Email   Print   Share By Michael Heckman, Sentinel Staff

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Holly Petraeus, director of the BBB Military Line program and wife of Gen. David Petraeus, was the keynote speaker at a financial planning and investment seminar Friday at the Phantom Warrior Center. Michael Heckman, Sentinel Staff

Dean Taylor, BBB regional executive director, led a financial planning and investment seminar for 3rd ACR troops Friday at the Phantom Warrior Center. Michael Heckman, Sentinel Staff

Sgt. Ronnie Williams, military affairs NCOIC for RSS HTC, talks to Holly Petraeus, director of the BBB Military Line program, during a financial planning and investment seminar Friday at the Phantom Warrior Center. Michael Heckman, Sentinel Staff

News of multi-billion dollar Ponzi schemes may draw bigger headlines but everyday scams – ranging from high-interest rate payday loans to Internet confidence games – cost military families millions of dollars each year.

Making a stop during a nationwide tour designed to protect the pocketbooks of military families, Holly Petraeus, director of the Better Business Bureau’s Military Line program, was the keynote speaker at a financial planning seminar held Friday at the Phantom Warrior Center.

The Military Line program provides consumer education and advocacy for servicemembers and their families. Petraeus, wife of Gen. David Petraeus, has visited many military installations, working to establish better relationships between local BBBs and military communities.

“Unfortunately, there are some people out there who will take advantage, and not just in the local community but also on the Internet. It’s the happy hunting ground for scammers. You cannot, unfortunately, shine a light on all of them; they’re very good at popping up and doing business under a different name. So, the best way we can combat them is to teach military personnel how to be smarter in realizing when someone is offering you a really bad deal,” Petraeus said during an interview in the III Corps PAO office’s broadcast studio.

Changes of duty stations and frequent deployments overseas make military families even more vulnerable than most consumers.

Of the tendency of some businesses to prey upon military families, Petraeus said, “It bothers me a lot; that’s why I do this job. Unfortunately, there are some people out there who will take advantage.”

Of transiency, she added, “It does increase the risk. When we arrive in a new town, we tend to patronize the business that has the biggest billboard outside the front gate. And what we want to encourage military personnel to do is go to www.BBB.org/military and look up a business before they patronize it.”

Petraeus said local BBBs can provide reports that give local businesses a grade based upon consumer complaints and compliance with ethical business practices.

“You may be new to town as a servicemember but we’ve been here a while. We have reports that give a letter grade so look up that business and see what kind of a grade they have with us,” she suggested.

Friday afternoon Petraeus participated in a financial planning seminar with troops of the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment. Although Military Line has many workshops about being a better consumer, the financial planning seminar is about investing for retirement. It was funded by a grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which regulates the security fields and brokers.

“So we talk about the importance of starting young and we have great scenarios that illustrate that if you save for just 10 years when you’re age 20,” she added, “you’re going to have more at the age of 65 than someone who saved for 40 years but didn’t get started until they were 30.”

Even though most Soldiers have a military pension, retirement planning remains important.

“We need to think things through before retirement, such as where you’re going to live and how your expenses will change, and you have to factor in a lot of things.”

Whether servicemembers are newly enlisted or approaching retirement, budget planning is important.

“It’s not a very fun topic, of course, to talk about, but finances can be one of the biggest stressors out there. You can’t really rest easy if you’ve got a financial disaster looming over your head. So it is possible even if you feel like your paycheck is not that big to spend it wisely and be able to set a little bit aside to save so that later on if you’ve got an emergency you’ve got some money in the bank so you can pay for that car repair bill or, also, when you’re ready to retire, you’ve got some savings set aside for retirement living rather than worry about how you’re going to live the rest of your life,” she said.

Richard Kitterman, executive director of the Harker Heights BBB, said the Military Line program “... makes Soldiers and their families aware what BBB programs are available to them and it allows us to track complaints filed by Soldiers so we can identify trends and put out consumer alerts. If we see a problem developing at Fort Campbell that affects Soldiers, then we can let the Soldiers at Fort Hood and Fort Lewis and other installations know through their consumer affairs, financial readiness offices and by other means.”

One couple that attended the seminar, 1st Lt. Justin Abbatacola, executive officer, Troop F, 2nd Squadron, 3rd ACR, and his wife, Kerri, found the seminar helpful.

“It really opened our eyes on how early we need to start and, also, being executive officer and her the FRG leader, we can take this information back to the troop and help other people out, too,” Justin said.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Hay, Troop G, 2-3 ACR, added, “It’s definitely beneficial for everyone to invest early, especially in these hard times of recession. I’m doing contributions but I need to do more.”

Hay recently re-enlisted for six more years of service.

“So I’m close to retirement and want to be secure financially when I retire. I’ll definitely take it back to the Soldiers and consider doing a workshop at the battery level. I think this was especially useful for Soldiers who are deploying and getting $30-40,000 so they don’t waste it,” he added.