By Kevin Luu, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. Reviewed on 2026-09-30.
A family advisor is a fiduciary who looks after a household’s whole financial picture (taxes, equity compensation, investments, estate documents and the children’s accounts) rather than a single portfolio. To choose one, confirm the legal duty they owe you, check how they are paid, test them on your actual situation, and agree in writing what they will own. For a two-income family in California or Washington with RSUs and young kids, those four steps take a few hours and can separate a real family advisor from a salesperson with the same title.
What a family advisor should cover for a $750k to $3M W-2 household
“Family advisor” is not a licensed title. Anyone can use it. What matters is the work. For a physician and a biotech scientist in the Bay Area, or two Amazon employees in Seattle, the recurring decisions usually look like this:
- Equity compensation. When to sell vested RSUs, whether to keep buying ESPP shares, and how much single-stock exposure is too much.
- Withholding and estimated tax. Employers often withhold federal tax on RSU vests at the 22% supplemental rate, and 37% only on supplemental wages over $1,000,000 in a calendar year (IRS Publication 15, 2026). At this income level, that gap usually turns into a large April bill.
- Retirement plan room. For 2026 each spouse can defer $24,500 into a 401(k), and total annual additions (employee, employer and after-tax money combined) can reach $72,000 per plan account. If the plan allows after-tax contributions, the room above deferrals and the employer match can be used for the mega backdoor Roth (IRS Notice 2025-67).
- Estate and guardianship. Naming guardians for children under 12, setting up a revocable trust, and deciding what age the kids receive money.
- The children’s accounts and education. 529s, UTMA accounts, and how the parents’ thinking about money gets passed down.
An advisor who only wants to talk about the investment portfolio is covering one line on that list.
Step 1: Confirm the duty they owe your family
Registered investment advisers owe a fiduciary duty of care and loyalty that applies to the entire relationship (SEC Release IA-5248). Broker-dealer representatives follow Regulation Best Interest, which applies when they make a recommendation to a retail customer (SEC Release 34-86031). Many people hold both registrations, so ask directly: “Are you acting as a fiduciary on every account and every recommendation you make to us?” Get the answer in writing.
Then check the public record. Search the person and the firm on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and on FINRA’s BrokerCheck. If they say they hold the CFP® certification, confirm it with the CFP Board’s verification tool. Read the firm’s Form ADV Part 2A brochure and its Form CRS (Investor.gov), which spell out fees and conflicts in plain language.
Step 2: Understand exactly how they are paid
Three pay models are common: a percentage of assets managed, a flat annual fee, and commissions on products sold. “Fee-only” means the advisor is paid only by your family. “Fee-based” usually means fees plus commissions, which is a different thing despite the similar name.
Ask for the total dollar cost for your household in year one, not a percentage. Then ask what they earn if you buy an insurance policy, roll over a 401(k), or move cash into a product they recommend. A clear answer to that question tells you more than the marketing deck.
Worked example: what the fee looks like in dollars
Assumptions (illustrative, not market quotes): a married couple in San Mateo County, combined salary and bonus of $1.1 million, plus about $300,000 of RSUs vesting each year (RSU income is also W-2 wages), and $2.5 million in taxable and retirement investments.
| Pay model (hypothetical) | Year-one cost | Cost after 10 years if assets double |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0% of assets managed | $25,000 | $50,000 per year |
| Flat fee of $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 per year, plus any agreed increase |
| Commission-based | Not knowable in advance | Depends on products sold |
None of these is automatically right. The question is whether the scope of work matches the cost. A fee that covers RSU planning, tax coordination, estate documents and the kids’ accounts is a different product from a fee that covers a model portfolio.
Step 3: Test them on your real situation
Bring a recent paystub, an RSU vesting schedule and last year’s return to the first meeting, and ask specific questions. A capable family advisor should handle these without guessing.
- “Our RSUs are withheld at 22%. What will we owe?” In the example household, taxable income is above $768,700 even before the RSUs are counted, so the RSU dollars fall in the 37% federal bracket for married couples filing jointly in 2026 (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). On $300,000 of vests, the 15-point gap between 22% and 37% is about $45,000 of federal income tax not yet withheld. A good answer includes a plan: extra withholding, quarterly estimates, or selling shares at vest.
- “How does California treat a stock sale?” California has no lower rate for capital gains (FTB). Its top rate is 13.3% for 2025, which includes a 1% tax on taxable income over $1,000,000 (FTB 2025 rate schedules), and SDI takes 1.3% of all wages in 2026 with no cap (EDD).
- “We might move to Washington. What changes?” Washington has no wage income tax in 2026, but it taxes long-term capital gains above an annual standard deduction ($278,000 for 2025, the latest published figure) at 7%, and at 9.9% on taxable gains above $1,000,000. Real estate and retirement accounts are exempt (WA DOR capital gains tax, WA DOR tiered rates). A new 9.9% income tax on AGI over $1,000,000 takes effect January 1, 2028 (WA DOR). An advisor who says “Washington has no income tax” and stops there is out of date.
- “Do we need to worry about estate tax?” For 2026 the federal exclusion is $15,000,000 per person and is not scheduled to drop (IRS). Washington is different: it has its own estate tax, and the exclusion is $3,000,000 for deaths from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (WA DOR estate tax tables), so a Seattle home plus retirement accounts and company stock can cross it. For most California families at this stage, the urgent items are guardians, a trust for minor children and beneficiary designations, not estate tax. An advisor who leads with a 2026 “sunset” is working from old information.
Step 4: Agree in writing who owns what
Busy families tend to delegate. That works only if responsibilities are written down. Before you sign, ask for a one-page list of what the advisor will do each year and what stays with your CPA and estate attorney. Typical items to assign:
- Who runs the year-end tax projection and sets estimated payments.
- Who reviews each RSU vest and ESPP purchase, and on what schedule.
- Who keeps wills, trusts, guardianship choices and beneficiary forms current.
- How often you meet, and what triggers an extra meeting (a new job, a liquidity event, a new child, a move between states).
The last thing to ask is how the advisor helps your children learn from your decisions, not only inherit the accounts. Most firms have no answer. As Kevin Luu puts it: “Your kids will inherit your money. Will they inherit your judgment?” A short written record of why you chose an advisor, and what you expect from them, is a good first entry. Our pieces on documentation debt and the FamilyKnowledge® Library explain how families do this.
Common mistakes when picking a family advisor
- Choosing on investment returns alone. For a W-2 household with concentrated stock, tax and withholding decisions often matter more each year than fund selection.
- Not asking for the dollar fee. A percentage sounds small; the annual dollar figure often does not.
- Splitting work with no coordinator. A CPA, an estate attorney and a broker who never talk to each other leave gaps, such as a trust that was signed but never funded.
- Skipping the public record check. It takes minutes on the SEC and FINRA sites.
Questions families ask
Is a family advisor the same as a family office?
Not quite. A single-family office is a dedicated staff serving one very wealthy family. A family advisor, or a multi-family office, provides a similar coordinating role to several households. For a family earning $750,000 to $3 million, a shared model is usually the practical option. See what a family officer does for the difference.
Should our family advisor also be our CPA?
It can work, but it is not required. What matters is that one person is responsible for coordinating tax decisions during the year, such as RSU sales and estimated payments, and that the CPA who prepares the return receives that plan. Ask any candidate how they work with an outside CPA and whether they share a tax projection before year end.
How often should we meet?
Most families with equity compensation benefit from a planning meeting at least twice a year, timed around vesting dates and year-end tax planning, plus a check-in after any major change. More meetings are not better if nothing gets decided; ask for a short written summary of each decision.
Next step
Pick two or three candidates, run the public record checks, and send each one the same three questions from Step 3 before the first meeting. Compare the answers side by side. If you want to see how the Age Five Family Office™ handles tax, estate and family governance together, start with our tax management, estate planning and family governance pages, or book a Tax & Wealth Assessment.
This is general education, not individual advice. The right choice depends on your family’s full picture.
Kevin has advised high-income W-2 tech and biotech families since 2015, and leads the education-first Age Five Family Office from Brea, California.
Connect on LinkedIn → · About KevinThis is part of how we approach Investment & Risk Management for high-income W-2 families at Bright Advisers.
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