The No B.S. Guide to Military Life: How to build wealth, get promoted, and achieve greatness

by David Pere

Serve your country, and become financially free in the process!
If you're considering joining the military, or already serve, and want to make the most out of your career while building passive income after your service ends, this book is a must-read. With nearly X-pages of in-depth advice, The No Bullshit Guide to Military Life is the book I wish existed when I joined the military. The tools and tactics in this book can literally earn you millions of dollars, and help you build enough passive income to retire, without ever having to work again!
David Pere―active duty Marine, real estate investor, and host of the Military Millionaire Podcast ―has one goal in to help you create a successful career in the military while building the life of your dreams for after service. Service members and veterans alike will learn how to achieve financial freedom, have a successful career, maximize veteran benefits, use their VA loan, invest to build wealth, transition out of the military, and become a Military Millionaire.
Inside, you'll
You've fought for our freedom-now it is time to achieve financial freedom

Genres: Military Fiction

266 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[January · Rating 5 out of 5]

The No B.S. Guide to Military Life: How to Build Wealth, Get Promoted, and Achieve Greatness by David Pere (2021)
173-page Kindle Ebook [Location 4752]

Genre: Military Lifestyle, Personal Finance, Investing, Real Estate

Featuring: Introduction: My Story Section, Audible, Marine Core, Laying Your Foundation, Military Millionaire Community, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Charts, Graphs, Links, End of Chapter Takeaways, Personal Finance, Budgeting, Side Hustles, Buying a Car (If You Have to), Family, Marriage, and the Pursuit of Housing Allowance, BAH, Personal Development, Succeeding in the Military, Own Your Day and Your Week, Self-Education, Networking Section, Investing, Investing in Bonds and Securities, An Introduction to Real Estate Investing, House Hacking Your Way into Wealth, Choosing a Market and Building Your Team, Finding and Analyzing Deals, Financing Deals, Writing Offers, Closing, and Improving Operations, Exit Strategies and Refinancing, Risk Mitigation, Fair Winds and Following Seas (Life After the Military), Exiting the Military, And Beyond, About the Author, Acknowledgements, Free Resources, Premium Resources, Author's Links, Endnotes,

Rating as a movie: PG-13 for language

Books and Authors mentioned: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, Brandon Turner, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Miracle Morning Millionaires: What the Wealthy Do Before 8AM That Will Make You Rich
Book by David D. Osborn, Hal Elrod, and Honoree Corder; Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven, The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over by Jack Schafer with Marvin Karlins, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Claim Your Power: A 40-Day Journey to Dissolve the Hidden Blocks That Keep You Stuck and Finally Thrive in Your Life's Unique Purpose by Mastin Kipp, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss

Quotes: Three years ago, my decision to reenlist involved a lot of financial considerations. Now, the decision to stay in the military or transition to civilian life is not based on our financial situation. I can choose to stay in the military for the right reasons instead of reenlisting due to financial needs, as many service members seem cornered into doing. I get to make that decision based on other factors because I know that my financial needs are covered whether I stay in the military or not.

Knowing that your financial future is secure provides an incredible peace of mind, and it allows you to focus more energy on your purpose, whatever that may be. Perhaps more than all of these things, being financially free allows you to give back to others. You can’t give away a fortune if you don’t have one to give.

Jimmy receives $1,000 per paycheck and decides to contribute 10 percent to his TSP. Jimmy now receives $900 per paycheck, which cuts into the budget he already set up, and he has to make adjustments. On the other hand: Dave receives $800 per paycheck and bases his budget off this amount. Dave is already contributing 20 percent to his TSP, and he doesn’t have to shrink his budget after the fact. He doesn’t even notice!

You know what I find interesting? Many service members spend time building a side hustle to make a few hundred extra dollars, but then they don’t focus on getting promoted in the job they already have. For example, an E-3 who has been in the military for more than three years has a base pay (in 2020) of $2,303. If they get promoted to E-4, that jumps to $2,507. This $204 per month pay increase is just shy of 9 percent. If getting promoted can boost your pay by 9 percent month over month, I call that a win—especially because you don’t have to work extra hours at a side hustle to earn this income. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take any time to focus on side hustles and earning more income. I am saying that you should focus on being great at your job while you’re at work. That way, you can earn these promotions quickly and boost your income even more.

Obviously, the reasons you shouldn’t smoke or drink (in excess) are numerous. Excluding all of the side effects, each of these habits is extremely expensive. I have known service members who spent an entire paycheck on payday weekend partying out in town.

We have a saying in the military: “I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.” You should treat your finances, education, and life decisions this way. An added benefit is that the better your life is set up, the more you can focus on your career. Nothing beats preparing for the future, saving money, and making yourself stand out in your career all at the same time.

Every dollar you invest now is worth much more than a dollar invested later.

In any situation where you have a specific outcome in mind and have to explain or justify that outcome to a friend, that is sales.

Ignorance is not an excuse when things don’t go your way with real estate. The fastest way to hedge downside risk is to become an expert in your chosen asset class. This goes for anything you do in life. The more educated you are about it, the better you’ll perform. That is why you should read lots of books, watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, pay for courses, hire a coach, and strive to become an expert in your field of choice. It is much easier to learn from those who have gone before you than it is to learn as you go. Take the time to learn, learn some more, and continue learning throughout the duration of your life. The more you understand tax codes, landlord laws, financing pros and cons, and all other aspects of real estate, the more you will be able to foresee potential issues and stop them from biting you in the rear.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🪖🏡

My thoughts: 🔖28% Location 1320 of 4752 CHAPTER SEVEN: OWN YOUR DAY AND YOUR WEEK - This is definitely geared toward active duty service members but it's informative and entertaining so I'm going to keep reading.
🔖Page 93 of 173 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: FINANCING DEALS - I'm very annoyed the tablet has page numbers, and the phone doesn't. I got my husband to start this book. I think I'm spending more time adding books to my TBR than absorbing some of this information; it's mostly about real estate investing, so I need to reread this in the future for clarity.
🔖148 SECTION FOUR: Fair Winds and Following Seas (Life After the Military) - Information overload! This book is fantastic, I don't agree with everything but 98% of it is spot on and has amazing advice.

So this book was not what I was expecting. I thought it was geared more toward joining, expectations, and coping with military life. Something you could give someone who is considering or recently joined the military, or their spouse. It is that but it's 80% financial information with a strong emphasis on investments. I'm glad I came across this one.

Recommend to others: 💯 This book is fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone in a military family or interested in investing, especially if you're a service member.

[Jeff Reffert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good information for those that are just starting out in the armed forces. Wish I had read this book 10 years ago when I enlisted. I did feel as if it was more geared toward the enlisted side, (albeit a majority of the armed forces), but there is still plenty of information junior officers can take away. Especially in terms of ‘making it matter outside the FM.’

Food for thought: Soldiers may not remember how well you pitched an OPORD, but they certainly will remember forever the LT or CPT that set them or their families up for financial success by recommending this read to them or helping them ensure their TSP is set up correctly!

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wished that you embarked on your military career with a useful guide to inform your options for financial planning, education, training, retirement and other life decisions related to military service and benefits? In David Pere’s newly-released book (published June 1, 2021), “The No B.S. Guide to Military Life: How to Build Wealth, Get Promoted and Achieve Greatness” (published by FMTM LLC, 254 pages), he successfully gets after the title’s namesake in creating a no-nonsense introductory volume on an exhaustive list of topics germane.

Primarily aimed at junior enlisted service men and women, Pere relates his own story which many can relate: he enlists, he sees the world, he spends his money living paycheck to paycheck and has no savings to show for his generous steady income and benefits! It isn’t until someone gives him a copy of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” that he starts to value money and realize his previous errant ways.

Pere methodically prioritizes how new enlistees should approach savings through earned and entitled benefits, beginning with the Thrift Savings Plan. Straightforward advice on budgeting, different types of military pay, the differences in pay and allowances, side hustles, insurance and other topics of direct interest are tackled directly and smartly.

Once the financial foundation is established, Pere peels back the topics of marriage, car buying and financing and buying a home—big issues to navigate for people with short life experience. In my humble opinion, all this advice is sound and Pere doesn’t push it on the reader as if his way is the only way, but provides a useful framework to consider the implications of their decisions before making them.

Pere’s framework expands into investing, how to do it, and what goals the reader wants to achieve in doing so. This section, though written plainly, can overwhelm those who are completely unfamiliar with how to properly use money as it goes quite deep into the discipline and gets a bit complex with discussions on market factors, P/E (price to earnings) ratios, dividends, taxes and others.

Likewise, Pere goes into great length and depth regarding real estate. And while the rest of the book is well proportioned on the above topical areas, it seems disproportionately lengthy regarding discussions on real estate as an investment. This is not to say the material is not good—it is good! However, more or less of about half of the book is devoted to, or related to real estate in one way, shape or form. Pere could have easily shortened his book, and perhaps expanded more on the first half, and written an entire new volume on real estate investing and how to take full advantage of the Veterans Administration loan to purchase.

All in all, as I read the book through my own Veterans lens, I wish I had something like this to refer while coming up the ranks, and Pere has done a great service in writing it, even going so far to provide links at the end to free and premium services for readers to go even deeper.

[Bookreadersclub · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the military never seizes to let its country down, sometimes financial tumble, makes their spines breaks. Not every veteran lives to see a life of dreamy retirement and needs being fulfilled. Though herein, somewhere we as civilians fail them and somewhere, even governments too. However, a plan to concrete action must be in hand to face challenges that follow.

For such planning and advisory, author David Pere, bring the book ' The no B.S guide to military life'.

In case you're thinking about joining the military, or as of now serve, and need to make the most out of your profession while building easy revenue after your administration closes, this book is an absolute necessity read.

The tasks and steps in the book, would not just help mint a subsidiary income, simultaneously, but also will aid the militiamen to construct sufficient automated revenue and be ready to resign, or drop out their careers on the line to adore a civilian lifestyle
This book comes with a serious undertone of assurance. It demands you to follow it, and promises to keep up its word.

Every small detail, from analysis of current situation, to forming a goal- is to assist you with making a fruitful profession in the military while building the perfect existence for after help. Administration individuals and veterans will benefit from the book and its ideas of accomplishing financial independence from the rat race, and thus enjoy a fruitful vocation.

It’s the perfect guide to amplify veteran advantages, utilize their VA advance, change a lifestyle out of the military, and mint a stable income. One can promptly tell about the author's committed ton of work and time into this book.

The book, is explicitly outfitted to cater to the military individuals. It's an incredible asset for anybody in the military, particularly the individuals who are simply starting their tactical professions; to keep in hand and work upon sooner or later.

To all the military pioneers, I strongly prescribe that you read this book to have the option to set up a life of comfort, liberty and confident independence, in the years after your service. This indeed, is the perfect guide.

[Ciara Kimsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book today and I have read several books that are the same sort of format. This one stands out. The way it is written was awesome. Reading the book felt more like you were talking to a friend, not being lectured during a Zoom meeting. It was very well written. The author interjected humor to keep the book light, which is a bonus when learning about a topic that can be heavy and dry. It was broken up in such a way it will be easy to reference back to later.

This would be a perfect gift for someone who is newly in the service. There are so many great lessons to this book and it covers the most common pitfalls that young service members fall into. This book can help set them up to be on the path to financial stability.
I am not the service member, my husband is. I am the money person though, too many numbers are like a foreign language for him. I found this book really valuable. I have been able to already utilize things I learned in the book to correct the mistake he was making with his TSP allocations. We are looking forward to using the tips and advice going forward. We are planning to buy a house soon and the information in the book will help us to think through any deals we look at through a lens of setting us up for our future. Even though we are not young, we were still able to take a lot of the things in the book and use them as talking points and considerations to put ourselves on a better path going forward.

I would highly recommend this book to both young and older service members and their families who are looking for a way to make sure they are getting the most out of their time in service. If you are considering using real estate as an investment, this book is a must. There are so many options to be able to do this and the book breaks them down in a simple, easy to understand way. It helps make it feel possible and less overwhelming.

[Braeden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information for those that are just starting out in the armed forces. I did feel as if it was more geared toward the enlisted side but there is still plenty of information junior officers can take away. I did think there was some repetitiveness and disconnected thinking especially with the entire section on real estate investing. I think it would’ve been best to mention the perks of being in the military and leave the specific strategies for a book specifically on real estate investing. Overall good book and plan to recommend it to a few people!

[Wade Benton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read through this book twice since purchasing it a few months ago. I found Dave through YouTube as I am trying to gather more information to help me with my journey commissioning as a naval aviator. Not only is this book absolutely packed full with military specific information, it would be a beneficial read for anyone who wants a good bit of financial insight at a digestible measure. Dave does a great job at keeping you engaged with comedic timing and relatable anecdotes.

[Shannon Pere · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is not and has never been in the military, I still found this book super informative and helpful in the finance world! I learned a lot from David’s stories and tips he gives throughout the book. Gifted story teller, even better at finance and real estate! Would recommend this book to anyone, military or not!