Stock Options, Kids, Retirement: How High-Earning Couples Can Finally Get Financially Organized
by Justin Capetola|May 2nd, 2025
A True Story: The Cost of Indecision
A couple came to us earlier this year. We’ve known them for a while, but they finally said, “We need help.”
She’s a physician at Merck, earning approximately $300k a year. He runs his own consulting business. They are both smart, hardworking, and great at saving money.
But they were overwhelmed.
They had stock options and RSUs from Merck worth over $160,000, which is about 25-30% of their net worth. When the market dipped, they didn’t know what to do. So they did nothing.
Over the past year, Merck’s stock dropped more than 30%, costing them roughly $60,000 in net worth.
They told me, “We kept meaning to look into it, but life got in the way.”
We helped them take action:
We sold the Merck stock to stop the bleeding
Reinvested the proceeds in a diversified mix of ETFs and closed-end funds
Capped their future exposure to single stocks at 10% of their liquid net worth
Now, they’re not just reacting to the market. They have a plan.
They also:
Opened and funded Roth IRAs for both of them
Started 529 plans for their kids
Automated their monthly savings so it happens without them thinking about it
The biggest change for them has been peace of mind.
They don’t have this nagging thought at the back of their mind saying “we need to deal with this”.
Blue Bell’s 4 Step Plan
Financial planning for high earners isn’t about finding the next hot stock. It’s about clarity, structure, and follow-through.
Here’s how we help:
Learn: We start by getting to know you. Your goals, your family, your work, your time constraints.
Plan: We map out where you are and where you want to go. Then we prioritize based on what will have the biggest impact.
Execute: We tackle 1-3 key actions at a time so you can start making progress without feeling overwhelmed.
Monitor: Life changes. So should your plan. We check in regularly and make adjustments as needed.
We also use an Impact vs. Complexity Matrix to help decide what to do first. (It’s a visual tool that ranks financial tasks by how much they matter and how hard they are to implement.)