You've worked hard for this. You still aren't sure if it's enough.
Fee-only financial planning for tech and biotech executives navigating equity compensation, high taxes, and retirement on your own terms — and a life that actually fits.
Design a life you can't wait to retire into — on your timeline, not someone else's
Make your equity, your savings, and your tax strategy work together toward that life
Know your money is doing exactly what it should — so you don't have to wonder
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You earn well.
You save well.
And you still can't tell if you're on track.
You've run the numbers more times than you'd like to admit. FIRECalc says maybe. The Monte Carlo says probably. But probably isn't the same as knowing — and you're too close to your own spreadsheet to trust it completely.
You're smart. You're also dealing with real complexity: RSUs vesting at different prices, a 401(k) that's grown faster than your strategy for it, a tax bill that seems higher than it should be, and a retirement target that keeps moving.
What you need isn't more information. You need someone who can help you see your financial life clearly — and build a plan around the life you actually want to live, not just the numbers on the page.
We work with tech and biotech professionals at two distinct moments.
The questions are the same. The urgency is different.
Earlier stage — building toward it
Director-level · early–mid 40s · around low-$400K household income · $1.2M+ net worth, growing RSUs from a mature public company
Some are targeting retirement in their early–mid 50s. Others are hiring because the equity comp, the tax questions, and the financial complexity have simply outgrown the time and energy they have to manage it themselves. Either way, they know they need a guide — someone who's done this before, specifically for people like them.
Building trust over time. Not ready to hire yet — but listening carefully.
Closer in — the window is real
VP-level · late 40s–early 50s · $600K+ household income · $1.6M+ net worth · RSUs plus deferred comp decisions pending · Retirement target in mid–late 50s
The complexity has genuinely outgrown what he can manage on his own. RSUs and deferred comp decisions are pending. The retirement target is concrete — mid-to-late 50s — and the decisions made in the next few years will define what that actually looks like. He's not researching anymore. He's deciding which advisor to call.
The timing is right. Let's talk.
Our clients have worked at
The questions we get asked most.
The number matters, but it's the second question. The first is: what does a great life actually look like for you? What do you do on a Tuesday morning? What does your world look like when work stops? Once we understand that, we run the real numbers — income gap, healthcare costs before Medicare, Roth conversion windows, sequence-of-returns risk. We'll tell you what the math says, and what levers you still have.
Taxes are one of the biggest levers between where you are and the life you're building toward. High earners with equity comp have more of those levers than most people realize — Roth conversions, tax-lot selection, deferred comp timing, multi-year planning around RSU vesting. The question isn't whether opportunities exist. It's whether anyone is working them year after year, with your life plan in view.
Your equity is a tool. The question is what life you want it to build. Selling immediately is the default — and it's often not the optimal strategy. The right answer depends on your timeline, your tax picture, and how your equity fits the overall plan. We work through this specifically for your situation, not as a general rule.
These elections are largely irreversible, and the stakes are real. Before you commit, we want to understand what you're building toward — what the income needs to look like on the other side, and when. The tax math follows from that. Not the other way around.
It is — and the complexity is real. ISOs, NSOs, AMT traps, 83(b) elections, pre-IPO positioning, binary event risk. What feels unusual to you is familiar territory for us. We've guided biotech executives through it before, with an eye on the life the equity is meant to fund.
This is the question underneath all the others — and the one most financial plans never actually ask. You have four resources to invest: your time, money, energy, and talent. They don't go away the moment you retire. Together, we clarify how you would like to invest your resources and put them to work. Then we make changes from there. While we have a plan, it is a living, breathing document that changes as life unfolds — forever aiming for you to live a life in which you feel free to live fully, whatever that means to you.
Why Stone Steps for tech & biotech executives.
We start with your life, not your balance sheet. Money is a tool. The life you're building is the point. Our job is to help you get the most out of your money while you live a life in which you flourish.
Fee-only and fiduciary — always. We get paid by you to give you advice that's in your interest. No commissions. No products. No conflicts.
Deep experience with the complexity you're actually dealing with. RSUs, ISOs, deferred comp, pre-IPO equity, ACA bridge years — this isn't edge-case territory for us. It's the work.
Comprehensive planning that holds it all together. Investment management, tax strategy, equity comp planning, and life planning — not as separate services, but as one coherent plan built around your life.
