Tech Finance Guide: Maximize Your Equity And Benefits
If you're a tech professional with stock options, RSUs, or an ESPP, this course is your roadmap to making smarter, more confident financial decisions. Taught by a financial planner who spent nearly a decade as a software engineer, this course demystifies equity compensation and company benefits so you can fully understand what you have—and use it to build the life you want.
You’ll learn how to avoid common tax traps, how to maximize the upside of your equity, and how to think more clearly and strategically about your compensation. Whether you're at a public company or a startup, this course will help you go from overwhelmed to in control.
In this course, you’ll:
- Learn how public company Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) are actually taxed (and the unexpected tax quirks of RSUs vesting monthly)
- Discover why early-year Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) exercises could save you thousands in taxes
- Understand the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and why it matters when you exercise ISOs, and strategies for navigating this parallel tax system
- Explore several strategies for maximizing the upside leverage of your Nonqualified Stock Options (NSOs/NQSOs) while minimizing the downside risk
- Uncover why you might want to participate in your company’s Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), and when holding for a qualified disposition can actually cause you to pay more in taxes
- Learn how to maximize your 401(k), IRA, and Roth opportunities—including Backdoor and Mega Backdoor Roths
- Learn about the most tax-advantaged saving vehicle in the U.S. that you might be overlooking—the Health Savings Account (HSA)
Whether you’re navigating a new offer, a liquidity event, or just want to stop guessing and start optimizing, this course gives you the tools—and the mindset—to take charge of your equity compensation and benefits.
While this course does not constitute personalized financial advice, it aims to equip you with a solid foundation of education to help you navigate the complicated terrain of equity compensation.
Andy Moran is a former software engineer turned financial planner who helps tech professionals maximize their equity compensation and intellectual capital to create lives of freedom and purpose. After nearly a decade in the startup world, they experienced burnout, planned their own sabbatical, and discovered firsthand how intentional financial planning can unlock bold life changes. That journey inspired them to pass the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ exam and launch Ad Astra Financial Planning in early 2023, where they specialize in equity strategy, career transitions, sabbaticals, and early retirement.
Since founding Ad Astra Financial Planning, Andy has been featured in USA Today, MSN, U.S. News & World Report, Wealth Management, and The Sabbatical Project, among others. They’ve guided several clients through complex equity decisions and life transitions, helping them align their finances with what matters most. Andy has worked with engineers at companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and other Big Tech cos.
When they’re not working with clients, Andy calls the San Francisco Bay Area home while embracing a semi-nomadic lifestyle—traveling the American West in a converted van, hiking through nature, and exploring new places. They’re living the kind of flexible, intentional life they help others design for themselves.
If you want to get additional support from Andy:
