Everyone will tell you that you will make more money in the civilian world, but how true is that? Here, I am going to perform a case study on my own life to see how military money works in practice (please wait like 8-20 years for the paper to be published ... or started).

There are dozen(s) of financial perks the military can offer. The exact amounts you earn will almost certainly vary. The various factors that go into these figures include med school, geographic location, tax rates, year, time-in-service, number of dependents, spending habits, etc.

The first section, below, covers the benefits that I have received. Below that, you will find other valuable benefits I simply have not reached, yet!

Signing Bonus

Starting out with the basics. This is the first funding you received when you joined the Army!

Military funding: $20,000

Medical School

I did go to a rather expensive school, so this scholarship was a bit more worthwhile for me than the average bear. When pondering this money, keep in mind that if I were to take out loans for this full amount at 4% interest, and were to pay it back over 20 years, I would end up paying $383,949 in total.

Military funding: $264,000

Textbooks

As long as they are required, the Army shall pay!

Military funding: $1100

Medical Supplies

Stethoscope, ophthalmoscope/otoscope, vision card, etc. As long as they are required, the Army shall pay!

Military funding: $750

Medical School Stipend

For 10.5 months per year, for four glorious years. This amount has increased along with inflation over the the four years.

Military funding: $97,860

Board Exam Reimbursement

They cover Step 1/COMLEX 1, Step 2/COMLEX 2, Step 2 CS/COMLEX 2 PE.

Military funding: $2,545

Active Duty Pay (during medical school)

For the other 1.5 months per year, I was paid as an active duty second lieutenant. During this time, I was also given money for food, flight out to the training, rental car, and hotel for the length of the training. I will only include the salary and subsistence in my final figure, but below, you will see the cost of hotel and rental car as well.

Hotel and rental car cost (not included in the figure immediately below, or in the final summary): $20,465

Salary + Subsistence allowance: $19,724

Moving costs (including car shipping)

How often does a residency program pay for your move? The Army paid for movers to pack up all of my belongings and to bring them to my new housing. I don't have the exact figures for this one, so I will use estimates I found online.

Military funding: $8000

PCS costs/pay

It is not often that a job will cover your early expenses when you first move to the site! The Army will pay these costs each time you PCS. These include: TLE, TLA, and DLA. There are several scenarios in which this may play out, but generally speaking, the Army will pay for you to live in a hotel and provide a daily food allowance until you either move into your new home, or once your belongings arrive, whichever comes second.

So far, I've only PCS'd once, but I will update as I progress.

TLE: N/A

TLA: $1957

DLA: $3402

Military funding: $5359

Resident Salary

In the military, you will almost definitely be paid higher than the civilian resident in the same specialty at a hospital a mile down the road. Disclaimer: I am spending my first year of residency in Hawaii, so this number will certainly be higher than average. See this page for a more precise total and breakdown.

Basic pay: $4,251.60 per month

Intern pay: $100.00 per month

Resident pay: $666.66 per month

Health Insurance

Yeah, yeah, I know you are young and are going to live forever and you're a doctor so you can manage all health-related concerns on your own, but take a second and consider the cost of healthcare. Every single aspect of health insurance is covered through Tricare. That includes premiums, deductibles, co-pays, meds, tests, glasses, etc. ALSO, the military does cover some more elective/cosmetic medical expenses. For instance, I had PRK (laser corrective eye surgery) during residency at my hospital. This normally costs anywhere from $2000-5000 PER EYE. I now have amazing vision entirely covered by Tricare. And if you didn't already know, you also get Tricare for all of your dependents. If you have a spouse and kids, the multiplier of value is insane. Have you seen the average cost of having a baby in the civilian world???

National average healthcare premium: ~$400-500 for a single individual (~$1000 per family) per month.

Deductibles + co-pays: Thousands and thousands.

Tax Benefits

As mentioned on the Resident/Attending Finances page, while you will be paid better than pretty much any other resident in the country, you will be taxed about the same, if not lower than them! Only roughly 55% of your total take-home pay is taxable.

Various Allowances

Much of your pay in the military comes in the form of allowances - funding given to support you that is reflective of your circumstances (number of dependents, location of station, etc).

Basic Allowance for Housing (1 dependent): $3,582.00 per month

Basic Allowance for Subsistence: $254.39 per month

Overseas Cost of Living Allowance (COLA): $541.42 per month

TSP Matching

It is not uncommon for an employer to match an employee's retirement fund contributions, and here is the Army's swing at it! See the Blended Retirement System page for more.

5% match of base pay towards TSP contribution per month

As an O-3 with <2 years of active duty experience: $215 per month

Various Military Discounts

This one is very tricky. Throughout your time in the military, you will receive military discounts from various retailers. Since I am not quite mad enough to record each time I got 10% off at Lowes hardware, $2 off my movie ticket, or 5% off at the bike shop, I will have to guess. The largest regular savings I receive is $40 off my Verizon bill each month, which adds up fast.

Est. Annual Savings: $700

Tax-Free Shopping at the Exchange and Commissaries

Another difficult item to calculate. I have spent thousands of dollars at commissaries and exchanges. Aside from the tax savings, I have found that prices on things tended to be lower than at other nearby retailers. At the very least, the ability to shop at such a store adds an option when one is shopping around for a good deal. For example, last Black Friday, I got a Garmin watch for $100 less at the Exchange website than was listed anywhere else on the internet.

There is also the fact that an Exchange will price-match just about any website (including Amazon). If you combine that with the tax-free status, you can save hundreds of dollars the next time you purchase a new TV. Personal example: this past black Friday, I bought a TV. The Exchange was selling it for $2100. BestBuy had it for $2000. The exchange also gave me a coupon for 5% off of anything. They price-matched BestBuy AND gave me 5% off. I left paying exactly $1900 for a TV that would have cost me $2100 from the Exchange (no tax) or $2120 from BestBuy with tax.

Est. Annual Savings: $1000

No Annual Fee on American Express or Chase

Amex and Chase are nice enough to waive the annual fee on any of their credit cards for active military members. This one gets a bit more complex due to the fact that because there is no fee, I was inclined to get a fancier card that provides me with more benefits such as a higher percent cash back on more categories, rental car collision coverage, etc. With the added benefits (travel credits, dining credits, etc) not even counting the sign-up bonuses, or the points I receive from purchases, I receive THOUSANDS of dollars of value from these credit cards per year. This comes in the form of free hotel night stays, free flights, Uber eats credits, grocery savings, and much more.

This also applies to your spouse! Yes, both you and your married partner receive these benefits and may collect all of the fancy credit cards at no cost!

Annual fee savings: $2895

Annual benefits (estimated): $3000-4000

*Please be responsible with credit card usage. While I now have several credit cards that I would have never applied for due to the annual fees, I NEVER let the fact that I have a high credit limit impact the type or quantity of purchases I make. This benefit is to improve your financial health, not trap you in credit card debt. I pay off every credit card every month and have not paid a cent in credit card fees.

Other Benefits

The fun doesn't stop, here! There are numerous benefits that I simply have not had the experience to encounter. These include:

Retirement

This is single-handedly the best financial benefit of military service. 20 years of service for a guaranteed income for the rest of your life. If you are a traditional medical student and graduate med school around age 26, you can retire from the Army at 46 and have the freedom to do whatever you want! You can get a civilian job, work part-time, or watch paint dry - the best part is you get to choose!

Based on the 2021 pay chart, and the estimation that you would be an O-6 for 2 years at the time of retirement, and that you left the service at exactly 20 years (46 years old), you would receive about $49,000 per year for the rest of your life (adjusted for inflation to boot!). Stick around until you're 48 and take home a little over $60,000. Make it to 50 and you'll take home over $72,000!!! Obviously, it all depends on your life expectancy and time in service, but if you make it to retirement you can expect to take home somewhere between 2 and 3 million dollars after you leave the service.

Retirement income (lifetime): $2,000,000 - $3,000,000 (inflation adjusted)

GI Bill

This is a big one. After a small amount of service - see the eligibility page for details, you are eligible for the Post-911 GI Bill benefits. These include 36 months of tuition payments, as well as room and board for higher education! There are various small stipulations and limitations, but it is an incredibly valuable benefit nonetheless.

If you are on this website, you likely have little need for further higher education benefits. However, if you serve on active duty for 6 years and agree to serve for 4 more (concurrently with any other obligation) you are able to TRANSFER your benefits to one or more of your dependents. This is a HUGE benefit - this is FREE COLLEGE for one of your children, or a reduced rate for several of them. See the rules and restrictions page for more.

Military funding: 36 months of tuition + stipend

On the Job Training

While it may not seem like it sometimes, you will receive a spectacular amount of valuable training outside of your standard residency education. Professional development, leadership, and character-building are all an inherent part of your military service. Future employers will assume a you have certain degree of aptitude and discipline just from reading a few lines on your resume. I'm not guaranteeing you a job, but it will certainly help having a foot in the door.

VA Loan

This will vary tremendously based on what you do with it. The major benefit of this loan compared to a first-time homebuyer loan, a physician loan, or any other kind of loan is that you can buy a house with a $0 down-payment. Would I recommend you do this? No. But it is nice to be able to choose the amount of down-payment you make on your house.

Deployment pay

While deployed, one will receive several additional funding streams, see here.

Child Care

The military will often provide low-cost child care to dependents.

Spouse career resources

The Army will help your civilian spouse in finding a new job when you relocate. The value of this benefit is what you make of it.