Serving Chandler, Arizona
Financial Planner in Chandler, AZ
If a meaningful part of your pay arrives as stock, your retirement plan and your compensation are the same problem. Vesting dates, a concentrated position you did not choose, and a bracket that moves every year are not side issues to plan around later.Phoenix office, about 35 minutes from the Price Corridor
Schedule a Free Intro CallPlanning Around Pay That Arrives as Stock
Zachary Holly is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ with over 15 years in practice. For households whose compensation includes equity, the work is deciding what to do with each vest before it happens, keeping a single company from quietly becoming the whole portfolio, and building the retirement income plan that all of it eventually funds.
Chandler’s employer base runs to semiconductors, aerospace and financial services, and those employers pay in restricted stock, employee stock purchase plans and deferred compensation. Every one of those has a decision attached and a deadline on it. Most people meet the deadline by doing nothing, which is itself a decision.
On This Page
What You'll Find Here
Written for people still working, whose compensation is more complicated than a salary and whose retirement is close enough to plan for properly.
- Three situations this page is written for
- 5 planning considerations specific to Chandler
- 8 mistakes equity-compensated households make
- Common questions, answered directly
- What the first conversation covers
Who This Is For
If One of These Describes Your Pay Stub
The Engineer or Manager With RSUs
Stock vests on a schedule, your employer withholds at a flat supplemental rate that is often well below your actual bracket, and the shares accumulate because selling feels like a decision and holding does not. A vest-by-vest policy set in advance removes the decision from the moment and puts it in the plan. Investment management is where the diversification work sits.
The Executive With Deferred Compensation
A non-qualified deferred compensation plan defers tax and, unlike a 401(k), leaves the money exposed to the employer’s creditors. The election is made years ahead, the payout schedule is difficult to change, and how it is taxed depends partly on which state you live in when it pays. That deserves modelling before the next election window closes, not after.
Five to Fifteen Years From Retiring
The accumulating is going well. What has not been built is the plan that turns it into income: which account funds which year, where the Roth conversion room will be, and how Social Security timing fits the bracket. Starting a decade out is what makes those levers usable at all.
Chandler-Specific
5 Things That Change the Math in Chandler
The planning issues here come mostly from how the large employers around the Price Corridor structure pay.
1. RSU Withholding Is Usually Not Enough
Employers commonly withhold on a vest at the flat supplemental federal rate, which is below the marginal bracket most households with meaningful equity are actually in. The shortfall does not appear until the return is filed, and in a year with a large vest it can be substantial. The fix is arithmetic done in advance, not in April.
2. Concentration Arrives Without Anyone Deciding On It
Nobody sets out to hold forty percent of their net worth in their employer. It accumulates one vest at a time, and it means your salary, your bonus, your unvested equity and your portfolio all depend on the same company. A written policy for what happens at each vest turns that into a choice.
3. ESPP Discounts Are Worth Claiming and Worth Understanding
An employee stock purchase plan with a discount and a lookback is one of the few genuinely good deals in compensation. What is less understood is the holding-period rule that determines whether part of the gain is taxed as ordinary income or as a capital gain, and the fact that participating adds to a concentration problem you may already have.
4. Arizona Taxes Income at a Single Flat Rate
Arizona’s flat 2.5% individual rate means a large vest or an option exercise does not push you into a higher state bracket, because there is not one. It also matters if you moved here from California and still have equity that was granted while you lived there, since a former state can claim a share of income tied to work performed inside it.
5. Layoffs and Early-Retirement Offers Arrive With Deadlines
Semiconductor and aerospace employment moves in cycles, and a severance or voluntary separation package usually has to be answered in weeks. Whether to take it depends on the unvested equity you would forfeit, how the payout is taxed in one year, health coverage until Medicare, and whether the retirement plan actually supports going now. That is a modelling exercise with a short clock on it.
The intro call is free and takes 30 minutes. Bring the vesting schedule if you have it to hand.
Schedule Your Free Intro CallWhat to Watch For
8 Mistakes Equity-Compensated Households Make
Almost all of these come from treating compensation and the investment plan as two separate subjects.
Holding Every Vest Because Selling Feels Like a Call on the Company
It is not a market call, it is a concentration decision, and the default of holding is the most concentrated position available. A policy set in advance, sell on vest, or sell above a threshold, takes the emotion out of a decision that recurs four times a year.
Being Surprised by the Tax Bill on a Big Vest Year
Flat supplemental withholding plus a large vest equals an underpayment, and possibly a penalty. The number is knowable months ahead. Estimated payments or additional withholding cost nothing to arrange in advance.
Exercising Options Without Modelling the AMT
Exercising incentive stock options and holding creates an alternative minimum tax adjustment on gain that exists only on paper. People have owed real tax on paper gains that later evaporated. The exercise size and the timing across tax years are the levers, and both need to be set before the exercise.
Ignoring the Creditor Risk in Deferred Compensation
A non-qualified plan is an unsecured promise from the employer, not a segregated account like a 401(k). That is an acceptable risk for many people, and it is a risk that should be sized against everything else already tied to the same employer.
Leaving the 401(k) at the Default Contribution Rate
Large employers often allow after-tax contributions with in-plan Roth conversion, which lets a household put substantially more into tax-advantaged space than the standard deferral limit. It is usually buried in the plan document and rarely mentioned at onboarding.
Accumulating Old 401(k)s Across Employers
The Valley’s semiconductor and aerospace workforce moves between employers, and each move leaves a plan behind. Consolidating is not automatically right, but not knowing what the old plans hold or charge is never right.
Postponing the Income Plan Until Retirement Is Close
The Roth conversion window, the decision about which accounts to build up, and the bracket management that makes both work are ten-year levers. Starting at 64 leaves most of them unusable.
Keeping the Plan in Your Head
Equity compensation is complicated enough that an undocumented plan is not really a plan. It cannot be stress-tested, it cannot be handed to a spouse, and it changes shape every time the share price does.
Why It Matters
What the CFP® Mark Actually Certifies
Anyone can use the title "financial advisor". The CFP® certification requires coursework, a six-hour exam, thousands of hours of real planning experience, and a fiduciary obligation to act in the client’s interest. Zach has held it for over a decade.
For an equity-compensated household the value is coordination. The vest schedule, the tax return, the portfolio and the retirement projection are one system, and advice that touches only one of them tends to make the others worse. More on what the certification requires.
CFP® Certification Requirements
- Approved college-level financial planning coursework
- Pass the comprehensive CFP® exam (6 hours)
- 6,000 hours of professional planning experience
- Signed ethics declaration & CFP Board standards
- 30 hours continuing education every 2 years
How We Work
How the Planning Work Actually Runs
Four steps, and a written plan at the end rather than a product recommendation.
Free Intro Call
30 minutes, no obligation. You describe how you are paid and what is prompting the question now. Zach gives you an honest read on whether this is work he should be doing.
Comprehensive Review
The vesting schedule, the ESPP terms, any deferred compensation election, the 401(k) plan document and what it actually permits, outside investments, and the old plans left at former employers.
Your Written Plan
A policy for what happens at each vest, a diversification path with the tax cost attached to each step, the retirement income projection underneath it, and the year the Roth conversion work should begin.
Ongoing Partnership
Grants change, the share price moves, and a severance offer can arrive with three weeks on it. Zach reviews on a schedule and is reachable in between, which is when these decisions actually turn up.
Serving Chandler and the Southeast Valley
The office is at 1300 E. Missouri Avenue, Suite 230, Phoenix, AZ 85014, roughly 35 minutes from the Price Corridor by way of the 101 and the 202. Most working clients meet by video during the week and in person when a decision warrants it.
Where to go next
Planning pages and articles for Chandler
Every topic on this page has a page of its own. These are the ones Chandler households ask about most.
- Retirement Income Planning in Phoenix That Turns Savings Into a Paycheck Retirement Planning
- Thoughtful Investment Management in Phoenix Built Around Your Real Plan Investment Management
- Protect What You've Built in Phoenix Without Guessing at the Risks Protection Planning
- Retirement Planning That Is Practical in Phoenix Before the Decisions Get Expensive Pre-Retirement Planning
- Continuity and Succession Planning in Phoenix for Owners Who Need a Real Transition Plan Succession Planning
- An Integrated Financial Strategy in Phoenix for People Tired of Fragmented Advice Integrated Planning
- Key Person Insurance in Phoenix for Businesses That Depend on a Few Critical People Business Protection
- Small Business Retirement Plans in Phoenix That Work for Owners and Teams Business Owner Planning
- Why Choose a Certified Financial Planner in Phoenix When the Decisions Matter More CFP® Standard
- What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Retire Early in Arizona? Retirement Planning
- Financial Planner in Phoenix, AZ Nearby area
- Financial Planner in Scottsdale, AZ Nearby area
- Financial Planner in North Scottsdale, AZ Nearby area
- Financial Planner in Paradise Valley, AZ Nearby area
- Financial Planner in Fountain Hills, AZ Nearby area
- Retirement and Investment Articles Articles and tools
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I sell my RSUs as soon as they vest?
For most households, selling on vest is the sensible default. The shares are taxed as ordinary income at vest whether you sell or hold, so holding is a fresh decision to buy your employer’s stock with after-tax money, on top of a salary and unvested equity already tied to the same company. There are good reasons to depart from the default, and they should be written down in advance rather than decided each quarter.
How much of my net worth should be in company stock?
There is no single number, but the total exposure is larger than the share count suggests once salary, bonus, unvested equity and any deferred compensation are counted alongside it. The useful exercise is sizing all of it together and then deciding what an acceptable figure is, rather than discovering the answer after a bad year.
Do you work with people who are still working, or only retirees?
Both, and this page is written for the first group. The decisions with the most leverage, conversion planning, diversification and bracket management, are made in the ten or fifteen years before retiring rather than after.
How much does a financial planner in Chandler cost?
The practice is fee-based. The first 30-minute conversation costs nothing and exists to work out whether there is a fit. Ongoing fees scale with complexity: equity compensation, deferred compensation and a multi-state history is more work than a salary and a 401(k). You will have the number before committing to anything.
I was granted equity while living in California and moved here. Does California still tax it?
Possibly, in part. States generally claim income tied to work performed within their borders, so equity granted for California service can remain partly taxable there even after you move, depending on the vesting period and how the grant is structured. Zach is licensed in Arizona, California and Colorado, and this is a case where the records from the grant year matter.
Do we have to meet in person?
Only if you want to. The office is at 1300 E. Missouri Avenue, Suite 230, Phoenix, AZ 85014, about 35 minutes from Chandler, and clients who prefer to come in do. Most working households meet by video and reserve the in-person meeting for the decisions that warrant it.
What happens in the first meeting?
It is a conversation, not a pitch. Zach asks how the compensation is structured, what is vesting over the next couple of years, and whether anything has a deadline on it. If the work is a fit he explains what it involves. If a single conversation is all you need, that happens too.
Ready to Put the Compensation and the Plan Together?
Schedule a free 30-minute intro call with Zachary Holly, CFP®. No commitment and no pitch, just a clear conversation about the equity, the concentration, and what the plan underneath it should look like.
Schedule Your Free Intro CallLicensed in Arizona, California & Colorado · 1300 E. Missouri Avenue, Suite 230, Phoenix, AZ 85014 · 602-954-8766