Financial Advisors for Tech Employees With Equity
Kimberly Green | 2026-03-03
If part of your compensation is equity, your financial planning is more complicated than most advisors are set up to handle.
RSUs that vest on a schedule. Incentive Stock Options with a 90-day exercise window when you leave. Employee Stock Purchase Plans with a discount that disappears if you don't understand the holding period rules. Concentrated positions in your employer's stock that represent both your career and your net worth.
These aren't edge cases. For tech employees at any company past Series B—and especially for employees at public companies—equity is often the majority of total compensation. And most financial advisors have never dealt with it seriously.
The Equity Compensation Problems You Actually Need Help With
RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)
RSUs vest and are immediately taxable as ordinary income. Most tech employees know this. What fewer know is the planning that happens before and after vesting: whether to hold or immediately sell, how to model the tax impact across a vesting schedule, and whether the concentration risk in your company's stock is appropriate given what else you own.
An advisor who specializes in equity compensation will model full-year tax scenarios and help you understand the difference between a $5K/month vesting and a $50K quarterly cliff.
Incentive Stock Options (ISOs)
ISOs are the most tax-advantaged equity type—but the alternative minimum tax (AMT) makes the exercise decision genuinely complex. Exercising too many options in a single year can trigger an AMT bill that arrives after the stock has already dropped. An advisor who understands ISO planning runs multi-scenario models before you click "exercise."
This is not a question for your company's equity hotline. This is professional tax planning territory.
Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs)
NSOs are simpler from a tax standpoint—the spread is ordinary income at exercise—but the timing and size of exercises still matters, particularly when you have a large grant or are leaving the company with a 90-day window.
Concentrated Stock Risk
Whether your equity is in RSUs, vested options, or an ESPP, the result is often a large position in a single stock. Managing that concentration—through systematic selling, exchange funds, or hedging strategies—without triggering an unnecessarily large tax bill is work that requires both planning expertise and tax knowledge.
Advisors Who Actually Specialize in Tech Equity
Capital Area Planning Group (Malcolm Ethridge, CFP, EA) – Washington, DC
Malcolm built his practice specifically around tech executives and employees with equity compensation. His combination of CFP and IRS Enrolled Agent credentials means he handles both the financial planning layer and the tax layer in a single relationship—without handing you off when the conversation turns to the IRS implications of your grant.
He has thought carefully and publicly about equity compensation strategy. His CNBC appearances and writing reflect someone who has worked through these problems with real clients, not just read the textbook. Serves clients nationally. Fee: 0.25% to 1.5% of AUM.
Anthony Syracuse, CFP – Scottsdale, AZ
Anthony works with high earners and tech professionals navigating the financial complexity that comes with meaningful equity grants. His flat-fee model ($7,500/year) is particularly well-suited for tech employees who want comprehensive planning without an AUM fee that compounds as vested equity accumulates.
His "Return on Life" framework is relevant here: for many tech employees, equity compensation represents the potential to do something specific—retire early, start a company, buy a home outright. Building a plan that connects equity decisions to those goals is the work.
OLarry – Mill Valley, CA
OLarry serves high-net-worth individuals and founders, including tech professionals whose equity compensation has created complex tax situations. Their white-glove model means senior advisors are directly involved in the work. Services include tax strategy, compliance, and international tax—relevant for tech employees with global equity structures or multi-state vesting.
Based in Mill Valley (Marin County, California)—in the heart of a region with the highest concentration of equity-compensated tech employees in the world.
How to Find an Advisor Who Actually Knows Equity Compensation
"Walk me through how you approach an ISO exercise decision." There's a correct answer involving AMT modeling, holding periods, and tax projection. If they can't give it, they've never done it.
"How do you handle a client with a large concentrated RSU position in a single stock?" Look for a systematic approach: goals, timeline, tax modeling, and a selling schedule. Not a lecture about diversification.
"Do you coordinate with my company's equity plan administrator?" Good advisors know how to work with platforms like Fidelity NetBenefits, Schwab Equity Award Center, and Carta. This matters because the admin systems affect timing and tax reporting.
"What's your experience with ESPP optimization?" This is an underserved area. The qualifying disposition rules alone can double the tax efficiency of the plan. If they know what you're asking, they've done this work.
The Tax Year Timing That Most Tech Employees Ignore
Equity compensation tax events cluster. RSU vesting happens on a schedule. Option exercises happen in bunches. ESPP purchase periods end on specific dates.
The most common mistake: letting these events happen on their default schedule without looking at the aggregate tax impact in a given year. An advisor who specializes in equity compensation will model the full-year tax picture before individual events happen—and adjust timing where possible to avoid bracket stacking.
That modeling is worth more than most people realize. It's not uncommon for strategic equity tax planning to be worth more per year than the advisory fee itself.
RSUs and stock options
Tech employees with equity compensation can also use our RSU financial advisor guide and RSU tax and withholding calculator.