Stock Options and Equity Compensation

“Despite the dramatic ups and downs of my company's stock post-IPO, I'm calm and grateful knowing we've built a trading plan that will support our big-picture financial goals.” - Jackson and Holly

“Without Brooklyn FI's expertise, I would never have known I held QSBS shares during my liquidity event.” - Joyce

“Working with Brooklyn FI was the best decision we made last year. They are a team of down-to-earth humans who are also financial superheroes. John and the team helped us make quick and expert decisions in a short period of time (#startupstock), organize all aspects of our finances, meet us where we are to explain challenging topics, and they also do taxes to put the cherry on top!” - Erin and Ryan

All testimonials and/or endorsements have been provided by real current and/or former clients. No current or former client was compensated, directly or indirectly, for providing these statements. Brooklyn FI, LLC gained each client's permission to publish their testimonial/endorsement.

We do your taxes. 

Not only do we help with complicated tax planning scenarios, we actually prepare and file your tax return. We have a tax team of CPAs and Enrolled Agents who work closely with the financial team to make sure everything is reported correctly. We correct costly errors on tax returns all the time made simply because the investment advisor wasn’t communicating directly with the tax preparer. If you have ISOs or NQOs, it’s DANGEROUS not to use a tax preparer who understands equity compensation. It is SO important for your financial advisor to understand your tax situation because often costly penalties can be avoided by withholding adjustments. Playing telephone between your CPA and your CFP® is a nightmare.

We are credentialed. 

As a firm, we believe strongly in education and constant learning (in fact, it’s one of our core values). All of our planners are Certified Financial Planners, and Enrolled Agents or CPAs. They’ve got the financial planning background and strong tax knowledge. We also require all of our planners to become Equity Compensation Associates or Certified Equity Professionals. Those are designations offered to individuals with deep knowledge of how equity plans work. We love equity so much that we not only help the employees and investors but we know how to draft the equity plans themselves. 

We provide a crystal ball. 

We use advanced tools to show you different outcomes in a way that’s easy to understand. Many firms rely on jargon-filled reports to value your options but we’re here to educate and plan WITH you, not FOR you. We use multi-year scenarios to show you the tax consequences of different outcomes years before they happen. You’ll know your April tax bill months before you have to pay it. We’ll also review old returns to look for errors and omissions. A typical accountant or CPA is only looking at what’s already happened, we’re proactive about changing future outcomes for the better. 

We help you take a step back. 

While we’re leading technical experts in the tax implications of equity comp, we are also fun to work with. We also spend time getting to know you and setting personal and life goals. We think this is an important one, maybe the most important one on this list. In our comprehensive approach to financial planning we first ask you “what makes you happy and what do you need to get there” (in so many words) before we dive into the nitty gritty tax planning scenarios. Put simply: what is all this money FOR? Is it for a home purchase? An exit from a high-paying corporate job at 37? A cross-country move? Starting a bed and breakfast? Donating most of it to a cause you believe in? We’ll spend one of our first meetings trying to get to the heart of the matter.

We do it all. 

We can handle everything from preparing your tax return to helping you purchase a home. Sure, your spouse’s potential million-dollar payout from an IPO is why you came in the door but maybe you need help figuring out how expensive your home should be or even how to get started on the mortgage approval process. We can help with all that. In addition to tax preparation and financial planning, we also offer investment management. Most clients elect to have BKFi manage their assets for a separate fee, but we don’t require it.