What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Financial Thought: Equity Comp
3. Life Thought: Joy of Building
4. Good Sh*t: Steve Eisman

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Photo From My Life:

Financial Thought:

Equity Comp: One of the biggest challenges I see for younger, high-earning professionals (especially those in tech) is navigating the risks and rewards of holding concentrated equity.

Whether it's RSUs, ISOs, or direct stock awards, equity comp can be life-changing. But it also introduces a level of complexity that most people underestimate. You suddenly go from a normal W2 employee to someone whose net worth is tied to a single company. Everyone's situation is different, but that can be a risky bet. Employee stock is confusing so I recently made a YouTube video on the basics of RSUs, ISOs, NSOs, etc. You can see it here:

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The real challenge is what to do if you're sitting on a large equity position. That’s where good wealth managers can add real value. I always recommend taking a structured approach:

1. Understand your equity: Vesting schedules, tax implications (AMT), and blackout periods all matter.
2. Plan your diversification: You don’t need to sell everything at once, but having a long-term strategy to gradually reduce exposure is wise.
3. Tax strategy is everything: There’s a big difference between holding an ISO for 12 months and exercising/selling early. Every decision has downstream tax implications.

There are a variety of different ways to limit your tax bill as you look to diversify. Here are some of the more standard ways to think through it. This is part of what I share with clients as we do this analysis together. I'll dive into these topics on YouTube sometime over the next month I think.

It’s a complicated topic, but it’s worth understanding. It can massively move the needle.

Life Thought:

Joys of Building:

Over the last few months, I did something incredible. I completed a "real" home project.

I redid our laundry/mud room. And I’ve got to say, for a guy who spends most of his days in front of a keyboard, it felt incredibly satisfying to build something with my hands. The room went from a barely-functional mess to a room I'm excited by. There were a few issues I wanted to solve for:

1. There was no spot to fold clothes.
2. The open cabinets and lockers always looked messy and I hated walking by the room.

Here's what it looked like before:

Of course, like any home project, it took longer than expected. Why? Well, our baby decided to show up six weeks early, and the custom cabinet doors took a month to be delivered. But eventually, it all came together.

Is it perfect? Hell no. It looks good from far, but is far from good. My proudest feature? A ceiling-mounted drying rack that feels unnecessarily cool for a laundry room. The least proud moment? When a friend (jokingly?) told me that the DIY quality probably decreased our resale value.

But here's the thing: I don’t care. It works for us. It makes our life better now. And most importantly, there’s something deeply fulfilling about improving the space you live in even if it's imperfect.

The most important learning from my first DIY project. Have a good friend with all the tools (thanks Josh) and a handyman (thanks Nathan) who can help when things go wrong. We may or may not have had a small natural gas leak when I moved the dryer....

Here's what it looks like now:

Good Sh*t:

Steve Eisman:

This one is niche, but still worth sharing. Steve Eisman, one of the investors who got famous shorting mortgages (The Big Short), just launched a YouTube channel where he talks about markets, the economy, and investment trends.

This came via a recommendation from my accountant and I’ve been surprised at how good it is. He’s just having thoughtful conversations and trying to learn in public.

What stands out most is how he asks questions. He’s calm, curious, and doesn’t pretend to know everything. It’s refreshing. In a world full of self-proclaimed gurus yelling predictions into the void, it’s nice to hear someone who genuinely wants to understand what’s going on.

If you’ve got time to kill during late-night feedings (🙋), it’s a great listen.

You can check it out here.

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