Your Stock Options Are Worth What You Keep After Taxes
Equity compensation comes with complex tax timing decisions that most financial advisors won't touch. Most CPAs only see them after it's too late. We handle both sides, together.
Grant Types
4 Active
AMT Exposure
Modeled
Next Decision
This Quarter
Exercise window open
Tax impact modeled
Optimal timing: Q1
Qualifying period: 4 mo
The Problem
The Most Expensive Mistake Isn't Picking the Wrong Stock. It's Exercising at the Wrong Time.
These are high-stakes decisions being made every day by smart, successful professionals who are either guessing, Googling, or getting advice from an advisor who understands the investment side but has never filed an AMT calculation, and a CPA who files accurate returns but has no visibility into the financial plan.
The gap between those two conversations is where equity compensation value disappears.
ISO exercise → AMT surprise
Exercised without modeling alternative minimum tax
$30K+ unexpected tax bill
RSU concentration risk
70% of portfolio in a single company stock
Massive downside exposure, gains on every sale
ESPP holding period mistake
Sold before qualifying disposition threshold
Long-term gains converted to ordinary income
Why Equity Comp Requires a Different Kind of Advisor
This Isn't Standard Financial Planning
Every grant type carries its own tax rules, timing sensitivities, and interactions with your other income. The difference between exercising in December versus January can be five figures.
Standard Approach
Separate advisor + CPA
United FPG
CFP® + CPA together
How We Approach Equity Compensation
Five Strategies, One Coordinated Team
ISO Exercise Strategy
We model the optimal number of shares to exercise each year, factoring in your other income, your bracket, your AMT crossover point, and your broader financial plan, so you capture the spread without the surprise.
NSO Tax Planning
Non-qualified options are taxed as ordinary income at exercise. We model scenarios against your full tax picture so you know exactly what you'll net, before you make the decision.
RSU Diversification Planning
We build diversification timelines that balance your risk tolerance, your tax situation, and your overall portfolio allocation, so you're not making sell decisions in a vacuum.
ESPP Optimization
We track your lots, model the optimal sale timing, and ensure you're not accidentally converting long-term capital gains into ordinary income by selling before the qualifying disposition window.
AMT Modeling & Management
We run AMT projections alongside regular tax projections throughout the year, not just at filing time, so you can make exercise decisions with full visibility into both tax systems.
Full Integration
Your Equity Comp Doesn't Exist Separately From the Rest of Your Financial Life
A decision about when to exercise isn't just a tax question : it's a financial planning question, an investment question, and a tax question all at once. At United, that's how we treat it.
That's what's possible when your financial planner, portfolio manager, and CPA are in the same firm, and it's nearly impossible when they're not.
One decision, analyzed through every lens
Example: ISO exercise strategy
Portfolio concentration impact
Roth conversion window check
Income interaction for the year
Estimated tax payment adjustment
One team. Every angle. Before you act.
For Corporate Executives
Equity Compensation Planning for Corporate Executives
New York executives rarely hold one grant type. ISOs, NSOs, and RSUs vest on overlapping schedules, insiders can't sell when the news breaks, and most of your net worth sits in a single ticker. We plan across all of it together.
Concentrated position risk
When a single stock makes up most of your net worth, the company's earnings report moves your retirement date. We build a multi-year diversification schedule that helps coordinate sell-downs with your tax picture and the rest of your plan, rather than reacting to each vest as it arrives.
ISO and NSO coordination
Incentive stock options and non-qualified options are taxed under different rules and at different moments. We model each grant against your other income and your AMT crossover, so the sequence and the number of shares exercised this year versus next is a decision, not a guess.
RSU vesting and sell strategy
RSUs are taxed as ordinary income at vest, whether you sell or hold. We help you decide what to sell at vest to cover the tax and fund your plan, and what to hold, instead of defaulting to hold-everything and quietly building an unplanned concentrated position.
Rule 10b5-1 trading plans
As an insider, trading windows and Section 16 reporting restrict when you can act. A properly structured Rule 10b5-1 plan lets you pre-set a diversification program in advance, at a time you're not in possession of material non-public information. We help coordinate the plan with your vesting calendar and your broader diversification timeline.
For Startup Employees & Early Hires
Equity Compensation Planning for Startup Employees
Startup equity rewards you for staying, but the tax rules punish timing mistakes quietly. ISO exercises, QSBS holding periods, and double-trigger vesting each have windows that close without warning. We help you plan them before the liquidity event, not after.
ISO exercise timing
Exercising incentive stock options triggers AMT, not just regular tax, and waiting too long risks a disqualified disposition that converts favorable treatment into ordinary income. We model the spread, your AMT exposure, and the holding-period clock so you exercise in a year that actually makes sense for your income.
QSBS planning
Qualified Small Business Stock may exclude a significant portion of your gain from federal capital gains tax if you hold the shares for more than five years and meet the qualifying-issuer rules. We help track the holding period, confirm eligibility, and structure around the exclusion limit before a liquidity event closes the window.
Double-trigger RSU vesting
Many pre-IPO grants vest on two triggers: time and a liquidity event like an IPO or acquisition. We help you understand what your grant actually requires to convert, model the tax hit at the moment the second trigger fires, and plan your cash and sell decisions so you're not making them in the first weeks after the lockup lifts.
Early-hire concentration and liquidity
Early employees often hold a meaningful share of their net worth in private stock they can't sell. We help you plan around illiquidity, evaluate secondary-sale and tender-offer opportunities as they arise, and line up the tax and diversification steps so a liquidity event turns into a plan instead of a windfall.
Who This Is For
Built for the Complexity You're Actually Dealing With
Corporate Executives
Vesting schedules across multiple grant types (ISOs, NSOs, and RSUs accumulating simultaneously) who need a coordinated strategy, not piecemeal advice.
Startup Employees
Navigating the decision of when to exercise, how many shares, and how to plan around a company that may or may not go public.
Concentrated Positions
You know you should diversify but need a tax-efficient plan to get there, not a generic "sell and reallocate" recommendation.
Anyone With Equity on a W-2
Your standard financial advisor and your standard CPA aren't talking to each other about your equity compensation. We fix that.
How This Connects to Your Full Financial Picture
At United Financial Planning Group, every service is informed by the others. No silos, just one integrated team working across your entire financial picture.
Tax Planning
RSU vesting and option exercises trigger major tax events. We plan around them year-round.
Investment Management
Concentrated stock positions and diversification strategies managed with tax in mind.
Financial Planning
Equity compensation is often the largest wealth-building event of your career. Let's plan for it.
What Our Clients Say
Hear from families and professionals who work with our integrated team.
Our Fees
Transparent, fee-only pricing with no commissions or hidden costs.
Guidance from our team of CFP® professionals, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents. Meet the team
Last updated: March 2026
Equity Compensation Is Too Valuable to Get Wrong
Schedule a no-pressure conversation. We'll look at what you're holding, what's vesting, and what decisions are coming up, and help you understand what a coordinated approach could mean for your net outcome.