Hidden Economic Struggles of Military Spouses

When it comes to being in a relationship with someone in the military, it can be difficult to adjust to. Even though serving in the military comes with many benefits, being financially comfortable is tough. There are many issues you and your spouse can come across, and it's normal. You're not the only one going through struggles.

Through constantly moving to low enlistment pay, military spouses struggle with quite a few problems and adapting to a different lifestyle. But it's certainly worth it if it means being by the side of who they love, because there are things to love about being the military girlfriend! If you're a new military wife or interested in what military spouses go through, these are the economic struggles of military spouses.

They can't keep a job because they're constantly moving around.

When you're enlisted in the military... you're going to be moving around quite a lot. As for the military spouse, it's possible that you'll be moving with them. With children or not, there are military families that follow wherever the solider is assigned to. This is truly one of the economic struggles of military spouses when it comes to obtaining a job.

In this case, this can be extremely difficult for the military spouse to settle into a job. Since they're frequently moving from one destination to another, it's difficult for the spouses having to resign and search for a new job. Sometimes, they might not find a job at all, depending on their new location.

They have a hard time getting an apartment.

Since those in the military are always moving from one destination to another, is really hard for them to rent an apartment. Since landlords don't want renters breaking contracts, they'll usually turn them away. It can usually take a long time for a soldier and their spouse to find an apartment.

And if they do get ahold of an apartment, there would be no point in wasting money to pay the rent when they're living in a different location. From constantly moving from a destination to the next, their home is almost never consistent. From this, it makes it really hard for military families to settle somewhere for good.

Predatory lending and sales can make car buying difficult for spouses.

From the economic struggles of military spouses, attempting to buy a car can be very difficult. The prices of cars can scare certain military spouses, especially from the amount of income that's coming through. And renting is tough, as well, when your spouse is sent to a different location.

However, other than the sales of cars, predatory lending is also another main reason that makes it hard for military spouses to obtain a car. Predatory lending is basically unscrupulous actions that are carried out by a lender to lure, persuade, and even assist a borrower from agreeing with a mortgage with high fees and interest rates and entirely strip the borrower of equity. This leads the borrower with a lower credit loan that benefits only the lender. With a low credit rate, this makes it much harder to purchase a car. However, there are definitely ways to protect yourself from predatory lending!

Military may pay for benefits, but their income may not be enough to keep families afloat at times.

Yes, while enlisted in the military, it comes with so many benefits. Benefits like health and dental coverage, vacation time, family services, money to repay college loans, and much more. It's only natural to receive so many benefits for serving the country.

However, the military doesn't give the best pay to their soldiers. The average solider in the military only earns about $1,500 a month. That's barely enough to keep the family live comfortably. This is also among the economic struggles of military spouses they face daily, yet there are certainly wants in handling finances in the military.

Military members may not actually give their spouses all the money, and that can cause financial strain at home.

If the spouse is a stay-home parent, they're not usually working, because they're busy caring for their child. This leads the soldier being the main income provider. However, even though they make so little, they still need money for themselves.

While members of the military keep most of the money that they make, their spouses back at home aren't left with much and this can lead to many complications. From paying the bills to having food on the table, the stay-home parent can't work when there's a child to care for.

Many of them also don't have enough money to set aside for emergency funds.

Finally, among the economic struggles of military spouses, many members of the military can't set aside money for emergencies or simply to save up, because of how low their income is. Since they have bills to pay, the majority of the money goes straight to paying off debt.

Whether the spouse is working or not, this can also be tough with kids. If a spouse is busy taking care of children at home, the soldier has to be the one bringing home the money. Yet, since they aren't getting paid much, this can lead to an empty emergency fund through the bills they have to pay.