Stock Option Planning

Receiving stock options is step one, and proper stock option planning is step two. All the stock options in the world won’t matter if you don’t make a good plan for what to do with all of it.

We are experts in stock option planning and will help you figure out:

  • When you should exercise your stock options

  • The tax impacts of exercising your stock options

  • How much risk you can safely afford

  • The ultimate tax impacts and personal benefits of selling your stock

If you haven’t read our articles on Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) or Nonqualified Stock Options (NSOs), we recommend giving them a read so you can get a feel for how we would do stock option planning with you.

Making a plan for your stock options isn’t easy, so we try our absolute best to speak in the simplest terms possible so nothing gets lost in technical jargon.

Timeline for Stock Option Planning

The best timeline for stock option planning happens well ahead of when you plan to sell, but sometimes that isn’t what plays out.

We can be flexible on our timing, depending on how quickly or not you need advice.

Typically, we like to include stock option planning as part of a larger engagement where we take a look at your broader financial picture.

Here’s a rough outline of how that engagement might work if we’re wanting to focus on stock option planning during it.

  • Free fit check call

  • You say yes or no

  • We send agreements, 

  • You sign and send statements/link accounts to our planning software

  • Host a get-to-know-you-meeting

  • We complete the initial stock option plan

  • Host a meeting to discuss the stock option plan as well as anything else that’s top of mind

  • We go back to work

  • Host a delivery meeting where we present all our recommendations and provide you with an action plan so you know what to do next

Stock option planning is one of our favorite things to do with clients, the difficult thing is that without learning more about your situation and other aspects of your finances, we can’t possibly give you the best advice.

Any decision you make with your stock options will impact other areas of your finances so it’s important to consider everything.

The best stock option planning is one-third tax planning, one-third investment analysis, and one-third managing risk. And really as your equity grows, it can start to bring other important areas of planning into the mix (like retirement planning and estate planning).

Cost for Stock Option Planning

Our services start at $6,000 and we build the stock option planning into what we call our PlanFTW engagement.

If that feels like a lot for your situation, let us know and we can connect you with other professionals who we like to help with just the stock option planning itself.

Why Us for Stock Option Planning

When you come to us for advice, advice is what you’re going to get.

We don’t sell products and we don’t charge asset management fees.

We believe that charging a flat fee for the advice you need is the fairest method of compensation and the end result is that you get advice that’s untainted with conflicts of interest.

We built this firm to give completely unbiased advice in a way that’s easily understood.

If working with us is of interest to you, please schedule a free intro call with us or shoot us an email at team@equityftw.com.

We look forward to working with you!