Your USAA Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees and Executives

Do you work at USAA? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping USAA employees make the most of their compensation package and benefits.

Whether you’re a new USAA employee or you’ve moved up the ranks into a management or executive leadership role over a multi-year career, it’s important to make smart money moves with your income and employee benefits. For example:

✅ Do you know the right moves to make to get the greatest value from the USAA benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving USAA for another job or planning to retire from the company in a few years, are you taking the right steps today to ensure you will receive all of the compensation and benefits that you’ve earned?

Get the Most Value from Your USAA Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, USAA provides its employees and executives with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans like a 401(k), deferred compensation plans, and stock options. While the company offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with USAA who specialize in helping USAA employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the USAA headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, another office location around the country, or remotely from home, you may have questions about your compensation package and benefits better suited for a financial professional who can offer unbiased advice and guidance.

For example, sensitive topics like discussing the steps you should take before quitting your job at USAA to work elsewhere, protecting yourself in advance of a corporate layoff, or deciding when you should plan to retire are all conversations that may be more comfortable with a trusted financial advisor.

💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with USAA employees to help them make smart decisions to get the most value from their compensation and benefits, reduce their money stress, and prepare for a comfortable retirement.

🙋‍♀️ Do you have questions not yet answered? Use the form below to submit questions anonymously and watch this article for updates with answers to your questions. You can also reach out to the financial advisors below to set up an introductory call or contact them with your questions by email.

💸 Smart Money Insights for USAA Employees & Executives

This page is organized into sections to help you quickly find the information you need and get answers to your questions:

1. Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for USAA Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your USAA Benefits and Career
3. Quick Facts & Resources for USAA Employees
4. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for USAA Employees & Executives

Answers to Employee Questions with Laura Simpson, CFP®

Laura Simpson is a financial advisor at PAX Financial Group, an advisory firm headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Laura specializes in offering financial planning services to USAA employees. Laura helps her clients get the most value from their USAA benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

Q: For USAA employees thinking about leaving the company to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Laura: For USAA employees thinking about leaving the company, I recommend they identify all benefits with a vesting schedule to determine what amount will be fully vested on the departure date. The combination of start date and years of service determines which vesting schedule applies. 

Many USAA employees qualify for a Performance Incentive Plan Award. This award has a specific timeline which must be satisfied to receive the payout. 

Q: For USAA employees approaching retirement age, how do you recommend they prepare to make the transition from living off their salary to relying upon other sources of income?

Laura: One of the best ways to prepare for retirement is to enter the transition phase with as little debt as possible. No debt is ideal.  In addition, PAX has a unique retirement strategy we call Pivoting. I start by exploring with my clients what they really want this next phase in life to look like.  

My clients complete a Cashflow Worksheet which outlines their projected expenses in retirement. We sort these expenses into two categories: “Needs” and “Wants”. My goal is to cover “Needs” or fixed expenses with a guaranteed income source. Typically, I use a pension benefit, social security income, or annuity payouts for the guaranteed source of income. 

I use withdrawals from investment accounts to cover “Wants” or variable expenses. This withdrawal strategy works well through market cycles and economic downturns, which is why it has proven to provide peace of mind to my clients in retirement. 

Get to Know Laura Simpson, Financial Advisor for USAA Employees:

View Laura’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit her website to learn more.

Q: For USAA employees who have managed their finances on their own to this point, what would you suggest they consider to help them decide if they should begin working with a financial advisor at this stage in their lives?

Laura: I have worked with a few talented clients who managed their money as well as some professionals. It is possible. The real issue is time. How much time does one want to spend while in retirement on managing their finances, estate affairs along with their investments? 

When on vacation, long trips, or at the beach house with family or friends, does one want to share that time with the management of their investment portfolio? In addition, the risks of managing an investment portfolio designed to support a retirement income distribution strategy are much different than managing one for accumulation. It is much easier to overcome mistakes with earned income from employment. When the income stops, the margin for error shrinks. 

For the individual who loves to manage money, investment portfolios, and budget, they need to consider what will happen if they die before their spouse. Will their spouse have the desire and knowledge to step into that role? 

I encourage my clients to have at least a part of their investments set up with a fiduciary advisor, so if the spouse who loves investing dies first, the surviving spouse can move the rest of the money over to the already existing accounts.  

Q: For highly compensated USAA employees and executives, are there any special benefits you believe it’s important to take into consideration when preparing their financial plan?

Laura: Highly compensated employees can have a variety of benefits (retirement, health, life insurance, and bonuses unique to the position) which typically have a variety of options and triggers frequently tied to dates and employee performance. 

How and when benefits can be triggered to pay or defer and in what amounts are all critical pieces of information to understand before the employee leaves the company.      

Quick Facts & Resources for USAA Employees

USAA Quick Facts & Resources	Details / Useful Links
USAA Corporate Headquarters Address	9800 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78288 (📍 Google Maps)
Overview of USAA Benefits	Visit usaajobs.com/FAQs and scroll to benefits
How much do USAA employees Make?	View USAA Salary Research on Glassdoor
Where can I learn more about careers at USAA?	Visit usaajobs.com
How many people work for USAA?	USAA has approximately 35,000 employees (Source: USAA)
What is the ticker symbol for USAA stock?	USAA is a privately owned, member organization, and therefore does not have publicly available stock or a ticker symbol. Visit this post in the USAA community to learn more.

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