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

Whether you’re a new Pfizer 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 Pfizer benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving Pfizer 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 Pfizer Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, Pfizer 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 Pfizer who specialize in helping Pfizer employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Pfizer headquarters in New York City, 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 Pfizer 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 Pfizer 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.

💸 Smart Money Insights for Pfizer Employees & Executives

This page is organized into sections to help you quickly find the information you need and get answers to your questions:

1. Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Pfizer Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your Pfizer Benefits and Career
3. Browse Related Articles

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

Answers to Employee Questions with Brennan Decima, CFP®

Brennan Decima is a financial advisor based in St. Petersburg, Florida who specializes in offering financial planning services to Pfizer employees. Brennan helps his clients get the most value from their Pfizer benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

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

Brennan: Pfizer has an extremely robust benefit and incentive package. Understanding the nuances can make a meaningful difference in what the colleague gets from the company. The PSP contribution limit set in open enrollment can have a material difference on whether or not the company matches all year. If this is done wrong both their contributions and company matches can be stopped early. We help Pfizer colleagues calculate their personalized trigger to avoid losing out on company match. We help them understand what percentage they need to contribute based off their personal trigger, maximize after tax, and make the most of their PSSP.

For colleagues eligible for TSRU, this can be difficult to calculate the value and how that value might be impacted based off previous stock prices. The TSRU grant is a calculation based off a moving average that I help them both calculate and model so they can decide if converting to a PTU makes sense.

The PRAP pension has reductions based off career milestones and age. We help colleagues determine what the pension reduction is if they leave at a certain age and then model their break even on lump sum compared to payments.

Rule of 90 has a significant impact on what benefits they are eligible for if the retire early. We help colleagues understand the cost of leaving at a particular date.

Q: When you first speak with a Pfizer 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?

Brennan: We believe that retirement is more than a Monte Carlo score and you are more than a number. We strive to understand you and your purpose in the next chapter.

What do you want to spend your attention, energy, time and money on in retirement? What is most important to you? What roadblocks are getting in the way of what’s most important to you? What support do you need along the way?

Investments and strategy are important, but we believe that understanding your purpose and intention first will allow us to create a more customized plan to serve your needs. A good doctor takes the time to understand the patient before prescribing treatment. Hopefully they don’t have financial incentives to prescribe one option over the other. We want to understand you, and we don’t have ties to a brokerage that could create conflicts of interest.

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

Brennan: Pfizer has an after tax contribution option for the PSP. Many colleagues contribute, but they leave the gains growing tax deferred instead of tax free If they call the benefits department they can immediately have the contributions converted to a Roth going forward. The company also cuts off match to 401k when they hit the trigger. Many colleagues are unaware of how to calculate the trigger, and end up leaving match on the table.

Q: Beyond Pfizer employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients?

Brennan: Retiree Medical Savings benefit can substantially reduce health care costs in retirement. Understanding the Long Term Care group policy is a great way to supplement the RMS

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

Brennan: Many of the notifications for life insurance and payroll are set up with company email, prior to leaving make sure you have changed the email on file. Before signing any paperwork, knowing what you are leaving on the table can help you better negotiate and evaluate your new offer. It Is critical to calculate the reduction in pension benefit based off their age, what vesting they would leave on the table, and when next milestones are. We review exactly what incentives would be left on the table, what that cost is, and if waiting until a particular date would make a material difference. This helps colleagues make informed decisions before making a career change.

Q: For Pfizer 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?

Brennan: Going from decades of savings to now spending can be a huge mental shift. When you are working, you typically have a salary, a bonus, an emergency fund, and long term savings for the future. Then all of a sudden the future arrives, and that nest egg is asked to do all four of those jobs. That can be extremely stressful if there is not an intentional plan to create those buckets.

Monte Carlo is a great way to determine if you have saved enough, but it is not a prescription of what to do and how to do it. We bridge that gap. It starts with understanding what you want to accomplish in the next chapter, and what it costs to fund those dreams. We do a detailed cash flow model to see what amount of income would need to be created from savings, we then do a detailed review of their tax projections in retirement to determine the optimal amounts that should come from each account. Once we know what this looks like, we build a strategy that protects the cash flow, provides liquidity for surprises, and grows for the future. It is critical to understand what their ideal retirement looks like, budget what it would cost to fund that dream, and then build a plan to make it a reality.

Q: For Pfizer 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?

Brennan: Many employees have worked incredibly hard to put them in a position to make the leap into retirement. Having someone who has helped hundreds of Pfizer colleagues retire can make a meaningful difference in their planning. Our team understands the significance of the milestones Pfizer has and how to use them to your advantage. The cost of making a mistake with your planning can be substantially more expensive than the cost of a second opinion.

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

Brennan: Over the past few years, a tremendous amount of colleagues have been laid off. This can dramatically alter the plans for both the present and the future. We have extensive experience helping colleagues understand the severance, steps to take before the last day, and what to do when the payments. Many colleagues have accumulated large amounts of company stock. Understanding exposure to risk, and making sure they are not taking on more risk than they need or want to can go a long way towards peace of mind in retirement.

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

Brennan: Are you a fiduciary? Is your bonus or compensation tied to recommending brokerage products or annuities? Can you provide me a copy of your compensation disclosure that explains how you are paid, the fees I will be charged, and your conflicts of interest disclosure? Is your investment management built around my income needs or will I be in a model portfolio? How many clients are assigned to you? Will I primarily work with you or someone on your team? How often can I expect to hear from you?

Q: Is there anything that comes up frequently in your initial meeting with Pfizer employees that surprises you?

Brennan: There are a lot of wonderful benefits with small nuances that can change how much money the company deposits into your savings plan. It regularly see colleagues leave company match on the table because they don’t understand the trigger and how to calculate it. We want everyone to maximize their plan, and our goal is to evaluate what you are doing, what you are leaving on the table, and how you can improve that moving forward.

Q: For highly compensated Pfizer employees and executives, are there any special benefits you believe it’s important to take into consideration when preparing their financial plan?

Brennan: Every client we work with gets a detailed evaluation of their tax returns before we make any suggestions. It is common to see Pfizer colleagues who have paid underpayment penalties and interest on their taxes because they did not understand how withholding worked on the performance awards and RSU’s. We help them avoid this going forward. Maximizing the PSSP can also make a dramatic difference in their taxation. For highly compensated employees, we can help show you how to optimize the supplemental savings plan based off your tax situation and liquidity needs.

Q: Is there a particularly memorable experience or a moment you recall with a client who worked at Pfizer when you realized they have unique opportunities and circumstances when it comes to their financial planning needs?

Brennan: We have worked with many colleagues who were surprised by a layoff recently. A corporate lay off can be incredibly stressful both financially and mentally. Our goal is to help clarify what is happening with your benefits, adjusting your plan for the new reality, and optimizing your taxes so you aren’t blindsided. Many colleagues have their deferred compensation set to pay out as lump sum. With the recent severances, this meant a large payout was occurring at the same time an expedited vesting occurred. For many colleagues this put them in a higher tax rate when they left than when they initially deferred money. We help executives plan model out the tax impact of a career change today, and in the future so they can make necessary adjustments to lower their tax bill and avoid surprises.

Get to Know Brennan Decima, Financial Advisor for Pfizer Employees:

View Brennan’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit his website to learn more.

🙋‍♀️ Have Questions About Your Pfizer Benefits or Career?

📰 Browse Related Articles

Are you ready to enjoy life more with less money stress?

Sign up to receive weekly insights from Wealthtender with useful money tips and fresh ideas to help you achieve your financial goals.

Do you work at L3Harris? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping L3Harris employees make the most of their compensation package and benefits.

Whether you’re a new L3Harris 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 L3Harris benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving L3Harris 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 L3Harris Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, L3Harris 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 L3Harris who specialize in helping L3Harris employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the L3Harris headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, 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 L3Harris 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 L3Harris 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.

💸 Smart Money Insights for L3Harris Employees & Executives

This page is organized into sections to help you quickly find the information you need and get answers to your questions:

1. Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for L3Harris Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your L3Harris Benefits and Career
3. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for L3Harris Employees & Executives

Answers to Employee Questions with Brennan Decima, CFP®

Brennan Decima is a financial advisor based in St. Petersburg, Florida who specializes in offering financial planning services to L3Harris employees. Brennan helps his clients get the most value from their L3Harris benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

Q: As a financial advisor with experience helping L3Harris employees save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?

Brennan: As a financial advisor with deep experience helping L3Harris employees prepare for retirement, my focus always starts with purpose. Helping clients align their financial decisions with what matters most in their lives. Employee benefits are more than just checkboxes during open enrollment, they’re powerful tools that can support a life of meaning, flexibility, and impact. I help L3harris employees look beyond the surface of things like 401(k) matching, RSUs, and excess retirement savings.

Together, we map those tools to their bigger picture: What do you want your retirement to look like? What legacy do you want to leave behind? How do we use every benefit available to give you freedom and peace of mind when it matters most? By understanding the unique benefit structure at L3harris, and combining that with tailored financial planning, I help employees make intentional choices, so their finances aren’t just well-managed, but also deeply aligned with the purpose they’ve defined for the next chapter of their life.

Q: When you first speak with a L3Harris 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?

Brennan: When I first speak with a L3Harris employee, I’m not just looking at numbers, I’m looking to understand what drives them.

I ask questions that help uncover their why:

What does an ideal retirement look like for you?

• What are you working toward beyond a paycheck; freedom, flexibility, legacy?
• How confident are you in the decisions you’ve made with your 401(k), RSUs, or excess retirement savings plan?
• Have you thought about how your benefits fit into the bigger picture? Like tax efficiency, healthcare in retirement, or supporting loved ones?

Every L3Harris employee has a unique story: some are climbing fast and want to optimize equity comp; others are within a few years of retirement and wondering if they’ve done enough. By starting with what matters most to them, I can tailor the financial strategy to reflect not just how they earn and save, but why it matters in the first place. This approach ensures we’re not just maximizing their benefits, we’re making those benefits meaningful.

Q: Is there a particular benefit available to L3Harris employees you feel isn’t as well utilized or understood by employees as it should be?

Brennan: The ERSP is a great way for highly compensated individuals to defer money above and beyond the annual 401k limits, and reduce their tax burden even more. For those that do participate, the election they make for distributions is irrevocable. This can really make an impact if they contribute for multiple years on their retirement tax efficiency. We help employees model out the tax benefits for their current contribution, as well as help them determine if lump sum or installments is more in line with their intentions down the road.

Q: Beyond L3Harris employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients?

Brennan: L3Harris compensates many employees with restricted stock and performance awards. We do a detailed review of their tax filing prior to their vesting, to get a good understanding of what their tax obligation is projected to be. We compare this with what the company withholds to see if there is an underpayment. We find that many employees have underpayment penalties and interest that could have been avoided with proper planning. Our goal is to educate employees on how the withholding works, and make sure there are no surprises.

Q: For L3Harris employees thinking about leaving the company to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Brennan: For L3Harris employees considering a move to a new opportunity, it’s important to pause before submitting that resignation—because the decisions you make before and shortly after leaving can have a lasting impact on your long-term financial security.

Before resigning, I recommend:

Review your deferred compensation plan.

• The ERSP distribution elections are permanent after open enrollment. Since you can’t change the payout options when you leave, it is important to review what amount will be paid and when, to minimize a major tax bill surprise.

Understand your RSUs and stock options.

• What’s vested? What’s unvested? The timing of your departure can affect how much equity compensation you keep.

Max out your 401(k) and HSA if possible.

• If you’re on track to hit your annual limits, consider front-loading contributions while you’re still on payroll. After you leave, you won’t have the same employer match or access to the plan.

Check healthcare transition options.

• Review your COBRA options, and compare them with what your new employer offers. If you’ve hit your deductible or out-of-pocket max, switching plans mid-year might reset your progress.

Download your benefits and paycheck history.

• Once you leave, access to the L3Harris intranet goes away. Save your pay stubs, tax documents, equity grant details, and benefit plan descriptions.

Shortly after resigning:

Update your financial plan.

• A job change is a perfect time to revisit your financial goals, cash flow, and investment strategy, especially if you’re moving from a high-benefit employer like L3Harris to one with different comp structure.

Reassess your tax plan.

• A change in income or equity vesting could bump you into a higher tax bracket. Proactive tax planning now can help minimize the bite later.

Ultimately, it’s about transitioning intentionally. When we work with L3Harris employees, we help them avoid costly missteps and use the exit as an opportunity to align their next chapter with a greater sense of financial purpose.

Q: For L3Harris 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?

Brennan: For L3Harris employees approaching retirement, one of the biggest mindset shifts is moving from a dependable salary to creating income from the assets and benefits they’ve spent decades building. It’s not just a financial transition, it’s a lifestyle and identity shift, too. Here’s how I help them prepare:

1. Re-define purpose.
   Many retirees don’t just want to stop working, they want to start living differently. Whether it’s travel, volunteering, consulting, or time with grandkids, we make sure their money supports their next chapter with clarity and intention.

2. Turn your benefits into a paycheck.
L3Harris offers a 401(k), ERSP, and equity compensation. We help clients create a coordinated withdrawal strategy that replaces their paycheck in a tax-efficient, sustainable way. It’s not just how much you withdraw, it’s when and from where.

3. Make a Retirement Income Map.
We build a month-by-month cash flow plan that outlines exactly where income will come from in the first 5–10 years: Social Security, investment accounts, deferred comp distributions, etc. This reduces anxiety and helps retirees confidently cover both essentials and the “fun stuff.”

4. Stress-test the plan.
Retirement is more than a Monte Carlo score, and you are more than a number. We take a look at how the cash flow and investment plan weathers black swan events like the tech bubble burst, 2008, and the pandemic.

5. Manage taxes like a professional.
The largest expense in retirement for most people is taxes. L3Harris employees often have large pre-tax balances in their 401(k) and ERSP. We evaluate Roth conversions, tax bracket management for income, and Medicare-related strategies so they keep more of what they’ve earned.

Q: For L3Harris 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?

Brennan: For L3Harris employees who’ve successfully managed their finances on their own, approaching retirement is a natural inflection point to consider working with a financial advisor.

Why? Because the shift from building wealth to using it is complex, and the stakes are higher. You’re dealing with questions like:

• When should I start Social Security?
• How do I turn my savings and incentives into reliable income?
• What’s the best way to minimize taxes and avoid Medicare surprises?

At this stage, it’s less about picking investments and more about creating a strategy that supports your next chapter, confidently and purposefully. An advisor can help you avoid costly missteps and align your financial plan with the life you want in retirement.

Get to Know Brennan Decima, Financial Advisor for L3Harris Employees:

View Brennan’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit his website to learn more.

Q: What are some of the unique financial planning challenges you commonly see among your clients who are L3Harris employees and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?

Brennan:

1. ERSP Traps
   Many elect deferred comp without fully understanding the long-term tax consequences or distribution timing. We help them evaluate elections before separation and build a tax-smart strategy to avoid large lump-sum tax hits in retirement.

2. Coordinating Multiple Income Streams
Between 401(k)s, RSUs, and deferred comp, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We organize these sources into a cohesive income plan, balancing timing, taxes, and lifestyle needs.

3. Tax Timing and Roth Conversions
Many employees enter retirement in a lower tax bracket, but only temporarily. We identify “low-tax windows” to strategically convert to Roth IRAs, reducing future RMDs and Medicare surcharges.

4. Leaving Money on the Table
Some miss out on benefits like the after-tax 401(k) contribution strategy, in-service conversions, or underuse the HSA. We ensure every benefit is optimized to support long-term goals.

Our role is to simplify the complex, reduce tax friction, and help L3Harris professionals transition from career income to purposeful retirement on their terms.

Q: What questions do you recommend L3Harris employees ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?

Choosing a financial advisor is a big decision, especially for L3Harris employees navigating complex benefits and nearing retirement. Here are the key questions I recommend they ask to find the right fit:

1. Do you have experience working with L3Harris employees?
   The benefits like ERSP, 401k after-tax, and long term incentive plans require specialized knowledge. You want someone who’s already helped others make similar decisions.
2. How do you build a retirement income plan?
   Look for an advisor who reviews your tax forms and integrates your 401(k), deferred comp, and Social Security into a coordinated, tax-smart withdrawal strategy, not just an investment plan.
3. How do you help minimize taxes in retirement?
   A good advisor should bring proactive tax planning to the table, including Roth conversions, RMD planning, and Medicare-related tax strategies.
4. Are you a fiduciary, and how are you compensated?
   Make sure they’re legally obligated to act in your best interest, and that their fees are transparent and easy to understand. Ask for a conflict or interest and compensation disclosure if they work for a brokerage.
5. What does your ongoing service look like?
   Retirement isn’t a one-time event. Ask how often you’ll meet with them vs a team member, what they monitor, and how they help when life or the market changes.

Q: Is there anything that comes up frequently in your initial meeting with L3Harris employees that surprises you?

Brennan: One thing that constantly comes up with L3Harris employees is the ability to contribute to aftertax in the 401k. The benefit of after tax is that if a Roth In Plan conversion is elected, this allows you to put a substantial amount of money into a Roth each year and grow tax free instead of tax deferred. With proper planning, they can coordinate the 401k deferrals, the aftertax, and the ERSP to maximize their savings in a tax efficient way.

Q: For highly compensated L3Harris employees and executives, are there any special benefits you believe it’s important to take into consideration when preparing their financial plan?

Brennan: Key benefits to consider:

1. Excess Retirement Savings Plan
   This is one of the most powerful planning tools available—but also one of the most misunderstood. It allows executives to defer income and manage taxes across working and retirement years. But distribution elections are irrevocable after separation, so timing and coordination are critical.
2. Equity Compensation (RSUs and Performance Awards)
   Proper planning can reduce concentrated risk, control taxes, and align equity decisions with retirement or job change timelines. Many execs don’t realize how vesting, withholdings, and diversification play into their broader strategy.
   3. After-Tax 401(k) Contributions and Mega Backdoor Roth
   For those maxing out traditional limits, this is a powerful way to build tax-free retirement income, but often underutilized or misunderstood.

Q: Is there a particularly memorable experience or a moment you recall with a client who worked at L3Harris when you realized they have unique opportunities and circumstances when it comes to their financial planning needs?

Brennan: One of the most memorable clients I worked with was an L3Harris executive who had saved extensively and was sure he had thought of everything. He was about to retire comfortably after decades of service, with a great mix of ERSP, stock incentives, and a large 401k. But life threw a curveball: his aging mother in law suddenly needed full-time care. He became a caregiver, which meant facing unexpected financial pressures and more financial responsibility on his shoulders. His carefully crafted retirement budget suddenly shifted, and the strategies he planned around needed to be rethought quickly.

What stood out to me was how many unique complexities came into play:

• He needed significantly more liquidity sooner than expected to cover caregiving expenses.
• His guaranteed income was substantially lower than his new cash flow needs.
• The increased household expenses meant tax planning and cash flow management became critical to avoid depleting savings too fast.
• Volatility that had not bothered him in the past was now causing significant stress issues.

Together, we adjusted his plan to create a flexible income strategy that supported his care costs, while preserving his long-term financial security. Risk was adjusted to his new comfort level. We looked at tapping into different accounts strategically, revisited his tax plan, and explored how long his mother in-law could be supported before it started making an impact on his plans success.

Retirement is more than a Monte Carlo score and a model portfolio. It is about purpose and building a plan customized to you. Regardless of what your purpose in retirement is, we seek to understand you and how your investments serve that purpose intentionally.

🙋‍♀️ Have Questions About Your L3Harris Benefits or Career?

📰 Browse Related Articles

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Sign up to receive weekly insights from Wealthtender with useful money tips and fresh ideas to help you achieve your financial goals.

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

Whether you’re a new Palantir 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 Palantir benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving Palantir 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 Palantir Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, Palantir 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 Palantir who specialize in helping Palantir employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Palantir headquarters in Denver, Colorado, Palo Alto, 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 Palantir 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 Palantir 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.

💸 Smart Money Insights for Palantir Employees & Executives

This page is organized into sections to help you quickly find the information you need and get answers to your questions:

1. Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Palantir Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your Palantir Benefits and Career
3. Browse Related Articles

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

Answers to Employee Questions with CJ Stermetz, CFP®, CEP

CJ Stermetz is a financial advisor based in San Jose, California who specializes in offering financial planning services to Palantir employees. CJ helps his clients get the most value from their Palantir benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

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

CJ: Palantir has been pretty generous with granting equity over the years. Employees have received ISOs, NSOs, and RSUs. What I find myself doing for most people at Pal is simply helping them make good decisions with the equity they’ve received.

Q: When you first speak with a Palantir 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?

CJ: Our favorite part of working with people is getting to know people.

When we first meet people from Palantir, they’re usually coming to us for advice on something specific. Most commonly, “I now have $XM of Palantir and I don’t know what to do with it.

We’ll ask questions that fall into these categories:

• Equity Comp. “What mix of PLTR ISOs, NSOs, and/or RSUs do you have?”
• Emotion Behind PLTR. “How do you feel having $X amount tied to PLTR? “How well do you handle the swings in the stock price?”
• Potential Selling Plans. “Do you envision keeping some portion of PLTR forever? How much?
• Taxes and Residency. “Do you currently have a CPA?” “What state do you live in?
• Future Plans. “How do you envision making the most of your PLTR equity?”

The questions we ask in the moment will vary, but the goal in our first meeting is to get a sense of the situation and to make sure we’re able to help. Even after this intro call, we have a deeper 90-minute get-to-know-you meeting where we spend time getting to know each other personally. And that call is always a fun one.

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

CJ: Palantir doesn’t have a 401(k) match, but there is an ability to contribute on an after-tax basis and then convert to Roth. (Mega Backdoor Roth) This is easily the most underutilized employee benefits.

Q: Beyond Palantir employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients?

CJ: If the person we’re talking to is still working at Palantir, managing equity and taxes around trading windows is crucial. We make sure all of our clients at Palantir know (1) what their estimated taxes are and (2) that they know what they should be doing during the next open trading window.

The other benefit that’s helpful to talk through is the health insurance. Palantir pays for premiums no matter what, so it’s interesting discussing whether people should stick with the low-deductible plan or high-deductible HSA-eligible plan.

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

CJ: Even if Palantir offers a favorable post-termination exercise period with your options, you still need to make sure you have a plan for when to exercise your options. Your options are probably pretty valuable, you do not want them to expire.

Q: For Palantir 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?

CJ: Many people at Palantir aren’t approaching a traditional retirement age, but are instead approaching an age in which they’ll be completely financially independent. For people who want to optimize becoming and staying financially independent, having an investing account that isn’t just Palantir will make for a smoother ride.

Q: For Palantir 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?

CJ: Trust your gut. If you’ve been feeling anxious about Palantir, your equity, or other financial topics kind of related to Palantir, it probably means it’s time to chat with someone. People at Palantir love EquityFTW because we’re an Advice-Only firm. This just means that we provide our advice without requiring management of your investments.

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

CJ:
Palantir went from being worth $9/share to $140/share as of mid-year 2025. When appreciation like this happens to a company that compensates its employees heavily with equity, it creates MAJOR tax implications for any seemingly little decision you make. We’ve built both an NSO Tax Calculator and an RSU Tax Calculator for people who don’t hire us, but for our clients, we make sure that (1) we’re executing on any tax-saving strategies possible and (2) we’re paying the taxes when they’re due.

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

CJ: Here are a few questions I suggest Palantir employees ask financial advisors?

• What’s your experience working with people who have ISOs, NSOs, RSUs? (Check their website to see what content they’ve written.)
• Do you have any experience working with people from Palantir?
• How do you get paid? What are common conflicts of interest you have when working with clients?

Get to Know CJ Stermetz, Financial Advisor for Palantir Employees:

View CJ’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit his website to learn more.

Q: Is there anything that comes up frequently in your initial meeting with Palantir employees that surprises you?

CJ: Generally speaking, most people from Palantir, love Palantir. Clients have voiced some normal annoyances, but overall, everyone thinks there’s a lot more room for growth at the company.

Q: For highly compensated Palantir employees and executives, are there any special benefits you believe it’s important to take into consideration when preparing their financial plan?

CJ: Because Palantir has granted so much equity, many employees who might not have been “highly compensated” are now very much highly compensated. For people who are new to significant wealth, it’s important to ask for help when you no longer feel you’re sure you’re making the right moves. This really applies on the tax planning side of things.

Q: Is there a particularly memorable experience or a moment you recall with a client who worked at Palantir when you realized they have unique opportunities and circumstances when it comes to their financial planning needs?

CJ: There have been multiple clients who wanted to sell/diversify over time to eventually fund a house purchase. For all of these clients we:

• Mapped out the vesting, sale, and exercise/sale schedule (helps avoid wash sales on RSUs)
• For current employees, we aligned the schedule with estimated trading windows; for former employees, we built in a monthly/quarterly sales schedule
• Earmarked the required quarterly estimates for taxes (helps avoid underpayment penalties)
• Set aside the cash in the highest-yielding but still 100% safe place
• Notified their CPA or introduced a new CPA to ensure the tax returns had all the information necessary and that they were thinking about all the potential tax-savings strategies at our disposal

Pulling money in a tax-efficient way to fund the purchase of a house is a really fun thing to help with.

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