Sorry for delayed response, I didn't realize I could keep answering after the live AMA ended (thank you for teaching this ol dog new tricks!). Surprisingly I dont think Ive ever been asked this before, but it does open up a whole can of potential jokes! Would I join the Mens department of the Navy? Chair Force? Big green machine?

All jokes aside, for me the question is a little more about which other component of the Special Operations Community would I join? Marsoc is the new kid on the block and advancing really quickly, but I would say the Marine Corps is my dad's service and sometimes the Marine Corps is too hoorah for my style (no offense, the fleet navy is the same way for me). Plus I look terrible with a high and tight and the Marines are pretty serious about their grooming standards. Army is great, and I love the SF ODAs and their mission and culture. All the door kicking, but they tend to be older and wiser than my community in the SEAL teams. Quite honestly Im not sure my language skills are up to par for SF. I would have to work real hard. That leaves AFSOC. The AFSOC community is the least known of the special operations component, but really interesting. At this stage in my life, the AFSOC emphasis on Pararescue I think would be my second choice behind Naval Special Warfare. Every PJ/Pararescue person I has met is the ultimate professional, and I think the mission and training is really unique and high speed. So gun to my head, yeah, Air Force (plus the golf courses are great).

Wow, this is fascinating. Im going to look deeper into this!

>Thank you! I answered a similar question below, here was my response:
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>Its been a wild year, but we are super proud to be able to continue to serve the military community.
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>The Guild Foundation is just another tool in the tool kit that allows us to support our mission of increasing the financial health and wealth of the military community. The non-profit side is mostly focused on the education and financial literacy piece. We are trying to make everyone better investors, better strategists for growing wealth, and protecting assets. We are obviously focused on the military community and there are some unique aspects of military money, but most of the curriculum is just good financial practices delivered in a digestible way. Outside of the military there is a large need for finlit, but critical for those who have worn the cloth of the country. Can certainly make the argument there is nobody more deserving to participate in fruits of the American economy.
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>One of the best things we have been able to do at the Foundation is take this show on the road. We have been touring the country going to bases and units to do in person financial literacy training. Just so much more effective when you can get in front of room of 150 sailors or marines and tell your story and then deliver the information. Its also the most fun part of the job!

Thank you! Its been a wild year, but we are super proud to be able to continue to serve the military community.

The Guild Foundation is just another tool in the tool kit that allows us to support our mission of increasing the financial health and wealth of the military community. The non-profit side is mostly focused on the education and financial literacy piece. We are trying to make everyone better investors, better strategists for growing wealth, and protecting assets. We are obviously focused on the military community and there are some unique aspects of military money, but most of the curriculum is just good financial practices delivered in a digestible way. Outside of the military there is a large need for finlit, but critical for those who have worn the cloth of the country. Can certainly make the argument there is nobody more deserving to participate in fruits of the American economy.

One of the best things we have been able to do at the Foundation is take this show on the road. We have been touring the country going to bases and units to do in person financial literacy training. Just so much more effective when you can get in front of room of 150 sailors or marines and tell your story and then deliver the information. Its also the most fun part of the job!

Interesting question. Candidly I havent studied this that much. My assumption is that because officer base pay is higher, they have access to more capital, at least thats how I'd guess it works. My actual practical experience is that most financial products available to service members are borderline predatory, or in fact super predatory. (When I started Guild I mapped the distance from the front gate at Ft. Benning, GA where I attended Basic Airborne Parachutist School, to the the first used car dealership with a super high interest rate. It was .6 mi.)

Beyond the predation, I think theres a cultural issue, too. At USNA 2/C get that car loan (even though they are being paid an E-5 equivalent salary) and almost everyone takes it. Young service members buying cars outside their means is not a problem exclusive to the military community but its exacerbated by that consistent government paycheck that lenders love!

Thank you so much. That really means a lot!

Great question w/ an easy answer: We're a commission-free platform. We don't give financial advice, and we don't charge fees.

And totally agree w/ you on fees being a financial headwind. They're a tax to wealth that never goes away, and they can add up to huge dollars over time. Which is why we built Guild the way we did.

Love Kyiv, and love the Ukranians. When I was there during the early days of war, it was all darkside. The amount of shelling happening every night was staggering. Most of my work was outside of Kiev or done at night, but Im looking forward to going back and seeing Kiev in the light.

We do not receive government support for Guild directly, although lately DOD has recognized financial literacy as a critical national security issue. We built our company precisely because we recognized there wasn't a company serving the military community for personal wealth, and because candidly DOD is doing an inadequate job of teaching financial literacy to its service members.

That by the way is not a knock on DoD, and I believe the Pentagon would agree with us. We have the former SECNAV join the board of our company precisely because he agreed it was necessary for the private sector to help with this effort. He recognized this issue during his tenure and is supporting us in helping close the wealth and knowledge gap.

We (Sean and I) identified this wealth and knowledge gap independently. Sean understood it from a Wall St. perspective. Especially when he was serving as an intelligence officer in the Navy and everyone at his command from the E-1 to the CO was soliciting his advice as someone who had owned and run successful investing businesses. For me, I approached it from the lens of Veterans service. I had helped found two large VSO designed to help veterans with a sense of mission and purpose. I realized during a decade of this work, that purpose was important but so was purse. Veterans (and active duty) needed this kind of support. If the government wasn't doing it effectively enough, we felt compelled from a mission perspective to fill the gap.

Awesome question. Its funny, in hindsight things appear to be a straight line, but in reality the path is more circuitous. My grandfather served in the Navy in WW2 and my great grandfather served in the Tzars band in Russian army. My father is a Devil Dog (Marine hoorah) so there was a natural inclination to serve. I went to the Naval Academy intending to be a pilot (too much Top Gun), then found this other community that was the right fit for me. One that suited my background and skill set and personality.

Humanitarian work. We (Seanbonner_usa and I) went over early days in the war. We were boots on the ground for about 2 mos helping. Primarily I had a strategy I called "No empty trucks." I would drive in medical and humanitarian supplies (even dog food sometimes) to the frontlines, then I would rescue people who needed to flee the fighting. So supplies in, refugees out. That was critical during the early stage of the war, and candidly some of the most important work I have ever done.

Great question! I could go all day with this (sadly) but let's do two to start...

- Ukraine -- People know about it, and I just spent boots-on-the-ground there. I don't think people get the contagion effects from it -- everything to food to energy. Even if there was a ceasefire tmrw, you'd still have explosive ordinance, which will potentially be a multi-decade problem.

- Pollution/environmental pressure -- A lot more people know about this issue, but the local effects of this are kind of crazy. I just did a sea turtle conservation mission. Basically, not enough sea turtles means too many jellyfish, which throws off the balance of the entire ocean ecosystem. It's another case of one issue having multi-order effects.

I make it a point not to vote-and-tell ;-)