The decisions you make now compound for the next thirty years.
Comprehensive financial planning for Bay Area households navigating the complex decisions of peak-earning years — real estate, equity compensation, taxes, college, charitable giving, and the path toward retirement.
Most HNW households outgrow their advisor before they outgrow the questions.
For Bay Area households earning well into six or seven figures, the financial questions get more complex every year. A $3 million home purchase. A vesting cliff worth more than the home. A second property, or an investment property. College for two children at $400,000 each. Stock option windows that expire in months. Charitable goals that demand more sophistication than a year-end check. And underneath all of it, a tax bill that grows faster than the income that pays it.
The advisors who got you to this point are often not the right advisors to take you through it. The retail advice models, the do-it-yourself spreadsheets, the generic robo-portfolios — none of them are built to model decisions of this scale, in coordination with each other, against a tax landscape that punishes uncoordinated moves.
Index Gurus, Inc. is built for this. We are a fee-only fiduciary practice that does comprehensive planning for high-net-worth households in their accumulation and peak-earning years — coordinating every major decision through tax-aware scenario modeling, so the moves you make today still work ten and twenty and thirty years from now.
Who this is for.
Three life-stage profiles where we see strong fit. Each shares the same core challenge — the financial decisions ahead are too complex and too consequential to make in isolation.
Family-formation HNW
Dual high-earner couples in their first home purchase, navigating early equity compensation, starting families, and beginning to think seriously about long-term wealth structure. Decisions made now set the trajectory for the next two decades.
Peak-earnings HNW
Executives, partners, founders, and professionals at the height of their earning years, with concentrated equity, second properties, college obligations, and growing complexity across income sources. The window where coordinated planning produces the largest lifetime impact.
Pre-retirement HNW
HNW households approaching retirement, often with a final equity vesting event or business sale on the horizon, beginning to think about withdrawal strategy, estate planning, and the transition from accumulation to distribution. This is also when our retirement income planning work begins to take over.
The decisions we plan around.
Comprehensive planning is not generic. For HNW households, the high-leverage decisions cluster around a recognizable set of categories. Each one interacts with the others; none can be optimized in isolation.
Real estate and major purchases
How to fund a Bay Area home purchase or investment property. Mortgage versus cash. Liquidating equity comp to fund a down payment versus alternative strategies. Primary residence versus rental. Refinance decisions during rate cycles.
Equity compensation planning
RSU vesting and tax withholding strategy. Incentive Stock Option exercise timing and AMT exposure. Employee Stock Purchase Plan optimization. 10b5-1 plan structuring for executives. Net Unrealized Appreciation strategies for highly appreciated employer stock.
Tax optimization
Annual tax-bracket management across income sources. Capital gains realization timing. Tax-loss harvesting opportunities. State residency considerations. Coordination with the household's CPA on integrated annual tax planning.
College funding for HNW families
529 plan strategy when the family won't qualify for need-based aid. Cash flow funding versus pre-funded accounts. Coordinating gifts from grandparents. Optimizing tax credits within phase-out ranges. Funding multiple children with different timelines.
Charitable giving and legacy
Donor-Advised Fund strategies. Appreciated stock gifting versus cash. Bunching deductions in high-income years. Charitable Remainder Trusts for major liquidity events. Building a multi-decade giving plan rather than one-off year-end checks.
Estate foundations
Beneficiary designation review across all accounts. Revocable trust structure and account titling. Annual exclusion gifting strategies. Coordination with the household's estate attorney. Building the estate foundation now, before complexity makes it harder to fix later.
Modeling major decisions side by side.
The defining feature of how we work is that we do not give recommendations in isolation. Every major decision is modeled against alternatives — so the path we recommend is visibly better than the path you would have taken without it, against the criteria that actually matter to your household.
The same decision, modeled three different ways.
For any major financial decision — a home purchase, an equity exercise, a real estate investment, a large gift — we build a side-by-side comparison of how the decision plays out under different structures. The comparison makes visible what is otherwise invisible: the lifetime tax impact of each path, the cash flow implications, the effect on long-term portfolio sustainability, and the trade-offs you would otherwise have to guess at.
Below is an illustration of how we would approach a common Bay Area decision: funding a $2 million primary residence purchase.
Liquidate equity comp for down payment
Sell vested RSUs or exercise options to fund a 30% down payment. Reduces concentrated equity exposure and lowers mortgage size, but triggers current-year capital gains and may push the household into higher tax brackets.
Mortgage with minimal down payment
Take a larger mortgage with a smaller down payment, keeping equity compensation invested. Preserves concentrated equity for future appreciation but increases monthly cash flow commitment and interest expense.
Blended funding with tax-aware exits
Combine a moderate down payment funded by strategic equity sales in lower-income years with a manageable mortgage. Smooths tax exposure over multiple years while reducing concentration risk gradually.
The right answer depends on your specific tax picture, your concentration exposure, your other goals, and the broader market environment at the time of the decision. The model makes the trade-offs visible. Your judgment — informed by the model — makes the decision.
The same scenario-modeling approach applies across other major decisions: real estate investment versus continued portfolio investment, charitable giving timing across multiple years, college funding strategies, and any large discretionary purchase. Whenever the decision is large enough to matter for a decade or more, we model it before we recommend.
Planning that flows into retirement income planning, seamlessly.
The work we do for HNW households in their accumulation and peak-earning years feeds directly into the retirement income strategy that follows. The asset locations we build during accumulation become the withdrawal sources during retirement. The Roth balances we build during low-income years become tax-free retirement income. The estate structures we set up now compound across the household's full life.
As clients approach retirement, the focus shifts to our retirement income planning process — withdrawal sequencing, IRMAA management, RMD planning, and the Confidence Zone framework. The transition is seamless because the same advisor, the same firm, and the same long-term plan carries you through both chapters.
How an engagement works.
Discovery call
A 30-minute conversation, at no cost, to understand your situation, the most pressing decisions on your horizon, and what you want from a long-term advisor relationship. We will tell you honestly whether the engagement is a fit.
Planning engagement
Standalone planning engagements start at $2,950 and produce a written plan covering goals, cash flow, taxes, equity compensation, real estate, college, charitable giving, estate foundations, and the major decisions on your specific horizon. Delivered in four weeks across three working sessions.
Ongoing relationship
Households with $1 million or more in investable assets may engage Index Gurus for ongoing investment management coordinated with continued planning. Investment management is billed as an annual percentage of assets under management, separate from planning fees.
Frequently asked questions.
How is comprehensive financial planning different from investment management?
Investment management focuses on how a portfolio is built and managed. Comprehensive financial planning addresses the full picture: cash flow, taxes, equity compensation, real estate, college funding, charitable giving, estate, and insurance — and how every major decision interacts with the others. For HNW households, the financial-planning work often produces more lifetime impact than investment selection alone, because the decisions involved are larger and more sensitive to taxes. A complete relationship typically includes both.
Is there an asset minimum for standalone financial planning?
No. Standalone financial planning engagements are available to any household, without an asset minimum. Engagements start at $2,950 and produce a written plan. The $1 million minimum applies only to ongoing investment management engagements.
What does the planning engagement actually include?
A complete planning engagement includes a written plan covering household goals and cash flow, tax strategy across income sources, equity compensation planning, real estate and major-purchase analysis, college funding strategy, charitable giving coordination, estate foundation review, insurance and risk management, and the major decisions on your specific 12-to-24-month horizon. Each engagement is tailored to the household's situation. Delivery is in writing, accompanied by working sessions to walk through the recommendations.
How do you model real estate and major purchase decisions?
For any major purchase or real estate decision, we build a side-by-side comparison of two to three funding structures. Each scenario shows the lifetime tax impact, cash flow implications, effect on long-term portfolio sustainability, and exposure to concentration risk. The output makes the trade-offs visible so the decision can be made on substance rather than instinct. The same approach applies to home purchases, second properties, investment properties, and other large discretionary moves.
Do you help with equity compensation planning?
Yes. Equity compensation planning is one of the most common HNW planning areas, especially for Bay Area tech professionals and executives. Engagements may cover RSU vesting and tax withholding strategy, Incentive Stock Option exercise timing and AMT analysis, Employee Stock Purchase Plan optimization, 10b5-1 plan structuring, and Net Unrealized Appreciation strategies for highly appreciated employer stock. We coordinate with the client's CPA and, where relevant, the employer's stock plan administrator.
Do you coordinate with my CPA and estate attorney?
Yes. Most HNW planning work touches the tax return and the estate documents directly, which makes coordination with the client's CPA and estate attorney essential. We routinely participate in joint planning conversations, review tax returns alongside the CPA, and coordinate beneficiary designations and account titling with the estate attorney. If you do not currently have either professional, we can recommend qualified practitioners we have worked with.
How does this work coordinate with retirement income planning?
The decisions made during accumulation directly shape the options available in retirement. The asset locations built now become the withdrawal sources later. The Roth balances built during low-income years become tax-free retirement income. The estate foundations set up now compound across decades. As clients approach retirement, the focus shifts to our retirement income planning process — withdrawal sequencing, IRMAA management, and the Confidence Zone framework. The transition is seamless because the same advisor and the same long-term plan carry through both chapters.
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes. Index Gurus, Inc. is a registered investment adviser and operates as a fiduciary at all times, on all accounts, in all aspects of the client relationship. We accept no commissions, referral fees, or third-party compensation. Our only revenue is the fee our clients pay us. Form ADV Part 2A is publicly available and we recommend reviewing it before any engagement.
Where is your office and do you meet remotely?
Our office is at 5350 Paso Del Rio Way, Concord, CA 94521. We meet clients in person at our office, at their preferred location in the East Bay or San Francisco, or via secure video conference depending on preference. We work with households across the entire Bay Area including Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, Danville, San Francisco, and the Peninsula.
Let's plan the next decade together.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. We will listen, ask focused questions about the decisions on your horizon, and tell you honestly whether the engagement is a fit. No sales pressure, no obligation.
Index Gurus, Inc. is a registered investment adviser. Information on this page is educational and does not constitute personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. Scenario modeling and illustrative examples are for educational purposes only; specific recommendations depend on each client's individual circumstances, applicable tax law in effect, and the broader market environment. References to types of client situations are illustrative of categories of work the firm has performed; they are not testimonials and do not represent the experience of any specific client. Tax laws are subject to change and individual results vary. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please review Form ADV Part 2A for additional information regarding services, fees, and conflicts of interest.