Executive Compensation Planning for Corporate Leaders
Your equity package is one of your most valuable financial assets — and one of the most complex to manage. Stone Loft brings fee-only, fiduciary guidance to RSUs, stock options, deferred compensation, and concentrated stock risk, so every vesting event works in your favor.
Four Layers of Equity Compensation — Each One Requires a Strategy
Most financial advisors treat executive compensation as a footnote. At Stone Loft, it's a core service. Corporate executives typically navigate four distinct compensation components simultaneously, and each one carries its own tax treatment, timing constraints, and planning requirements.
- Equity compensation (RSUs, ISOs, NQSOs): Restricted Stock Units are taxed as ordinary income at vesting. Incentive Stock Options carry alternative minimum tax implications that require careful exercise timing. Non-Qualified Stock Options trigger income tax at exercise, regardless of whether shares are sold. Each instrument demands a different approach, and conflating them is expensive.
- Deferred compensation planning: Non-qualified deferred compensation plans offer meaningful tax deferral, but the distribution elections must be set well in advance and cannot be easily reversed. We build distribution timing around your projected income in retirement, not a default schedule.
- Concentrated stock risk management: When a significant portion of your net worth is tied to a single ticker, the risk profile of your entire financial life changes. We construct diversification strategies that account for capital gains exposure, Rule 144 volume restrictions, and insider trading compliance requirements.
- Tax timing coordination: Vesting events, option exercises, and deferred comp distributions all carry tax deadlines. We map these across your full income picture — including your salary, bonus, and investment income — to identify the optimal sequence and bracket management opportunities.
Compliance Awareness Is Part of the Work
Executives subject to Section 16 reporting requirements, pre-clearance obligations, or trading blackout windows face constraints that most advisors simply aren't equipped to work around. Stone Loft understands that your ability to act on equity compensation isn't just a financial decision — it's a compliance decision.
We factor blackout periods and 10b5-1 plan structures into every equity strategy we develop. A 10b5-1 plan, when properly established during an open trading window, allows you to execute a pre-scheduled diversification program without the legal exposure of discretionary trading. For executives managing concentrated positions, this is often the most defensible path to reducing single-stock risk over time.
Stone Loft's executive compensation planning is designed for corporate leaders who have accumulated meaningful equity over the course of a career and need a financial advisor who understands the terrain — not one who is learning it alongside them.
This service is a strong fit if you are:
- A C-suite or VP-level executive with RSUs or stock options vesting over a multi-year schedule
- A senior leader with a non-qualified deferred compensation plan and no clear distribution strategy
- An executive whose company stock represents more than 20% of your investable assets
- A recently departed executive navigating what happens to unvested equity after separation
- An executive approaching retirement who needs to coordinate equity liquidation with Social Security timing, Medicare planning, and estate transfer
If you want to go deeper on how we work with corporate leaders across your full financial picture, the Executives page covers the broader relationship.
Common Questions About Executive Compensation Planning
What is an RSU and how is it taxed?
A Restricted Stock Unit is a grant of company shares that vests over time, typically tied to a service schedule or performance milestone. When RSUs vest, the fair market value of the shares on that date is treated as ordinary income — subject to federal and state income tax, plus FICA in many cases. Any gain or loss after vesting is treated as a capital gain or loss when the shares are eventually sold. The tax hit at vesting is automatic and often larger than executives anticipate, which is why planning ahead of the vesting date matters.
Should I hold or sell my company stock after it vests?
The answer depends on your total financial picture, not on how you feel about your employer's prospects. If company stock already represents a significant portion of your net worth, holding additional shares concentrates your risk further. We evaluate your full asset allocation — including unvested equity, deferred comp balances, and outside investments — to determine how much single-stock exposure is appropriate and build a staged diversification plan that manages capital gains along the way.
What happens to my equity compensation if I leave the company?
It depends on the type of equity and the terms of your plan documents. RSUs that have not yet vested typically forfeit upon departure, though some plans include acceleration provisions for qualifying events. ISOs generally must be exercised within 90 days of separation or they convert to NQSOs, which carry less favorable tax treatment. NQSOs have their own post-termination exercise windows, often 90 days to three months. Deferred compensation distributions are governed by your prior elections and IRS Section 409A rules, which impose significant penalties for non-compliant early distributions. If you are considering a departure, we recommend a full equity audit before you give notice.
What is a financial advisor for corporate executives with RSUs and stock options actually doing differently?
A generalist advisor may understand the basic mechanics of RSUs and options, but executive compensation planning requires coordinating equity timing with your income tax bracket, your deferred comp distribution schedule, your estate plan, and in some cases your company's compliance requirements. At Stone Loft, we build a compensation calendar that maps every vesting date, exercise window, and distribution event across your full financial picture — and we update it as your situation changes. That level of integration is what separates a plan from a spreadsheet.
How does deferred compensation fit into my overall retirement strategy?
Non-qualified deferred compensation plans can be a powerful tax-deferral tool, but they carry risks that qualified plans like 401(k)s do not. Your deferred comp balance is an unsecured liability of your employer — if the company enters bankruptcy, those assets are not protected. Distribution elections must also be made years in advance and are difficult to modify. We evaluate your deferred comp plan in the context of your other retirement assets, your projected tax rates in retirement, and your employer's financial stability to determine how much deferral makes sense and how to sequence distributions efficiently.