Money Matters
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
If you qualify for WIC...
does that mean you should automatically go and get it?
I lurk on the military families board and there was quite a discussion over there about WIC. Most of the women believe that it is something that is stupid not to get if you qualify, and because the military standards of qualifying are much different than the civilian world, basically all military wives should be on it.
I personally don't feel that anyone should be getting any kind of assistance if they don't need it, but apparently I am in the vast minority over there. I was just wondering if more money-minded folks also believe that you should take advantage of any programs offered to you just to save the $$.
Re: If you qualify for WIC...
Define "need"?
If I qualified, I'd take it. If I had all this extra money I would have spent on milk and OJ, I'm sure there are important things to get the baby or I would save for college.
I'm fired up about this. The "income" that they report to qualify for WIC in the first place is not accurate. Their housing and BAS are not factored in. It's a scam.
And you and I both know the average person collecting WIC is likely not contributing the extra money to a college fund or savings account.
What are the income limits for it? I would assume they have it set low enough that there is a very high chance that those that qualify would need it.
If I qualified for it, I would use it.
I really have no idea. My mom saved my government po' kid benefits for 18 years - it was the only source of my college savings. $13K beat the pants off nothing.
I don't think one should lie, and if that's what they're doing it's wrong. Other than that, taking what you qualify for is just being smart.
SIL qualifies for WIC. She needs it and there is no extra money laying around for college or fun. It is basically WIC or the baby has no food (since SIL herself does not have food). So, I think yes if you need it be all means get it. But don't fudge your income so you can save extra cash and take benefits away from someone who may really need them.
So many members of the military qualify for it because the housing allowance and food allowance that military families are given is not factored in. DH gets another $1600ish a month that is not listed as his base pay.
I'm not rolling around in money over here, but we are more than comfortable on my DH's E-7 pay, and that's not factoring in free health insurance and full coverage.
Military wife here. I don't think you should take it if you don't need it. To give you an idea. My DH (officer) made about 124k this year, including his bonus, however, our taxable income is usually in the 60-70k range. Our benefits cover just about everything, and my husband's bonus can be thrown into TSP (similar to a 401K without a match).
A young enlisted member does not make close to this amount, however, they also have the same tax advantages, so where it may look like they only make 20k a year, depending on where they live, tax-free bah could be in the 1500-2k/month range. If they live in base housing, rent is covered and utilities are generally covered, they just don't receive their bah. I could see how it would get tight with several little ones running around, but I'm in the camp of, if you don't need it, leave it for someone who does.
This.
This is how I feel about it. I'm not trying to deny that there are people, civilian and military, that need help feeding themselves and their children. I am happy that there are programs out there to help these people.
HOWEVER, I still feel it is your responsibility when you decide to have children to be able to provide for them. Does stuff happen? Sure. People lose jobs. There are health emergencies. But, if you just want WIC so it frees up another $100 (or whatever it is worth) per month to keep getting your nails done, then I think it's wrong.
It says that their food and housing allowances aren't included in the numbers they're applying for WIC with.
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Not reporting ALL of your income qualifies as lying to me. To me that's like saying I'm going to just submit my husband's pay stub and not mine too.
FWIW, there also has to be a nutritional need in addition to the financial need. This criteria is usually very easily met (too much juice, too few vegetables) but WIC is not 100% based on income.
Are they supposed to be? What do the WIC regulations say? As long as it's a legitimate reporting of the income and is allowed under WIC guidelines, I still don't have a problem with it.
But then I'm also ok with poor people having skittles sometimes.
This is probably a good example of why public assistance programs get a bad rap...they are there to help when you have a need, not to help you live a better lifestyle. Just my opinion.
I agree. Just like any other career, they don't make a load starting out, but I know plenty of military families who do pretty well for themselves.
One of my biggest issues aside from not disclosing the full income is that so many of the families are single income. If you can't afford to feed your kid, GET A JOB. If you want to be a SAHM, your H needs to get a part time job.
And FFS, if you can't afford to feed one kid with the MINIMUM $20K (that's if you're an E-1) you get AFTER your housing and food are paid for, then stop procreating and get some free condoms at Public Health and free birth control at the clinic.
I can support it in some situations. Random case of triplets? Sure. A kid with special needs who can't drink the basic Enfamil? Sure. If you had a well-paying job then found yourself in Korea and unable to get a job? Okay. Because you want to be a SAHM and refuse to work to support your children? Nope.
Correct - the BAS (basic allowance for subsistance) and BAH (basic allowance for housing), plus any other special pays (ie: jump pay, family separation pay, danger pay, hardship duty pay) are not included in the number given for WIC applications.
Which means that a military family could have anywhere from $800 or $900 up to $2k (or more - many of these pays depend on current assignment, current zip code, deployment status, etc) in extra additional income that is not considered in their WIC application.
If you are curious, I can look up links that will let you look up the various BAH and BAS allowances. BAS is fairly constant, but BAH varies a _lot_ based on zip code. I've seen everything from around $750 up to $3k for DH's rank, depending on location. The #'s are all in the public domain, as are the rank-based pay tables.
I think there are some military families that do really need WIC. However, I also think that the bar is set at a different level for military families because of how the pay is calculated, and I would be willing to say that there are probably folks who qualify that don't really need it.
All of that being said, I haven't ever noticed someone using WIC when I have shopped at the commissary (grocery store) on base. Either they're really fast at processing it, however it is done, or it's not as common as some people think it is.
An E-1 makes over $20k/yr. Their housing, utilities, food, and medical are all 100% provided. A troop is only an E-1 for approximately 6 months before they get promoted. That $20k basically needs to pay for transportation and a phone. If they choose to make babies and take on a wife, that's on them, but the pay is considering that the person likely has zero job experience and no education past high school.
This is why people shouldn't be out accumulating dependents in their first enlistments.
MrsOjo,
You have some very strong opinions about how people should live their lives. I'm very glad you aren't in charge of mine (even though I do work and only have one child).
I will _always_ be the trailing spouse, and my career doesn't get found in army towns. As soon as I can no longer work the job I have (ie: have children), my career is done. I can't work on base. I can't work for base contractors. There is nothing else in town that I qualify for that pays more than minimum wage, which won't pay for daycare for one kid, much less more than one. I'd _love_ to be gainfully employed in the local freaking job market, but it isn't happening. I've tried. And tried again. And been smacked down every time I've tried.
I could qualify for another line of work, sure. I'm looking in to that option. But, when we do have children, we won't be a single-earner household because I just want to stay at home, we'll be single-earner because there isn't another bloody choice.
The WIC regulations exclude the allowances. These people aren't lying about income to get the benefits.
To give you an idea, in AZ the WIC income guidelines say that for a family of 3 the maximum income cutoff would be $2,823.
The very botton rank with no time in at all makes $1,447 base pay per month so they are obviously under this limit. However, the first four ranks of Air Force are given $1,197 for housing and $324 for food.
I think that a two person + baby family in my LCOL area should be able to swing buying formula on $2,968 a month. And the women that were bragging about using this service had husbands that were ranked much higher than this example.
This is one thing about the nest that so bothers me, people commenting on things they don't know anything about. All military personnel get a LES (leave and earning statement) every month. There are tons of different type of income categorized out (BAH, BAS, Flight pay, hazard pay etc.). My husband is in the Army and his LES is a whole page of numbers and acronyms. WIC only looks at the base pay, which in most cases is only half (sometimes even less than half) of the amount of money they're actually getting paid. It's not illegal, it's just the way it's done.
This is a direct C&P from the CA WIC website:
Please refer to the "Who Qualifies" page to view our current Income Guidelines. The USDA requires WIC to assess certain Pays and Allowances, in addition to Basic Pay, when calculating income. For example, WIC does not include BAH and FSH, but does include BAS and FSA. Additional Pays and Allowances may be included in income calculations. Please contact your WIC office for more specific information about our income guidelines.
So, BAH and FSH (not sure what this is) are NOT included, but BAS (basic allowance for sustaniance - food allowance) and FSA (family seperate allowance) ARE counted. Get your facts straight people.
So you're questioning whether someone should use a program for which they legally qualify? It is not up to the individual (or to us) to decide these income thresholds or what income should be counted. If you don't like the current system, write to Congress. I have no problem with people using a benefit for which they legally qualify.