Companion guides

Focus on Military Communities companion guide

Military life comes with unique financial situations. This guide provides insight and guidance to persons and organizations that serve military communities, including active-duty, reserve and National Guard servicemembers, veterans, and their families. The guide includes tools specially designed to address common financial challenges that military consumers face, such as:

• Whether to buy or rent a house while serving in the military
• How to leverage special savings opportunities exclusive to military families
• How the military relief societies can help when you’re in need
• How to financially plan for a Permanent Change of Station
• How to spot military affinity marketing and scams

The guide was developed with the support of people and organizations that serve the military and veteran communities.

Focus on Native Communities companion guide

This guide provides organizations with information that meaningfully connects Your Money, Your Goals to the financial lives of Native community members. The companion guide includes:

• Tools and information that cover topics such as making the most of an Individual Indian Money Account, using values to set financial goals, and annual planning that reflects seasonal income and expenses
• An additional module on "financial empowerment and elders" covers ways to identify, address, and prevent financial exploitation of elders
• Guidance on how to integrate Your Money, Your Goals into your work with Native communities

Tribes and other organizations that serve Native communities helped develop this resource by sharing their experience and perspectives.

Focus on People with Disabilities companion guide

This guide contains tips, information, tools, and skill-building resources for people with disabilities and from organizations that serve the disability community. It’s based on the idea that everyone has a right to control their own money and make their own financial decisions. The companion guide includes 11 new tools that are fully dynamic and accessible for how to:

• Set up an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Account and build savings
• Pay for assistive technology to achieve independence
• Understand how income from work impacts Social Security Income (SSI)
• Identify financial abuse and exploitation and how to get assistance

"Focus on People with Disabilities" was developed with the support of people with disabilities and organizations that serve the disability community.

Focus on Reentry companion guide

This guide is designed to help financially empower criminal justice-involved individuals and their families.

The tools, tips and information can help people navigate their financial decisionmaking, including how to:

• Prepare their finances for incarceration, such as getting a credit freeze, securing a power of attorney, or managing debt while incarcerated
• Obtain identification documents such as social security cards to help with transition
• Identify and prioritize payments for both criminal justice-related debt and consumer debt
• Calculate their take home salary after deductions
• Access and monitor credit reports, including inside correctional facilities
• Understand the background screening process and individual rights when applying for jobs

Focus on Reentry can be used any time: while someone is awaiting trial or sentencing, in jail or prison, or following release and in community settings.