Our income swings a lot year to year. How do you plan around that?

We set the household's fixed cost base against the reliable income, then run everything variable through a separate account with a written rule — a target percentage to taxes, to retirement, and to a reserve before anything reaches spending. It converts an unpredictable year into a predictable savings rate, and it makes the quarterly estimated-tax payment a non-event.

We bought our Silver Lake house years ago and it's worth far more. What should we know?

Three things: your Prop 13 base is an asset that a sale gives up, the $250,000-per-person capital-gains exclusion may not cover your gain, and heirs generally receive a step-up in basis at death. Whether to sell, hold, refinance, or borrow against it is a modeled decision — and for unmarried partners it also intersects directly with how the property is titled.

Do we have to live in Silver Lake to work with Aequitas?

No. Aequitas is fee-only and virtual-first — we work with LGBTQ+ households in Silver Lake the same way we work with clients across Los Angeles and the rest of the US. This page is written for the Silver Lake demographic, not as a residency requirement.

Is there a minimum account size?

No asset minimum. Engagements are priced based on planning complexity, not portfolio size, so we can work with LGBTQ+ high earners still building wealth — not just clients who already have it.

What happens on the intro call?

Twenty minutes, video or phone. We ask what you're actually trying to figure out, share how Aequitas would approach it, and decide together whether an engagement makes sense. No pressure, no product pitch.

LGBTQ+ couple in Silver Lake, Los Angeles reviewing their financial plan

Los Angeles · Silver Lake

LGBTQ+ financial planning for Silver Lake

You freelance, your partner has a big-tech day job, and the two calendars barely talk to each other. Your plan can — and if you're buying up the hill, it has to.

Schedule a free intro call 20 minutes · video or phone · no product pitch

Quick answer

Is there a financial advisor for LGBTQ+ households in Silver Lake?

Yes. Aequitas Financial is a fee-only fiduciary practice serving LGBTQ+ professionals, couples, and families in Silver Lake and across Los Angeles. Meetings are virtual, there is no asset minimum or commission, and plans are built around CA tax, titling, and chosen-family protections.

Source: CFP Board — Code of Ethics & Standards of Conduct

Who this is for

Built for Silver Lake LGBTQ+ households

Silver Lake households mix designers, editors, and tech PMs — dual-income queer couples in hillside bungalows and young families in the flats near the reservoir, often with one W-2 and one 1099.

You're a 1099 designer / editor / consultant and your S-corp question has been open for three years. Every accountant gives you a different answer.
One of you gets RSUs, one of you gets a K-1. Your CPA files the return but no one plans the year.
You want to buy a Silver Lake bungalow but the down-payment source is a stack of vested RSUs and the tax hit is the part no one is modeling.
You're thinking about kids in the next 2–3 years and IVF/surrogacy is a real six-figure line item you haven't put in a spreadsheet yet.
Silver Lake rents and prices carry an LGBTQ+ safety premium of roughly $1,200–$1,800/mo over the Inland Empire — the cost of a walkable, visible queer neighborhood. On dual freelance-plus-W-2 income, that premium is often what's really eating your down-payment timeline.

On the ground

Money in Silver Lake: creative income, appreciated homes

Silver Lake households tend to be a hybrid — one partner with a stable tech, design, or healthcare salary, one running a studio, practice, or production company. That mix creates a planning problem you don't get with two W-2s: the variable income determines how much can be saved, but the fixed income determines what the household spends. Without a deliberate cash-flow structure, the good years get absorbed and the thin years get financed.

The other Silver Lake reality is a hillside house bought before 2018 that has appreciated dramatically. That is real wealth and a real trap. Prop 13 keeps the property-tax base low, which makes selling expensive in a way that has nothing to do with the market: a move into a comparable home resets the assessment, and the federal capital-gains exclusion is $250,000 per person — often far below the embedded gain. Planning around it means talking about Prop 19 transfers, timing, and whether an eventual step-up in basis makes holding the better answer.

How we help Silver Lake households

1099 + W-2 hybrid tax planning

S-corp vs. sole prop, quarterly estimates, solo 401(k) + SEP-IRA choice, and PTE elections handled proactively — so April isn't a scramble and next year's plan is already in motion.

RSU + ESPP sequencing across two careers

Vest calendars, concentration risk, ESPP hold-vs-sell, and the tax bill hiding in your next refresh — coordinated with the rest of the plan, not treated as a separate problem.

Family-planning cash flow

IVF, surrogacy, adoption, and second-parent adoption modeled into your real cash flow so building a family isn't paused indefinitely or financed on hope.

Next step

Go deeper, or just talk to us

Skim the broader context if you want more before reaching out — or book the call and we'll cover it live.

LGBTQ+ financial advisor in Los Angeles

The city-wide overview: how Aequitas works with Los Angeles LGBTQ+ households across cash flow, tax, investing, and estate.

LGBTQ+ tax & cost-of-living guide: Los Angeles

State income tax, property tax, estate tax, and LGBTQ+ planning overlays specific to Los Angeles.

Schedule Your Intro Call

FAQ

Silver Lake planning FAQs

This page is part of our wider guide to LGBTQ+ financial planning — how fee-only, fiduciary planning works for queer households, and which topic to start with.

Ready to talk through your plan?

On a free intro call we'll walk through where you are, what you're trying to figure out, and whether an engagement makes sense — no pressure.

Schedule Your Intro Call