February 19, 2025 • 55 mins
Welcome to the "Militarily Speaking" podcast with Tom McLean and Jodi Vickery.
In this episode of “Militarily Speaking,” Tom and Jodi sit down with retired Major General Steven J. Lepper to discuss his impressive military career, his role as AMBA CEO, and his dedication to financial literacy and support for veterans. Steve shares his insights on the Veterans Benefits Banking Program, advice on financial planning for military families, and his continued efforts to support military communities.
“Militarily Speaking” is a podcast produced by Armed Forces Bank that is dedicated to the military lifestyle and all the things that makes the military community who they are.
Ep. 73 – Financial Strategies for Active Duty and Veterans from Ret'd Maj Gen Steven J. Lepper
Maj Gen Lepper's accomplishments are vast and varied. After 35 years in the Air Force as a judge advocate, culminating as the deputy judge advocate general, Steven Lepper transitioned to a role as CEO of the Association of Military Banks of America (AMBA). In this episode, Lepper reflects on his career and the significant milestones that defined his path.
Born into an Air Force family, Maj Gen Lepper and his brother followed in their father's footsteps, each carving out impressive careers in service to their country. This deep-seated family tradition was rooted in military life, offering Steven a broad perspective and inspiring his daughters, with the eldest pursuing her own military career.
The Importance of Financial Legacy and Planning
Based on his early education at the Air Force Academy, Steven stressed the need for a solid savings strategy and an understanding of investments. He encouraged young service members to save diligently and make smart financial decisions, underscoring the importance of the Thrift Savings Plan and the benefits of military service.
Throughout the discussion, Steven highlighted the necessity of estate planning, advising service members to secure a will and trust to safeguard their families' futures. His advice provides invaluable insights for both active service members and veterans alike.
Veterans Benefits Banking Program: Providing Essential Support
One of Steven’s proudest achievements during his tenure at AMBA was the establishment of the Veterans Benefits Banking Program (VBBP). This program is a testament to his commitment to enhancing the financial well-being of veterans. By addressing the challenges faced by veterans without bank accounts, the VBBP offers vital financial services and counseling, reducing the reliance on costly paper checks or prepaid cards.
This initiative demonstrates his proactive approach to helping veterans access secure banking solutions, ultimately fostering financial stability and reducing susceptibility to fraud.
Fraud Prevention: Protecting Vulnerable Populations
In discussing the prevalent issue of fraud, Steven provided practical advice to protect against scams, emphasizing the importance of vigilance and daily monitoring of financial accounts. His personal experiences with fraud in AMBA accounts illustrate the necessity of awareness and prompt action when unauthorized transactions occur.
Military Minute
Jodi introduce
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom (00:00):
Militarily speaking, episode 73, Steve Lepper.
Jodi (00:05):
This episode, we talk with retired Major General Steve Lepper.
Tom (00:21):
Welcome to Militarily Speaking, brought to you by Armed Forces Bank.
This is Tom McLean.
Who's fortunate to be here today, celebrating with you,Jody, post Veterans Day and Steve Lepper and Jody Vickery.
I'm the military retail exec for Armed Forces Bankand Jody has the illustrious title of executive vice president, director of consumer banking.
(00:41):
That's a. That's almost as long of a titleas Steve Leper in his military career.
Jodi (00:46):
I don't know.
I think he's done more than I have.
How
Tom (00:49):
he, he wins.
He earned his
Jodi (00:50):
title.
Tom (00:50):
He wins by that much.
Yes, he wins by a lot.
Hashtag
Jodi (00:53):
yes.
Again, welcome to our show.
We're excited to have you listening andlearning about our guest, Steve Leper.
I do wanna take a, a a minute hereand I almost said a few minutes.
It might take a few minutes.
It might take 'cause he's very accomplished.
He might even even
Tom (01:03):
add some more to it.
Jodi (01:04):
I would, we wanna tell our audience a little bit about you, Steve, so all, all, not new information to you, but it might be to our audience today, Steve Leper.
which during the Association of Military Banks of Americaor AMBA, which we'll refer to it as throughout the podcast, President and chief executive officer in 2015, after serving for one year as the acting director and deputy director of
(01:24):
the American Bar Associations rule of law initiative, and for35 years as an airforce judge, advocate, culminating in his service as deputy judge supporter general of the air force.
Already in the first sentence, he's donemore than you and I combined professionally.
A retired Air Force Major General, Steve spentmost of his career as a legal advisor and counselor to senior U. S. government and military leaders and serving in leadership roles himself.
(01:49):
As AMBA CEO, Steve was responsible for the day today management of AMBA, an organization founded in 1959 to partner with the Department of Defense for the benefit of military members and their dependents.
AMBA's membership includes large and small Nationaland state chartered banks, most operating on military installations and all insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the FDIC.
(02:12):
Steve retired from AMBA at the end of August.
Happy retirement.
I bet you're pretty busy.
We're going to find out that retirement is just a word.
It's just a facade.
He's still working hard.
Steve is a distinguished graduate of the United StatesAir Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and operations research.
(02:32):
He also holds a Master of Public Administrationdegree from Golden Gate University, a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University, and a Master of Laws.
International and Comparative Lawdegree from Georgetown University.
He's a distinguished graduate of the National WarCollege, National Defense University, where he earned a Master of National Security Strategy degree.
Can we pause for a second?
(02:52):
Because now I know what's hanging on his wall behind.
I know,
Tom (02:55):
but when I When I have going to need a bigger wall, my resume, my bio says like Denison University accomplished.
I finished the college market.
I always told Stevie has more degreesthan a thermometer, but he really does.
Yes.
And it's a big thermometer.
That's like 19 universities and schools that he's attended.
Jodi (03:11):
I know.
Very impressive.
Very.
I think I might need you to tutor my kids inmath and physics, if you know both of them.
Well, actually just one who shall remain nameless.
They shall remain nameless.
Steve is an active member of the North Carolina barand is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme court, the North Carolina Supreme court and the U S court of appeals for the armed forces.
(03:32):
His military awards and decorations include twoair force distinguished service medals, the defense superior service medal, and three legions of merit.
Steve also served as a director or trustee of the Armed ForcesFinancial Network or AFN, Arnold Air Society Silver Wings, American College of National Security Leaders, U. S. Space
Force Historical Foundation, Airlift Tanker Association,and the Air Force Judge Advocate General Schools Foundation.
(03:57):
Here's the part that you probably would say is super important.
It may be the most important.
He and his wife, Kathy, have two daughters andfive grandchildren, and they, they live now in his, we'll say, quote unquote, retired mode.
I'm anxious to hear what retired modeis like in Merritt Island, Florida.
Do you know
Tom (04:12):
what Steve does every morning?
Not every morning.
Jodi (04:14):
Probably a lot more than we do all day.
Tom (04:16):
He, he hangs out and looks at, watches the rocket launches.
Jodi (04:20):
Really?
Are you close enough to see that?
Tom (04:23):
Kennedy Space
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:23):
Center is literally on the other side.
I know, he's like pointing.
You can't see him,
Jodi (04:27):
audience, but he's literally pointing out his window.
He
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:29):
has to vacate
Tom (04:30):
his residence when the launches occur.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:32):
We had two
Tom (04:33):
launches
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:33):
yesterday.
Wow.
Two, two SpaceX Falcon 9 launches yesterday.
Do you have footage?
I do not.
I'm, I see them.
On average, at least once a week.
Jodi (04:45):
I didn't realize they launched that many that frequently.
I'd be totally distracted.
We
Tom (04:49):
only know what we know when they show them on TV and it's so infrequent that it's like a daily occurrence down there.
Right.
That's pretty cool.
Or at least weekly.
I
Jodi (04:57):
wouldn't get much done.
I'd be looking out my window all day.
But welcome, Steve.
It is an honor to have you on our show.
Thank you for being here with us.
I'd love to give you a chance to start to share alittle bit about your background with our audience.
I mean, I read your bio, of course, but I'd love tohear you in your words, tell our audience about your military career, what made you join the military and then kind of fast forward to where you are today.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:19):
Okay.
Well, first of all, thanks for giving me theopportunity to be on your podcast episode 73.
That's it's a month long.
By
Tom (05:27):
the way, that's 7.
3 times longer.
I'm going to give a little bit of break becausenormally it's 7 to 10 episodes and then.
Okay.
Podcasts collapse after that.
So many
Jodi (05:38):
three times longer than everybody thought we would.
Tom (05:42):
I guess
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:42):
the coffee is kicking in.
I'm holding it close.
I hope there's a 74th after this one.
You will carry us
Tom (05:51):
there.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:52):
Well, again, thanks for letting me be here today.
My, you know, thank you for reading my bio.
My, my life started as a military brat.
I was born into an air force family.
My dad.
Was an Air Force NCO who served for 28 years, and I wasborn in England when he and my mom were stationed there.
I have one brother who was born three yearsafter I was when my family was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska.
(06:21):
My brother and I were both inspired by my dad's service,which took us all over the world as we were growing up.
And we both decided that we, wewanted an Air Force career ourselves.
So I went to the Air Force Academy first.
He joined me when I was a junior.
So we overlapped for two years.
I'm a 1979 graduate.
(06:42):
He's a 1981 graduate.
And that's where our careers diverged.
He He always wanted to be a pilot, and we both watchedairplanes take off and land at the bases where we were assigned, and he became a pilot, flew F 16s.
I decided to take another route after having beeninspired by the law faculty at the Air Force Academy.
(07:04):
I decided to pursue law, so the Air Forcewas kind enough to send me to law school.
And I served as a judge advocate for 35 years.
I guess I inspired my daughters aswe dragged them around the world.
My oldest is currently serving asan active duty air force officer.
She and her husband and our two granddaughtersare stationed at Aviano air base in Italy.
(07:27):
And my younger daughter who went to the same college as my wife.
Colorado State University decided to sinkroots in Colorado and she and her husband and our three grandsons live in the Denver area.
So 35 years after I first raised myright hand, I retired from the Air Force.
(07:48):
And as you know, I spent almost the last 10 yearsat the Association of Military Banks of America.
Working with great people like you, whosebanks serve military and veteran communities.
And I want to thank you for that service.
Excellent.
Jodi (08:04):
I think that's pretty cool that you and your brother were at the Academy at the same time.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (08:08):
We were.
And as a matter of fact, I was inspired to goto the Academy because of materials that he.
collection, both one of which wasa little book called Wild Blue.
You that he had on his desk stole one day and readthrough and that's what inspired me to go to the academy 26 years after my brother graduated from the academy.
(08:31):
He retired.
And I had that book, my household goodsthat I'd been dragging around the world.
And so at his retirement ceremony in Colorado Springs at NORADNORTHCOM headquarters, I was a brigadier general at the time.
He was a colonel when he retired.
I, In my remarks at his retirement ceremony, Ibrought out that book and gave it back to him.
(08:56):
That's awesome.
Jodi (08:58):
That book's got a lot of miles on it, I bet.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (09:00):
It does.
Most well
Jodi (09:02):
traveled book ever.
Tom (09:04):
He put creases in the pages and footnotes and stuff like that.
Highlighted certain things.
So I've known you for a while, Steve.
A little bit longer than I've known Jody.
Jodi (09:15):
So we should apologize to you, Steve, is what that statement.
You
Tom (09:18):
know what?
We should allow our listeners to hear you sing, right?
Oh, no.
You don't want it's too early for that.
It's way too early.
I'll tell you,
Jodi (09:29):
come back this afternoon.
I'll tell you when
Tom (09:31):
he, when we kick off our AMBA conference, our fall workshops, and he starts it with the national anthem.
Yeah, good.
Gives you chills.
That's awesome.
And then people freak out, right, andthe audience are like, who is that?
It was kind of like, kind of like the guy inLove Actually when he's with Hugh Grant, right?
At the door.
Are you with me, Steve?
Yes.
And then all of a sudden his guardstarts singing in this baritone.
(09:55):
Yeah.
Am I digressing?
You are.
Because I have to go back to movies.
You are.
Well, it's more like Gomer Pyle, remember?
Oh,
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (10:02):
I tended the deep voice like that, yeah.
Nobody expects it when you're looking at Gomer Pyle and then hestarts in with his, uh, singing and it just blows people away.
You, uh, yeah, you're a great
Tom (10:14):
orator.
Is it orator?
Order.
Jodi (10:17):
It's like pecan or pecan.
Tom (10:19):
Neither.
Jodi (10:20):
Both are probably tomato.
Tomato.
All right.
I won't judge you.
I will judge you, but not out loud.
Tom (10:26):
Collaborator, facilitator, leader, above all.
You know, you talked a little bit about your family,Steve, but I, I know how important family is.
Jody knows that as well, growing up in the military life.
And so we'll, before we go on to other topicsthat you want, we want to discuss today.
The meaning and importance of family, you're surroundedby really good family members because I've known Kathy to your wife for a few years and she, I don't know, the
(10:51):
cloth is pretty awesome within the leper household andtalk about that importance of family and being that the lineage kept going through to your, to your daughter.
Just talk about the importance of family for us.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (11:04):
Well, those of those among our listeners who are military and have, who have families.
understand how important family is.
I mean, family is really the, the rockon which you build a military career.
And when you travel around the world, as much as most militaryfamilies and as much as we did, uh, you know, my mom and dad and brother and I, we became a very, very solid nuclear family.
(11:31):
Somewhat detached from our grandparents becausewe only got to see them as we traveled from location to location and stopped off to visit.
But the same is true of my family.
My wife and I, my two daughters, we became a verystrong nuclear family as we traveled around the world.
We, we tried to see my kids grandparents more often than Iwas able to see mine, but, but we became very close and now.
(11:56):
They, I think have instilled that same spirit andimportance in, in family and in their own families with their husbands and their, their children.
But, you know, Kathy and I were, were married 45 years agowhen I graduated the day I graduated from the Air Force Academy, as a matter of fact, I was sworn in as an active duty officer at 12 or one midnight on the 30th of May, 1979.
(12:20):
Graduated at one o'clock in theafternoon and got married at 6 PM.
That's a heck of
Jodi (12:26):
a day.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (12:28):
What'd you do today?
My military has lasted longer than my Air Force career.
Fortunately, it was, it was more resilient.
And our two daughters, Jennifer andHelen, we dragged them around the world.
They lived in Europe.
They, my younger daughter, by, by thetime we were assigned to Asia Pacific.
My older daughter had already gone off to the Air Force Academy.
(12:51):
So we dragged them around the world.
And, and I think that gave them a much broaderperspective on the, the, the diversity that exists in our world and the need to need to embrace it.
So they, you know, like I said, my older daughter continuedour, our tradition and our family of military service.
(13:12):
And she just crossed the 20 year point herself.
So.
Yeah, but family is the most important thing,at least in my view, and just trying to continue continue that with, with our, with our
Tom (13:26):
grandchildren now.
I was going to say with five grandchildren,there's a high likelihood that that will continue.
I come from a lineage of Episcopal priests, andthere were three generations of Episcopal priests.
My brother carried the torch of Bill McClain IV.
Kids get to, get to enter that fray.
So he still has time.
Jodi (13:47):
I suppose.
So I want to, I want to come back to the advice you might give.
So your, your military career stands on its own.
What advice, you know, if somebody, a young person wasthinking about embarking on a career in the military, whether it was just maybe one tour of service or a lifetime
career like you and your family have served, what advicewould you give them as they think about that decision?
(14:10):
Because it's a big choice.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (14:12):
Well, thanks for that question, because it's an important one.
You know, all the services are facingrecruiting challenges right now.
And it's hard to, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why our youngpeople don't consider the military place that they'd like to at least start their careers, start their working lives.
But I would encourage young people who are thinkingabout joining the military and the Air Force in particular, because that's where I spent my career.
(14:40):
That it's a, it's a great opportunityto learn about who you are.
You know, basic training is not easy.
Uh, most people learn what their capacity for lots of thingsis when they go through basic training and they look back on that experience very proudly having successfully completed it.
(15:01):
And then, you know, an Air Force career.
Whether it lasts an initial four yearcommitment or 35 years like mine, it's filled with opportunities for growth, for education.
Most young enlisted personnel will emergeafter four years with a significant number of credits that they can use for college education.
(15:25):
Most young enlisted.
Airmen will sign up for the Community College of the Air Force,and they'll get credit for all of the technical training they receive to qualify them for the jobs they do in the military.
You know, our country needs young people to join and to serve.
And so, you know, I think it all is part and parcelof love of country to consider serving in uniform.
Jodi (15:50):
Yeah, and I think that that last part is certainly spot on for sure.
Tom (15:54):
We're going to shift gears a little bit to the, we talked about before the podcast started getting recorded, but Veterans Benefits Banking Program, VBBP.
We always struggle with that acronym.
Can you say
Jodi (16:05):
that three times real fast?
Tom (16:06):
No.
Can you say unique New York five times real fast?
Try it.
Now that was
Jodi (16:11):
random now, so.
I will after another cup of coffee.
Tom (16:15):
So VBBP.
So talk about that program.
And I guess I'm going to segue a little bit too, becausewe've talked about Veteran Saves Week that starts this week.
This podcast will get published after the fact,but just know that in 2025 and beyond, when Veteran Saves Week is there, where we offer incentives to encourage people behaviorally to save for something.
(16:36):
I also want to say we had Bonnie Wallace lastweek on a podcast, Steve, Wells Fargo Foundation.
She talked about VetSense, and we won't.
We won't get into that as much, but let's talk about howthe Veterans Benefits Banking Program and even how that has helped families and how it's helped military, how it's helped veterans, how it's, whether it's been a cost
saving initiative or an access to money initiative, orjust a priority for AMBA when you were there too, because you helped really kick that off and get it off the ground.
(17:05):
And, and making it available forfamilies is a great story to tell.
So talk about that in a, you don't get,you get 33 seconds to talk about that.
But yeah, let me try
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (17:17):
to do justice because I, I consider the Veterans Benefits Banking Program to be my proudest legacy.
Agreed.
It's awesome.
In the years at AMBA.
One thing that I didn't mention when I talked aboutjoining the military is the fact that military service also includes some good pay and benefits.
And, uh, when you leave the military, we justcelebrated Veterans, yes, Veterans Day yesterday.
(17:40):
By definition, when you, when you serve, you are a veteran.
And so, there are also benefits that veterans have,depending upon how they serve, when they served, how long they served, and the conditions under which they separated.
If they had any kind of disability.
They can receive medical care for thatdisability and or payment for disabilities.
(18:04):
But one of the things, well, in 19, I'll just goback and just give you a little history of BP.
In 2019, the VA department of veteransaffairs reached out to me on a cold call.
I was at work in Washington, DC, in our office, and I got a.
call on my, on my mobile phone from someone I didn't know,rather than following my wife's advice, not don't pick up.
(18:28):
I actually did.
And at the end of the line was a gentleman named Joe Gurney,who at that time was a special assistant to the undersecretary for benefits at the VA. And, and the problem he described and that he would like, that he asked me to help him solve was that
over 250, 000 veterans were receiving monetary benefits fromthe VA in the form of a paper check or on prepaid debit cards issued through the Treasury's direct express debit card program.
(19:00):
And in either of those two situations,whether on the direct express card or the, or a paper check, veterans were encountering.
significant costs to cash checks orto visit ATMs and withdraw money.
And they were also experiencinghigh incidents of fraud and theft.
(19:21):
Many of the veterans who received their money that inthose two ways were getting all their money up front.
And they were walking around with wands of cash in their pocket,susceptible to being robbed, susceptible to losing the money.
And so what Joe wanted to do was to encourage thoseveterans to sign up for the direct deposit program.
(19:46):
Now, your military listeners will know that military payis required to be directly deposited into a bank account.
And that actually was a policy that was implemented in themid 1980s when I was serving under a program called Sure Pay.
(20:06):
Where previous to that, we were receivingmoney either at the cashier's cage or by check.
It became mandatory in the mid 1980sfor military pay to be direct deposited.
The VA was reluctant or couldn't makethat a requirement for VA benefits.
And so what Joe and I decided to do was to establish an, a, anonline What we call the financial institution marketplace that veterans could go to and they could choose from among a list of banks and credit unions that were participating in the program.
(20:42):
And in order to participate in the program, a bank orcredit union had to simply make two commitments to us.
There were no costs involved.
They simply had to agree to provide a freeno minimum of balance checking account to any veteran who brought their VA benefits to the bank.
And more importantly, at least in my view, they had toagree to help any veteran who found it difficult to open up a bank account to overcome whatever obstacles existed.
(21:14):
So, as an example, you need a physical addressin order to open a bank account in this country.
Well, we have a significant number of homeless veteransout there who are receiving checks from the VA. In order to open an account, you need a physical address, and in most cases, homeless veterans don't have one.
And so what we were able to do was to get the FDIC,the OCC, and the Federal Reserve to agree to allow a VA address to be used as a physical address.
(21:44):
So now our program, as a result of the commitmentsthat our banks and credit unions have made to join us, we've been able to bank over 350, 000 veterans in the four plus years that our program has been operating.
And so it's probably higher than that now.
That was the number when I retired back in August.
(22:06):
We had over a hundred banks and credit unions.
As members of the Veterans Benefits Banking Program, andas we, as we implemented the program, and we, we started getting more and more experience with the unique financial challenges that veterans face, we were able to take care of
(22:27):
some of those challenges as well by We were Adding to ourVBBP program, financial and credit counseling, which is free for, for veterans who need help dealing with money issues.
And so a veteran who needs that help can, can reach out to theVBBP and, and get a financial counselor or a credit counselor.
(22:49):
Thanks to Bonnie Wallace and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
We are able to pay for up to three hours ofcounseling for our veterans with either a credit counselor or a financial counselor.
And we've also, through the Vetsense program, which you talkedabout, which Bonnie I'm sure spoke about, are able to provide financial education to veterans, online financial education.
(23:15):
So, so those are the three pillars of VBBP, the financialinstitution marketplace where veterans can open an account.
Financial and credit counseling and financial
Tom (23:26):
education.
And, you know, we've got a lot, we have, we have somebankers that might listen to this podcast, right?
And I think the exciting news, those that are enviousof us because we have a great podcast, right, Jodi?
Sure.
But also from the Community Reinvestment Act, right, from CRA,credit for VBBP, that He says it a lot more I know it's fluid.
(23:47):
I kind of do it a little bit chunky.
Yeah, but, but yeah, to get credit for that offeringthat product and that that's good news on the horizon when it comes to the OCC and CRA requirements.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (23:57):
We, we have talked to the FDIC and the OCC about our program.
They're, they're well aware of the VVDP.
They referenced the VEBP in the commentaryto the most recent set of CRA regulations.
And so we're confident that if banks that are members of theVEBP demonstrate to their examiners that, that this program helps them serve their military and veteran communities more effectively, that their examiner will give them credit.
Jodi (24:27):
Good tidbit for our bankers in the audience.
I know.
I appreciate hearing the history behind it.
We've talked about it more present day and Yeah.
our current participation in it, but I appreciatekind of the backstory on how it came to be.
I know Tom and I both have opinions about the nextquestion, and they, they're probably generally aligned, but why, why is it so important for banks or credit unions to step up and serve military families?
(24:50):
What's, what's unique about thatmilitary family unit or a veteran family?
That causes banks to need to step up in unique waysto provide them beyond, beyond the Veterans Benefits Banking Program, even provide them financial services.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (25:06):
Well, I think it's important from my perspective as a retired military officer and as a veteran, because bank or military families need banks.
You know, back when I was serving, we didn't havethese devices, which have become extensions of banks for military members who serve all over the world.
(25:30):
So you know, today, military members and their familiescan actually bank on their, their phone or on their computer while being stationed halfway across the world.
Now, it wasn't that way when I was serving.
And so the banks that we used when we were overseas.
were the ones that were provided on DOD installationsthrough the Overseas Military Banking Program.
(25:54):
Today, the Overseas Military Banking Program is far lessneeded by military members who serve overseas because military members and their families can continue to serve or continue
to bank with their hometown banks, banks that they may haveset up accounts with before they even joined the military.
(26:18):
And so it's important for banks to understand.
Jodi (26:26):
As a military spouse, I understand how unpredictable life can be.
Whether it's a PCS move or justeveryday expenses, money can be tight.
That's why it's so important to havea checking account that works for you.
Tom (26:36):
Armed Forces Bank offers our Access Freedom checking accounts designed with military families in mind.
If you're looking for no monthly fees, earlymilitary pay, and no fee access to over 38, 000 ATMs nationwide, We've got you covered.
Plus, with our user friendly mobile app, managing yourmoney is a breeze, no matter where you're stationed.
Jodi (26:58):
And with about 75 percent of our team affiliated with the military, Armed Forces Bank really understands the challenges faced by the military and their families.
We've been supporting military families for over 100 years.
So you know, we'll always have your back.
Tom (27:11):
If you're ready for a checking account that's as flexible as you are, head over to af bank.com or visit a branch near you.
Armed Forces Bank, serving those who serve member FDIC $25opening deposit, E statements required direct deposit required
Disclaimer (27:26):
for early military pay.
Closing new accounts within 90 days of opening willresult in a $25 early closure fee message, and data rates charged by your mobile phone carrier may apply.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (27:36):
And so it's important for banks to understand that by.
Acquiring a military member or a young person who'sgraduating from high school or college and joining the military, they potentially could have a customer
for life who continues to deal with them, to, to bankwith them, no matter where they are around the world.
(28:00):
Military members and veterans have unique financialchallenges and banks that understand how to overcome those challenges are, are in great demand by military families.
Banks that can provide bridges betweenpaydays when unexpected expenses come up.
(28:21):
Banks that can provide insured accounts no matterwhere the military members assigned overseas.
Banks that can provide financial information and education.
To military members when they need it.
And so those are the things that we look for in military banks.
(28:41):
Those are the things that we tried to help.
Our member banks in AMBA understand and better, you know, sothey can provide better service to their military communities.
AMBA started 65 years ago as an organization thatessentially provided banks that were serving on military installations, a liaison with the Department of Defense.
(29:03):
Because so many banks have left military bases, Andwe transformed during my tenure at, as CEO into an, a trade association of banks that simply want to serve their military and veteran customers and communities.
And so as a former AMBA CEO, I would encourageany banks listening to this podcast to seriously consider joining AMBA because AMBA can help them understand their military and veteran communities.
(29:33):
Almost every community in America has military andveteran customers or potential customers living in them.
And we can help you know who those people are.
Jodi (29:45):
Makes so much, I mean, I don't, I don't know why a bank or a credit union wouldn't, wouldn't aspire to help the military community, but I might be biased.
You've,
Tom (29:53):
Steve, I got a plethora of questions here on retirement since I'm, I'm knocking on that retirement door, right?
It could be anywhere from three years to 16 years, butsomewhere, somewhere between, but so the questions are, I'm going to, I'm going to rapid fire some questions.
How is retirement?
Is it overrated?
Is it everything you imagined it would be?
(30:14):
But, you know, when you go back to the younger you.
Which, I mean, really is today because you're still a youngman, Steve, but I'm going to go, take us back to the younger you about the importance of establishing a solid financial plan.
Just because, I mean, you're there now and you,you're one of the best planners and organizers I know.
And, you know, you seem to somehow bring it all together.
(30:35):
And, but if you have the, you have the foresight.
Before your 35 year career, would you have doneanything differently back then that you can tell our audience and why it's important to have a great plan?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (30:46):
Well, Tom, I was very fortunate when I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy.
Like I said, I was inspired by the law faculty toactually pursue a career in law in the Air Force.
One of the reasons I was inspired by the law faculty isbecause the head of the law department at the time was.
about financial planning.
(31:06):
He not, not only was a great lawyer, but during his militarycareer, he realized that he had to prepare for his future beyond the military, not only by becoming the best lawyer he
can be and continue to practice when he left, but by buildinga. financial foundation that he could rely on in retirement.
(31:28):
And so he created a course at the Air Force Academy, whichis mandatory for all cadets called personal estate planning.
And in that course, we learned just about everything thatfinancial planners in the civilian communities learn.
Before they qualify to become certified financialplanners or accredited financial counselors, they learn how to invest, how to save, how to make money,
(31:55):
how to insure yourself or your family, the differencesbetween term insurance and whole life insurance.
There were, there were a number oftopics covered in this one semester.
mandatory core course at the Air Force Academy.
And that was the foundation that I built my financial plan on.
(32:17):
Right out of the gate, my wife andI decided we needed to save money.
So we paid ourselves first, as they say, we, weput money aside before we paid any of our bills.
And we, the minute that the thrift savings planbecame a essentially a 401k for the military with BRS.
(32:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We started putting money away and we,you know, we, we traveled quite a bit.
We, we lived all over the world and there were times when itwas very, very difficult for us to save money because it's expensive when you have to move every two to three years.
And, you know, the military listeners will,will understand all of that, but throughout, throughout it all, we made savings a priority.
(33:06):
Whenever I was promoted, we, we knew we could live within theincome that I had previously received at my previous rank.
And so we took as much of my raise as possible.
And put it in the bank and save.
When I left the Air Force after 35 years, I not only had agenerous pension, which is one of the great benefits that people ought to be aware of when they consider a military career.
(33:32):
But we also had the thrift savings plan, the401k, and we had basically a good savings account.
You know, saving money is key.
Knowing how to invest it safely will help it grow.
And by the time you leave the military, whether that's afterfour years or 35 years, you'll have some money to take with you.
Tom (33:58):
Yep.
Agreed.
Jodi (33:59):
Yeah.
That should be like a mandatory class in a young person.
Tom (34:04):
Even, I mean, there's companies out there with like a vet biz, call it what it is about starting a small business or a military spouse wanting to start a business or.
As you transition out, how does a veteran start a business inthat there's always more we can do and never enough out there.
Jodi (34:19):
Yeah, no, agreed.
Thinking about that as a mom with a19 year old in college then probably.
But for wisdom from sage old mom, hasn't had such class.
What would you layer on top of thatwith respect to estate planning?
So you build, you build this, Wealth over a longperiod of time with good habits that you've described.
What advice might you give in a nutshell for our listenerswith respect to estate planning and making sure that you've protected that so that as you, you leave that financial legacy for your family, you're well prepared to do that.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (34:51):
Great question.
And that was also a topic covered in our, inour cadet personal estate planning course.
I need to go to this class.
Can I get a mark of it?
Yeah, as a judge advocate, as a judge advocate,what I tried to do is I tried to take I took the estate planning part of the, of that course.
And I tried to use it to educate the airmenthat I was assigned to serve at whatever military installation I, I, I was assigned to.
(35:17):
And so the key message that I would deliver as theJAG on a military installation is go get a will.
At a minimum, you need a will andyour legal office can provide you one.
So to all military members and their spouses, go get a will.
Go to the legal office.
Even more than that though, and most military willswill include this, is, is the need for a trust.
(35:43):
A will provides a basic roadmap for someone called the executor.
So when a person passes away, An executor is usuallyassigned in the will as a person who can take care of all the property and distribute it to whoever the individual who passed away wanted it distributed to.
(36:04):
A trust is a document that can avoid thelabor and money intensive process of probate.
And probate is a legal process by which a will is actuallyfiled with the state and enforced in its provisions.
(36:28):
That process usually requires a lawyer.
And lawyers usually require money to do those services.
And so that probate process is something that can be avoided.
If you have a trust.
So my second message is after get a will is get a trust.
(36:49):
Many legal offices will do basic trusts, but as yourestate grows, the need for a trust also grows so that when you get to a point where You've assembled where you've amassed a significant amount of money or property.
Having a trust will avoid needing a lawyer when you passaway, the property will simply go to the people that you've.
(37:18):
No matter what you've given it to under your trustwithout need to file the trust with the state, without the need to hire a lawyer to do all that stuff, without
the need for an executor because the successor trustees,in my case my wife and I have a trust, a family.
Revocable Living Trust.
(37:39):
We are both the trustees of the trust right now, but whenwe pass away, our daughters will be the trustees and they, as successor trustees, will simply be able to divide.
Everything that's in the trust between them.
So those are the two main messagesthat I have for estate planning.
There are also lots of other things like powersof attorney for, uh, for medical purposes.
(38:03):
As you get older, like I, I am, andthanks for calling me young, Tom.
Well, you know, you don't
Jodi (38:10):
ever call me young.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (38:14):
I think by definition you're, you're a senior citizen, so we're, we're past that.
But you know, as we pass that and, you know, we've all,we've all experienced watching parents age and, and you know, we all watch them needing more medical care.
We all watch them not being able to manage thatmedical care as effectively as they get older.
(38:38):
Having things like a medical power of attorney are critical.
So that you can give someone else who canhelp you manage those things, the legal
Tom (38:48):
ability to do so.
You know, the resources out there are prettyphenomenal, especially at the AMBA website too.
When you think about.
MilDocs, which we don't, we won't talk about a little bitas much today, but MilDocs is a great way to keep your documents planned, organized, and in a, in a nice location.
So family members, when you're overseas,they know where the important things are.
(39:09):
And even the Armed Forces Financial Guide,Steve, that's now available in exchanges.
I think, I think it's available in exchange.
I'm not speaking out of turn.
You're going to show it on the screen right now.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (39:20):
On the screen.
I have it right here on my desk.
Love it.
That's the newest version, right?
This is the newest version.
This is, uh, this is something that wedeveloped along with our, our counterpart trade association, the defense credit union council.
Yeah.
Econ professors up at West Point actually providedthe material that's in this financial line.
(39:44):
This is It's a document you should get and keepbecause it's got all the information you need to know about all your benefits and how to protect them.
Tom (39:56):
You get a kickback on that now that you put a plug in for that.
I know we're going to have
Jodi (39:59):
to screen share that, make it more
Tom (40:01):
of a press.
Let's shift to the fraud, right?
I think I've had my card and personal informationcompromise at least three times in my life.
You've had it happen to you, Steve.
I'm sure that Jody in this room have probably been onthe periphery or had direct fraud impact their lives.
(40:22):
So, you're a current member of the Better BusinessBureau Institute for Marketplace Trust Board of Directors, which really is eight words too long for that.
And so, the need to protect yourself, right?
And you talked about fraud earlier with the with eventhe prepaid cards or the paper checks that might go into a mailbox and people steal steal them from the mailbox.
(40:45):
There's just fraud everywhere.
And it's only going to get worse.
I mean, we, we see it every day.
We're, we're about most banks are two or threesteps behind the crooks out there, unfortunately.
And there's a lot of things happening out there.
And it's a dangerous world when it comes topersonal personally identifiable information.
And And that, I guess, the sharing of informationwhen we just need to not share with people if we don't, if they're not trusted sources.
(41:09):
So, any, any advice or ideas on how onecan protect him or herself from fraud?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (41:15):
Yeah, I, you know, these are the things that you, you hear all the time.
Don't open.
attachments on email, know who your emailis coming from, those sorts of things.
I'll just give you an example of how we were attacked at AMBA.
One of the things that I always do, and that I recommendall your listeners do, is look at your accounts daily.
Tom (41:37):
Yes.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (41:38):
You know, there are programs out there like Quicken, where you can You can attach your credit cards.
You can attach your bank accounts.
And by running Quicken, which takes maybe three minutesa day, you can update Quicken and you can see what transactions have taken place in every one of your accounts.
(42:00):
There are other programs out there like that.
My strong recommendation is get something likethat so that you can spend five minutes a day.
checking to see what transactionsoccurred in each of your accounts.
Tom (42:11):
Agreed.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (42:12):
I was doing that with our AMBA accounts one day and I discovered a ten thousand dollar withdrawal.
I didn't authorize it.
Nobody who worked in AMBA authorized it.
And so I went to the bank and said, Ijust lost 10, 000 out of my account.
I have no idea how it got out.
(42:33):
I didn't write a check.
I didn't use a credit card.
Turns out someone had connected my accountto theirs by using those micro deposit.
Yeah.
Because the micro deposits were under adollar and the lowest threshold that my bank had for reporting transactions was a dollar.
(42:53):
Someone had connected their account to mine.
And once they did that, they reachedinto my account and pulled out 10, 000.
Of course, I went to the bank, they,they terminated that connection.
They investigated and they refunded my money.
Did they,
Tom (43:10):
by the way, did they give you a provisional credit up front before the investigation or afterwards?
Yes, they
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (43:14):
did.
They actually returned the money.
Banks are great about that.
Yep.
Absolutely.
So my, my strong advice is check your accounts daily andif you see an unauthorized transaction, Go to your credit card company if it's on the credit card, go to your bank if
it's in your bank account, go to your investment broker ifit's in your investment account and immediately report it.
(43:37):
The quicker you report it, the more likelyit is you'll be able to get that money back.
Fraud can occur in multiple ways.
I mentioned the veteran with cash in their pocket.
That's, that's the physical world that we used to livein where somebody who had a gun and said, stick them up.
Is able to rob you of money that you've got in your pocket.
(43:59):
That's the low tech end of the spectrum.
The high tech end of the spectrum is all the stuffthat's capable of being done electronically now to access your accounts or to get you to, to send people money.
Right.
I was.
In the middle of the tech spectrum, I was standing inthe hallway as an elderly friend of mine was on the phone one day and he was talking to somebody that sounded
(44:29):
like his grandson and he was, he was getting reallyemotional and asking, where should I send this money?
How much should I send?
After he hung up, I said, who was on the phone?
Who are you on the phone with?
He says, well, it was my grandson.
I said, well, what did your grandson want?
Well, he, he's in jail and he told me thathe needed 10, 000 so he could post bail.
(44:56):
And I said, that's a fraud.
That's a scam.
Don't do it.
He looked at me.
He was, he's probably in his late seventies.
He looked at me, he says, well, what do you mean?
I said, this is a, this is a known scam.
Before you do anything, call your grandson or callyour grandson's mom who happened to be his daughter.
So he did that.
(45:17):
He called his.
his daughter and turns out his grandson was just fine.
So that's the middle of the tech spectrum, usingsomething like this to reach out to someone who's unaware of the scams out there and, and using the likelihood that this elderly person has family members.
(45:37):
Who could get into trouble as away to leverage money out of them.
And then the high end of the tech spectrum, I, I talked aboutsomebody hooking up to my account and pulling money out.
We all constantly get emails asking us to openattachments, which in some cases will deposit viruses on your computer, which will then.
Allow someone to get into your computerand pull money out of your accounts.
(46:01):
The Better Business Bureau Institute, which youmentioned, and that I'm on the board of, has spent a lot of time and effort thinking about fraud.
Yesterday, they released a new study on the incidence offraud and theft in the military and veteran communities.
So, I would recommend it.
Folks who want to see the data go and getthat document from the Better Business Bureau.
(46:27):
I think you can access it through the Better Business BureauInstitute's website, but it should be no surprise that our military members are attacked at a rate higher than the
civilian population and that when they do fall victim tofrauds and scams, they end up losing more money than the.
(46:47):
than their civilian counterparts.
And so I don't know exactly why that is, but ourmilitary members need to be very, very careful about scammers out there who are trying to get into their
Tom (46:59):
pockets.
Agreed.
But by the way, mine, somebody impersonatedmy niece's voice called my mom, who's in her late eighties, did the same kind of thing.
It wasn't a prison thing.
It was more, I was in a car accident.
The police are here.
I need to get some money.
And she went to a retailer.
checkbook in hand, literally, and was going to a retailerin Florida Publix, but the Publix employee thought there was an elder abuse situation, thought there was something that wasn't right about it and prevented her from doing it.
(47:28):
So be diligent as a banker, someone that works at acredit union, a retailer, anybody that offers financial services to protect those that are vulnerable.
And whether it's the military or theelderly, it's almost our sworn duty.
to try to protect them and protect their assets too.
So yeah, it's everywhere.
That voice takeover stuff is kind of scary.
And with AI and the, and the progress thattechnology is making, it's going to get worse.
(47:52):
Yes.
It's going to be on our guard.
We got to play defense more than offense these days.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (47:56):
Really, really do.
And as bankers, you know, when, when I was sitting outsidemy banker's office, when I reported the fraud on the AMBA accounts, there was an elderly lady sitting across from me.
No surprise, I live in Florida, lots of elderly people here.
But this elderly lady was talking to my bankerin a voice that was loud enough to hear about how someone was trying to get 300, 000 from her.
Tom (48:20):
Jeez.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (48:21):
And her banker put the brakes on really quickly, started investigating, and discovered exactly what you described.
It was somebody trying to scam her.
Tom (48:30):
Yeah.
Jodi (48:31):
Well, I think you both just answered my, we had one more question for today, Tom, and I think between you and what Steve just said, you kind of answered part of it.
So we've, we've talked about a lot of topics from sort of basicbanking needs, investing, financial planning, estate planning.
What's what's your view, Steve, on the role of a,of a really great banking partner in all of that?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (48:54):
Well, we talked a lot about how military families need banks and any bank can become a quote military bank.
today because there are so many militarymembers who have accounts at a variety of financial institutions across the country.
And so what bankers need to know is their military andveteran customers have unique financial challenges.
(49:22):
The more they know about those challenges, themore they can help those customers deal with them.
I talked about the costs of, of moving.
That is something that every military family has experienced andwill continue to experience throughout their military career.
Those are often costs that can be assisted withby banks in the event that the family needs, needs cash it doesn't have to pay bills that they.
(49:47):
So, so it, you know, it's really important for banks tounderstand that, you know, the people that we celebrate on Veterans Day, as we did yesterday, need, need their help to, to
maintain, and even more importantly, to establish that financialfoundation that the rest of their lives is going to be built on.
(50:10):
You know, I talked about the need to save,bankers need to understand that savings needs to be a priority among military families.
Military service has its greatadvantages, but it also has its risks.
And those risks include physical and medical risks that willsometimes prevent a military member from having the kind of.
(50:37):
lucrative financial career that they expectedto have when they retired from the military.
And so often what you retire with is, is what isgoing to continue your life for the rest of your life.
Tom (50:54):
Agreed.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (50:54):
And the, the messages I had for military families about saving, saving, saving are so important because you never know what's around that corner.
You never know about the disabilities that you may.
as a result of military service, and you never know how thosedisabilities or those medical issues are going to prevent you from having certain jobs when you do separate or retire.
(51:18):
So all of that is the life that a military memberleads that bankers like you need to understand as you help them wrap their heads around.
The need for a strong financial foundation.
Jodi (51:35):
Well said.
I don't want this to end.
It must end.
We already established at the top that he's a very busy person.
I'm going to save you from yourself and transition tothe, maybe not gracefully, but we're going to transition.
to the Military Minute.
(51:56):
So if you have just a second, Steve, we have what we have.
We think it's fun.
We think it's endearing way to end our show everytime and we want to play the Military Minute.
So last podcast episode, we had John WayneTroxell on as our guest and he is an author.
And so I know he probably wrote abook, then he has the name implied.
It could have been a poet.
(52:17):
Yes.
And so our question for our audience, which should havebeen easy if they listened and paid attention to the to the podcast, was what was the name of John's book?
Do you know, Tom?
Tom (52:27):
Wait
Jodi (52:27):
a minute.
Surrender or die.
In the interest of time, I will expedite delivery of the answer.
The name of John Wayne Troxell's book wasSurrender or Die Reflections of a Combat Leader.
So if you are a smart cookie in our audience andyou commented that when the podcast dropped, watch for your name to be posted as the lucky winner of 50 for yourself and 50 for a charity of your choice.
(52:52):
And you should save that money we've established today.
Right.
Yes.
Found money.
Yes.
But today's Military Minute.
Wait, wait.
Tom (52:59):
There's three more tidbits about Steve, right?
Oh.
He owns an RV.
He owns a boat.
And he, and he collects art.
Oh.
Which is why.
That
Jodi (53:07):
makes the Military Minute question make a lot more sense now.
Versus just you being random.
So you can't answer this, Steve.
So knowing you collect art, you probably know the answer.
Tom probably had to Google it.
Just
Tom (53:17):
blink twice.
If you know the answer.
Okay.
Yeah.
Jodi (53:20):
What?
Oh, wait, not what?
Who?
Who is the French artist famous for his water lilies paintings?
You want me to answer it?
Oh, no, no.
Okay.
This is for a future
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (53:31):
group play.
I will blank twice.
Jodi (53:35):
All right, audience.
Steve threw down the gauntlet.
He knows the answer.
We saw him blank.
So if you know the answer when this podcast drops, comment yourbest educated guess and then watch for yourself if you're right.
To be also posted as the winner of 50 foryourself and 50 for a charity of your choice
Tom (53:53):
throwing money out there
Jodi (53:54):
I'm just throwing money.
I'm ranking it rain on this podcast.
I tell you what the coffee fun It's the coffee fun.
Well Steve.
It was a great opportunity to spend some time with youthis morning I appreciate you sharing all your life's experiences and good nuggets of wisdom with our audience
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (54:10):
Well, thank you.
Thanks for letting me be here.
This is something that I wanted to do whileI was still at AMBA, but Tom ignored me.
Jodi (54:17):
But Tom dropped the ball.
I had to put you on
Tom (54:19):
a waiting list.
The demand was so high.
So if you enjoyed today's episode, go out to afbank.
com and subscribe to the show.
Also make sure to rate us.
Leave us a comment, hopefully favorably aboutJodi on your favorite podcast platform, such as Apple podcast or Spotify and YouTube.
(54:40):
Again, thrilled to have you as a guest and thank you for yourservice and thank you for being an incredible human being.
Thank you.
Disclaimer (54:52):
Copyright Armed Forces Bank, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.
All non Armed Forces Bank owned apps, websites,company names, and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Their mention does not imply any affiliation with or endorsementby Armed Forces Bank of them or their products and services.
They are merely used as examples of the many availableapps, companies, and websites that offer similar services.
Before using any app or website, you should carefully reviewthe terms of use, data collection, and privacy policy.
Apps may have an initial cost orin application purchase features.
(55:13):
This information is general in nature and is notintended to be legal, tax, or financial advice.
Although Armed Forces Bank believes this informationto be accurate, it cannot ensure that it could change.
Statements or opinions of individuals referencedherein are their own, not Armed Forces Bank.
Consult an appropriate professional concerningyour specific situation and respective governing bodies for applicable laws, such as IRS.
gov for current tax law, Armed Forces Bank, theArmed Forces Bank logo, and the militarily speaking logo are registered trademarks of Armed Forces Bank.
Militarily speaking, episode 73, Steve Lepper.
Jodi (00:05):
This episode, we talk with retired Major General Steve Lepper.
Tom (00:21):
Welcome to Militarily Speaking, brought to you by Armed Forces Bank.
This is Tom McLean.
Who's fortunate to be here today, celebrating with you,Jody, post Veterans Day and Steve Lepper and Jody Vickery.
I'm the military retail exec for Armed Forces Bankand Jody has the illustrious title of executive vice president, director of consumer banking.
(00:41):
That's a. That's almost as long of a titleas Steve Leper in his military career.
Jodi (00:46):
I don't know.
I think he's done more than I have.
How
Tom (00:49):
he, he wins.
He earned his
Jodi (00:50):
title.
Tom (00:50):
He wins by that much.
Yes, he wins by a lot.
Hashtag
Jodi (00:53):
yes.
Again, welcome to our show.
We're excited to have you listening andlearning about our guest, Steve Leper.
I do wanna take a, a a minute hereand I almost said a few minutes.
It might take a few minutes.
It might take 'cause he's very accomplished.
He might even even
Tom (01:03):
add some more to it.
Jodi (01:04):
I would, we wanna tell our audience a little bit about you, Steve, so all, all, not new information to you, but it might be to our audience today, Steve Leper.
which during the Association of Military Banks of Americaor AMBA, which we'll refer to it as throughout the podcast, President and chief executive officer in 2015, after serving for one year as the acting director and deputy director of
(01:24):
the American Bar Associations rule of law initiative, and for35 years as an airforce judge, advocate, culminating in his service as deputy judge supporter general of the air force.
Already in the first sentence, he's donemore than you and I combined professionally.
A retired Air Force Major General, Steve spentmost of his career as a legal advisor and counselor to senior U. S. government and military leaders and serving in leadership roles himself.
(01:49):
As AMBA CEO, Steve was responsible for the day today management of AMBA, an organization founded in 1959 to partner with the Department of Defense for the benefit of military members and their dependents.
AMBA's membership includes large and small Nationaland state chartered banks, most operating on military installations and all insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the FDIC.
(02:12):
Steve retired from AMBA at the end of August.
Happy retirement.
I bet you're pretty busy.
We're going to find out that retirement is just a word.
It's just a facade.
He's still working hard.
Steve is a distinguished graduate of the United StatesAir Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and operations research.
(02:32):
He also holds a Master of Public Administrationdegree from Golden Gate University, a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University, and a Master of Laws.
International and Comparative Lawdegree from Georgetown University.
He's a distinguished graduate of the National WarCollege, National Defense University, where he earned a Master of National Security Strategy degree.
Can we pause for a second?
(02:52):
Because now I know what's hanging on his wall behind.
I know,
Tom (02:55):
but when I When I have going to need a bigger wall, my resume, my bio says like Denison University accomplished.
I finished the college market.
I always told Stevie has more degreesthan a thermometer, but he really does.
Yes.
And it's a big thermometer.
That's like 19 universities and schools that he's attended.
Jodi (03:11):
I know.
Very impressive.
Very.
I think I might need you to tutor my kids inmath and physics, if you know both of them.
Well, actually just one who shall remain nameless.
They shall remain nameless.
Steve is an active member of the North Carolina barand is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme court, the North Carolina Supreme court and the U S court of appeals for the armed forces.
(03:32):
His military awards and decorations include twoair force distinguished service medals, the defense superior service medal, and three legions of merit.
Steve also served as a director or trustee of the Armed ForcesFinancial Network or AFN, Arnold Air Society Silver Wings, American College of National Security Leaders, U. S. Space
Force Historical Foundation, Airlift Tanker Association,and the Air Force Judge Advocate General Schools Foundation.
(03:57):
Here's the part that you probably would say is super important.
It may be the most important.
He and his wife, Kathy, have two daughters andfive grandchildren, and they, they live now in his, we'll say, quote unquote, retired mode.
I'm anxious to hear what retired modeis like in Merritt Island, Florida.
Do you know
Tom (04:12):
what Steve does every morning?
Not every morning.
Jodi (04:14):
Probably a lot more than we do all day.
Tom (04:16):
He, he hangs out and looks at, watches the rocket launches.
Jodi (04:20):
Really?
Are you close enough to see that?
Tom (04:23):
Kennedy Space
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:23):
Center is literally on the other side.
I know, he's like pointing.
You can't see him,
Jodi (04:27):
audience, but he's literally pointing out his window.
He
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:29):
has to vacate
Tom (04:30):
his residence when the launches occur.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:32):
We had two
Tom (04:33):
launches
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (04:33):
yesterday.
Wow.
Two, two SpaceX Falcon 9 launches yesterday.
Do you have footage?
I do not.
I'm, I see them.
On average, at least once a week.
Jodi (04:45):
I didn't realize they launched that many that frequently.
I'd be totally distracted.
We
Tom (04:49):
only know what we know when they show them on TV and it's so infrequent that it's like a daily occurrence down there.
Right.
That's pretty cool.
Or at least weekly.
I
Jodi (04:57):
wouldn't get much done.
I'd be looking out my window all day.
But welcome, Steve.
It is an honor to have you on our show.
Thank you for being here with us.
I'd love to give you a chance to start to share alittle bit about your background with our audience.
I mean, I read your bio, of course, but I'd love tohear you in your words, tell our audience about your military career, what made you join the military and then kind of fast forward to where you are today.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:19):
Okay.
Well, first of all, thanks for giving me theopportunity to be on your podcast episode 73.
That's it's a month long.
By
Tom (05:27):
the way, that's 7.
3 times longer.
I'm going to give a little bit of break becausenormally it's 7 to 10 episodes and then.
Okay.
Podcasts collapse after that.
So many
Jodi (05:38):
three times longer than everybody thought we would.
Tom (05:42):
I guess
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:42):
the coffee is kicking in.
I'm holding it close.
I hope there's a 74th after this one.
You will carry us
Tom (05:51):
there.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (05:52):
Well, again, thanks for letting me be here today.
My, you know, thank you for reading my bio.
My, my life started as a military brat.
I was born into an air force family.
My dad.
Was an Air Force NCO who served for 28 years, and I wasborn in England when he and my mom were stationed there.
I have one brother who was born three yearsafter I was when my family was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska.
(06:21):
My brother and I were both inspired by my dad's service,which took us all over the world as we were growing up.
And we both decided that we, wewanted an Air Force career ourselves.
So I went to the Air Force Academy first.
He joined me when I was a junior.
So we overlapped for two years.
I'm a 1979 graduate.
(06:42):
He's a 1981 graduate.
And that's where our careers diverged.
He He always wanted to be a pilot, and we both watchedairplanes take off and land at the bases where we were assigned, and he became a pilot, flew F 16s.
I decided to take another route after having beeninspired by the law faculty at the Air Force Academy.
(07:04):
I decided to pursue law, so the Air Forcewas kind enough to send me to law school.
And I served as a judge advocate for 35 years.
I guess I inspired my daughters aswe dragged them around the world.
My oldest is currently serving asan active duty air force officer.
She and her husband and our two granddaughtersare stationed at Aviano air base in Italy.
(07:27):
And my younger daughter who went to the same college as my wife.
Colorado State University decided to sinkroots in Colorado and she and her husband and our three grandsons live in the Denver area.
So 35 years after I first raised myright hand, I retired from the Air Force.
(07:48):
And as you know, I spent almost the last 10 yearsat the Association of Military Banks of America.
Working with great people like you, whosebanks serve military and veteran communities.
And I want to thank you for that service.
Excellent.
Jodi (08:04):
I think that's pretty cool that you and your brother were at the Academy at the same time.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (08:08):
We were.
And as a matter of fact, I was inspired to goto the Academy because of materials that he.
collection, both one of which wasa little book called Wild Blue.
You that he had on his desk stole one day and readthrough and that's what inspired me to go to the academy 26 years after my brother graduated from the academy.
(08:31):
He retired.
And I had that book, my household goodsthat I'd been dragging around the world.
And so at his retirement ceremony in Colorado Springs at NORADNORTHCOM headquarters, I was a brigadier general at the time.
He was a colonel when he retired.
I, In my remarks at his retirement ceremony, Ibrought out that book and gave it back to him.
(08:56):
That's awesome.
Jodi (08:58):
That book's got a lot of miles on it, I bet.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (09:00):
It does.
Most well
Jodi (09:02):
traveled book ever.
Tom (09:04):
He put creases in the pages and footnotes and stuff like that.
Highlighted certain things.
So I've known you for a while, Steve.
A little bit longer than I've known Jody.
Jodi (09:15):
So we should apologize to you, Steve, is what that statement.
You
Tom (09:18):
know what?
We should allow our listeners to hear you sing, right?
Oh, no.
You don't want it's too early for that.
It's way too early.
I'll tell you,
Jodi (09:29):
come back this afternoon.
I'll tell you when
Tom (09:31):
he, when we kick off our AMBA conference, our fall workshops, and he starts it with the national anthem.
Yeah, good.
Gives you chills.
That's awesome.
And then people freak out, right, andthe audience are like, who is that?
It was kind of like, kind of like the guy inLove Actually when he's with Hugh Grant, right?
At the door.
Are you with me, Steve?
Yes.
And then all of a sudden his guardstarts singing in this baritone.
(09:55):
Yeah.
Am I digressing?
You are.
Because I have to go back to movies.
You are.
Well, it's more like Gomer Pyle, remember?
Oh,
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (10:02):
I tended the deep voice like that, yeah.
Nobody expects it when you're looking at Gomer Pyle and then hestarts in with his, uh, singing and it just blows people away.
You, uh, yeah, you're a great
Tom (10:14):
orator.
Is it orator?
Order.
Jodi (10:17):
It's like pecan or pecan.
Tom (10:19):
Neither.
Jodi (10:20):
Both are probably tomato.
Tomato.
All right.
I won't judge you.
I will judge you, but not out loud.
Tom (10:26):
Collaborator, facilitator, leader, above all.
You know, you talked a little bit about your family,Steve, but I, I know how important family is.
Jody knows that as well, growing up in the military life.
And so we'll, before we go on to other topicsthat you want, we want to discuss today.
The meaning and importance of family, you're surroundedby really good family members because I've known Kathy to your wife for a few years and she, I don't know, the
(10:51):
cloth is pretty awesome within the leper household andtalk about that importance of family and being that the lineage kept going through to your, to your daughter.
Just talk about the importance of family for us.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (11:04):
Well, those of those among our listeners who are military and have, who have families.
understand how important family is.
I mean, family is really the, the rockon which you build a military career.
And when you travel around the world, as much as most militaryfamilies and as much as we did, uh, you know, my mom and dad and brother and I, we became a very, very solid nuclear family.
(11:31):
Somewhat detached from our grandparents becausewe only got to see them as we traveled from location to location and stopped off to visit.
But the same is true of my family.
My wife and I, my two daughters, we became a verystrong nuclear family as we traveled around the world.
We, we tried to see my kids grandparents more often than Iwas able to see mine, but, but we became very close and now.
(11:56):
They, I think have instilled that same spirit andimportance in, in family and in their own families with their husbands and their, their children.
But, you know, Kathy and I were, were married 45 years agowhen I graduated the day I graduated from the Air Force Academy, as a matter of fact, I was sworn in as an active duty officer at 12 or one midnight on the 30th of May, 1979.
(12:20):
Graduated at one o'clock in theafternoon and got married at 6 PM.
That's a heck of
Jodi (12:26):
a day.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (12:28):
What'd you do today?
My military has lasted longer than my Air Force career.
Fortunately, it was, it was more resilient.
And our two daughters, Jennifer andHelen, we dragged them around the world.
They lived in Europe.
They, my younger daughter, by, by thetime we were assigned to Asia Pacific.
My older daughter had already gone off to the Air Force Academy.
(12:51):
So we dragged them around the world.
And, and I think that gave them a much broaderperspective on the, the, the diversity that exists in our world and the need to need to embrace it.
So they, you know, like I said, my older daughter continuedour, our tradition and our family of military service.
(13:12):
And she just crossed the 20 year point herself.
So.
Yeah, but family is the most important thing,at least in my view, and just trying to continue continue that with, with our, with our
Tom (13:26):
grandchildren now.
I was going to say with five grandchildren,there's a high likelihood that that will continue.
I come from a lineage of Episcopal priests, andthere were three generations of Episcopal priests.
My brother carried the torch of Bill McClain IV.
Kids get to, get to enter that fray.
So he still has time.
Jodi (13:47):
I suppose.
So I want to, I want to come back to the advice you might give.
So your, your military career stands on its own.
What advice, you know, if somebody, a young person wasthinking about embarking on a career in the military, whether it was just maybe one tour of service or a lifetime
career like you and your family have served, what advicewould you give them as they think about that decision?
(14:10):
Because it's a big choice.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (14:12):
Well, thanks for that question, because it's an important one.
You know, all the services are facingrecruiting challenges right now.
And it's hard to, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why our youngpeople don't consider the military place that they'd like to at least start their careers, start their working lives.
But I would encourage young people who are thinkingabout joining the military and the Air Force in particular, because that's where I spent my career.
(14:40):
That it's a, it's a great opportunityto learn about who you are.
You know, basic training is not easy.
Uh, most people learn what their capacity for lots of thingsis when they go through basic training and they look back on that experience very proudly having successfully completed it.
(15:01):
And then, you know, an Air Force career.
Whether it lasts an initial four yearcommitment or 35 years like mine, it's filled with opportunities for growth, for education.
Most young enlisted personnel will emergeafter four years with a significant number of credits that they can use for college education.
(15:25):
Most young enlisted.
Airmen will sign up for the Community College of the Air Force,and they'll get credit for all of the technical training they receive to qualify them for the jobs they do in the military.
You know, our country needs young people to join and to serve.
And so, you know, I think it all is part and parcelof love of country to consider serving in uniform.
Jodi (15:50):
Yeah, and I think that that last part is certainly spot on for sure.
Tom (15:54):
We're going to shift gears a little bit to the, we talked about before the podcast started getting recorded, but Veterans Benefits Banking Program, VBBP.
We always struggle with that acronym.
Can you say
Jodi (16:05):
that three times real fast?
Tom (16:06):
No.
Can you say unique New York five times real fast?
Try it.
Now that was
Jodi (16:11):
random now, so.
I will after another cup of coffee.
Tom (16:15):
So VBBP.
So talk about that program.
And I guess I'm going to segue a little bit too, becausewe've talked about Veteran Saves Week that starts this week.
This podcast will get published after the fact,but just know that in 2025 and beyond, when Veteran Saves Week is there, where we offer incentives to encourage people behaviorally to save for something.
(16:36):
I also want to say we had Bonnie Wallace lastweek on a podcast, Steve, Wells Fargo Foundation.
She talked about VetSense, and we won't.
We won't get into that as much, but let's talk about howthe Veterans Benefits Banking Program and even how that has helped families and how it's helped military, how it's helped veterans, how it's, whether it's been a cost
saving initiative or an access to money initiative, orjust a priority for AMBA when you were there too, because you helped really kick that off and get it off the ground.
(17:05):
And, and making it available forfamilies is a great story to tell.
So talk about that in a, you don't get,you get 33 seconds to talk about that.
But yeah, let me try
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (17:17):
to do justice because I, I consider the Veterans Benefits Banking Program to be my proudest legacy.
Agreed.
It's awesome.
In the years at AMBA.
One thing that I didn't mention when I talked aboutjoining the military is the fact that military service also includes some good pay and benefits.
And, uh, when you leave the military, we justcelebrated Veterans, yes, Veterans Day yesterday.
(17:40):
By definition, when you, when you serve, you are a veteran.
And so, there are also benefits that veterans have,depending upon how they serve, when they served, how long they served, and the conditions under which they separated.
If they had any kind of disability.
They can receive medical care for thatdisability and or payment for disabilities.
(18:04):
But one of the things, well, in 19, I'll just goback and just give you a little history of BP.
In 2019, the VA department of veteransaffairs reached out to me on a cold call.
I was at work in Washington, DC, in our office, and I got a.
call on my, on my mobile phone from someone I didn't know,rather than following my wife's advice, not don't pick up.
(18:28):
I actually did.
And at the end of the line was a gentleman named Joe Gurney,who at that time was a special assistant to the undersecretary for benefits at the VA. And, and the problem he described and that he would like, that he asked me to help him solve was that
over 250, 000 veterans were receiving monetary benefits fromthe VA in the form of a paper check or on prepaid debit cards issued through the Treasury's direct express debit card program.
(19:00):
And in either of those two situations,whether on the direct express card or the, or a paper check, veterans were encountering.
significant costs to cash checks orto visit ATMs and withdraw money.
And they were also experiencinghigh incidents of fraud and theft.
(19:21):
Many of the veterans who received their money that inthose two ways were getting all their money up front.
And they were walking around with wands of cash in their pocket,susceptible to being robbed, susceptible to losing the money.
And so what Joe wanted to do was to encourage thoseveterans to sign up for the direct deposit program.
(19:46):
Now, your military listeners will know that military payis required to be directly deposited into a bank account.
And that actually was a policy that was implemented in themid 1980s when I was serving under a program called Sure Pay.
(20:06):
Where previous to that, we were receivingmoney either at the cashier's cage or by check.
It became mandatory in the mid 1980sfor military pay to be direct deposited.
The VA was reluctant or couldn't makethat a requirement for VA benefits.
And so what Joe and I decided to do was to establish an, a, anonline What we call the financial institution marketplace that veterans could go to and they could choose from among a list of banks and credit unions that were participating in the program.
(20:42):
And in order to participate in the program, a bank orcredit union had to simply make two commitments to us.
There were no costs involved.
They simply had to agree to provide a freeno minimum of balance checking account to any veteran who brought their VA benefits to the bank.
And more importantly, at least in my view, they had toagree to help any veteran who found it difficult to open up a bank account to overcome whatever obstacles existed.
(21:14):
So, as an example, you need a physical addressin order to open a bank account in this country.
Well, we have a significant number of homeless veteransout there who are receiving checks from the VA. In order to open an account, you need a physical address, and in most cases, homeless veterans don't have one.
And so what we were able to do was to get the FDIC,the OCC, and the Federal Reserve to agree to allow a VA address to be used as a physical address.
(21:44):
So now our program, as a result of the commitmentsthat our banks and credit unions have made to join us, we've been able to bank over 350, 000 veterans in the four plus years that our program has been operating.
And so it's probably higher than that now.
That was the number when I retired back in August.
(22:06):
We had over a hundred banks and credit unions.
As members of the Veterans Benefits Banking Program, andas we, as we implemented the program, and we, we started getting more and more experience with the unique financial challenges that veterans face, we were able to take care of
(22:27):
some of those challenges as well by We were Adding to ourVBBP program, financial and credit counseling, which is free for, for veterans who need help dealing with money issues.
And so a veteran who needs that help can, can reach out to theVBBP and, and get a financial counselor or a credit counselor.
(22:49):
Thanks to Bonnie Wallace and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
We are able to pay for up to three hours ofcounseling for our veterans with either a credit counselor or a financial counselor.
And we've also, through the Vetsense program, which you talkedabout, which Bonnie I'm sure spoke about, are able to provide financial education to veterans, online financial education.
(23:15):
So, so those are the three pillars of VBBP, the financialinstitution marketplace where veterans can open an account.
Financial and credit counseling and financial
Tom (23:26):
education.
And, you know, we've got a lot, we have, we have somebankers that might listen to this podcast, right?
And I think the exciting news, those that are enviousof us because we have a great podcast, right, Jodi?
Sure.
But also from the Community Reinvestment Act, right, from CRA,credit for VBBP, that He says it a lot more I know it's fluid.
(23:47):
I kind of do it a little bit chunky.
Yeah, but, but yeah, to get credit for that offeringthat product and that that's good news on the horizon when it comes to the OCC and CRA requirements.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (23:57):
We, we have talked to the FDIC and the OCC about our program.
They're, they're well aware of the VVDP.
They referenced the VEBP in the commentaryto the most recent set of CRA regulations.
And so we're confident that if banks that are members of theVEBP demonstrate to their examiners that, that this program helps them serve their military and veteran communities more effectively, that their examiner will give them credit.
Jodi (24:27):
Good tidbit for our bankers in the audience.
I know.
I appreciate hearing the history behind it.
We've talked about it more present day and Yeah.
our current participation in it, but I appreciatekind of the backstory on how it came to be.
I know Tom and I both have opinions about the nextquestion, and they, they're probably generally aligned, but why, why is it so important for banks or credit unions to step up and serve military families?
(24:50):
What's, what's unique about thatmilitary family unit or a veteran family?
That causes banks to need to step up in unique waysto provide them beyond, beyond the Veterans Benefits Banking Program, even provide them financial services.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (25:06):
Well, I think it's important from my perspective as a retired military officer and as a veteran, because bank or military families need banks.
You know, back when I was serving, we didn't havethese devices, which have become extensions of banks for military members who serve all over the world.
(25:30):
So you know, today, military members and their familiescan actually bank on their, their phone or on their computer while being stationed halfway across the world.
Now, it wasn't that way when I was serving.
And so the banks that we used when we were overseas.
were the ones that were provided on DOD installationsthrough the Overseas Military Banking Program.
(25:54):
Today, the Overseas Military Banking Program is far lessneeded by military members who serve overseas because military members and their families can continue to serve or continue
to bank with their hometown banks, banks that they may haveset up accounts with before they even joined the military.
(26:18):
And so it's important for banks to understand.
Jodi (26:26):
As a military spouse, I understand how unpredictable life can be.
Whether it's a PCS move or justeveryday expenses, money can be tight.
That's why it's so important to havea checking account that works for you.
Tom (26:36):
Armed Forces Bank offers our Access Freedom checking accounts designed with military families in mind.
If you're looking for no monthly fees, earlymilitary pay, and no fee access to over 38, 000 ATMs nationwide, We've got you covered.
Plus, with our user friendly mobile app, managing yourmoney is a breeze, no matter where you're stationed.
Jodi (26:58):
And with about 75 percent of our team affiliated with the military, Armed Forces Bank really understands the challenges faced by the military and their families.
We've been supporting military families for over 100 years.
So you know, we'll always have your back.
Tom (27:11):
If you're ready for a checking account that's as flexible as you are, head over to af bank.com or visit a branch near you.
Armed Forces Bank, serving those who serve member FDIC $25opening deposit, E statements required direct deposit required
Disclaimer (27:26):
for early military pay.
Closing new accounts within 90 days of opening willresult in a $25 early closure fee message, and data rates charged by your mobile phone carrier may apply.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (27:36):
And so it's important for banks to understand that by.
Acquiring a military member or a young person who'sgraduating from high school or college and joining the military, they potentially could have a customer
for life who continues to deal with them, to, to bankwith them, no matter where they are around the world.
(28:00):
Military members and veterans have unique financialchallenges and banks that understand how to overcome those challenges are, are in great demand by military families.
Banks that can provide bridges betweenpaydays when unexpected expenses come up.
(28:21):
Banks that can provide insured accounts no matterwhere the military members assigned overseas.
Banks that can provide financial information and education.
To military members when they need it.
And so those are the things that we look for in military banks.
(28:41):
Those are the things that we tried to help.
Our member banks in AMBA understand and better, you know, sothey can provide better service to their military communities.
AMBA started 65 years ago as an organization thatessentially provided banks that were serving on military installations, a liaison with the Department of Defense.
(29:03):
Because so many banks have left military bases, Andwe transformed during my tenure at, as CEO into an, a trade association of banks that simply want to serve their military and veteran customers and communities.
And so as a former AMBA CEO, I would encourageany banks listening to this podcast to seriously consider joining AMBA because AMBA can help them understand their military and veteran communities.
(29:33):
Almost every community in America has military andveteran customers or potential customers living in them.
And we can help you know who those people are.
Jodi (29:45):
Makes so much, I mean, I don't, I don't know why a bank or a credit union wouldn't, wouldn't aspire to help the military community, but I might be biased.
You've,
Tom (29:53):
Steve, I got a plethora of questions here on retirement since I'm, I'm knocking on that retirement door, right?
It could be anywhere from three years to 16 years, butsomewhere, somewhere between, but so the questions are, I'm going to, I'm going to rapid fire some questions.
How is retirement?
Is it overrated?
Is it everything you imagined it would be?
(30:14):
But, you know, when you go back to the younger you.
Which, I mean, really is today because you're still a youngman, Steve, but I'm going to go, take us back to the younger you about the importance of establishing a solid financial plan.
Just because, I mean, you're there now and you,you're one of the best planners and organizers I know.
And, you know, you seem to somehow bring it all together.
(30:35):
And, but if you have the, you have the foresight.
Before your 35 year career, would you have doneanything differently back then that you can tell our audience and why it's important to have a great plan?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (30:46):
Well, Tom, I was very fortunate when I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy.
Like I said, I was inspired by the law faculty toactually pursue a career in law in the Air Force.
One of the reasons I was inspired by the law faculty isbecause the head of the law department at the time was.
about financial planning.
(31:06):
He not, not only was a great lawyer, but during his militarycareer, he realized that he had to prepare for his future beyond the military, not only by becoming the best lawyer he
can be and continue to practice when he left, but by buildinga. financial foundation that he could rely on in retirement.
(31:28):
And so he created a course at the Air Force Academy, whichis mandatory for all cadets called personal estate planning.
And in that course, we learned just about everything thatfinancial planners in the civilian communities learn.
Before they qualify to become certified financialplanners or accredited financial counselors, they learn how to invest, how to save, how to make money,
(31:55):
how to insure yourself or your family, the differencesbetween term insurance and whole life insurance.
There were, there were a number oftopics covered in this one semester.
mandatory core course at the Air Force Academy.
And that was the foundation that I built my financial plan on.
(32:17):
Right out of the gate, my wife andI decided we needed to save money.
So we paid ourselves first, as they say, we, weput money aside before we paid any of our bills.
And we, the minute that the thrift savings planbecame a essentially a 401k for the military with BRS.
(32:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We started putting money away and we,you know, we, we traveled quite a bit.
We, we lived all over the world and there were times when itwas very, very difficult for us to save money because it's expensive when you have to move every two to three years.
And, you know, the military listeners will,will understand all of that, but throughout, throughout it all, we made savings a priority.
(33:06):
Whenever I was promoted, we, we knew we could live within theincome that I had previously received at my previous rank.
And so we took as much of my raise as possible.
And put it in the bank and save.
When I left the Air Force after 35 years, I not only had agenerous pension, which is one of the great benefits that people ought to be aware of when they consider a military career.
(33:32):
But we also had the thrift savings plan, the401k, and we had basically a good savings account.
You know, saving money is key.
Knowing how to invest it safely will help it grow.
And by the time you leave the military, whether that's afterfour years or 35 years, you'll have some money to take with you.
Tom (33:58):
Yep.
Agreed.
Jodi (33:59):
Yeah.
That should be like a mandatory class in a young person.
Tom (34:04):
Even, I mean, there's companies out there with like a vet biz, call it what it is about starting a small business or a military spouse wanting to start a business or.
As you transition out, how does a veteran start a business inthat there's always more we can do and never enough out there.
Jodi (34:19):
Yeah, no, agreed.
Thinking about that as a mom with a19 year old in college then probably.
But for wisdom from sage old mom, hasn't had such class.
What would you layer on top of thatwith respect to estate planning?
So you build, you build this, Wealth over a longperiod of time with good habits that you've described.
What advice might you give in a nutshell for our listenerswith respect to estate planning and making sure that you've protected that so that as you, you leave that financial legacy for your family, you're well prepared to do that.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (34:51):
Great question.
And that was also a topic covered in our, inour cadet personal estate planning course.
I need to go to this class.
Can I get a mark of it?
Yeah, as a judge advocate, as a judge advocate,what I tried to do is I tried to take I took the estate planning part of the, of that course.
And I tried to use it to educate the airmenthat I was assigned to serve at whatever military installation I, I, I was assigned to.
(35:17):
And so the key message that I would deliver as theJAG on a military installation is go get a will.
At a minimum, you need a will andyour legal office can provide you one.
So to all military members and their spouses, go get a will.
Go to the legal office.
Even more than that though, and most military willswill include this, is, is the need for a trust.
(35:43):
A will provides a basic roadmap for someone called the executor.
So when a person passes away, An executor is usuallyassigned in the will as a person who can take care of all the property and distribute it to whoever the individual who passed away wanted it distributed to.
(36:04):
A trust is a document that can avoid thelabor and money intensive process of probate.
And probate is a legal process by which a will is actuallyfiled with the state and enforced in its provisions.
(36:28):
That process usually requires a lawyer.
And lawyers usually require money to do those services.
And so that probate process is something that can be avoided.
If you have a trust.
So my second message is after get a will is get a trust.
(36:49):
Many legal offices will do basic trusts, but as yourestate grows, the need for a trust also grows so that when you get to a point where You've assembled where you've amassed a significant amount of money or property.
Having a trust will avoid needing a lawyer when you passaway, the property will simply go to the people that you've.
(37:18):
No matter what you've given it to under your trustwithout need to file the trust with the state, without the need to hire a lawyer to do all that stuff, without
the need for an executor because the successor trustees,in my case my wife and I have a trust, a family.
Revocable Living Trust.
(37:39):
We are both the trustees of the trust right now, but whenwe pass away, our daughters will be the trustees and they, as successor trustees, will simply be able to divide.
Everything that's in the trust between them.
So those are the two main messagesthat I have for estate planning.
There are also lots of other things like powersof attorney for, uh, for medical purposes.
(38:03):
As you get older, like I, I am, andthanks for calling me young, Tom.
Well, you know, you don't
Jodi (38:10):
ever call me young.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (38:14):
I think by definition you're, you're a senior citizen, so we're, we're past that.
But you know, as we pass that and, you know, we've all,we've all experienced watching parents age and, and you know, we all watch them needing more medical care.
We all watch them not being able to manage thatmedical care as effectively as they get older.
(38:38):
Having things like a medical power of attorney are critical.
So that you can give someone else who canhelp you manage those things, the legal
Tom (38:48):
ability to do so.
You know, the resources out there are prettyphenomenal, especially at the AMBA website too.
When you think about.
MilDocs, which we don't, we won't talk about a little bitas much today, but MilDocs is a great way to keep your documents planned, organized, and in a, in a nice location.
So family members, when you're overseas,they know where the important things are.
(39:09):
And even the Armed Forces Financial Guide,Steve, that's now available in exchanges.
I think, I think it's available in exchange.
I'm not speaking out of turn.
You're going to show it on the screen right now.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (39:20):
On the screen.
I have it right here on my desk.
Love it.
That's the newest version, right?
This is the newest version.
This is, uh, this is something that wedeveloped along with our, our counterpart trade association, the defense credit union council.
Yeah.
Econ professors up at West Point actually providedthe material that's in this financial line.
(39:44):
This is It's a document you should get and keepbecause it's got all the information you need to know about all your benefits and how to protect them.
Tom (39:56):
You get a kickback on that now that you put a plug in for that.
I know we're going to have
Jodi (39:59):
to screen share that, make it more
Tom (40:01):
of a press.
Let's shift to the fraud, right?
I think I've had my card and personal informationcompromise at least three times in my life.
You've had it happen to you, Steve.
I'm sure that Jody in this room have probably been onthe periphery or had direct fraud impact their lives.
(40:22):
So, you're a current member of the Better BusinessBureau Institute for Marketplace Trust Board of Directors, which really is eight words too long for that.
And so, the need to protect yourself, right?
And you talked about fraud earlier with the with eventhe prepaid cards or the paper checks that might go into a mailbox and people steal steal them from the mailbox.
(40:45):
There's just fraud everywhere.
And it's only going to get worse.
I mean, we, we see it every day.
We're, we're about most banks are two or threesteps behind the crooks out there, unfortunately.
And there's a lot of things happening out there.
And it's a dangerous world when it comes topersonal personally identifiable information.
And And that, I guess, the sharing of informationwhen we just need to not share with people if we don't, if they're not trusted sources.
(41:09):
So, any, any advice or ideas on how onecan protect him or herself from fraud?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (41:15):
Yeah, I, you know, these are the things that you, you hear all the time.
Don't open.
attachments on email, know who your emailis coming from, those sorts of things.
I'll just give you an example of how we were attacked at AMBA.
One of the things that I always do, and that I recommendall your listeners do, is look at your accounts daily.
Tom (41:37):
Yes.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (41:38):
You know, there are programs out there like Quicken, where you can You can attach your credit cards.
You can attach your bank accounts.
And by running Quicken, which takes maybe three minutesa day, you can update Quicken and you can see what transactions have taken place in every one of your accounts.
(42:00):
There are other programs out there like that.
My strong recommendation is get something likethat so that you can spend five minutes a day.
checking to see what transactionsoccurred in each of your accounts.
Tom (42:11):
Agreed.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (42:12):
I was doing that with our AMBA accounts one day and I discovered a ten thousand dollar withdrawal.
I didn't authorize it.
Nobody who worked in AMBA authorized it.
And so I went to the bank and said, Ijust lost 10, 000 out of my account.
I have no idea how it got out.
(42:33):
I didn't write a check.
I didn't use a credit card.
Turns out someone had connected my accountto theirs by using those micro deposit.
Yeah.
Because the micro deposits were under adollar and the lowest threshold that my bank had for reporting transactions was a dollar.
(42:53):
Someone had connected their account to mine.
And once they did that, they reachedinto my account and pulled out 10, 000.
Of course, I went to the bank, they,they terminated that connection.
They investigated and they refunded my money.
Did they,
Tom (43:10):
by the way, did they give you a provisional credit up front before the investigation or afterwards?
Yes, they
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (43:14):
did.
They actually returned the money.
Banks are great about that.
Yep.
Absolutely.
So my, my strong advice is check your accounts daily andif you see an unauthorized transaction, Go to your credit card company if it's on the credit card, go to your bank if
it's in your bank account, go to your investment broker ifit's in your investment account and immediately report it.
(43:37):
The quicker you report it, the more likelyit is you'll be able to get that money back.
Fraud can occur in multiple ways.
I mentioned the veteran with cash in their pocket.
That's, that's the physical world that we used to livein where somebody who had a gun and said, stick them up.
Is able to rob you of money that you've got in your pocket.
(43:59):
That's the low tech end of the spectrum.
The high tech end of the spectrum is all the stuffthat's capable of being done electronically now to access your accounts or to get you to, to send people money.
Right.
I was.
In the middle of the tech spectrum, I was standing inthe hallway as an elderly friend of mine was on the phone one day and he was talking to somebody that sounded
(44:29):
like his grandson and he was, he was getting reallyemotional and asking, where should I send this money?
How much should I send?
After he hung up, I said, who was on the phone?
Who are you on the phone with?
He says, well, it was my grandson.
I said, well, what did your grandson want?
Well, he, he's in jail and he told me thathe needed 10, 000 so he could post bail.
(44:56):
And I said, that's a fraud.
That's a scam.
Don't do it.
He looked at me.
He was, he's probably in his late seventies.
He looked at me, he says, well, what do you mean?
I said, this is a, this is a known scam.
Before you do anything, call your grandson or callyour grandson's mom who happened to be his daughter.
So he did that.
(45:17):
He called his.
his daughter and turns out his grandson was just fine.
So that's the middle of the tech spectrum, usingsomething like this to reach out to someone who's unaware of the scams out there and, and using the likelihood that this elderly person has family members.
(45:37):
Who could get into trouble as away to leverage money out of them.
And then the high end of the tech spectrum, I, I talked aboutsomebody hooking up to my account and pulling money out.
We all constantly get emails asking us to openattachments, which in some cases will deposit viruses on your computer, which will then.
Allow someone to get into your computerand pull money out of your accounts.
(46:01):
The Better Business Bureau Institute, which youmentioned, and that I'm on the board of, has spent a lot of time and effort thinking about fraud.
Yesterday, they released a new study on the incidence offraud and theft in the military and veteran communities.
So, I would recommend it.
Folks who want to see the data go and getthat document from the Better Business Bureau.
(46:27):
I think you can access it through the Better Business BureauInstitute's website, but it should be no surprise that our military members are attacked at a rate higher than the
civilian population and that when they do fall victim tofrauds and scams, they end up losing more money than the.
(46:47):
than their civilian counterparts.
And so I don't know exactly why that is, but ourmilitary members need to be very, very careful about scammers out there who are trying to get into their
Tom (46:59):
pockets.
Agreed.
But by the way, mine, somebody impersonatedmy niece's voice called my mom, who's in her late eighties, did the same kind of thing.
It wasn't a prison thing.
It was more, I was in a car accident.
The police are here.
I need to get some money.
And she went to a retailer.
checkbook in hand, literally, and was going to a retailerin Florida Publix, but the Publix employee thought there was an elder abuse situation, thought there was something that wasn't right about it and prevented her from doing it.
(47:28):
So be diligent as a banker, someone that works at acredit union, a retailer, anybody that offers financial services to protect those that are vulnerable.
And whether it's the military or theelderly, it's almost our sworn duty.
to try to protect them and protect their assets too.
So yeah, it's everywhere.
That voice takeover stuff is kind of scary.
And with AI and the, and the progress thattechnology is making, it's going to get worse.
(47:52):
Yes.
It's going to be on our guard.
We got to play defense more than offense these days.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (47:56):
Really, really do.
And as bankers, you know, when, when I was sitting outsidemy banker's office, when I reported the fraud on the AMBA accounts, there was an elderly lady sitting across from me.
No surprise, I live in Florida, lots of elderly people here.
But this elderly lady was talking to my bankerin a voice that was loud enough to hear about how someone was trying to get 300, 000 from her.
Tom (48:20):
Jeez.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (48:21):
And her banker put the brakes on really quickly, started investigating, and discovered exactly what you described.
It was somebody trying to scam her.
Tom (48:30):
Yeah.
Jodi (48:31):
Well, I think you both just answered my, we had one more question for today, Tom, and I think between you and what Steve just said, you kind of answered part of it.
So we've, we've talked about a lot of topics from sort of basicbanking needs, investing, financial planning, estate planning.
What's what's your view, Steve, on the role of a,of a really great banking partner in all of that?
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (48:54):
Well, we talked a lot about how military families need banks and any bank can become a quote military bank.
today because there are so many militarymembers who have accounts at a variety of financial institutions across the country.
And so what bankers need to know is their military andveteran customers have unique financial challenges.
(49:22):
The more they know about those challenges, themore they can help those customers deal with them.
I talked about the costs of, of moving.
That is something that every military family has experienced andwill continue to experience throughout their military career.
Those are often costs that can be assisted withby banks in the event that the family needs, needs cash it doesn't have to pay bills that they.
(49:47):
So, so it, you know, it's really important for banks tounderstand that, you know, the people that we celebrate on Veterans Day, as we did yesterday, need, need their help to, to
maintain, and even more importantly, to establish that financialfoundation that the rest of their lives is going to be built on.
(50:10):
You know, I talked about the need to save,bankers need to understand that savings needs to be a priority among military families.
Military service has its greatadvantages, but it also has its risks.
And those risks include physical and medical risks that willsometimes prevent a military member from having the kind of.
(50:37):
lucrative financial career that they expectedto have when they retired from the military.
And so often what you retire with is, is what isgoing to continue your life for the rest of your life.
Tom (50:54):
Agreed.
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (50:54):
And the, the messages I had for military families about saving, saving, saving are so important because you never know what's around that corner.
You never know about the disabilities that you may.
as a result of military service, and you never know how thosedisabilities or those medical issues are going to prevent you from having certain jobs when you do separate or retire.
(51:18):
So all of that is the life that a military memberleads that bankers like you need to understand as you help them wrap their heads around.
The need for a strong financial foundation.
Jodi (51:35):
Well said.
I don't want this to end.
It must end.
We already established at the top that he's a very busy person.
I'm going to save you from yourself and transition tothe, maybe not gracefully, but we're going to transition.
to the Military Minute.
(51:56):
So if you have just a second, Steve, we have what we have.
We think it's fun.
We think it's endearing way to end our show everytime and we want to play the Military Minute.
So last podcast episode, we had John WayneTroxell on as our guest and he is an author.
And so I know he probably wrote abook, then he has the name implied.
It could have been a poet.
(52:17):
Yes.
And so our question for our audience, which should havebeen easy if they listened and paid attention to the to the podcast, was what was the name of John's book?
Do you know, Tom?
Tom (52:27):
Wait
Jodi (52:27):
a minute.
Surrender or die.
In the interest of time, I will expedite delivery of the answer.
The name of John Wayne Troxell's book wasSurrender or Die Reflections of a Combat Leader.
So if you are a smart cookie in our audience andyou commented that when the podcast dropped, watch for your name to be posted as the lucky winner of 50 for yourself and 50 for a charity of your choice.
(52:52):
And you should save that money we've established today.
Right.
Yes.
Found money.
Yes.
But today's Military Minute.
Wait, wait.
Tom (52:59):
There's three more tidbits about Steve, right?
Oh.
He owns an RV.
He owns a boat.
And he, and he collects art.
Oh.
Which is why.
That
Jodi (53:07):
makes the Military Minute question make a lot more sense now.
Versus just you being random.
So you can't answer this, Steve.
So knowing you collect art, you probably know the answer.
Tom probably had to Google it.
Just
Tom (53:17):
blink twice.
If you know the answer.
Okay.
Yeah.
Jodi (53:20):
What?
Oh, wait, not what?
Who?
Who is the French artist famous for his water lilies paintings?
You want me to answer it?
Oh, no, no.
Okay.
This is for a future
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (53:31):
group play.
I will blank twice.
Jodi (53:35):
All right, audience.
Steve threw down the gauntlet.
He knows the answer.
We saw him blank.
So if you know the answer when this podcast drops, comment yourbest educated guess and then watch for yourself if you're right.
To be also posted as the winner of 50 foryourself and 50 for a charity of your choice
Tom (53:53):
throwing money out there
Jodi (53:54):
I'm just throwing money.
I'm ranking it rain on this podcast.
I tell you what the coffee fun It's the coffee fun.
Well Steve.
It was a great opportunity to spend some time with youthis morning I appreciate you sharing all your life's experiences and good nuggets of wisdom with our audience
Maj Gen Steven J Lepper (54:10):
Well, thank you.
Thanks for letting me be here.
This is something that I wanted to do whileI was still at AMBA, but Tom ignored me.
Jodi (54:17):
But Tom dropped the ball.
I had to put you on
Tom (54:19):
a waiting list.
The demand was so high.
So if you enjoyed today's episode, go out to afbank.
com and subscribe to the show.
Also make sure to rate us.
Leave us a comment, hopefully favorably aboutJodi on your favorite podcast platform, such as Apple podcast or Spotify and YouTube.
(54:40):
Again, thrilled to have you as a guest and thank you for yourservice and thank you for being an incredible human being.
Thank you.
Disclaimer (54:52):
Copyright Armed Forces Bank, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.
All non Armed Forces Bank owned apps, websites,company names, and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Their mention does not imply any affiliation with or endorsementby Armed Forces Bank of them or their products and services.
They are merely used as examples of the many availableapps, companies, and websites that offer similar services.
Before using any app or website, you should carefully reviewthe terms of use, data collection, and privacy policy.
Apps may have an initial cost orin application purchase features.
(55:13):
This information is general in nature and is notintended to be legal, tax, or financial advice.
Although Armed Forces Bank believes this informationto be accurate, it cannot ensure that it could change.
Statements or opinions of individuals referencedherein are their own, not Armed Forces Bank.
Consult an appropriate professional concerningyour specific situation and respective governing bodies for applicable laws, such as IRS.
gov for current tax law, Armed Forces Bank, theArmed Forces Bank logo, and the militarily speaking logo are registered trademarks of Armed Forces Bank.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!