Meet the Advisor

Bianca Strzalkowski is a Marine Corps spouse, 2011 Military Spouse of the Year, and founder of the Military Spouse Education Initiative (MSEI). Bianca founded the MSEI to help military spouses pursue their educational aspirations.

Bianca has worked with officials from the departments of Defense and Labor, members of Congress, and the Joining Forces Initiative to increase educational opportunities for military spouses. She has volunteered with various organizations, including the U.S. Veterans Corps, National Military Family Association, Marine Corps’ Family Readiness program, and American Military Partners Association. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, awarded Bianca with a certificate of commendation for her volunteerism within the military community.

In addition to advancing programs for spouses, Bianca has appeared in media interviews and is a guest writer for The Huffington Post, Military Spouse magazine, SpouseBuzz, and Military Officers Association of America. Further, she served as the deputy director of volunteer outreach for Blue Star Families and as a contributor for A&E’s Lifetime Moms network.

She is completing her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in journalism at the University of Maryland University College.

Bianca is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, Jacksonville, N.C., with her husband and three children.

A Twitter chat is like a meeting on Twitter; it has a specific discussion topic and a scheduled start time. Using the hashtag #MilCents at the end of each tweet, MFAN will ask questions to a group of financial experts.

Twitter chats give you an opportunity to discuss your money questions with other military families and with financial experts. You’ll be able to engage with other participants, read their questions, and maybe even answer some — just follow #MilCents during the chat.

Participation in a MilCents Twitter chat gives you access to a group of financial experts who are ready to answer your questions.

To participate in a Twitter chat you will need a Twitter account. Don’t have an account? Click here to learn how to create one.

To follow or join the chat, head over to MFAN’s Twitter page. If you’d like to ask a question during the chat, send it to @Mil_FANet using hashtag #MilCents.

A Google Hangout is a video chat program that allows you to “hang out” and talk to friends, family, and — in the MilCents program—financial experts! Unlike other video chats, Hangouts can have up to 10 people on screen interacting.

MilCents is using Hangouts to give you the opportunity to talk to financial experts, ask questions, and gain insights on a number of financial topics.

By participating in a Hangout, you can talk face-to-face with financial experts and gain valuable tips to help you learn how to get your money in gear.

Can’t make a Hangout? No problem! All of the Hangouts will be recorded and available on the MilCents website.

Participating in a Hangout is easy. Just click “Play”! Each Hangout will stream live on its daily page on the MilCents website.

The workbook is already programmed with formulas to automatically calculate things like your monthly net (the gray cells), so all you need to do is enter the information asked of you in each worksheet (the white cells).

Save the workbook to a personal computer so you don’t lose it.
Complete the “What You’ll Need” section (left column) of the first worksheet, the Financial Dashboard. The information you input into your Financial Dashboard will automatically appear in the corresponding fields of other worksheets.
Save your work!

Workbook activities are scheduled for the following days:

Tuesday, Oct. 27 – Financial Dashboard (1st tab on the bottom)
Wednesday, Oct. 28 – Monthly Net worksheet (2nd tab on the bottom)
Wednesday, Nov. 11 – 50/20/30 worksheet (3rd tab on the bottom)
Thursday, Nov. 18 – Manage Your Debt worksheet (4th tab on the bottom)
Monday, Dec. 7 to Thursday, Dec. 10 – Monthly Budget worksheet (5th tab on the bottom)

You can contact info@militaryfamilyadvisorynetwork.org if you have questions or need support.