Do you ever wish you could run some quick numbers to find out what your new BAH (basic allowance for housing) or new promotion pay will be? Of course, there’s an App for that. Even cooler, this this app was developed by an active duty Marine. Check out his site.
“There’s an App for That!”
Regardless of your pay grade or branch of service, you want to make sure you’re being paid the amount you’ve earned. And now there’s an app for that. Total Pay, designed for use by federal civilian employees and active duty military, will calculate your base pay, allowance, special duty and incentives pays. Currently available only for iPhones users, the app is downloadable from the iTunes store. The one-time, 99 cent cost entitles you to free updates for life. Matt Pagan, the creator of Total Pay, hopes the app will be available for Android users in the future. To download the app, click here Total Pay on App Store.
Learn A Little More About How Total Pay Was Developed
Matt Page is a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. He graduated from the Naval Academy with a Quantitative Economics background and developed a passion for helping others with their finances. When asked about his involvement with Marines, Matt says, “I would go around asking Marines basic questions about their military pay, such as how much they earned, how their pay was broken up, what they rated, etc. and quickly discovered that a majority of them simply did not know.” He continues, “My wrestling coach at the Naval Academy always taught me to “seek brilliance in the basics and do them all the time” so I wanted to create something that was simple, easy to use and could be referenced anytime.
The Total Pay app was designed to be a super quick way to view military pay. The app eliminates the time having to go online to look up and search through the various military pay charts. The app could be used anywhere with no Internet connection necessary, which benefits military members who are in the field or deployed with no connectivity. One of the best features is that users are able to look up BAH Rates for any location, which benefits those who are changing duty stations. The app currently contains the latest 2013 military pay info and once downloaded from the App Store, users will be provided with free updates for life.
My overall vision is to get military members more involved in their military finances, especially the younger personnel. I feel more should be done at the unit level to help these individuals being that a majority are straight out of high school and lack experience with their finances. Currently, I teach a financial class every Friday to my Marines in an effort to help them get the basics down. Information is shared on topics such as budgeting, investing, credit scores, and the Thrift Savings Plan. The Marines are engaged and ask a lot of good questions. They seem to enjoy and benefit from the information being shared and have deemed the day “Financial Fridays.”
“Currently, I teach a financial class every Friday to my Marines”
That’s awesome! Is that on the training schedule? I’d love to hear more about your weekly class. I get so energized when I spend time around the younger Marines.
Rob, it’s more of a hip pocket class and definitely not on the annual training schedule….although it probably should be! lol Yes, being around the younger Marines is what I am going to miss most when I transition out in 2014.