Military Spouse Residency Relief Act

Good news on the homefront!  The Military Spouse Residency Relief Act was passed by Congress last week and is awaiting the President's signature.

Here is the body of the press release:

Washington, DC –Tuesday, November 3, 2009. A comprehensive military family legislation, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (S 475 and HR 1182), which will legally recognize military spouses by providing them the option to claim the same state of domicile as their active duty spouse, passed through the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support, and is now being brought before the President to become a law.

The bill was introduced by Congressman John Carter (R-TX), who represents Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the country. “This is fantastic news for our service families worldwide,” says Carter, who has been pushing the legislation for the last three years.

Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the companion bill into the Senate, which passed unanimously in August. The legislation will amend the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act (SCRA) of 1940 allowing military spouses to share a home state with their spouse, the service member.

Currently, military spouses experience impediments in voting and property ownership as well as deterrents in employment and education. The bill offers fair treatment of the military spouse and improves the quality of life for military families by allowing the stability of a single state of domicile to call home.

Over 8,000 military spouses, friends and family members united to support the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Military-Spouses-Residency-Relief-Act/51457362877 They shared their individual stories as they contacted Congressional representatives to ask for support. Initially, Army Spouse, Rebecca Poynter and Navy Spouse, Joanna Williamson, approached Congressman Carter with their request to petition. “It has been a grass roots effort by thousands of spouses across the country, who have campaigned to get this passed, by telling their stories,” explains Poynter.

“The support from Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and the Veterans Service Organizations who testified in our support is greatly appreciated,” said Williamson, “and together we claim this victory for all military families.”

This is exciting news for military spouses and will undoubtedly save us all time and possibly even money.

More info on how the MSRRA impacts your income taxes.

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The Bad Side of Being Your Own Boss

Self-employment often looks good to military spouses looking for a flexible and mobile careers, and to military members looking to supplement their military income and possibly prepare for a job once they leave the military.   There are many benefits to self-employment, but there are also many negatives as well.  The Happy Rock has put together an enlightening post called 29 Reasons Why Being A Part-Time Entrepreneur Sucks.  I agree whole-heartedly with everything in the article, and I have a few more that I think apply to military families:

1. Moving is disruptive.  Even if your business is online, you'll still have downtime as you physically move.  A physical business will surely suffer with every move, as you will basically have to build a new business at each new location.

2. Small businesses don't like deployments.  If the deployed service member is the business owner, the deployment can kill the business, or at least have a huge impact.  If the military spouse is the business owner, the spouse will find the usual demands of entrepreneurship more challenging, especially if the couple has children.  The temporary single parent and small business owner combo is really, really hard - we all still get just 24 hours in the day.  (And as I write this, my 9 year old has stumbled out of bed to ask, "When are you going to bed?")

3. Running a home-based business can affect your housing situation.  If you are living in already-small government quarters, running a small business (if allowed) will eat into your living space.  If you live on the economy, you will be looking for a space that will work with your business, making house-hunting more challenging.

I don't mean to suggest that entrepreneurship is a bad idea for military families, but rather to point out that there are challenges with any small business, and some of those challenges can be compounded by the military lifestyle.  It can be a lot easier to deal with these potential problems if you are aware of the challenges before you start, or if you know that you are not alone in facing those challenges once you've gotten into it.  Being your own boss can be a great choice for a military member or spouse who has the right skills, ideas and attitude to persevere in spite of the obstacles.