Getting out is a mission.
Plan it like one.
Your last PCS is to civilian life — and nobody issues you an OPORD for it. This is the financial half of transition: what changes, when it changes, and the order to handle it in. Built by people who have stood in the out-processing line.
The Fine Print of Freedom
What Changes The Day You're Out.
Separation quietly rewires your entire financial life. Here's the list nobody briefs you on.
Your paycheck structure disappears
BAH, BAS, and special pays end with your final LES. A civilian salary that looks bigger on paper can net less once housing, food, and healthcare come out of it. Build your first civilian budget on base-pay-equivalent math, not total compensation optimism.
TSP: decide, don't drift
Your Thrift Savings Plan doesn't vanish at separation — but contributions from military pay stop, and you'll choose between leaving it, rolling it into a new employer plan, or an IRA. Each path has real tradeoffs in fees, fund access, and taxes. Understand them before you move a dollar.
TSP official siteSGLI ends — the VGLI window is short
Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance coverage stops shortly after separation. You can convert to Veterans' Group Life Insurance within a limited application window — and applying early in that window can mean skipping health questions. Miss it and your options narrow fast.
VA life insurance optionsHealthcare stops being invisible
TRICARE as you know it ends. Between transitional coverage, VA healthcare enrollment, and employer plans, you need a plan for day one — not month three. File your VA healthcare and disability paperwork before you're out if you can.
VA health careYour credit profile goes solo
SCRA interest-rate protections and some fee waivers end when you separate. Any debt that was quietly benefiting from active-duty protections reprices to civilian terms. Know which accounts those are before the letters arrive.
SCRA overview (DOJ)State taxes enter the chat
Many service members haven't paid state income tax in years thanks to legal residency elections. Where you land as a civilian decides your real take-home. Factor state tax into any salary comparison between job offers.
The Separation Timeline
Work The Checklist.
TAP covers the curriculum. This covers your money. Check items off as you go — it tracks on this page while you work.
- 12+ months out
Set conditions
The people who leave well start embarrassingly early. This is that phase.
- 6 months out
Run the numbers
- 90 days out
Execute
- Separation day
Cross the line
- First 90 days after
Build the civilian machine
Earned, Not Expired
Your VA Loan After The Uniform.
The benefit follows you out the gate. Here's how it actually works around a separation date.
Your VA home loan entitlement is earned by service, not by staying in. Most members qualify after 90 days of wartime or 181 days of peacetime active service, or 6 years in the Guard or Reserve — and it doesn't expire when you take off the uniform.
Lenders underwrite your ability to repay. Fresh out with a new civilian job, expect questions about employment history and offer letters. A signed offer in a field related to your military work carries real weight.
Still in uniform? Your active-duty income counts, but a lender needs confidence it continues past closing. This is exactly the timing puzzle a military-fluent loan team untangles — before you fall in love with a house.
At VAB the person who helps with your separation budget is the same person who runs your loan file. No re-explaining your LES, your timeline, or what terminal leave is.
No obligation — a veteran loan team looks at your timeline first.
Where We Fit
One Banker, Every Phase.
Membership pairs you with one veteran banker across the whole transition — not a different 1-800 number per problem.
Your banker builds the separation budget with you, stress-tests your savings runway, and structures accounts so the last military paycheck lands somewhere with a plan.
Direct deposit moves, benefits paperwork is in flight, income might wobble. Your banker is a person you call — one who has read an LES and knows what terminal leave means.
New job, new state, new goals. Mortgage, insurance, business banking if you're building something — same banker, no re-introductions, no starting over.
Transition Money FAQs
Straight answers, official sources linked, zero legal advice cosplay.
Twelve to eighteen months out, and yes, that feels absurdly early. The mandatory TAP timeline exists because the paperwork alone — VA claims, records, benefits elections — takes months. The financial side is slower still: building a separation fund, fixing credit, and lining up income don't compress well. Starting early is the entire strategy.
There's no universal right answer, which is why we won't give you one. Your options are broadly: leave it in the TSP, roll it into a new employer's plan, or roll it into an IRA. The variables are fees, investment options, and how you handle any traditional-vs-Roth mix. Read the official guidance at tsp.gov, then talk it through with someone who has a fiduciary duty to you — your Personal Banker can help you frame the decision and what questions to ask.
The application window after separation is limited, and applying within the earliest part of it can let you skip health questions entirely — which matters a lot if your health changed during service. We deliberately don't print the exact day counts here because the VA sets and updates them; check the current rules at va.gov/life-insurance and put the deadline on your calendar the day you have separation orders.
Eligibility-wise, yes — entitlement earned by qualifying service doesn't lapse when you separate. Practically, lenders need to see stable income, so a brand-new civilian job means your offer letter, field of work, and employment history all get a look. Plenty of members close within their first civilian year. The move is to talk to a loan team early so your timeline is engineered, not improvised.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act primarily protects people during active service, so most of its protections wind down after separation — some with short tail periods. If you reduced interest rates on pre-service debt under SCRA, expect those accounts to return to contract terms. The official overview at justice.gov/servicemembers explains what applies when; for anything contested, that's a conversation with a legal assistance office, not a website.
Membership gets you a dedicated Personal Banker — a veteran who has done this exact transition — who builds your separation budget with you, pressure-tests your timeline, coordinates the banking mechanics (accounts, direct deposit, savings structure), and runs point when you're ready for a mortgage or business banking. One person, whole picture, no phone tree.
Primary Sources
The Official Resource Stack.
Deadlines, dollar figures, and eligibility rules change. Always verify against the agency that owns them.
The official TAP portal — curriculum, eligibility, and the required steps before separation.
Official guidance on what happens to your TSP at separation and your withdrawal and rollover options.
Current conversion windows, eligibility, and how to apply for VGLI after separation.
Eligibility rules and how to request your Certificate of Eligibility.
Filing pre-discharge and post-separation claims, ratings, and what to expect.
Free financial counseling, tax services, and transition support for members and families.
Don't Out-Process Alone.
Membership is free to start, every banker served, and the first conversation is about your timeline — not a product pitch.
Educational content, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Benefit rules and deadlines are set by the VA, DoD, and other agencies — confirm current details at the official sources linked above.