Advisors for executive / professional clients

Map your whole compensation, not just your salary

A senior employee's financial picture can span cash pay, bonus, RSUs, options, deferred compensation, employer stock in a retirement plan, and benefits that change when a job changes. Write down each award's vest date, expiration or exercise window, withholding, trading restrictions and expected tax event. A good first meeting turns that schedule into a decision calendar, not a generic recommendation to hold or sell. Your employer's award agreements and plan documents control the terms; an advisor should read them before offering a timetable.

Also list household spending, emergency reserves, debt, outside investments and any financial dependence on the same employer through a spouse's job. That shows how much risk is already tied to one company before a single share is sold or retained. Investor.gov explains the difference between allocating across asset classes and diversifying within them: asset allocation and diversification.

What an executive-focused advisor should be able to handle

• Equity compensation: model vesting, withholding and a deliberate concentration limit; distinguish RSUs, restricted stock, ISOs, NSOs and ESPP shares rather than treating them alike.
• Bonus and deferred pay: place elections on a calendar before irrevocable deadlines; compare tax timing with employer-credit risk and payout restrictions.
• Job change: reconcile option exercise periods, insurance gaps, retirement-plan rollovers, severance, relocation and blackout windows.
• Retirement: test whether savings outside employer stock support the target date even if the company's share price falls sharply.

Ask for an example work product with private information removed: a vesting calendar, a tax-year scenario comparison, or a concentration dashboard. The answer should name which decisions require your CPA, benefits team or securities counsel. An advisor should not imply that a projected tax outcome is guaranteed.

Equity and taxes: the timing is the strategy

RSUs generally create wage income when they vest; selling later creates a separate capital gain or loss measured from the value included as income. Options can have very different tax results depending on type and exercise timing. Under-withholding is especially easy to miss when several awards and a bonus land in one year. Have a CPA review estimated payments and the actual award documents. A departure can shorten an option's exercise window, but that window is plan-specific: do not rely on a rule of thumb without checking yours. The IRS stock-options overview distinguishes statutory and nonstatutory treatment; an ISO exercise may also matter for alternative minimum tax, so coordinate with your CPA.

Restricted stock and some early exercises raise the question of an 83(b) election, with a short statutory filing window and a risk of paying tax on value you never ultimately keep. This is a tax/legal decision, not a universal recommendation. The IRS Section 83(b) election form is a starting reference; ask your tax adviser whether the election applies and what the current filing process requires.

Decide how much employer risk the household can carry

The same company's fortunes can determine your pay, bonus, unvested awards, vested shares and career prospects. Selling shares as they vest may reduce that concentration; holding them may be rational for some people, but the decision should be explicit. Compare a downside scenario, such as a large stock decline paired with job loss, to the goals the money funds. Trading windows, insider status, lockups, company policies and a potential 10b5-1 plan require legal and compliance review. An advisor should coordinate that review, not promise a trade can be made on demand.

Ask about fees, conflicts and team coordination

Get the proposed fee in annual dollars and ask whether it covers equity modeling, tax coordination and planning during a job change. If the adviser wants to manage your portfolio, find out whether planning is conditioned on transferring assets, and compare underlying fund costs. Ask who will work with your CPA, who will monitor the vesting calendar and who will call you before a deadline. Read Form ADV and check registration and disclosures using Investor.gov's professional-check guide.

Questions for the first call

1. Which forms of equity compensation have you handled, and what do you need from my award documents?
2. How would you combine compensation, tax estimates and household concentration on one timeline?
3. What can you do before a job change, and what must counsel or a CPA decide?
4. How do you price one-off planning versus ongoing management?
5. Who checks upcoming elections and exercise dates with me?

Valora has not tagged an advisor specifically for executive or professional clients on this page. The profiles below are a general roster, not a vetted executive-specialist match. Ask each advisor about location and fit. Confirm experience directly. For employees with substantial tech equity, the separate tech-employee guide goes deeper.