Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)

Receiving Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) as part of your remuneration can be a powerful way to build wealth. But as your shares accumulate, the financial decisions become more important.

You might have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in your employer's shares, with further grants due to vest over the coming years. Deciding when to sell, how much to retain and what to do with the proceeds can have a significant impact on your financial future.

There are also important tax considerations. RSUs can create substantial taxable income, sometimes before you've received any cash from selling the shares. And when your employment income and a significant proportion of your investments depend on the same company, you're exposed to risks that are easily overlooked.

At Northeast Wealth, we help you develop a strategy for managing your RSUs as part of your broader financial position. We consider your employee shares alongside your tax position, investments, superannuation, mortgage and long-term financial goals.

Our focus is on helping you turn your equity compensation into lasting personal wealth, with a clear strategy for what to retain, what to sell and how to invest the proceeds.

Develop a strategy for your employee shares

When RSUs vest, you face an important decision: retain the shares, sell them or take a combination of both approaches.

We help you assess your employer shareholding alongside your existing investments, financial goals and tolerance for risk.

Rather than making individual decisions each time shares vest, we can help establish a clear strategy for managing your equity compensation over time.

This gives you a framework for deciding how much exposure to retain and how your future vesting events can contribute towards your broader financial goals.

Manage tax and investment decisions

RSUs can create significant tax liabilities, particularly when large grants vest or multiple vesting events occur within the same financial year.

Understanding when tax becomes payable, how share sales are treated and how much money to retain for future tax obligations can be an important part of managing your equity compensation.

We help you consider the financial planning implications of your RSUs, including how sale proceeds could be allocated towards investments, superannuation or debt reduction.

Where specialist employee share scheme taxation advice is required, we work alongside your accountant to help ensure your investment and financial strategies are appropriately coordinated.

Reduce concentration risk and diversify your wealth

As your RSUs accumulate, you may find that a significant proportion of your wealth is invested in the same company that employs you.

This can create substantial financial exposure. A fall in your employer's share price could reduce your investment wealth at the same time as your employment income or future remuneration comes under pressure.

We help you understand your total exposure and develop an investment strategy that reflects your broader financial position.

This may involve progressively selling employer shares and redirecting the proceeds into a diversified portfolio, reducing your reliance on the performance of a single company.

Turn equity compensation into long-term wealth

The financial benefits of RSUs can extend well beyond the shares themselves.

Over time, your equity compensation could help you repay your mortgage, grow your investment portfolio, increase your superannuation or bring forward your retirement.

We help you model these opportunities and understand how your existing shares and future vesting events could support your long-term financial goals.

By incorporating your RSUs into a coordinated financial strategy, you can make more deliberate decisions about how to use the wealth your remuneration creates.