Financial Planning for Engineers in Orlando

Planning Built The Way Engineers Think

Engineers tend to think in systems, trade-offs, and long-term performance. Financial planning works much the same way. At McDonough Capital Management, we provide financial planning for aerospace, mechanical, and electrical engineers with an approach that is practical, analytical, and grounded in real-world decision-making. That includes professionals in demanding roles at companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and SpaceX, where compensation, benefits, and long-term career opportunities can create both momentum and complexity.

The connection here is genuine. Our founder, Ed McDonough, earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and worked as a field engineer before building a planning career, so the firm has a firsthand understanding of how technically minded professionals make decisions. If you are balancing a high income, retirement plan choices, stock-based compensation, tax exposure, and a demanding schedule, this is a place to build a strategy that fits how you work.

Why Engineers Often Need Specialized Planning

A strong engineering income does not automatically make the financial side simple. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mechanical engineers earned a median annual wage of $104,110 as of May 2025, with employment projected to grow 11 percent from 2025 to 2035. That combination creates real opportunity, and it also raises the stakes on decisions around savings rates, retirement plan allocations, taxes, and long-term wealth.

Confidence about retirement is common, but confidence is not a plan. In the 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 67 percent of workers said they felt confident about having enough money to live comfortably in retirement. Turning that feeling into a durable outcome takes a methodical approach: reviewing your employer plan, deciding when Roth contributions make sense, evaluating rollover options during a job change, and planning future income with tax implications in view.

Compensation Is Layered

Base salary, bonuses, employer retirement plans, and equity or stock-based awards each carry their own rules and timing. They are best coordinated together rather than one account at a time.

Taxes Scale With Income

As income grows through raises, bonuses, and vesting events, tax planning stops being an afterthought. Small timing decisions can meaningfully change what you keep.

Default Elections Are Rarely Optimal

The contribution levels, pre-tax versus Roth choices, and fund selections set on day one are seldom the right long-term fit for an entire career. They deserve a periodic second look.

How We Help Engineers

One coordinated plan that connects your compensation, benefits, investments, taxes, and retirement timeline. Clean, useful, and built to adapt as your career moves.

Investment Planning

Portfolios aligned to your risk tolerance and timeline, with attention to concentrated stock positions and low-cost implementation. Investment management in Orlando .

Retirement And 401(k) Strategy

Contribution levels, pre-tax versus Roth choices, old 401(k) rollovers, and fund selection reviewed as one system. 401(k) management and retirement planning .

Equity Compensation

Coordination around RSUs, stock options, and employer plan choices, so a concentrated position is managed with intent rather than by default.

Tax-Aware Planning

Strategies for income growth, bonuses, and vesting events, coordinated with tax planning and estate reviews as your family life evolves.

Planning For Your Employer And Benefits

Every employer plan is different. These pages go deeper on the specific companies and benefit structures we see most often among the engineers we serve.

Lockheed Martin Employees Working with Lockheed Martin retirement plan choices, including how a self-directed 401(k) option can widen your investment selection. Read more → SpaceX Employees Planning around SpaceX equity, RSUs, options, and post-IPO liquidity, with tax timing and diversification in view. Read more →

Why Engineers Work With Us

Choosing an advisor is really a decision about whom to trust with your family's future. Our value comes from experience, a research-driven process, and a standard of care that puts your interests first in the advice we give you.

We are an independent Registered Investment Adviser in Orlando, and we have worked with engineers and technically minded professionals for years. That shared language matters when the plan involves employer benefits, equity, and long-term trade-offs.

An Engineer-Trained Founder

Ed McDonough holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and worked as a field engineer before his planning career, giving the firm a firsthand feel for how engineers weigh decisions.
Fiduciary Standard Of Care In Our Advice

Our advisory recommendations are made in your best interest, designed around your goals rather than product sales.
Independent And Research-Driven

A disciplined, analytical investment methodology with a focus on long-term planning, low-cost implementation, and tax efficiency. Securities are offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC.
Coordinated, Not Fragmented

Investments, retirement income, tax strategy, and estate coordination are managed together by a team that shares one office and one plan for each client.

Edward A. McDonough, BSME, MBA, CFP^®

Founder / Chief Investment Officer

A Lehigh University mechanical engineering graduate with an MBA in Finance, working with clients and investments since 1987 and founder of the firm in 1999. Focused on helping clients accumulate and preserve wealth with attention to risk tolerance and tax efficiency.

Shannon McDonough, MBA, CFP^®

Wealth Advisor

Leads day to day client planning and specializes in equity compensation plans, forward-looking tax strategies, and retirement income plans. Crummer Graduate School MBA, with CFP^®, Series 7, 63, and 65 registrations.

Areas We Serve

Our office is in Southwest Orlando, and we work closely with engineers and their families across Central Florida. Because engineering careers often mean relocating for a role or a launch site, we also work with clients across the country, so if your work takes you elsewhere, we can keep planning with you no matter where you land.

Orlando Winter Park Lake Mary Windermere Maitland Nationwide (Remote)

Orlando, FL 32819
407-248-9647

Build A Plan That Reflects Your Career

If you work at Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, SpaceX, or in another engineering-driven environment, a financial plan built on logic, structure, and long-term thinking can bring clarity to the moving parts. We would welcome a conversation about your goals and how the pieces fit together.

Request A Private Strategy Session Or visit our contact page

Prefer to talk now? Call 407-248-9647

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes financial planning for engineers different?

Engineers often face a specific mix of a high income, employer retirement plans, equity or stock-based compensation, and rising tax exposure. The planning process should reflect those moving parts working together, not just investment selection. Our founder is an engineer by training, so the firm approaches the work with logic, structure, and long-term thinking.

Do engineers need wealth management if they already have a 401(k)?

Usually, yes. A 401(k) is only one piece of the picture. Comprehensive planning for engineers may also include taxable investing, insurance reviews, retirement timing, estate coordination, and broader cash flow planning, coordinated so each account supports the same goals.

Do you work with Lockheed Martin and SpaceX employees specifically?

Yes. We have dedicated pages for Lockheed Martin employees and SpaceX employees because each employer's retirement plan and equity structure raises different questions. We also work with engineers at Raytheon and other engineering-driven companies.

What financial services for engineers matter most early in a career?

Early on, the focus is often on retirement contributions, an emergency reserve, a debt strategy, and building an investment structure that can grow with your career. Getting those core pieces in place, then layering in tax and equity planning as income rises, tends to matter most.

Where is McDonough Capital Management located?

We are an independent Registered Investment Adviser in Orlando, FL 32819, serving clients across Central Florida, and we can be reached at 407-248-9647.