Bay Area
Tax & Wealth Advisory in the Bay Area
Bilingual, fee-transparent planning for engineers, product managers and their families across Silicon Valley and San Francisco, in English or Mandarin.
- San Jose
- Cupertino
- Santa Clara
- Milpitas
- San Francisco
The Bay Area is where equity compensation stops being an abstract line on an offer letter and becomes the largest part of a household's balance sheet. If you are an engineer or product manager at a large public tech company in Cupertino, Santa Clara or San Jose, a meaningful share of your pay likely arrives as RSUs that vest on a schedule you did not choose. If you work at a pre-IPO startup in San Francisco or Milpitas, you may be holding ISOs or NSOs whose value, and whose tax consequences, depend on decisions you have not yet made. Either way, the questions are the same: how much tax is really owed, when to sell, what to keep, and how it all fits into a longer plan for your family.
We work with tech professionals across the South Bay and San Francisco, including the dense Taiwanese-American community in Cupertino and Milpitas, many of whom are first-generation immigrants building wealth in a second language. Grace advises in both English and Mandarin, so you can discuss a 401(k), a backdoor Roth or an AMT projection in whichever language feels natural, and bring a spouse or parent into the conversation without translation. Our planning is independent and fee-transparent: we do not sell products or earn commissions, and every recommendation has to stand on its own merits.
Services most relevant here
RSU & RSA Planning
Most Bay Area tech pay arrives as RSUs, and the flat 22% federal withholding at vest rarely matches a Silicon Valley household's actual bracket.
Learn moreStock Options (ISO & NSO)
Pre-IPO startups in San Francisco and the South Bay grant ISOs and NSOs, where exercise timing and AMT exposure are decided long before any liquidity event.
Learn moreProactive Tax Strategy
High California income tax, mid-year vesting and the possibility of relocation make year-round tax projection more valuable here than almost anywhere else.
Learn moreHolistic Financial Planning
When one employer's stock is your salary, your bonus and your net worth, a holistic plan helps you decide how much concentration in a single company is reasonable for your family.
Learn more
How we meet
We are a virtual-first practice, so most Bay Area clients meet with Grace over secure video and share documents through an encrypted portal, with no drive on 101 or 280 required. If you would prefer to meet in person, that can be arranged by appointment for Bay Area clients. Please note that we do not maintain a walk-in office.
Virtual consultations nationwide
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to live in San Jose or San Francisco to work with you?
No. We serve the whole Bay Area, from San Francisco down the Peninsula to Santa Clara, Cupertino, Milpitas and San Jose, and most of that work happens over secure video. If you would like to meet in person, we can arrange it by appointment. Location matters less than fit: what we look for is a client with equity compensation and real questions about it.
My company is still pre-IPO. Is it too early to start planning?
Usually it is the best time. Decisions about when to exercise ISOs, whether an early exercise makes sense and how much AMT exposure you can absorb are made years before any liquidity event, and they are hard to undo. A conversation now, while the numbers are small and the options are open, tends to be far more valuable than one after the S-1 is filed.
I'm on an H-1B visa in San Jose. Does that change how you plan?
It changes the questions, not the quality of the plan. Visa status can affect how long you expect to stay in the United States, which in turn shapes how you think about a 401(k), a concentrated stock position or a home purchase. We are not immigration attorneys and do not advise on visa matters, but we build plans that hold up whether you stay for three years or thirty, and we can coordinate with your immigration counsel where timing overlaps.
Can my spouse or parents join our meetings in Mandarin?
Yes, and we encourage it. Many of our clients in Cupertino and Milpitas are first-generation immigrants from Taiwan whose parents or spouses are more comfortable in Mandarin. Grace advises fluently in both languages, so everyone at the table hears the same explanation and no one has to translate a term like AMT or backdoor Roth over dinner.
Ready to turn your uncertainty into certainties?
Start with a complimentary 15-minute strategy session. We will look at your portfolio, your tax picture and your goals, and tell you plainly what we would do next.