Articles

In-depth comparisons and guides to help you choose the right financial planning tools.

Guides

Equity Compensation & Taxes: What Tech Workers in Private Companies Need to Know

The full tax lifecycle of private company equity — RSAs, ISOs, NSOs, and RSUs — including California's treatment of each event, the early exercise strategy, the IPO tax spike, and the most common mistakes to avoid.

Negotiating Equity Compensation at a Private Company: The Complete Checklist

Every term that matters in a private company equity offer — RSA, ISO, NSO, and RSU checklists, the four numbers you need before negotiating, red flags, California-specific priorities, and a framework for evaluating the full grant.

Exchange Fund vs. Selling Stock: Break-Even Analysis

A quantitative guide to the exchange fund break-even — when deferring capital gains beats selling and reinvesting for California and Washington residents, how fees erode the deferral advantage, and what cost basis makes an exchange fund marginal.

How to Diversify RSU and ESPP Shares Without Triggering Capital Gains

A guide to the tax trade-offs of concentrated equity compensation — six strategies for diversifying RSU and ESPP positions, from immediate sale to exchange funds, direct indexing, and charitable vehicles, with position-size thresholds and NIIT considerations.

Concentrated Stock Position: Tax Strategies for Tech Workers

A complete guide to managing concentrated stock positions — what it costs to hold, what it costs to sell, and seven strategies including exchange funds, systematic selling, direct indexing, DAFs, CRUTs, VPFs, and QOZ investments, with a framework for choosing between them.

How RMDs Affect Your Retirement Tax Rate

A complete guide to how Required Minimum Distributions cascade through the tax code — federal bracket creep, Social Security taxation, IRMAA Medicare surcharges, NIIT activation, and strategies for reducing RMD tax impact before withdrawals begin.

Retirement Withdrawal Order: Which Accounts First

A complete guide to retirement withdrawal sequencing — the three tax buckets, five phases of decumulation, Roth conversion windows, ACA and IRMAA interactions, and the most common sequencing mistakes for tech workers with large pre-tax balances.

Retirement Income Strategy: How to Turn Your Portfolio Into a Paycheck

The three frameworks for retirement income — systematic withdrawal, the bucket strategy, and floor-and-upside — how sequence of return risk changes everything once withdrawals begin, sustainable withdrawal rates by horizon, and how Social Security timing and Roth conversions fit into a complete income strategy for early retirees.

How to Set Financial Goals for Retirement

A step-by-step guide to translating retirement intentions into specific, measurable financial goals — life events inventory, five goal categories, goal conflict analysis, Monte Carlo validation, and flexibility mechanisms for tech workers planning early retirement.

How to Prioritize Competing Financial Goals

A practical framework for resolving financial goal conflicts — the priority stack, the three most common conflicts (early retirement vs. college, mortgage payoff vs. investing, legacy vs. retirement), and a five-question decision framework for ranking where your next savings dollar goes.

HSA in Retirement: The Ultimate Tax-Advantaged Strategy

How to build an HSA balance worth having, stack it with your 401(k) and Roth IRA, coordinate it with Medicare and IRMAA, and use the delayed reimbursement strategy — a complete playbook for California tech workers.

Modern Portfolio Theory in Plain English

How Modern Portfolio Theory shows that portfolio risk is determined by correlations between assets — not by the average of their individual risks — what the efficient frontier is, where classical MPT breaks down, and how goal-based investing applies it to individual financial planning.

Software Comparisons

Boldin vs. Nauma

A side-by-side comparison of Boldin and Nauma financial planning software — features, tax planning depth, expert access, and which tool is better for tech workers with equity compensation, early retirement goals, and complex financial situations.

Empower vs. Nauma

A side-by-side comparison of Empower (formerly Personal Capital) and Nauma — free tracking vs. strategy modeling, Monte Carlo retirement projections vs. life-decision planning, and which tool is better for high earners with RSUs, complex taxes, and early retirement goals.

Fidelity vs. Nauma

A detailed comparison of Fidelity's free retirement planner and Nauma — automatic integration vs. strategic modeling, static projections vs. year-by-year tax planning, and which tool is better for tech workers with RSUs, large pre-tax accounts, and early retirement goals.

Nauma vs. ProjectionLab

A detailed comparison of Nauma and ProjectionLab — automated syncing vs. manual privacy, strategic tax planning vs. analytical modeling, included human review vs. pure DIY, and which tool is better for tech workers with RSUs vs. FIRE enthusiasts who want total control.

Put Your Knowledge Into a Real Financial Plan

Nauma turns these concepts into a personalized projection — retirement timeline, tax strategy, equity plan, and estate considerations — all in one place.

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