RSUs, ISOs, NSOs, ESPP: each one is taxed differently, at different times, and the decisions you make are hard to undo. Koinos explains it plainly and helps you get them right.
Most financial advice isn’t built for people with equity compensation. General planners treat it like a bonus. That’s not how it works.
RSUs create taxable income the day they vest, regardless of whether you sell. ISO options can trigger AMT when you exercise. ESPP shares have a holding period that determines how they’re taxed. Each decision (when to sell, how much to hold, whether to exercise early) has tax consequences that compound over time.
These aren’t complicated questions if you understand the rules. Most people just haven’t had anyone explain them in plain English.
The question isn’t whether your equity is worth something. It’s whether you’re keeping as much of it as you should.
Restricted Stock Units
Shares granted to you that vest over time according to a schedule. When they vest, the value is ordinary income, taxed that year, whether you sell or not. After vesting, any additional growth is taxed as capital gains. The main decisions: how much to sell at vest, and what to do with what you hold.
Incentive Stock Options
Options to buy shares at a fixed price (the strike price). ISOs get favorable tax treatment, with no ordinary income tax when you exercise, but can trigger AMT. Holding the shares for at least two years from grant and one year from exercise qualifies them for long-term capital gains rates. The timing decisions are consequential and time-sensitive.
Non-Qualified Stock Options
Options to buy shares at a fixed price, without the favorable tax treatment of ISOs. The spread between your strike price and the fair market value at exercise is ordinary income in the year you exercise, regardless of whether you sell. Timing exercise to manage income in a given year is the primary planning lever.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
A plan that lets you buy company stock at a discount (typically 15% below market price) through payroll deductions. The tax treatment depends on whether you hold the shares long enough to qualify for preferential rates (a "qualifying disposition") or sell earlier. Many people sell immediately; whether that’s right depends on your situation.
One decision is the right fit if you have a specific, time-sensitive equity question. An option grant vesting soon. An upcoming liquidity event. A vesting schedule you don’t fully understand. One question, taken all the way to a written answer, with the reasoning shown. From $1,000.
The scope is defined in writing before any work begins, and the fee is quoted before you commit to anything.
Ongoing planning makes sense if equity compensation is a substantial part of your financial situation and you want it managed alongside your full situation: taxes, investments, insurance, and everything else. Two reviews a year, a direct line to Mathew in between, and a plan rebuilt annually as your equity and your life change.
Billed as a percentage of assets managed, starting at 1.50% on the first $250K, with no asset minimum to start.
Micron, Clearwater Analytics, Cradlepoint (now part of Ericsson), Kount (now part of Equifax), HP, Truckstop.com, and Healthwise: Boise has a real technology sector that’s grown substantially over the past decade. The employees at these companies often have meaningful equity compensation as part of their total pay package, and frequently no one to help them think through it.
Most financial advisors in Boise are generalists who manage retirement accounts. Equity compensation, especially ISO options and startup equity, isn’t something they work with regularly. Koinos is built specifically for people in this situation.
The first call is free. Bring the grant letter, the vesting schedule, or just the question you haven’t been able to get a straight answer to.
The first call is thirty minutes and free. You don’t need to prepare anything. If Koinos isn’t the right fit for your equity situation, Mathew will say so and point you somewhere better.