7 Most Reviewed Financial Advisors for Tech Employees With Equity Comp

7 Most Reviewed Financial Advisors for Tech Employees With Equity Comp

A vested RSU grant is a one-day tax event with consequences that play out over five years. Most generalist financial advisors are still treating it like a savings goal.

Tech employees who own a meaningful slice of their company through equity — RSUs that vest on a schedule, ISOs that can trigger AMT, ESPP shares that have to be timed, options that expire — need an advisor who can read the grant documents and the tax return at the same time. That is a smaller list than the size of the industry suggests.

Below are seven financial and wealth advisory profiles on Sam's List, ordered by current review count among live advisor profiles that state equity-compensation, stock-option, or tech-professional planning relevance. Listings are not endorsements, are not based on performance or returns data, and are not a recommendation.

How this list is built

Sam's List is a directory of financial advisors and accountants. Profiles include verified client reviews, stated fiduciary status, fee structure, regulatory registration type, and the services each professional says they provide.

The ordering method is explicit and narrow:

• Ranked by current Sam's List review count — the number of verified client reviews on the profile at the time of writing, highest first.
• Eligible pool — live advisor profiles that list equity compensation, executive compensation, or stock option planning among their stated services, or that state a focus on tech professionals with equity.
• Not a performance ranking — investment results are not reported, compared, or evaluated anywhere in this list, and review count is not a measure of skill or outcome.

Everything in each writeup below comes from the advisor's own current Sam's List profile: stated services, stated fee structures, disclosed fiduciary status, and registration type. Past reviews and past planning work do not guarantee future results. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Before engaging any advisor, look them up on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database or FINRA's BrokerCheck. Registration with the SEC or a state does not imply approval or a certain level of skill.

1. Ryan Johnson, CFP®, BFA™ — 12 reviews

Ryan Johnson, CFP®, BFA™ has the highest verified review count in this group with 12 reviews. The profile describes Hundred Financial Planning as a fee-only firm working with successful professionals and families whose finances have outgrown DIY tools, specifically naming stock compensation and tax planning alongside home purchases, growing families, and early financial independence.

Stated services on the profile include Stock Option Planning, Executive Compensation, Tax Planning & Strategy, Tax Loss Harvesting, Financial Planning, Investment Management, and Estate Planning. The profile discloses fiduciary status, SEC-registered status, and a firm-is-an-RIA / personally-registered-IAR structure, with fee options listed as a one-time financial planning fee, a percentage of assets, or a subscription flat fee or retainer. Service area is nationwide.

For a tech employee, the useful signal here is the combination of stock option planning and tax planning listed as services on the same profile, plus a planning-fee option that does not require handing over a portfolio.

View Ryan Johnson's Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

2. Pillar Wealth — 10 reviews

Pillar Wealth has 10 verified reviews. The profile is openly critical of the traditional single-advisor, product-selling model and describes a team approach for clients with several moving parts at once — taxes, equity, business interests, and real estate.

Stated services include Equity Compensation, Tax Planning & Strategy, Financial Planning, Investment Management, Estate Planning, Business Succession and Exit Planning, Real Estate Advisory, and Family Office Services. The profile discloses fiduciary status, State-registered status, and a firm-is-an-RIA / IAR structure. Listed fee options are hourly, a one-time financial planning fee, a subscription flat fee or retainer, and other arrangements specified directly. Service area is nationwide.

Relevant for tech employees whose equity sits next to a side business, rental property, or a spouse's company stock, where the planning question is coordination rather than any single account.

View the Pillar Wealth Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

3. Arynton Hardy — 10 reviews

Arynton Hardy also has 10 verified reviews. The profile states the practice is built for people whose income is not typical, and names tech employees navigating stock options and RSUs, founders after a first exit, and athletes with concentrated single-year income.

Stated services include Stock Option Planning, Executive Compensation, Tax Planning & Strategy, Financial Planning, Investment Management, Life Transition Planning, Estate Planning, and Real Estate Advisory. The profile discloses fiduciary status, SEC-registered status, and a firm-is-an-RIA / IAR structure, with fee options listed as a percentage of assets and a one-time financial planning fee. Service area is nationwide.

The explicit mention of liquidity events and sudden wealth is worth noting for anyone approaching an IPO, a tender offer, or a first large vest.

View Arynton Hardy's Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

4. VDB Wealth — 8 reviews

VDB Wealth, led by Andy VandenBerg, has 8 verified reviews. The profile describes boutique, high-touch wealth management for entrepreneurs and business owners, acting as one point of coordination across investment management, tax strategy, estate planning, and long-term financial planning.

Stated services include Equity Compensation, Financial Planning, Investment Management, Estate Planning, Business Succession Planning, Exit Planning, Family Wealth Transfer, and Family Office Services. The profile discloses fiduciary status, State-registered status, and an RIA-and-IAR structure, with fee options listed as a percentage of assets and a flat fee or retainer. Service area is nationwide.

Most relevant for a tech employee who is also an owner — an equity stake plus a consultancy, a startup, or an operating business alongside the day job.

View the VDB Wealth Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

5. Anthony Syracuse, CFP® — 5 reviews

Anthony Syracuse, CFP® has 5 verified reviews. The profile describes Dynamic Financial Planning as a fee-only, fiduciary firm built for tech professionals navigating equity compensation, and for creatives and business owners, and states there are no asset minimums and no required investment management.

Stated services include Stock Option Planning, Equity Compensation, Tax Planning & Strategy, Financial Planning, Cash Flow Management, Investment Management, Estate Planning, and Risk Management. The profile discloses fiduciary status, State-registered status, and an RIA-and-IAR structure, with fee options listed as a one-time financial planning fee, hourly, a percentage of assets, and a flat fee or retainer. Based in Scottsdale, serving clients nationwide.

The no-minimum, planning-only option is the practical difference for an employee whose net worth is mostly unvested or illiquid equity rather than a transferable portfolio.

View Anthony Syracuse's Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

6. Steven Evensen, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management — 3 reviews

Steven Evensen of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management has 3 verified reviews. The profile describes a Santa Monica firm whose stated main client focus is younger generations — primarily tech professionals with equity compensation, entrepreneurs, and creatives — along with young families balancing career growth and long-term planning.

Stated services include Stock Option Planning, Executive Compensation, Tax Planning & Strategy, Financial Planning, Investment Management, Retirement Planning, Social Security Planning, Estate Planning, and Trust Services. The profile discloses fiduciary status, SEC-registered status, and an RIA-and-IAR structure, with fee options listed as a percentage of assets and hourly. Service area is nationwide.

Useful for readers who want a larger firm's bench behind them while still naming equity compensation as a core focus rather than an afterthought.

View Steven Evensen's Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

7. Capital Area Planning Group — 2 reviews

Capital Area Planning Group, led by Malcolm Ethridge, has 2 verified reviews. The profile describes a boutique financial planning and investment management firm in Washington, D.C. serving senior managers and executives in tech, with stated expertise spanning equity compensation and other executive benefits, strategic tax planning, retirement income, estate and legacy planning, and insurance planning.

Stated services include Stock Option Planning, Equity Compensation, Executive Compensation, Individual Tax Preparation, Investment Management, 401(k) & IRA Management, Estate Planning, and Real Estate Advisory. The profile discloses fiduciary status, SEC-registered status, and a firm-is-an-RIA / IAR structure, with fee options listed as a subscription, a flat fee or retainer, and a percentage of assets. Service area is nationwide.

The individual tax preparation service listed alongside equity compensation planning is unusual on an advisor profile, and it matters for anyone whose planning and filing currently sit with two firms that never speak.

View the Capital Area Planning Group Sam's List profile and verified reviews.

What the most reviewed equity comp profiles have in common

Reading these seven profiles next to each other, a few patterns repeat, and they are worth using as screening criteria on any advisor you consider.

Disclosed fiduciary structure. Every profile above states fiduciary status and the entity through which it is owed. A non-fiduciary or dual-registered advisor is not disqualified, but the disclosure matters: the relationship is different when an advisor is paid by commission on product sales than when the same advisor charges a flat, hourly, or asset-based fee. Both can be legitimate. Your job is to know which one is happening.

Withholding on a vest is not automatically your final tax. RSU income at vest is compensation, and how much is withheld depends on the method the employer uses. Under current federal rules, the optional flat-rate method for supplemental wages applies 22% up to $1 million of supplemental wages in a calendar year and 37% above that threshold, while aggregate-method withholding can produce a different result. For a higher-bracket employee, flat-rate withholding can leave a gap that shows up at filing, which is why several of the profiles above list tax planning as a service rather than a referral.

ISO exercises and AMT are a separate calendar. Exercising incentive stock options can create alternative minimum tax exposure in the year of exercise even if no shares are sold. That is planning that has to run in parallel with the tax return, not behind it, so ask whether the advisor reviews prior-year returns and coordinates directly with your tax preparer.

Holding versus selling is situation-dependent. Holding shares after vest does not change the ordinary income already recognized at vest. What holding changes is what happens next: later appreciation or depreciation, and whether a future gain or loss is short-term or long-term. Concentration risk, cash needs, and your other holdings all feed the decision, so there is no single correct answer.

10b5-1 experience becomes relevant fast. A 10b5-1 plan is a pre-arranged trading plan that, when adopted in good faith and consistent with SEC Rule 10b5-1, can provide an affirmative defense against insider-trading claims for trades made under the plan. Following the SEC's December 2022 amendments, cooling-off periods apply before trading can begin under a new or modified plan — generally the longer of 90 days after adoption or two business days after the issuer's earnings disclosure for the second fiscal quarter after adoption, capped at 120 days, for officers and directors, and 30 days for other persons. If you are approaching director-level grants or blackout windows, ask about it before the first restricted period hits.

What to verify on any advisor profile before booking

Three checks worth running regardless of which listing brings you in:

• Confirm the advisor's regulatory status on the SEC's IAPD database or FINRA's BrokerCheck. Look at Form ADV Parts 2A and 2B for the firm's disciplinary history, fee schedule, and conflicts of interest.
• Read the fee disclosure carefully. Fee-only, fee-based, and commission models compensate the advisor differently and create different incentive structures.
• Ask explicitly about coordination with your CPA on equity comp events. The advisor's answer, and whether they will commit to it in writing, is the planning relationship in miniature.

All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance and past reviews do not guarantee future results. Registration with the SEC or a state regulator does not imply a particular level of skill or training. Sam's List does not provide investment, tax, or legal advice, and listing order here reflects review count only.

Browse the full list on Sam's List

The seven advisors above are the most reviewed equity-compensation-relevant advisor profiles on Sam's List at the time of writing. The full directory — with verified reviews, stated fee structures, and disclosed registrations — is on the Sam's List financial advisor directory, and you can compare several at once through the guided match flow.

If you are still narrowing the field, our overview of the role of an equity compensation financial advisor walks through what good planning looks like for tech employees with RSUs.

More equity-compensation planning resources

If your main question is choosing an advisor for RSUs, see our RSU financial advisor guide. If you are trying to estimate whether payroll withholding may cover your vesting income, use the RSU tax and withholding calculator. For the tax sequence itself, read how RSUs are taxed from vesting through sale.