It's tax season! Start collecting your 1099s, W-2s, and charitable donations. Whether you do your own taxes or not, you'll need all the documentation ready to go. Most military families should be able to do their own taxes via MilTax from MilitaryOneSource, especially if you have W-2 income only with a simple tax situation. The software is FREE, our favorite one, and what we've personally used when our situations were more simple. Once you start having multiple rental properties, side hustles, or are having to pay taxes, it's probably worth $400 or so to hire a CPA. We also discuss tax planning for military families, what that means, and how to reduce your tax bill and withholdings smartly. If you like getting a big refund each spring, but you're living paycheck-to-paycheck, we discuss why you might want to change that strategy too.

Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE!

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.