Editor's Note: This article is part of the Financial Advisor series "How I Solved It." Advisors describe a client with a problem and what they did to help.
Once the decision to accept a job offer is made, other decisions—such as what kind of compensation benefits to set up—follow. That's where financial advisor David Flores Wilson at Watts Capital in New York City comes in.
Flores, who helps clients craft the best job packages, shared one case he handled that involved a millennial couple in their 30s.
Some of the circumstances surrounding the young couple were typical of their generation, Wilson said. They were comfortable changing jobs frequently and using online resources to do so.
“These particular clients called me last spring exactly one week before the husband was going to start his new job, at which time he had to decide what kind of stock package he wanted to accept. said Wilson, who advises 80 families, many of them young entrepreneurs, with about $60 million in total assets, through his blog, Planning to Wealth.
"We met on a Wednesday and I sprinted over the weekend to run an individualized analysis to work out the details,” Wilson said.
“During several meetings, I teased out what was most important to them. They were already doing a lot of things right financially,” he added. “I wanted to find out how they would react to a market downturn or to volatility.”
As part of the compensation package, the husband was offered stock options, restricted stock units or a combination of the two. They were sophisticated financially and were already maxing out their 401(k) plans, and had savings and an investment portfolio, which they were managing themselves. They are both software engineers working in New York City and living in New Jersey, which helped reduce their living expenses. But they told Wilson they needed help deciding on a plan for the stocks.
In addition to getting to know as much about the couple as possible in a short amount of time, Wilson said he analyzed the company, a real estate firm in New York City poised for rapid growth.
The couple only wanted to take moderate risk with their finances. They wanted enough income to eventually have children, retire at 55 and own real estate for a primary home and a vacation home.