Saving Without Sacrifice Blog

It has become glaringly obvious to me over the past few months that many veterans are not aware of the benefits available to them for serving our fine country.  I have taken this time to compose a general list of eligibility requirements and some of the major benefits that many veterans have access to, but may not be taking advantage of currently.  Additional information can be found on these topics at www.va.gov.

 Eligibility:  There are eight priority groups who can receive benefits as veterans from the Federal Government of the United States.  The first three receive benefits because they had service-connected disabilities.  The next group would be those housebound because they were catastrophically disabled.  Group 5 would be veterans receiving pension benefits or those eligible for Medicaid programs because household income and net worth fall below the VA means test thresholds.  Group 6 would include veterans of World War I; veterans recently discharged (within 5 years); and those exposed to certain harmful tests conducted in the past.  Group 7 may be eligible because their geographic income and net worth is below the minimum standard.  Group 8 are those veterans who have income and net worth above the VA national income threshold. 

There is a ninth group that would include reservists and National Guard members who did not serve on active duty beyond their initial training.

 Benefits:  The benefits of serving include bereavement counseling, access to commissaries, employment assistance, business and farm loans, education benefits, headstones and markers, healthcare, assistance for the homeless, home loans, life insurance, pensions, and discounts for certain retail stores.  The eligibility for the various benefits varies by which priority group, length of time since discharge, medical condition, and length of time in the service.

1. Bereavement counseling is tied directly to death arising while serving in the military.
2. Access to commissaries is available to the family of those serving on active duty, those with service connected disabilities at 100%, or those retired from active duty.
3. Employment assistance is available to those in any of the eight priority groups.
4. Business and farm loans to veterans have preference over other loans
5. Education benefits are for those who have served 90 days and apply for school within 15 years of discharge.  If disabled there is a 30 day requirement.  After 30 months one is eligible for 100% benefit.  Eligible survivors of those who served may also receive benefits under certain conditions.
6. Headstones and markers are available to the eight priority groups listed above.
7. Healthcare is generally available to the top seven priority groups but that could change.
8. Homeless assistance is available for eligible homeless veterans.
9. VA loans are available for the eight priority groups listed above.
10. Pensions are available to those serving 20 years or more and certain special classes.
11. Life insurance is available to active duty eligible members and can be converted when becoming a veteran.
12. Certain retail stores provide discounts to veterans who can demonstrate they are veterans with photo ID.  In Ohio a driver’s license has a veteran’s icon for those providing honorable discharge papers.

 Robert Ostrander, CFP®

SWS Advisors, Inc.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Newsletters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.