A practical guide for technology, aerospace, defense and space executives navigating RSUs, stock options, concentrated stock and high-income tax planning.
For many technology, aerospace, defense and space professionals, compensation becomes more complicated as their careers advance.
Your paycheck may be only one part of your financial picture. RSUs, stock options, ESPPs, bonuses, deferred compensation, company stock and other benefits can become an increasingly important part of your overall wealth.
That's a good problem to have. But it can also create expensive tax surprises and investment risks if all the pieces aren't coordinated.
“I'm earning more and accumulating more company stock. How do I keep more of what I've built?”
1. Your RSUs Aren't Just an Investment Decision
When RSUs vest, their value is generally treated as ordinary compensation income. That means a large vesting year can potentially push your taxable income significantly higher, even if you don't sell the shares.
One common misconception is that simply holding the shares avoids the tax associated with vesting. Generally, it doesn't.
The more important question becomes:
What should you do with the stock after it vests?
Some executives automatically keep every share. Others immediately sell everything. Neither approach is necessarily right for everyone.
Consider your tax situation, other investments, future vesting schedule, cash needs and how much of your net worth is already connected to your employer.
2. How Much Company Stock Is Too Much?
This can be one of the hardest questions for successful executives.
You've spent years helping build the company. You understand the business and may believe strongly in its future.
But your salary, bonus, benefits, future RSUs and possibly a large portion of your portfolio may all depend on the same company. That's concentration risk.
Diversifying doesn't necessarily mean you've lost confidence in your employer. It can simply mean you're separating career risk from financial risk.
3. The Tax Withholding Surprise
Executives are sometimes surprised to discover that taxes withheld from an RSU vest or bonus don't necessarily equal their final tax liability.
With substantial compensation, multiple vesting dates, bonuses and investment income, withholding can become more complicated.
Instead of discovering the problem when your return is prepared, consider projecting income and potential tax liability earlier in the year.
Coordination between your financial advisor and tax professional can be particularly valuable.
4. Should You Sell RSUs Immediately or Hold Them?
After your RSUs vest and applicable taxes are accounted for, imagine your employer gave you cash instead of shares.
Would you use all of that cash to buy your company's stock today?
If the answer is no, it may be worth reconsidering whether automatically holding every vested share makes sense.
This doesn't mean you have to sell everything. It means the decision should be intentional.
You might retain some shares while gradually diversifying others according to a predetermined strategy.
5. Don't Look at RSUs in Isolation
For high-income professionals, equity compensation should be considered alongside the rest of the financial plan:
- 401(k) contributions
- Roth and after-tax retirement opportunities
- Deferred compensation
- Stock options
- ESPPs
- Charitable giving
- Capital gains and losses
- Estimated taxes
- Concentrated stock
- Retirement timing
- Estate planning
The objective isn't simply to minimize taxes this year.
It's to make decisions that may improve your after-tax wealth over many years.
6. Stock Options Require Their Own Strategy
If your compensation includes stock options, planning can become even more important.
When should you exercise?
How long should you hold the shares?
How does the decision affect taxes?
What happens if the stock moves substantially before or after exercise?
And, with incentive stock options, could the Alternative Minimum Tax become relevant?
Exercise timing may need to be coordinated with your income, taxes, liquidity needs, diversification strategy and expectations for the company.
7. Appreciated Stock and Charitable Giving
Executives who regularly give to charity may want to consider whether writing a check is the most tax-efficient way to give.
Depending on your circumstances, donating appreciated securities directly, or using a donor-advised fund, may provide additional tax advantages while supporting organizations you care about.
For someone holding highly appreciated company stock, charitable planning can sometimes accomplish two objectives at once:
Supporting a cause and reducing portfolio concentration.
8. Retirement Can Create a Different Tax Environment
Many high-income executives spend their careers focused on accumulating wealth.
But the years immediately before and after retirement deserve just as much attention.
Income may change dramatically once salary, bonuses and RSU vesting decline or disappear.
That may create planning opportunities involving Roth conversions, retirement-account distributions, capital gains, charitable giving and Social Security.
The key is to begin looking at these opportunities before retirement.
9. Your Vesting Schedule Should Be Part of Your Financial Plan
Think of future RSUs as part of your financial roadmap.
If substantial equity is scheduled to vest over the next several years, planning can begin today.
A large RSU vest, an option exercise, another major vest and a future retirement date may all interact with one another.
Looking at those years together may lead to very different decisions than simply reacting to each vest when it occurs.
10. The Bigger Question: Are All the Pieces Working Together?
For executives and senior professionals, financial planning eventually becomes less about picking investments and more about coordination.
Equity compensation affects taxes.
Taxes affect when you may want to sell stock.
Selling stock affects your allocation.
Your allocation affects retirement.
Retirement affects future tax planning.
Everything is connected.
A Second Set of Eyes Can Be Valuable
At Mai Park Capital, we help technology, aerospace, defense and space professionals evaluate the many moving pieces surrounding equity compensation, taxes, investment strategy and retirement planning.
If you've accumulated significant RSUs, stock options or company stock, a second opinion can help you determine whether the pieces of your financial life are working together as efficiently as possible.
"Sometimes the most valuable question isn't, 'How is my portfolio performing?' It's, 'Am I making the most of everything I've earned?'"
About the Author
Mai Park, CPWA®
Mai Park is Managing Director and Private Wealth Manager of Mai Park Capital and Pence Wealth Management. She has more than two decades of wealth management experience and works with high-net-worth individuals, executives, engineers and families on investment management, tax-efficient planning, retirement strategy, wealth transfer and estate-planning coordination.
Mai has been recognized by Forbes as a Top Women Wealth Advisor Best-in-State in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and was also named to the 2025 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list.
Mai serves a distinctive community of professionals in aerospace and technology. She has executives as clients from companies including Raytheon, Boeing, The Aerospace Corporation, Google, OpenAI and SpaceX.
Her practice focuses on issues that frequently accompany these careers, including RSUs, stock options, concentrated equity, tax-efficient investing and retirement planning.
In 2018, Mai earned the Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®) advanced professional certification through the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The CPWA® curriculum is designed around the complex needs of high-net-worth clients, including advanced wealth strategies, tax planning, portfolio management, retirement, legacy planning and behavioral considerations.
Through Mai Park Capital's partnership with Pence Wealth Management, Mai has access to an established wealth management platform and on-site portfolio management resources.
Pence Wealth Management and Mai Park Capital have over $3 billion in combined assets under management.
Mai Park Capital serves clients from offices in Newport Beach and Torrance, California, as well as clients nationwide where properly registered or licensed.
Important Disclosure
This material is for educational purposes only and is not intended as individualized investment, tax or legal advice. Tax laws and individual circumstances vary. Consult your tax, legal and financial professionals regarding your specific situation. Awards and rankings are not indicative of future performance and may not be representative of any one client's experience.