- Home
- Who we serve
- Oil and Gas Executives
- Financial Advisor for Oceaneering Executives Houston
Flat-Fee Fiduciary Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor for Oceaneering Executives in Houston
NYSE: OII | Oceaneering International, Inc.
Oceaneering’s compensation structure creates a planning problem most financial advisors don’t recognize: your RSU and PSU awards and your 401k employer match are both paid in OII company stock. Two streams of compensation, one stock.
That dual concentration risk, alongside offshore cycle income variability, requires a specific strategy. Dr. Preston Cherry works directly with Oceaneering executives through a transparent flat-fee fiduciary structure.
Oceaneering Compensation Looks Strong on Paper. The Planning Problem Is That Two Streams of Income Are Concentrated in One Stock.
Oceaneering professionals earn well, strong base salary, performance bonuses, and long-term equity tied to offshore market conditions. The financial challenge isn’t the income. The challenge is that both your equity awards and your 401k employer match are paid in OII company stock, creating dual concentration that builds quietly across years of service.
RSU vesting creates predictable but stackable tax events. PSU payouts depend on performance metrics tied to the offshore cycle. In strong offshore years, both arrive in the same calendar year alongside a strong bonus. The 401k match compounds the OII exposure in a way most employees don’t notice until they calculate the total across all accounts.
At Concurrent Wealth Management, we coordinate these decisions into one strategy that addresses both streams of concentration.
What Oceaneering Professionals Are Actually Planning Around
Dual Concentration Risk - The Problem Unique to Oceaneering
Two Streams, One Stock, Most energy companies create concentration risk through equity awards. Oceaneering creates it twice: once through RSU and PSU grants, and again through a 401k employer match paid in OII company stock. By the time a senior Oceaneering executive approaches retirement, they may hold a significant percentage of total net worth in a single stock without ever making an active decision to concentrate.
A diversification plan must address both streams, the tax cost of liquidation, and a realistic multi-year reduction timeline.
RSU and PSU Mix - 50/50 Balance
Predictable and Performance-Based Together, Oceaneering grants RSUs and PSUs in roughly equal proportion. RSUs vest time-based and are taxed as ordinary income at full market value on the vesting date. PSUs vest based on performance metrics over a multi-year period and can pay above or below target.
When both award types vest in the same calendar year alongside a strong cash bonus, the income stacking problem is real and requires advance tax strategy, not reactive tax filing.
401k Employer Match in OII Stock
The Concentration You Didn’t Choose, Oceaneering’s 401k employer match is paid in OII company stock. For most employees, this creates a third stream of OII exposure on top of RSU and PSU awards, one that accumulates automatically without any active investment decision.
The total OII exposure across equity awards and 401k holdings is often much larger than it appears in any single account view. Quantifying the full exposure and building a tax-efficient reduction plan is the first step.
Offshore Cycle Income Variability
When a Strong Cycle Creates Its Own Problem, Oceaneering’s revenue and profitability correlate with offshore drilling activity and energy sector capital spending. Strong cycle years produce bonus upside and above-target PSU payouts. Down-cycle years compress both.
A retirement income plan built on Oceaneering compensation needs to account for this variability rather than projecting best-cycle income forward as a baseline. The sustainable income number is lower than the peak-cycle number.
Concentration Risk Reduction Strategy
The Cost of Waiting, For Oceaneering executives holding concentrated OII positions, the tax cost of selling is real: short-term gains on recently vested shares, long-term gains on older positions, and the question of when to reduce in a way that doesn’t create a single large tax event.
Building a multi-year reduction plan, one that coordinates selling with other income events, retirement timing, and tax bracket management is how concentration gets addressed without a disruptive liquidation.
Retirement Timing and Equity Vesting Windows
When You Leave Matters, For Oceaneering executives, retirement timing interacts directly with RSU and PSU vesting schedules. Leaving before a vesting date means forfeiting unvested awards. Leaving in a strong offshore cycle year means managing a large ordinary income event in the year of retirement.
The financial best answer for retirement timing and the personal best answer are often different. Planning both requires a complete picture of unvested equity, concentration, and post-retirement income needs.
RSUs, PSUs, and 401k Match — All in OII Stock, Total Exposure Unknown
This is the situation I see most with Oceaneering executives: years of equity awards and 401k match accumulating in OII company stock across multiple accounts and nobody has ever added it up across all of them.
The total OII exposure is almost always larger than the executive realizes. Between RSU vesting, PSU payouts, and the 401k match, a meaningful percentage of net worth may be tied to a single stock in a single sector. Quantifying the real number is the first step. Building a tax-efficient reduction plan around it is the second.
PSU Payout + RSU Vest + Strong Offshore Bonus — Same Year, No Tax Plan
In strong offshore cycle years, Oceaneering executives face a stacking income event that nobody modeled at the start of the year: PSU payout, RSU vesting, and a strong annual bonus all arriving in the same calendar year.
Oceaneering withholds at a flat rate that rarely matches senior executives’ actual marginal brackets. The combined effective rate on that income can be significantly higher than anticipated. That gap doesn’t appear until April, and by then the shares have settled and the decision window has closed.
Why Fee Structure Matters at This Level of Complexity
Many high-income professionals eventually evaluate whether percentage-based advisory fees remain aligned with their interests as wealth grows. At a $3 million portfolio, 1% equals $30,000 per year. As assets appreciate, that fee rises automatically regardless of whether the advice provided changes.
At Concurrent Wealth Management, clients work through a transparent dollar-based flat-fee structure. The fee is defined, documented, and tied to the scope of planning not the size of the portfolio. This structure is designed for professionals who want clear alignment between the advice they receive and what they pay for it.
Retirement Planning for Oceaneering Professionals
For many Oceaneering professionals, retirement planning has focused on accumulation, not on the concentration problem that’s been building quietly across years of equity awards and 401k match accumulation.
The real planning question evolves from “How much do I have?” to “How much of what I have is in one stock, and how do I structure the rest into income that lasts?” Oceaneering executives often have more OII concentration than they realize, and a retirement plan that hasn’t fully accounted for what reducing that concentration will cost.
What many still want is clarity around:
- Quantifying total OII exposure across all accounts — equity awards, 401k, and taxable holdings
- Building a multi-year concentration reduction plan that accounts for tax cost
- Converting equity into a structured, tax-efficient income strategy
- Managing offshore cycle variability in retirement income planning
- Social Security timing coordinated with PSU settlement years
- Healthcare planning before Medicare eligibility
- Withdrawal sequencing across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts
Houston-Based Flat-Fee Fiduciary Advisor
Dr. Preston D. Cherry, CFP®
Dr. Preston Cherry is a Houston-based flat-fee fiduciary financial advisor and founder of Concurrent Wealth Management.
He works directly with TechnipFMC professionals, energy executives, and high-income Gen X professionals navigating equity compensation, tax timing, and retirement design with clarity. His approach integrates fiduciary financial planning, behavioral finance, and real-world energy-sector experience to help leaders coordinate complex decisions with long-term confidence.
Dr. Cherry is a Investopedia Top 10 Financial Advisor, published author (Wiley), and CFP® certificant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cheniere Professionals Financial Planning
Dual concentration risk means two separate streams of compensation are tied to a single stock. For Oceaneering employees, both equity awards (RSUs and PSUs) and the 401k employer match are paid in OII stock.
Most employees don't realize the 401k match compounds their stock exposure until they calculate the total across all accounts and the number is often much larger than expected.
Oceaneering grants PSUs and RSUs in roughly equal proportion. RSUs vest time-based and are taxed as ordinary income at vesting. PSUs vest based on performance metrics and can pay above or below target.
When both vest in the same calendar year alongside a strong bonus, the tax impact of unplanned income stacking is material.
Oceaneering withholds at a flat 22% on PSU settlements and RSU vesting. For senior executives at higher marginal brackets, the effective rate on combined PSU, RSU, and bonus income in a strong offshore cycle year can be significantly higher.
That gap doesn't show up until Aprilafter the decision window has closed.
A flat-fee fiduciary charges a defined dollar amount for financial planning rather than a percentage of assets. For an Oceaneering executive with $3M in assets, 1% AUM equals $30,000 per year.
At Concurrent Wealth Management, the fee is tied to the scope of planning including dual concentration analysis, RSU and PSU strategy, and retirement sequencing not portfolio size.
Yes. Dr. Cherry works with Oceaneering professionals across Texas and virtually. Oceaneering's offshore and subsea operations employees across multiple locations face the same dual concentration and equity coordination challenges as Houston-based colleagues.
Resources For Professionals
Oceaneering & Concentration Risk
Oceaneering Dual Concentration Risk: How to Manage RSU, PSU, and 401k Stock Match in One Plan
How Oceaneering executives identify and reduce dual concentration risk across equity awards and 401k employer match and how to build a coordinated financial plan for retirement.
Oil & Gas Executives
RSUs, Bonuses, and Taxes: Financial Planning for Oil & Gas Professionals
How Houston energy professionals coordinate RSUs, bonus variability, and tax strategy across high-income years and the decisions that matter most.
Expert Q&A
Your Oceaneering Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees and Executives
Via Wealthtender
Dr. Preston Cherry answers Oceaneering employee questions on dual concentration risk, RSU and PSU coordination, 401k stock match strategy, retirement timing, and when to work with a specialist financial advisor.
Your OII Exposure Is Larger Than You Think. Your Financial Plan Should Account for All of It.
RSU vesting is on a schedule. PSU cycle years are predictable. The 401k match is accumulating in OII stock every payroll cycle. The dual concentration problem builds quietly, until it doesn’t. Let’s quantify the full picture and build a plan before the next offshore cycle peaks.
