Method
How True Keep is built.
The letter quotes total compensation. That number is not spendable. Keep reconstructs what remains after the government, the city, and the chance that private paper is worth nothing.
Wages
Base + target bonus + signing bonus spread across the years you chose. Public RSUs are stacked on cash wages and counted at what is left after the extra tax they trigger — they are not added twice, and they are not valued at the average tax rate.
Tax · 2026
Federal income tax uses IRS 2026 brackets and the standard deduction ($16,100 single / $32,200 joint). FICA uses the 2026 Social Security wage base of $184,500, 1.45% Medicare, and the 0.9% additional Medicare tax. California uses 2026 FTB schedules (filing-aware) plus 1.3% SDI on wages. New York City offers include NYC personal income tax. Other states use published progressive brackets or the statutory flat rate. No AMT, no itemizing, no employee 401(k) deferral.
Private equity
Illiquid grants are not treated as rent money. They are marked down by stage, then taxed as if sold. The haircut is a probability weight, not a price target.
- Seed22%
- Series A32%
- Series B45%
- Series C+58%
- Pre-IPO / late72%
- Public100%
Cost of living
True Keep divides after-tax cash, benefits, and counted equity by a metro price index (US average = 1.00). San Francisco is 1.32. Remote US average is 1.00. The index is a regional-price-parity style estimate, not a personal budget. Four-year Keep is the sum of the four vest-year rows — not four times year one.
What Keep is not
Not a tax return. Not investment advice. Not a promise that a startup grant will land. It is a second pair of eyes before you sign, so the negotiation is about the number you keep — not the number they printed.