Your Google Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees and Executives

Do you work at Google? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping Google employees make the most of their compensation package and benefits.

Whether you’re a new Google employee or you’ve moved up the ranks into a management or executive leadership role over a multi-year career, it’s important to make smart money moves with your income and employee benefits. For example:

✅ Do you know the right moves to make to get the greatest value from the Google benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving Google for another job or planning to retire from the company in a few years, are you taking the right steps today to ensure you will receive all of the compensation and benefits that you’ve earned?

Get the Most Value from Your Google Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, Google provides its employees and executives with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans like a 401(k), deferred compensation plans, and stock options. While the company offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with Google who specialize in helping Google employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, another office location around the country, or remotely from home, you may have questions about your compensation package and benefits better suited for a financial professional who can offer unbiased advice and guidance.

For example, sensitive topics like discussing the steps you should take before quitting your job at Google to work elsewhere, protecting yourself in advance of a corporate layoff, or deciding when you should plan to retire are all conversations that may be more comfortable with a trusted financial advisor.

💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with Google employees to help them make smart decisions to get the most value from their compensation and benefits, reduce their money stress, and prepare for a comfortable retirement.

🙋‍♀️ Do you have questions not yet answered? Use the form below to submit questions anonymously and watch this article for updates with answers to your questions. You can also reach out to the financial advisors below to set up an introductory call or contact them with your questions by email.

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Google Employees & Executives

In this section, you’ll learn how you can make the most of your Google employee benefits and gain valuable tips from financial advisors who specialize in working with Google employees and executives.

Answers to Employee Questions with Cristina Guglielmetti, CFP®

Cristina Guglielmetti is a financial advisor based in Brooklyn, New York, who specializes in offering financial planning services to Google employees. Cristina helps her clients get the most value from their Google benefits and compensation packages so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

Q: As a financial advisor with experience helping Google employees save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?

Cristina: Understanding their 401k features (including Roth, after-tax plus Roth conversion, and how to get the best match).

Q: When you first speak with a Google employee, what questions do you like to ask to better understand their unique circumstances and determine how you can best help them achieve their goals?

Cristina: Do they intend to stay long-term? To date, how have they handled their equity compensation? Do they already have short- and/or longer-term goals they want to discuss, or do they want to explore more open-ended possibilities?

Q: Is there a particular benefit available to Google employees you feel isn’t as well utilized or understood by employees as it should be?

Cristina: After-tax plus in-service conversion (aka mega backdoor Roth).

Q: Beyond Google employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients (e.g., stock, education savings, health savings)?

Cristina: Equity compensation with monthly vesting that needs to be managed/included in the plan.

Q: For Google employees thinking about leaving the company to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Cristina: Value the unvested stock they’re leaving behind to negotiate with in discussions with their new employer.

Q: For Google employees approaching retirement age, how do you recommend they prepare to make the transition from living off their salary to relying upon other sources of income?

Cristina: If prior to Medicare age, consider how best to maintain health insurance coverage (this could be paying for COBRA if resigning mid-year). Understand what your expenses will be, and have a 2-3 year cash cushion to cover those net of any expected income. Analyze stock holdings (both company stock and other investments) to make use of low-income years to take gains; also do the same with pre-tax balances to determine if Roth conversions are advisable.

Get to Know Cristina Guglielmetti, Financial Advisor for Google Employees:

View Cristina’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit her website to learn more.

Q: For Google employees who have managed their finances on their own to this point, what would you suggest they consider to help them decide if they should begin working with a financial advisor at this stage in their lives?

Cristina: An advisor can help with short-term decision-making (i.e. major purchase, career shifts) and also with bigger-picture thinking (i.e. creating a framework so you can see the direction all your hard work is taking you, and make sure your money behaviors are aligning with your life goals). A client is often already doing all the right things and the value of the planning process is to put things in a broader framework to allow for proactive/intentional decisions to be made.

Q: What are some of the unique financial planning challenges you commonly see among your clients who are Google employees and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?

Cristina: A good, high-paying job in tech can feel a bit like golden handcuffs sometimes! It can be hard to fathom walking away. But, if you want to prepare for an exit or a shift to a different industry, we can create a pathway to ease the transition. In a role with equity compensation, a challenge can be to define how much to rely on that compensation in the plan. It’s variable and can be hard to quantify, but can be significant. So, having a firm structure based on a client’s comfort with the exposure and how it’s treated in the plan is important.

Q: What questions do you recommend Google employees ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?

Cristina: An advisor should be able to describe their particular planning process, what their compensation structure is, and how the engagement will work. Also, they should be able to describe their investment and planning philosophy and that should align with the client’s.

Quick Facts & Resources for Google Employees

Google Quick Facts & Resources	Details / Useful Links
Google Corporate Headquarters Address	1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 (📍 Google Maps)
Overview of Google Benefits	Careers.Google.com/Benefits
How much do Google employees Make?	View Google Salary Research on Glassdoor
Where can I learn more about careers at Google?	Visit Careers.Google.com
How many people work for Google?	Google has over 156,000 employees worldwide (Source: Statista)
What is the ticker symbol for Google stock?	Google’s ticker symbols are GOOG and GOOGL, and today, represent equity ownership in Google’s parent company, Alphabet. GOOG shares have no voting rights, while GOOGL shares do.

🙋‍♀️ Have Questions About Your Google Benefits or Career?

Reader Questions Answered

Q: Does Google have a deferred comp plan? If so, who is eligible to participate, and do you have any opinions on the value of the plan to Google employees? – Dan B.

Rebecca Conner, CPA, CFP® (January 20, 2023): Yes, Google does offer the ability to defer part of bonus compensation on a pre-tax basis.  Depending on your level of bonus compensation and your goals, this could be a great value.

Kaleb Paddock, CFP® (December 12, 2022): Hi Dan, I’m not aware of a deferred compensation plan beyond the regular 401(k) and HSA retirement plan options at Google. However, keep in mind that depending on the role at Google, there may be additional options like deferred compensation available for senior executives and C-suite employees. I just haven’t come across a deferred compensation plan with my clients.

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