. I have more speakers rolling out in the next couple of weeks, but I, I think it’s gonna be a, a really great conference.
[00:24:47] Lacey Langford: I’m excited about some of the sessions and really helping people get connected I think is really important to me.
[00:24:54] Eric Brotman: And, and who should attend this conference? Is this primarily for financial professionals who [00:25:00] are involved or is it for aspiring financial professionals? Is it for service members themselves or their families?
[00:25:06] Eric Brotman: Who, who’s, who should attend?
[00:25:08] Lacey Langford: It’s for people that are aspire– if I could get that, it’s for people that are aspiring financial professionals that are currently working. They may be working in a coaching capacity. Some of the people that are attending are financial bloggers, podcasters, but everybody really has a military affiliation.
[00:25:25] Lacey Langford: You don’t have to, we have a lot of people that are just big fans and supporters of our community and what we’re trying to do. Last year, I think 10% of the attendees were active duty service members that are interested in learning more about this career path and getting connected with people and mentorship for the transition out.
[00:25:43] Eric Brotman: And, and how often does Military Money Show drop a new episode? How often are you podcasting?
[00:25:49] Lacey Langford: Weekly, we drop shows
[00:25:50] Eric Brotman: Weekly.
[00:25:50] Lacey Langford: every Monday. Yes.
[00:25:51] Eric Brotman: Every Monday. Okay. So folks can check out our show on Thursdays and your show on Mondays. I would love that. I think that’s good. We’re gonna put on the screen [00:26:00] a little bit about the show.
[00:26:01] Eric Brotman: We’ll have it in the show notes of where people can, can check that out. I, I have to ask you, Lacey, because you know, we’ve talked about this a lot in different contexts already, but what do you wanna be when you grow up? What does that look like?
[00:26:13] Lacey Langford: I think that’s a really great question that a lot more people should ask themselves.
[00:26:17] Lacey Langford: But if I’m being really honest, when I grow up, I wanna be a volunteer. I want to be able to help other people in the capacity that I want to without worry of my budget or anything else. I just wanna be able to give back to people. So I really wanna get in a financial position where that is where my main focus can be, is helping others.
[00:26:39] Eric Brotman: Well, I have no doubt that you have a plan to, to reach that purpose. I have no doubt- as mission driven as you are, I have no doubt that you’re, you’re on track to do that. So, so last question. We, we don’t believe in homework because nobody likes homework, but you’ve given us a lot of information today.
[00:26:56] Eric Brotman: If, if, if folks were to take one extra credit assignment away from our time today, [00:27:00] what would that be? What would that action item be?
[00:27:03] Lacey Langford: I would say go for the one thing that scares you the most or that is stressing you out- is go for it. Whether that’s moving forward in your career, reaching out to somebody for help, whether that is starting a new career.
[00:27:17] Lacey Langford: Starting something new with your finances, a new goal- go for it. Don’t be scared of failure or what other people think. I’m a big fan of failing forward. Just keep doing it because all of those failures, when you try to do that thing that is stressing you out the most, I think you’ll find that it isn’t as bad as you think it is, and that the first step that you took is actually making that thing less stressful for you and freeing up your mental bandwidth.
[00:27:42] Lacey Langford: So if I could say one thing is just go for that thing that you want most.
[00:27:47] Eric Brotman: I, I love that extra credit assignment. I’m trying to think right now what the scariest thing for me might be. I’m not exactly sure I, I’m gonna think about this. Well, the thing that scares me the most, I’m gonna think about. Do you know what scares you the most that you’re going for?[00:28:00]
[00:28:00] Lacey Langford: Well, right now it’s my conference. I do feel like that is very scary. It’s something new. I’m putting myself out there in a new, different way, but I think that it can help a lot of people. And so I’m trying to push past that fear and focus on those things I can control is, you know, trying to get speakers together and, you know, letting people know that it’s out there.
[00:28:20] Lacey Langford: But it does scare me, but… I think what could come out of it would be wonderful. So every day I’m trying to take an action to start reducing that fear and to just go for it.
[00:28:31] Eric Brotman: Well, I hope folks who have military affiliations who are fans of our show will check out your show. I hope some of them will make it to Nashville in April.
[00:28:40] Eric Brotman: I love Nashville all year round. It’s one of my favorite cities in the country, so getting to Nashville is not difficult for me. I, I love the place. Where can folks check out your, your coaching, your coaching practice, or are there any other resources you wanna share with our audience today?
[00:28:54] Lacey Langford: Yes, a great spot to check all of that out- information about money in the military and the Military Money [00:29:00] Show is at laceylangford.com.
[00:29:03] Eric Brotman: Laceylangford.com. I hope folks will check it out. This has been fun. It’s been good seeing you again, and I don’t think we should wait quite as long to do this to do this again. Maybe I’ll see you at FinCon23 or one of the other financial media conferences.
[00:29:15] Eric Brotman: I’d love to see you again sometime soon. Thanks for being here.
[00:29:19] Lacey Langford: Thanks for having me.
[00:29:21] Eric Brotman: I’d like to thank all of you for listening and watching today. We’d love to hear from you, so please, if you love the show, don’t keep us a secret. Send us comments at dontretiregraduate.com or leave us reviews. They are priceless to us.
[00:29:33] Eric Brotman: We’ll be back next week with another episode of Office Hours and in two weeks with another engaging guest. For now, this is your host, Eric Brotman, reminding you: don’t retire, graduate!
[00:29:53] Eric Brotman: Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC. Kestra IS, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment Advisory [00:30:00] Services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. Kestra AS, an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS or Kestra AS are not affiliated with Brotman Financial or any other entity discussed.