RSU Playbook Optimise your equity. Minimise your tax. Maximise your wealth. Mike Sikar

⚠️The RSU Tax Trap Most Tech Execs Don’t See Coming

Last quarter, I got a call from a VP of Engineering at a US-listed tech company.

His RSUs had just vested. $200K worth.

His company withheld nothing. That’s how Australian ESS rules work the full value lands in his assessable income, taxed at his marginal rate when he lodges his return.

His marginal rate? 47% including Medicare levy.

Tax bill at year end: $94,000.

He hadn’t set aside a cent.

He’d spent the year treating his RSU income like a bonus. New car. Extension on the house. Europe trip.

The ATO didn’t care.

This happens to tech executives every single financial year.

Are you in this situation right now?

✅ You’re a senior tech exec at Atlassian, Google, Canva, Salesforce, CrowdStrike, or similar

✅ RSUs vest quarterly — and every vest creates a tax event you’re not fully across

✅ Your household income is $400K–$1M+ excluding RSUs but you don’t feel wealthy

✅ You’re in the 47% bracket (including Medica

The RSU Tax Trap Most Tech Execs Don’t See Coming 232 words

Watch: do you have a tax problem with your employee share scheme?

🔍Why Most Tech Execs Handle RSUs Wrong

Not because they're not smart. You run P&Ls. You manage headcount. You've shipped products used by millions.

But RSU tax strategy in Australia sits at a very specific intersection:

Australian ESS rules (Division 83A) — completely different from the US
Your full vest value is added to assessable income and taxed at marginal rates up to 47%
CGT rules — real, but often misused in ways that create concentration risk
Division 293 — the extra 15% super tax that kicks in when your income crosses $250K
Non concessional after tax contributions, one of the most underutilised levers available

Most advisers don't k

Why Most Tech Execs Handle RSUs Wrong 179 words

💡The Core Problem: You’re Not Invested. You’re Concentrated.

The 2026 Tech Software Crash — What’s Happening Right Now

As of late March 2026, the technology software sector has lost approximately 30% of its value in just three months.

Analysts are calling it an “AI bust” — fear that generative AI will disrupt traditional software subscription models has triggered a broad, sharp sell-off.

📉 US Software Stocks (last 12 months):

→ Atlassian (TEAM): −70%

→ ServiceNow (NOW): −44%

→ HubSpot (HUBS): −45%

→ Salesforce (CRM): −33%

→ Adobe (ADBE): −39%

📉 ASX Tech Stocks (2026):

→ WiseTech Global (WTC): −53%

→ Xero (XRO): −50% in last six months

→ SiteMinder (SDR): −54%

These are not obscure small-caps. These are the companies where tech executives work, earn their salary, and hold their RSUs.

Executives who had a structured sell-down plan 12 months ago diversified out.

They’re still on track.

The ones who were ‘waiting for the right time’

The Core Problem: You’re Not Invested. You’re Concentrated 261 words

🚨The CGT Discount Trap: When 'Smart Tax Planning' Becomes an Expensive Mistake

This is one of the most common and most costly mistakes I see Australian tech executives make.

The logic sounds sensible. Hold your RSUs for 12 months after vesting. Qualify for the 50% CGT discount on any gain above your cost base. At a 47% marginal rate, that's a real tax saving.

And from 1 July 2027, the rules change.

🗓️ What changes on 1 July 2027

The 2026 Budget is now law. It replaces the 50% CGT discount from 1 July 2027.

The new rules apply to individuals, trusts and partnerships. Shares are included. So are your RSUs.

Here's what replaces the discount:

Your cost base is indexed to inflation (CPI).
You pay tax on the real gain above inflation.
A minimum tax rate of 30% applies to that real gain.

Gains made before 1 July 2027 keep the 50% discount.

Why this matters for your RSUs

There's no rush to sell before July 2027. Gains built up to 30 June 2027 keep the 50% discou

The CGT Discount Trap 546 words

📣The 33% RSU Rule — As Featured in the Australian Financial Review

In March 2025, the Australian Financial Review published a feature on RSU wealth management. I was quoted on the number I’ve used with clients for years:

“People say you don’t want to have more than 5 or 10 per cent of your stock in any one investment.

But with a lot of these people having been given millions of dollars worth of shares, my long-term comfort level is about one-third.”

— Mike Sikar, Delta Financial Group, Australian Financial Review

The 33% Rule is not a number I pulled from a textbook.

It’s the threshold I’ve arrived at after working with 250+ tech executives across 15 years of practice. It accounts for the fact that these clients are already exposed to their employer through th

The 33% RSU Rule — As Featured in the AFR 292 words

🧩The 3-Part RSU Strategy

Most tech executives don’t have an RSU plan. They have RSU reactions.

RSUs vest.

You log into E*Trade or Computershare.

You stare at the balance.

You close the app.

You tell yourself you’ll figure it out later.

Later becomes next quarter.

Next quarter becomes next year.

And slowly, your equity position grows more concentrated, your tax position gets more complex, and the window to act shrinks.

This next section gives you the three-part framework

I’ve used to build Early Retirement Blueprints for 250+ tech executives

across Atlassian, Google, Canva, CrowdStrike, Salesforce, and beyond.

The 3-Part RSU Strategy 98 words

1️⃣Part 1: Tax-Efficient Sell-Down Plan

Under Australian ESS rules (Division 83A), when your RSUs vest the full market value is added to your assessable income for that financial year — taxed at your marginal rate.

For most senior tech executives, that’s 47% including the Medicare levy.

Which means a $300K vest creates a $141K tax liability.

Most people don’t have that set aside. Most didn’t realise it was coming.

A tax-efficient sell-down plan fixes this before the vest not after.

We look at:

The 30-day window — selling within 30 days of vesting avoids CGT entirely. Your cost base equals the vest price, so there is no capital gain to tax. This is the cleanest exit point for most executives.
Timing your sell-down relative to your financial year and expected total income
Non-concessional super contributions from RSU proceeds — for high-income earners whose employer SGC already exceeds the concessional cap, post-tax contributions into super are a key wealth-build

Part 1: Tax-Efficient Sell-Down Plan 285 words

2️⃣Part 2: Diversification Strategy

After a structured sell-down, RSU proceeds are redirected into:

Global diversified ETFs — international equities not correlated to your employer
Australian shares — ASX-listed diversified exposure
Debt recycling — converting your non-deductible mortgage into a tax-deductible investment loan, turning your home loan into a wealth-building engine
Pre-tax super contributions — for lower-income earners where employer SGC hasn’t maxed the concessional cap, salary sacrifice and carry-forward contributions can reduce taxable income significantly
Post-tax (non-concessional) super contributions — for high-income earners already at the concessional cap, up to $120K this FY (rising to $130K next FY) can go into super post-tax, or up to $390K via the 3-year bring-forward

This isn’t about selling everything and putting it in a savings account.

It’s about building a second wealth engine — one that grows independently, generates income, and does

Part 2: Diversification Strategy 153 words

3️⃣Part 3: Multi-Year RSU Roadmap

The single biggest mistake I see tech executives make is treating each vest as a separate event. Sell a bit. Hold a bit. Repeat. No cohesion. No compounding.

A Multi-Year RSU Roadmap treats your entire vesting schedule — past, present, and future — as a single strategic asset to be optimised across time. It maps:

Your vesting schedule and expected values across 3–5 years
The projected tax impact of each vest at current and expected income
The sell-down strategy for each vest
The reinvestment plan and compounding trajectory
Your retirement income projection at your target retirement age

Here's what that looks like in practice:

$1.08M reinvested into a diversified portfolio targeting 9% long-term returns:

✅ In 10 years: ~$2.65M

✅ In 15 years: ~$4.2M

That's the retirement income engine.

That's the difference between RSUs that cre

Part 3: Multi-Year RSU Roadmap 155 words

📊 Real Client. Real Numbers. Real Outcome.

You struggle with your finances even though you make $700K plus.

Meet a client of mine who faced this exact challenge.

The Starting Point

He was in his early 50s. Sales Director at a major US-listed tech company.

A high performer by any measure.

His income structure:

✔ $250K annual base salary

✔ $250K–$550K annual commissions — variable, performance-driven, never guaranteed

✔ $100K–$200K in RSUs vesting each year

On a good year, total comp north of $1M.

But the commission — nearly triple his base — wasn't always guaranteed.

That uncertainty made every long-term financial decision harder than it needed to be.

He had two goals:

🏡 Leave a legacy for his kids — specifically helping them get into the property market

💰 Retire early on $20K/month in passive income, with genuine financial peace of mind

What He Had When He Came to Us

![client_position_table_resized.png](https://deltafinancial.com.au/u/client_positi

Real Client. Real Numbers. Real Outcome. 739 words

Addressing Common Fears

📈“What if the stock price goes up after I sell?”

It might. It genuinely might.

But the executives who held everything waiting for the stock to go higher were the same ones calling me in a panic when it dropped 40% — asking what to do now that their net worth had been cut in half.

You are not a hedge fund. You are a human being with a mortgage, a family, and a career that’s already tied to this company.

The 33% RSU Rule isn’t about timing the market. It’s about removing the question entirely. You retain a meaningful position. You redirect the rest. You stop checking the stock price three times a day.

🤝“I feel loyal to the company.”

Good. Stay loyal. Do great work. Get promoted. Earn more RSUs.

But loyalty is a relationship between you and your employer — not a financial strategy.

You can be an exceptional employee and a rational wealth manager at the same time. The two are not in conflict.

⏱️“I don’t know the right time to sell.”

Addressing Common Fears 436 words

💬 What Clients Say

Trusted by senior tech executives across Australia.

"I was looking for a financial adviser who understands my unique position as a tech professional with an employee share scheme. Mike has helped me understand how to make my money work harder and has provided a tailored approach I really value."
— Alison Winterflood, Software Development Manager, Atlassian

"His service is ideal for time-poor tech executives who want to kick goals. I feel more confident that I can leave a legacy for my kids."
— Alyssa O’Connell, Head of Commercial ANZ, Uber

"Mike quickly put in place a revised retirement plan that involved minimising the fees I was paying in superannuation and having a more structured investment strategy. I now feel a level of confidence and control that my future is heading in the right direction."
— Karl Pickering, Solutions Architect, Iron Mountain

"Mike effortlessly provided a solid plan to build & strengthen our portfolio beyond what we tho

What Clients Say 189 words

Watch: how the Early Retirement Blueprint works

Here's What Happens Next

I work with a small number of senior tech executives at a time. I'm not a call centre. I'm not a robo-adviser. I'm a boutique financial adviser who has built 250+ Early Retirement Blueprints for people in exactly your situation.

The 15-Minute RSU Strategy Session

This is not a sales pitch. It's a specific, structured conversation about your RSU position.

In 15 minutes, we'll cover:

Your next vest date — and the exact tax exposure you're looking at this financial year
Whether the 30-day window applies to your situation right now
*Your concentration position

If your RSU's Vest In the Next 90 Days 282 words