Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) to serve as a Financial Readiness Counselor supporting the New Hampshire National Guard’s Military Readiness Support Services program.

This is not a traditional corporate finance, accounting, or investment-sales position. The successful candidate will work directly with Service Members and their Families to strengthen their financial readiness and reduce financial stressors that can affect personal, family, and military readiness.

The New Hampshire National Guard consists of approximately 2,900 Soldiers and Airmen geographically dispersed throughout the state. The Military Readiness Support Services program is intended to improve holistic readiness by providing proactive financial, behavioral health, physical fitness, and nutritional support to Service Members and their Families.

Ascension is therefore seeking a financial professional who combines technical financial-planning expertise with the ability to counsel, educate, coach, present, and build trust with military members and families at different stages of their careers and lives.

The ideal candidate is personable, highly organized, discreet, service-oriented, comfortable working independently, and able to translate complicated financial and federal/military benefit concepts into practical recommendations that clients can understand and implement.

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3. Summary of the Contractor Role

The Financial Readiness Counselor will provide individual, family, group, and organizational financial-readiness support to New Hampshire National Guard Service Members, military spouses, and Families.

The position will help clients understand and manage household budgets, debt, savings, military compensation and entitlements, retirement benefits, education benefits, civilian/military employment transitions, deployment-related finances, and longer-term financial goals.

The role is considerably broader than individual counseling. The PWS also requires financial education products and presentations covering TSP, FERS/OPM retirement, AGR retirement, Social Security, state and federal education benefits, recruiting-related financial education, retirement planning, deployment finances, SCRA, SDP, USERRA, FEHB, TRICARE, and military pay and entitlements.

The individual must therefore be equally comfortable working one-on-one with a financially distressed Service Member, presenting to a room of newly enlisted Soldiers, educating retirees, briefing a deploying unit, and helping Ascension develop high-quality financial education content.

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4. What You Will Do

The Financial Readiness Counselor is expected to:

• Conduct confidential one-on-one financial readiness counseling for Service Members, military spouses, and eligible family members.
• Assess individual and household financial circumstances, including income, expenses, debt obligations, savings, benefits, financial vulnerabilities, and short- and long-term goals.
• Develop practical household budgets, debt-management strategies, savings plans, and personalized financial action plans.
• Educate Service Members and Families regarding military pay and entitlements, including Basic Allowance for Housing and family separation allowances.
• Counsel newly enlisted Soldiers on basic budgeting, military pay, entitlement changes associated with initial entry training, introductory TSP concepts, and avoidance of predatory financial products such as high-interest automobile loans.
• Explain the Thrift Savings Plan, including fundamentals, contribution limits, investment considerations, and retirement withdrawal strategies.
• Advise Dual-Status Federal Technicians regarding Federal Employees Retirement System/Office of Personnel Management retirement considerations.
• Explain Active Guard Reserve retirement calculations and processes.
• Integrate Social Security considerations with military, federal civilian, and other retirement benefits.
• Educate Service Members and Families about education benefits, including the New Hampshire State Tuition Waiver, Federal Tuition Assistance, the GI Bill, and transfer of eligible benefits to dependents.
• Provide financial education to prospective recruits and their Families concerning National Guard compensation, healthcare savings, benefits, and the potential economic advantages associated with military service.
• Develop financial-readiness presentations, job aids, handouts, educational materials, and other resources tailored to different military audiences.
• Develop and support the Government-required Financial, Benefit, and Recruiting Video Series, including financial education modules suitable for digital distribution.
• Deliver targeted Recruit Sustainment Program financial-readiness briefings for newly enlisted Soldiers, particularly individuals approximately 18–24 years of age.
• Prepare and present financial-readiness content at two centralized NHNG retirement seminars each contract year.
• Conduct Pre-Deployment and Post-Deployment Financial Readiness Briefings when requested by the Government.
• Educate deploying and returning Service Members regarding the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Savings Deposit Program, tax-free combat entitlements, and healthcare-benefit transitions.
• Counsel Dual-Status Federal Technicians and traditional M-Day Service Members regarding the financial impact of mobilization on civilian employment.
• Explain USERRA protections, military-leave considerations, and transitions between FEHB and TRICARE coverage during Title 10 and Title 32 activation periods.
• Respond to assigned client referrals within established contractual response requirements.
• Document client engagement, status, services, and required program information accurately and securely.
• Protect Personally Identifiable Information and other sensitive client information in accordance with DoD and contractual privacy requirements.
• Utilize Ascension’s secure referral, intake, and case-management processes to document client interactions and support program metrics.
• Track caseload, referral, engagement, and service information necessary to support monthly and quarterly program analytics.
• Contribute financial-readiness data and narrative information needed for Ascension’s Monthly Performance and Analytics Reports and other Government deliverables.
• Coordinate with Ascension’s Contract Manager and other readiness professionals to ensure integrated support across the financial, behavioral-health, physical-fitness, and nutritional-readiness domains.
• Participate in Government, program, unit, and interdisciplinary meetings when appropriate.
• Support up to twelve scheduled NHNG drill weekends per contract year when financial-readiness services are required.
• Travel to NHNG readiness centers, training locations, unit events, and other locations throughout New Hampshire as required.

The PWS specifically requires the Financial Education Video Series within 90 days of contract award and evaluates timely delivery of major program deliverables through the Performance Requirements Summary.

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5. Tools, Systems, and Processes

Contractually Relevant Systems/Processes

The employee should be prepared to work within:

• Ascension’s secure client referral and intake system
• Ascension’s HIPAA-compliant case-management environment
• Government-approved secure communication methods
• Government SharePoint environment, as authorized
• Government-furnished IT equipment and systems, when access is authorized
• DoD information-security, privacy, PII, OPSEC, and acceptable-use requirements

The PWS requires the Contractor to maintain centralized HIPAA-compliant referral/intake and case-management capabilities and requires client contact within seven business days of formal referral.

Expected Productivity Tools

For recruiting purposes, I would also include:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Financial planning/calculation tools
• Presentation and virtual-meeting technologies
• Digital/video-content development tools

The exact commercial financial-planning software is not specified by the PWS, so I would not require a particular vendor platform in the posting.