At this stage, creating a thoughtful framework for financial decision making can be highly beneficial. The first step is to define and articulate your goals and priorities. What exactly would you like your wealth to do for you? Many begin with their short-term priorities: buying a home, building a cash buffer to navigate lock-ups and trading windows, or planning for the incoming tax bill. But it’s also worth identifying long-term goals now, too, so you can make well-timed decisions as liquidity becomes available and restrictions ease. It is helpful to consider three horizons: <ul> <li>Lifestyle and near-term liquidity: Clarify what you hope to fund in the next 12–36 months, such as a home purchase or another major expense—or a cash reserve, so you’re never forced to sell at the wrong time.</li> <li>Family and commitments: Decide what to set aside for others (e.g., family support, tuition assistance or gifts) by assigning clear amounts and beneficiaries.</li> <li>Long-term stewardship: Outline how you want to protect and carry wealth forward across decades, including how it may transfer over time and what structures could best support future generations.</li> </ul> Defining your short- and long-term goals will guide future decisions on spending, saving, giving and risk tolerance, helping you make the most of this fast-moving opportunity.

The right advisory team—anchored by a financial advisor, CPA and estate planning attorney—helps you navigate equity complexity with confidence. They’ll stress-test possibilities, coordinate investment, tax and legal decisions, and ensure execution is timed appropriately across trading windows, lock-ups and risk parameters.

In many cases, earlier is better. Establishing a 10b5-1 plan well before lock-up expiration helps ensure the cooling-off period is satisfied and your post-lock-up diversification timeline is ready to execute as soon as trading is permitted.

IPO Planning for employees | J.P. Morgan Private Bank U.S.

Partnering with you through every stage of the IPO process

An initial public offering (IPO) can transform years of work into significant wealth—expanding possibilities for your family, your career and the causes most important to you. It is also likely to introduce a new set of decisions that must be made under constraints such as lock-ups, trading windows and shifting tax exposure.

From the pre-IPO stage through the lock-up period and beyond, we partner with you to align your shares, liquidity and long-term priorities within a single coordinated strategy. This includes guidance on estate planning, tax-aware investing, strategic lending and charitable giving—so you can preserve what you’ve built, stay flexible as opportunities emerge and shape a lasting legacy.

Define your goals

Build your team

Know what you own and when you can act

Depending on your mix of stock, RSUs, ISOs and NQSOs, you’ll have different planning choices and decision points. Your advisors can help you inventory your equity, map key vesting dates and expiration deadlines, and understand the constraints as you go public: lock-ups, blackout periods and insider restrictions. The result is a clear decision timeline.

Here are some key pre-IPO considerations:

409A valuations and option timing: Understand how a 409A valuation affects taxable income at exercise for NQSOs and ISOs, and whether exercising earlier at a lower valuation could reduce your tax burden.
QSBS eligibility: Confirm whether your shares may qualify as Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) and what documentation you need. Understand how holding period requirements interact with exercise timing.
AMT exposure: Estimate potential Alternative Minimum Tax exposure for incentive stock options, and decide how many options you can exercise within a tax budget you’re comfortable with.
Pre-IPO liquidity programs: Check whether tender offers or secondary sales may be available, and understand the rules, pricing and tax tradeoffs.
Pre-IPO wealth transfer: Techniques such as a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) or generation-skipping transfer (GST) trust may allow you to transfer wealth to heirs at a discounted valuation before the IPO.

How J.P. Morgan Private Bank can help

We work with you to build a financial plan tailored to your goals—so you can see the full possibilities of your wealth, plan your next steps and take action at every stage, from pre- to post-liquidity and beyond. Our Wealth Plan Plus tool can model timing and pricing outcomes, set decision triggers like exercise limits and diversification targets, and stress-test scenarios, so you’re prepared no matter how the IPO timeline unfolds.

Build a lockup-period liquidity plan

Know what trading rules apply to you

Diversify and transition thoughtfully

Use hedging and monetization strategies thoughtfully

Use charitable giving to align impact and tax planning

Transfer wealth with intention

IPO wealth brings new options—and new complexities. Let’s build a strategy around your goals and aspirations.

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What are the key steps and timeline for IPO planning?

What happens when the IPO lock-up period ends?

How should I think about my RSUs, NSOs, ISOs and PSUs around an IPO?

When to set up a 10b5-1 plan?

When to set it up

What is QSBS and how can it benefit pre-IPO employees?

Get personalized guidance grounded in deep experience

Whether you’re approaching an IPO or managing life after one, the right plan benefits from both specialized knowledge and an integrated view. Our team includes professionals with backgrounds in trusts and estates, taxes and complex transactions alongside experienced investment specialists—so we can help you connect the dots between planning, investing and your long-term objectives.

We customize portfolios to your goals, help you navigate market volatility and bring a global lens to decisions where access matters. J.P. Morgan’s Strategic Equity Solutions team is dedicated to helping clients navigate the risks and benefits inherent in concentrated public equity.

IPO wealth can create new choices—and new questions. Let’s build a plan shaped around where you want to go.

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IPO Planning for employees

Partnering with you through every stage of the IPO process

Pre-IPO Considerations