Meet the Advisor

Kristine Schellhaas is a Marine Corps spouse, a mother, a volunteer, and the founder of USMCLife.com. In 2009 she started the site as a way to connect and educate military families, and it now has a monthly organic reach of 2.5 million people in social media. She sold the site to Bright Mountain Acquisitions in January 2015 and continues to manage it.

In addition to her work with USMC Life, Kristine is a public speaker and an author. She is a contributor to “Stories Around the Table,” a collection of stories from military families for military families, and has written a memoir to be released in summer 2016.

Kristine holds bachelor’s degrees in business management and human resources management from Boise State University and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University. She, her husband, and their two children live in California.

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.