Services

Equity compensation planning

You get paid in shares, on a schedule you didn't pick, taxed on days you didn't choose. We give every vest a plan before it lands.

Your offer letter was the easy part.

Tech compensation looks great on paper, and then the vests start landing. Suddenly you’re managing income that arrives as shares, taxed on days you didn’t choose, in amounts that swing with the market. Doing nothing is a decision too, and usually an expensive one.

This is the problem we work on every day, specifically for Canadian tech founders and high-earning employees. RSUs, stock options, sell-to-cover mechanics, and the T1 that has to absorb it all.

A vest is a paycheque. Treat it like one.

Our approach is to take the emotion and the improvisation out of equity comp. Every vest gets a job before it arrives: tax set aside, a sell discipline applied, and the proceeds routed into the plan like any other paycheque.

For options, timing is the whole game: when you exercise changes what you pay. We model the scenarios with you before the window matters, not after. And across all of it, we manage concentration risk, because being an employee and a shareholder of the same company is a bigger bet than most people realize.

Common questions, answered straight.

Should I just hold my company stock? I believe in the company.

Belief isn't the issue; concentration is. Your salary, your bonus, your unvested equity and your portfolio can all depend on the same company. We quantify that exposure and build a sell discipline so your future doesn't ride on one ticker.

How are RSUs taxed in Canada?

As employment income at vest, based on the share value that day, and then capital gains rules apply to any movement after vest. The details matter and trip a lot of people up. We wrote a full guide, linked below.

The other areas

Financial planning and insurance planning are provided through Millen Wealth Advisors. These are business activities separate from Portfolio Strategies Corporation, conducted with its approval. Mutual funds are offered through Portfolio Strategies Corporation, a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO). No referral fees or other compensation are paid or received in either direction.

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