Income & Managed Overlay Strategies

The Challenge

Dennis, a veteran employee of a major financial technology firm, was presented an early-retirement package under a company restructuring. With young children, Dennis and his wife, Marie, assumed that he would need to seek a new job for the first time in years. He was not thrilled about the prospect of starting anew with another company. In consultation with Summitry, they shared their preferred path—immersing the family in Parisian culture during a long sabbatical. The family’s situation was complicated by the fact that they had not sold company shares accumulated over years of employment through RSUs, so they began this next stage of their lives with a substantial embedded tax liability, should they sell the shares to fund their lifestyle expenses.

The Goal

Dennis and Marie hoped that it would be possible to take a break from work, and grow closer as a family through the Parisian sabbatical. They felt that they had the means to do something like this, but needed to make sure before launching down this path.

The Solution

Through financial planning, we showed Dennis and Marie that there were a number of viable paths they could take, including the sabbatical. We explored the use of Exchange Funds to diversify them away from the single stock exposure on a tax-advantaged basis, and of option overlay strategies to provide additional income from their stock concentration in connection with tax-managed share sales. Ultimately, the couple executed the latter strategy, invested proceeds in an income-generating investment allocation managed by Summitry, and leased out their Bay Area property to provide funding for their Parisian dream.