Everything the military does involves both tactical and strategic planning. Tactical goals are short-term operational objectives, while strategic goals are long-term objectives. Experience is the best teacher in life. We can certainly extrapolate lessons learned across the board. Strategic focus extends to academia, career, and even personal investments.
The military presents as a unique paradigm. It is an exclusive domain where veterans, servicemen, and eligible family members place service before self. In other words, the strategy is centered on achieving long-term mission objectives. To this end, self-sacrifice is required; hard work, dedication, and focus feature prominently. Leadership often centers on making important decisions under pressure.
Military leaders understand that their insight, knowledge, and wisdom are central to the success of their troops in tactical and strategic missions. By cultivating this mindset and imparting their wisdom, it’s entirely possible to enjoy similar benefits across multiple strata of daily life. Before we move forward, it’s worth defining leadership and strategy.
These are important terms for military and civilian life. Leadership is best defined as achieving organizational results by motivating and influencing individuals to work together to achieve strategic goals. Leaders inspire followers with their words and deeds, entrepreneurial spirit, and future focus. Strategy is the blueprint for the organization’s mission. It establishes the framework, resources (ways and methods), and goals, all tied to measurable outcomes.
The Strongest Strategy is Rooted Firmly in the Ground
In the military, there’s an expression – boots on the ground. That’s the go-to term describing readiness for any operations. When deployment is decided, operations can commence. Similarly, the strongest strategies are firmly rooted in the soil. This metaphor aligns with the US housing market. As the single largest investment for most people, homeownership perfectly extols the virtues of strategic planning.
Veterans and service members returning from duty may find themselves in uncharted territory. It can be challenging to transition from military life back to civilian life. However, military leaders at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs implemented strategies to ensure that members of the military could invest in their own futures through a partially-backed government program. This comes in the form of homeownership options.
Veterans may qualify for VA home loan eligibility provided they have a COE from the Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA). This facilitates the transition from military to civilian life through a strategic investment in the future. A primary residence is much more than a home; it is part of a diversified portfolio of assets and a wellspring of future equity. Equity is defined as the owner’s share of a property based on the prevailing market price and what’s owing on the mortgage. The figure constantly fluctuates, but it tends to increase as the mortgage is paid down over the years.
Real Estate Investments That Pay Dividends
From a military perspective, short-term difficulties should never undermine long-term strategies. Often, the day-to-day (tactical) challenges can prove harrowing. But these bumps in the road should not be seen as obstacles; they are opportunities to learn and grow. In much the same way, the pathway to homeownership and portfolio diversification is laden with challenges. For military members, it’s surprisingly less complicated.
On the one hand, the approval framework for granting a home loan requires credit verification, work history, ability to pay, and eligibility standards. However, the approval process is streamlined (compared to traditional home loan applications). This means that qualified lenders are less inclined to decline veterans with a limited work history or less-than-stellar credit scores for loans. Partial government backing in the event of default certainly assists lenders and borrowers.
The big prize in this strategic dance is the absence of a down payment. Military members don’t need to worry about PMI (private mortgage insurance) because there’s no down payment requirement. The average home sale price of a home in 2026 is $460,000. At 20%, the down payment would typically be over $90,000. That’s a significant chunk of change to save up for somebody who was deployed. Fortunately, this doesn’t apply, and the pathway to homeownership is more often than not a straight shot.
Down the line, after consecutive, on-time payments, military members and their eligible family will start to build up equity in the property (despite no down payment). It takes time, but eventually a competitively priced home loan is paid down, and equity begins to build. This can be used for remodeling purposes, reeducation, bucket list items, and whatnot. All of this is facilitated through VA programs. Strategy is a long game, but there are plenty of gains to be had down the line.
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