When Juan Andrade stepped into the role of CEO of USAA, the veteran insurance industry executive said one of his key priorities was elevating the company’s efforts to help military families achieve financial security.
USAA, with its distinct focus on serving the military, veterans, and their eligible family members through insurance, banking and retirement products, has positioned itself as an advocate for these groups since its founding in 1922 by military officers.
But Andrade said he said he saw an opportunity to take that a step further, feeling it was the association’s collective duty to “use our voice and our brand for the benefit of the military community,” especially around efforts aimed to help military families thrive.
“You could buy an auto insurance policy anywhere, you can open up a bank account just about anywhere, but those 14 million members come to us because we have shared values, because we know the experience that they live, and because we care about them,” he said.
Each year, Veterans Day presents an opportunity to celebrate, support and advocate for veterans and their families. Andrade said USAA wanted to build on that, making sure that support was felt year-round and positioning them for success in all aspects of their lives, whether that was personally, professionally or financially.
That led to USAA rolling out a new initiative called “Honor Through Action,” a $500 million commitment over the next five years focused on helping military families find meaningful careers, financial security and well-being through a variety of partnerships across the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
It’s those three areas that Andrade said are critical to a successful transition for veterans.
“One of the things that takes place when you leave the military is that you lose your tribe,” Andrade said. “We get that, and this is about helping them find a new tribe.”
Roughly 250,000 active-duty military members transition to veteran status every year in the U.S., and at this point in time, Andrade said, “the record on successful employment for them is very mixed.”
According to the Department of Defense, fewer than one in five transitioning service members feel fully prepared to secure civilian employment, and once employed, average job tenure is less than a year. On top of that, the unemployment rate for military spouses remains four times higher than the average civilian, according to Blue Star Families, which releases an annual survey on the challenges that military families face.
All of that leads to additional economic pressure, adding to the emotional and physical well-being issues that many veterans deal with when they transition from service, Andrade said. He added that landing a meaningful career is critical in the process of “helping them find a place where they belong; helping them find a new identity by successful transitioning into the private sector.”
“That starts creating that sense of belonging, which I think is very important from a mental health standpoint, and it’s also very related to the financial side,” he said. “If you don’t feel that you belong somewhere and if your finances are not in a good place, you’re going to have incredible stress, and we want to focus on solving some of those problems before they become real issues.”
Andrade said one of the main focuses of this new effort is to further build out the pipeline of companies that are looking to hire veterans, as well as support veterans and military spouses through career navigation, employer engagement, skills development and community support.
“Sometimes companies overlook that label because they don’t recognize how [veterans’ skills] can transfer into their companies,” he said. “This labor pool is amazingly talented; they’re already well educated, and they bring a level of discipline and a level of leadership to the workplace that makes an impact,” he said.
