Comprehensive Financial Planning for High-Net-Worth Bay Area Households
The decisions you make now can shape the next thirty years.
Comprehensive financial planning for Bay Area households working through the complex decisions of their peak-earning years: real estate, equity compensation, taxes, college, charitable giving, and the path toward retirement.
As your finances grow, the questions get harder.
For Bay Area households with high incomes, financial questions tend to become more complex each year. A multimillion-dollar home purchase. A vesting event worth more than the home. A second property or an investment property. College for two children that can approach $400,000 each. Stock option windows that close in months. Charitable goals that call for more than a year-end check. And underneath it all, a tax bill that can grow faster than the income that pays it.
Approaches that worked earlier in your career, whether a basic advice model, a do-it-yourself spreadsheet, or an automated portfolio, often aren't designed to model decisions of this size together, in a tax environment where uncoordinated moves can be costly.
That is the work we focus on. Index Gurus, Inc. is a fee-only practice providing comprehensive planning for high-net-worth households in their accumulation and peak-earning years, coordinating major decisions through tax-aware scenario modeling so today's choices are made with their long-term effects in view.
Who this is for.
Three life-stage profiles where we often see a 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 buying a first home, managing early equity compensation, starting families, and beginning to think seriously about long-term wealth structure. Decisions made now can set the direction 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. A period when coordinated planning can have a significant long-term effect.
Pre-retirement HNW
Households approaching retirement, often with a final equity vesting event or business sale ahead, beginning to think about withdrawal strategy, estate planning, and the move from accumulation to distribution. This is when our retirement income planning work takes a larger role.
The decisions we plan around.
Comprehensive planning is not generic. For high-net-worth households, the most consequential decisions tend to fall into a recognizable set of categories. Each one interacts with the others.
Real estate and major purchases
How to fund a Bay Area home purchase or investment property. Mortgage versus cash. Selling equity compensation for a down payment versus other approaches. Primary residence versus rental. Refinance decisions as rates change.
Equity compensation planning
RSU withholding and sale decisions. Incentive Stock Option exercise timing and AMT exposure. Employee Stock Purchase Plan decisions. Coordination on 10b5-1 sale schedules for executives. Net Unrealized Appreciation analysis for appreciated employer stock.
See our equity compensation and concentrated stock and NUA pages.
Tax-aware planning
Annual tax-bracket management across income sources. Capital gains realization timing. Tax-loss harvesting opportunities. State residency considerations. Coordination with your CPA on 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. Funding multiple children with different timelines.
Charitable giving and legacy
Donor-advised fund strategies. Gifting appreciated stock versus cash. Bunching deductions in high-income years. Charitable remainder trusts around major liquidity events. A multi-year 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 your estate attorney. Putting the foundation in place before complexity makes it harder to fix.
Modeling major decisions side by side.
We don't make recommendations in isolation. Major decisions are modeled against alternatives, so you can see the trade-offs between paths before choosing one, measured against the criteria that matter to your household.
The same decision, modeled three different ways.
For a major decision such as a home purchase, an equity exercise, a real estate investment, or a large gift, we build a side-by-side comparison of how it plays out under different structures. The comparison estimates the 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 a general illustration of how we might approach a common Bay Area decision: funding a $2 million primary residence purchase.
Sell equity comp for the down payment
Sell vested shares or exercise options to fund a 30% down payment. Reduces concentrated equity exposure and the mortgage size, but creates current-year taxes (capital gains on appreciated shares, or ordinary income on option exercises) that may push the household into a higher bracket.
Larger mortgage, smaller down payment
Take a larger mortgage with a smaller down payment, keeping equity compensation invested. Keeps exposure to the employer's stock, for better or worse, and increases monthly payments and interest expense.
Blended funding with staged sales
Combine a moderate down payment, funded by equity sales in lower-income years, with a manageable mortgage. Spreads the tax cost over multiple years while reducing concentration gradually, but leaves some exposure in place longer.
The right answer depends on your tax picture, your concentration exposure, your other goals, and the market environment at the time. The model makes the trade-offs visible; your judgment, informed by the model, makes the decision.
These scenarios are general illustrations. They do not represent any client's experience or predict any outcome.
We use the same approach for other major decisions: real estate investment versus continued portfolio investment, the timing of charitable gifts, college funding strategies, and large discretionary purchases. When a decision is large enough to matter for a decade or more, we model it before we recommend.
Planning that carries into retirement income planning.
The work we do with households in their accumulation and peak-earning years feeds into the retirement income strategy that follows. The way assets are located across account types during accumulation shapes the withdrawal options in retirement. Roth balances built in lower-income years can provide tax-free income in retirement when distributions are qualified. Estate structures set up now carry across the household's 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 same advisor and the same long-term plan carry through both stages.
How an engagement works.
Discovery call
A 30-minute conversation, at no cost and with no obligation, to understand your situation, the decisions on your horizon, and what you want from a long-term advisory relationship. We will tell you honestly whether an 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 horizon, typically delivered in about four weeks across three working sessions.
Ongoing relationship
Households with $1 million or more in investable assets may engage Index Gurus for ongoing, non-discretionary investment management coordinated with continued planning, billed as an annual percentage of assets under management and 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 major decisions interact. For high-net-worth households, planning decisions can matter as much as investment selection because they are large and sensitive to taxes. Many relationships include both.
Is there an asset minimum for standalone financial planning?
No. Standalone financial planning engagements are available without an asset minimum. Engagements start at $2,950 and produce a written plan. The $1 million minimum applies only to ongoing investment management.
What does the planning engagement include?
A planning engagement includes a written plan covering household goals and cash flow, tax strategy across income sources, equity compensation, real estate and major-purchase analysis, college funding, charitable giving, estate foundation review, insurance and risk management, and the major decisions on your 12-to-24-month horizon. Each engagement is tailored to the household, and recommendations are reviewed with you in working sessions.
How do you model real estate and major purchase decisions?
For a major purchase or real estate decision, we build a side-by-side comparison of two or three funding structures. Each scenario estimates the tax impact, cash flow implications, effect on long-term portfolio sustainability, and exposure to concentration risk, so the decision can be made on substance rather than instinct. Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees.
Do you help with equity compensation planning?
Yes. Equity compensation is one of the most common planning areas for Bay Area tech professionals and executives. Engagements may cover RSU withholding and sale decisions, Incentive Stock Option exercise timing and AMT analysis, Employee Stock Purchase Plan decisions, coordination on 10b5-1 sale schedules, and Net Unrealized Appreciation analysis. We coordinate with your CPA and, where relevant, your employer's stock plan administrator. See our equity compensation planning page for more.
Do you coordinate with my CPA and estate attorney?
Yes. Much of this planning touches the tax return and estate documents directly, so we take part in joint planning conversations, review tax returns alongside your CPA, and coordinate beneficiary designations and account titling with your estate attorney. If you don't have either professional, we can suggest practitioners for you to consider. We do not receive compensation for referrals, and Index Gurus does not provide tax or legal advice.
How does this work coordinate with retirement income planning?
Decisions made during accumulation shape the options available in retirement. How assets are placed across account types affects later withdrawal choices, and Roth balances built in lower-income years can provide tax-free income in retirement when distributions are qualified. As clients approach retirement, the focus shifts to our retirement income planning process: withdrawal sequencing, IRMAA management, and the Confidence Zone framework.
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes. Index Gurus, Inc. is a fee-only registered investment adviser and acts as a fiduciary when providing advice to clients. We accept no commissions, referral fees, or product-placement payments. Other economic benefits, such as services made available through our custodian, and other conflicts of interest are described in Form ADV Part 2A, which we recommend reviewing before any engagement.
Where is your office and do you meet remotely?
We are based in Walnut Creek, California. We meet clients by secure video conference, at Schwab branch locations across the Bay Area, or at a location convenient to you in the East Bay or San Francisco. We do not maintain a walk-in office, so meetings are by appointment. We work with households across the 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 an engagement is a fit. No sales pressure, no obligation.
Index Gurus, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training, nor does it imply endorsement by the State of California. Information on this page is general and educational and does not constitute personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. Personalized advice is provided only after entering into a written advisory agreement.
Scenario modeling and examples are hypothetical and for educational purposes only; recommendations depend on each client's circumstances, applicable tax law, and the 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. Index Gurus, Inc. does not provide tax or legal advice; consult your CPA or attorney. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Please review our Form ADV Part 2A for information on services, fees, and conflicts of interest; it is available on request and through the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website. See our Disclosures page for full risk disclosures and privacy policy. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® in the U.S.