During spring and summer, many military members are required to move because they received Permanent Change of Station orders. And that can very quickly create a hectic situation.

Often, moving isnt especially inexpensive, but there are an array of options service members may have available to them that they can tap to make sure the transition to their new station goes as smoothly as possible, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The first thing you should do when you receive a PCS order is seek out your installation relocation office to determine what allowances you will be able to receive, as well as get in touch with several agencies that can help ease your transition. The office will also be able to give you a lot of other helpful information and aid you in planning your move.

Depending upon where your new station is located either within the U.S.

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A friend of mine recently asked me what she should be doing to save for retirement. With the uncertainty of the future of social security, we should all be asking ourselves this question.

The earlier you start saving for retirement, the longer your retirement account will have a chance to compound and the more you will have for retirement. Ideally, someone should start saving as soon as they start their first job after college.

Most employers offer a 401k plan. The money is automatically deducted before taxes (you won’t even miss it). Many employers will offer matching contributions up to a certain amount. Say, 3%. So, if you contribute 3% of your salary to your 401k, they will add another 3% out of their pocket. Free money! This is an automatic and significant return and at the very least you should be contributing up to the matching amount.

Unfortunately, not all employers are contributing to 401k plans and some don’t offer them at all.

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Senior Westpac management met with a delegation of FSU members (yesterday 20/03/2012) in an attempt to resolve the dispute over the bank’s plans to cut hundreds of jobs in technology, group operations and retail & business banking.

The FSU members’ delegation put a strong case to the bank for the following changes in the bank’s approach to jobs and job security;

The delegation included members from technology and group services. The members present were Christine Sandquist, Americo Paita, Slavica Roskovic, Abigail Mason,  Julie Muir,  Andrew Forrest and Margie Punnett.

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Quick links to a few items I found interesting.

Bassam Fattouh, Lutz Kilian, and Lavan Mahadeva have a new survey of academic studies of the role of speculation in determining oil prices. From the paper’s abstract:

A popular view is that the surge in the price of oil during 2003-08 cannot be explained by economic fundamentals, but was caused by the increased financialization of oil futures markets, which in turn allowed speculation to become a major determinant of the spot price of oil. This interpretation has been driving policy efforts to regulate oil futures markets. This survey reviews the evidence supporting this view. We identify six strands in the literature corresponding to different empirical methodologies and discuss to what extent each approach sheds light on the role of speculation. We find that the existing evidence is not supportive of an important role of speculation in driving the spot price of oil after 2003.

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