Your equity could become a significant part of your wealth, but the biggest decisions often come before there is anything that feels urgent. Taxes are due when shares vest, withholding may not cover the full bill, ISO exercises can create unexpected tax bills, and a growing stock position can create concentration risk. The key is recognizing the triggering events, when a vest, exercise, tax bill, liquidity window, or IPO opportunity changes what you should do next.
Each vest is a taxable event in the year it settles. The tax clock runs on Anduril's vesting schedule, not on your liquidity.
Systematic under-withholding in high-income years creates large bills exactly when liquidity is constrained.
Paper wealth doesn't pay bills or taxes. A tender offer may provide an opportunity to sell, but the timing and amount available are determined by Anduril.
RSUs settle on their vest date and are reported as W-2 income based on the current valuation. The income is real either way, and the tax bill does not wait. Sell all the shares, keep some, or use cash to cover the tax. The challenge is liquidity.
Anduril withholds at the standard 22% supplemental rate. Your real tax rate is likely 40-50%+. That 20-30% gap between what's withheld and what you owe creates a surprise bill in April that can reach six figures, and it often arrives before a tender offer gives you a way to sell shares to cover it.
You owe income taxes on vested RSUs even if you can't sell the shares. Pre-IPO, this means writing a check to the IRS for equity you can't liquidate. The lockup period (90-180 days post-IPO) extends this disconnect even further.
As grants stack over multiple years and Anduril's valuation climbs, your RSU position quietly becomes 70-90% of your net worth. Without daily pricing, the emotional weight of concentration doesn't register until it's too late to diversify comfortably.
Every funding round increases your paper value. But your cash position stays flat. The gap between what you're "worth" and what you can actually spend widens with every valuation bump.
Anduril has offered periodic tender offers for secondary liquidity. But these are episodic, capped, often prorated, and fully controlled by the company. They are not a substitute for a comprehensive liquidity strategy.
Home purchases, career changes, family events, and tax bills all require cash, not illiquid equity. Without planning, you may be forced to sell other assets at inopportune times or make rushed decisions under financial stress.
Money you can actually use, on your timeline. Pays taxes, funds life events, preserves optionality.
Where many Anduril employees overestimate certainty. Helpful when available. Dangerous to rely on.
Where most of the upside lives, and where control is lowest. Drives long-term wealth but offers zero timing control.
You're earning a strong W-2 and holding RSUs that vest and are taxed every year. The priority is mapping every vest date, projecting the withholding gap on each one, and building cash reserves so the tax bill never depends on a tender arriving in time.
Most Anduril employees have significant paper wealth and too much idle cash. Level 2 is about maxing 401(k), backdoor Roth, HSA, and Mega Backdoor Roth, then deploying excess into diversified investments. Every dollar doing nothing is a dollar not compounding.
When a tender offer or IPO delivers liquidity, your RSUs become a capital injection. Level 3 is about deploying that capital into a diversified asset base that produces income independently of Anduril. This is where financial independence gets built, or squandered.
See the real gap between what Anduril withholds (22%) and what you'll actually owe (40-50%+). Model each vest at the current valuation and at a higher mark.
See Your Withholding Gap →Model your vest schedule year by year. See the income added to each tax year, the bracket impact, and your total liability across every grant.
Simulate Your Vest Schedule →How much of your net worth is Anduril? What happens if the stock drops 40% post-IPO? Stress test your portfolio and see what "critical mass" looks like.
Stress Test Your Portfolio →Anduril is investing $1 billion in a 1.18 million square-foot campus at Douglas Park in Long Beach, opening mid-2027. Augustus Wealth is based right here. We already serve defense tech and aerospace employees throughout Orange County and the South Bay.
Anduril RSUs vest on a time schedule, typically 25% per year over four years, and settle into shares as they vest. Each settlement is reported as ordinary income on your W-2 at the share price on that date. In August 2026, Anduril settled previously vested shares in one large block. The share price has risen since then, to $94.80 today. The next round of shares is expected to vest in December; the price for that settlement is not confirmed.
This is the same structure as public company RSUs, with one important difference: there is no public market. You owe tax on each vest whether or not a tender offer gives you a way to sell shares to cover it.
Read our breakdown of the August settlement for the numbers.
Anduril withholds at the standard 22% federal supplemental rate (37% above $1M). But your actual marginal rate is much higher. For a California-based employee with total income above $300K, the combined rate is often 48-52%: federal 35-37% + California 11.3-13.3% + Medicare 1.45% + Additional Medicare 0.9% + SDI.
For every $100,000 in RSU income, Anduril withholds about $22,000 in federal taxes, but you actually owe $35,000-$37,000. Add California and the gap reaches $25,000-$30,000 per $100K.
When a large block settles in a single year, as it did with the August 2026 settlement, this gap compounds. $500K of RSU income can leave you owing $125,000-$150,000 more than what was withheld.
Anduril's August 2026 settlement converted previously vested RSUs into shares, all reported as 2026 income. For a longer-tenured employee with annual refreshes, that can mean several hundred thousand dollars or more of ordinary income on top of regular salary. The next round of shares is expected to vest in December, in the same tax year, at a price that is not yet confirmed. The current price is $94.80, up from $61.55 at the August settlement.
The income stacking pushes you into the highest brackets. $200K salary + $800K of settled RSUs = $1M total income, meaning 37% federal on the top portion, plus 13.3% California. The effective rate on the RSU portion alone can exceed 50%.
This is why we build the tax reserve as vests occur, not after. Estimated quarterly payments, adjusted W-4 withholding, and cash set aside before April prevent the bill from becoming a financial crisis, and keep you from depending on a tender offer to pay it. See how the August settlement changes the math.
Tender offers are periodic, capped, often prorated, and not guaranteed to recur. Treating them as your primary diversification strategy is risky.
When a tender opens: Decide how much to sell given your concentration level. Prioritize tax reserve building or diversification. Consider how tender income stacks on your W-2 for bracket management.
Tax on your RSUs is owed when they settle, not when you sell. A tender is an opportunity to raise cash for a bill that already exists, so decide before the window opens how much goes to taxes and how much to diversification.
Anduril leadership has indicated they're actively preparing for an IPO. The employees who build wealth through IPOs are the ones who planned before the S-1 was filed.
Build your tax war chest now. Model your RSU income for each year through the IPO: which grants vest, at what price, and what the gap is after withholding. Have that cash set aside before each vest, not after.
Pre-decide your post-lockup plan. Design your diversification schedule before the IPO. What percentage will you sell? Over what timeline? Into what assets? Emotional decisions at lockup expiry are where wealth is destroyed.
Model the lockup mismatch. Vests that land around the IPO are taxed on schedule, but the lockup (90-180 days) means you can't sell to cover. This requires cash reserves or adjusted withholding in advance.
Any single position above 10-15% of total net worth introduces meaningful uncompensated risk. For Anduril employees, concentration is typically 60-90% because that's what happens when your company's valuation doubles while liquidity is constrained.
The question isn't "should I diversify?" It's "how fast?" The answer depends on your critical mass: the amount of diversified, liquid wealth you need to sustain your lifestyle independently of Anduril's stock price.
Believing in Anduril and diversifying aren't contradictory. You're already over-exposed through your employment, future grants, and vested equity. Diversification isn't a bet against Anduril. It's a bet on your own financial resilience.
The defense tech market depends on government contracts, political priorities, and budget cycles. Even great companies experience violent post-IPO drawdowns. Planning for the downside doesn't mean you don't believe in the upside.
Unvested RSUs are forfeited. Shares that have already vested and settled are yours, subject to any transfer restrictions in your grant agreement, and the tax on them has already been owed in the year they settled.
Review your grant agreement carefully. If you're considering a career change, understanding the vesting, forfeiture, and transfer terms is essential.
Let's build your tax reserve, diversification, and post-IPO strategy before the next vest changes the math.
Comprehensive RSU analysis and strategic planning designed for Anduril employees navigating annual vest taxes, under-withholding, and pre-IPO liquidity decisions.
The professionals who navigate IPOs successfully aren't lucky. They're prepared. They've modeled scenarios, built reserves, and defined rules years in advance. The window to join them is now.
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