At We Financial, we specialize in helping tech professionals and founders unlock liquidity without having to sell their stock, options, or long-term investments. One of the most powerful strategies available is box spread financing — a market-based way to borrow against your portfolio. While it functions much like a security-based loan, it is technically not a loan. Instead, it’s an options strategy that allows qualified investors to access cash at highly competitive rates.
For more details on how it works, you can visit our financing page. What matters most, however, are the real ways our clients use it. Here are three examples.
Lowering Housing Costs Without Bank Red Tape
Many of our clients in tech are balancing a Bay Area mortgage with a volatile equity-heavy portfolio. One couple had a 6.5% mortgage. By using a box spread, they refinanced the balance at roughly 4%*. On a $1M mortgage, that’s about $25,000 in annual savings.
Unlike a traditional refinance:
• No credit pull, appraisals, or bank underwriting
• No hit to credit score
• Setup in a matter of weeks
• Interest fully deductible as a capital loss
The portfolio remains invested, and their equity exposure continues to grow while reducing financing costs.
Funding a Home or Lifestyle Purchase Without Selling Stock
If you’re in tech, chances are much of your wealth is tied up in RSUs, stock options, or concentrated stock positions. Selling shares to cover a down payment often creates large taxable events — not ideal.
Instead, some of our clients have used box spread financing to:
• Cover a home down payment
• Fund startup capital contributions
• Handle unexpected expenses
This way, they access cash quickly while their long-term portfolio keeps compounding.
Diversifying a Concentrated Tech Stock Position
A common scenario: an engineer or founder has most of their net worth tied up in a single tech stock. Selling everything at once would mean steep capital gains.
By borrowing against the position, they accessed liquidity to start building a diversified portfolio — while keeping the original shares in place. Over time, we helped them transition out of the concentrated position in a more tax-efficient way.
Why Tech Professionals Should Care
Flexible liquidity: Access cash for real estate, taxes, or startup investing without selling your portfolio. • Keep your equity working: Your stock and RSUs stay invested, avoiding missed upside. • Tax-efficient strategy: Potentially reduce realized gains by spreading sales over time.
Borrowing against investments isn’t right for everyone, but for many tech professionals, it’s a powerful financial planning tool that provides liquidity while keeping assets invested.
If you would like to learn more, visit our financing page or schedule a free meeting.
*Borrowing against your investments at rates between 3.5% and 4.5% is based on current market pricing for box spread financing and is subject to change without notice. Rates are not guaranteed and may vary with market conditions at the time of execution. Borrowing involves risks, including potential loss of invested assets if positions are liquidated to meet obligations. This is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to borrow.
