If you live and work in Silicon Valley, your financial life probably doesn’t fit into neat categories.
Compensation may come in salary, bonuses and equity. Your balance sheet may include concentrated stock, a business interest or investment real estate. Taxes may span multiple states or even countries. At the same time, you’re thinking about retirement, your children, your parents and long-term legacy decisions.
At Johanson & Yau, planning begins with the understanding that these elements are connected. Tax strategy, investments, business decisions and long-term goals are approached as parts of one coordinated plan.
Planning That Reflects Reality
For many of our clients, the real challenge isn’t choosing an investment. It’s understanding how one decision influences everything else.
- An equity vesting schedule affects future tax exposure.
- A business structure shapes retirement plan design.
- A liquidity event changes risk tolerance and long-term priorities.
When those conversations happen in isolation, decisions can feel reactive. When they are evaluated together, there is more intention behind the outcome.
Because Johanson & Yau operates alongside a robust accounting practice, tax considerations are part of the conversation from the beginning. That integrated view often reveals opportunities — and tradeoffs — that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Questions We Often Hear
When people begin thinking about a more integrated approach to financial planning, the conversation usually starts with a few important questions.
How should I plan around RSUs or stock options?
Equity compensation can be transformative, but it also carries tax and concentration considerations. A coordinated plan helps evaluate timing of exercises, potential tax exposure and how equity fits into overall diversification.
Should my CPA work with my financial advisor?
For many high earners, the answer is yes. Taxes influence nearly every financial decision. When your advisor and CPA collaborate directly, planning becomes more cohesive. Cash flow, investment strategy and tax projections can be aligned rather than addressed in isolation.
When should I create a formal financial plan?
The best time to build a financial plan is before major transitions occur. Many people begin planning while preparing for an IPO, considering the sale of a business, stepping into a leadership role or noticing that their wealth has become more complex. Starting earlier allows you to model scenarios, anticipate tax implications and make thoughtful decisions rather than reacting under pressure. A structured plan provides direction ahead of those inflection points and continues to evolve as circumstances change.
What Clients Experience
Working with Johanson & Yau is centered on building durable structure around your financial life.
Clients often arrive with a specific question — about equity, a business decision or retirement timing. The conversation expands naturally to include broader considerations:
- What does success look like in five or 10 years?
- How much flexibility do you want in your career?
- How can your financial strategy support both growth and stability?
Those conversations tend to move beyond portfolios and into alignment — across tax, investments, risk and long-term goals.
A Relationship That Evolves
Financial planning is ongoing, especially for founders, business owners and high-income professionals in Silicon Valley. Careers accelerate, companies scale and personal priorities shift.
Our role is to stay alongside those changes and adjust the strategy as needed. That may mean revisiting retirement plan design as a business matures, coordinating charitable planning with shifting tax exposure or reassessing risk coverage as net worth increases.
At Johanson & Yau, we believe integrated planning can make a meaningful difference — particularly when financial decisions carry significant consequences.
If your financial life has outgrown a one-dimensional approach, it may be time for a different kind of conversation. Contact our office to get started.