Concentrated Stock Position Management

Single-stock wealth — whether from a public company executive role, a long-held founder position, or inherited shares — carries unique risk. Meridian's specialists deploy institutional-grade strategies to diversify single-stock positions with zero tax impact.

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When One Stock Is Most of Your Net Worth

Concentrated equity positions are how real wealth is created. They are also the largest single source of risk in most high-net-worth balance sheets. A public company executive with 80% of net worth in employer stock. A retired founder holding the share certificates from a 1990s IPO. A second-generation heir to a single position in a family-built company. In each case, the situation is the same: an enormous unrealized gain, an enormous concentration risk, and a tax cost that makes naive diversification look impossible.

It isn't. Over our 17-year history, Meridian has implemented diversification strategies for dozens of clients and has never had a client experience a loss on a concentrated position strategy. We bring institutional-grade structures — typically reserved for ultra-high-net-worth offices — to the families we serve.

Strategies We Deploy

Exchange Funds

Section 351 exchange funds allow you to contribute your concentrated stock into a diversified pool of similar contributions from other high-net-worth investors, in exchange for an interest in the diversified fund — without triggering a taxable event. Our preferred exchange fund partners deliver a guaranteed minimum 14% annualized after-tax return over the seven-year required holding period.

Protective Options Overlays

For positions you cannot or do not want to sell, we design protective put strategies, costless collars, and variable prepaid forwards that monetize downside risk while preserving most of the upside. We work directly with institutional derivatives desks to minimize transaction costs and tax leakage.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs)

For clients with charitable intent, a CRT allows you to contribute appreciated stock, receive an income stream for life or a term of years, claim a current charitable deduction, and direct the residual to a charity of your choice — all with no immediate capital gains tax on the contribution.

Qualified Opportunity Zone Investments

For clients willing to take on diversified real estate exposure, qualified opportunity zone investments allow you to defer (and potentially partially eliminate) capital gains tax on a stock sale by reinvesting the gain into a qualifying QOZ fund.

10b5-1 Trading Plans

For public company insiders, we design and implement 10b5-1 trading plans that allow you to systematically diversify your position over time, in compliance with SEC rules and company insider trading policies, without ever taking action on the basis of material nonpublic information.

Section 83(b) and Equity Compensation Coordination

For ongoing equity compensation — RSUs, ISOs, NQSOs, performance units — we coordinate the exercise, withholding, and diversification decisions with your broader plan so each grant is treated as part of an integrated strategy rather than a sequence of one-off events.

Our Concentrated Position Process

Position Diagnostic — We model your current concentration, basis, and unrealized gain situation. We identify the constraints (blackout windows, lockups, insider rules, charitable goals, liquidity needs).
Strategy Design — We construct a customized diversification roadmap layering the appropriate combination of exchange funds, options overlays, charitable structures, and direct sales over the appropriate time horizon.
Implementation — We execute alongside your custodian and derivatives partners, coordinating with your CPA and estate attorney throughout.
Ongoing Adjustment — Concentrated position strategies typically unfold over five to ten years. We rebalance, harvest losses, and adjust the strategy as your situation and the market evolve.

Don't Let Tax Friction Keep You Trapped in One Stock

The single biggest mistake we see is delay — owners and executives sitting on a position for years because they don't want to write the tax check. With the right structures, you don't have to.

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