Highly Compensated

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A layoff or a scheduled separation date drops several money decisions on you at once, and they are not on the same clock. The date on your paperwork is not always the last day you work, and that one date decides what happens to your unvested stock. Treat every decision like it is equally urgent and you can lose a good option simply by running out of time on it.

This video walks through the decisions that actually have a deadline, in plain language, with no finance background needed. Your unvested equity generally forfeits at the separation date set by your plan. Vested options start two separate clocks: a window to exercise that is commonly around 90 days but is set by your plan, not by law, and a separate three-month clock to keep incentive stock option (ISO) tax treatment before the option is taxed like an ordinary one (IRS Publication 525 / IRC section 422). Exercise and hold ISOs and you can owe alternative minimum tax on the paper gain even if you sell nothing. Severance, final pay, and vesting can all land in one tax year and push your bracket up.

We close on the 401(k), where you usually have more time, except for one quiet age rule: under the "rule of 55," if you separate in or after the year you turn 55, distributions from that employer's 401(k) are generally free of the 10% early-withdrawal penalty, but that break does not follow the money into an IRA, which goes back to age 59 1/2 (IRS guidance on exceptions to the early-distribution tax).

This is educational content, not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Read your own plan document and confirm specifics with your CPA, attorney, or advisor.

In this video:

0:00 The question nobody hands you with the paperwork

0:25 Your separation date is not always your last day

1:55 What happens to your unvested equity

3:15 Two clocks on your vested options (the 90-day window and the 3-month ISO rule)

4:55 The AMT surprise on exercising and holding

6:10 How severance, final pay, and vesting stack your tax year

7:45 Your 401(k) and the age-55 rule

9:05 A few things to check before you sign

9:55 Get a second set of eyes

Learn more: https://www.bas-financial.com/equity-compensation-at-separation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=podcast_description&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-26&utm_content=wk_longform_henry

Set up a complimentary review: https://meetings.hubspot.com/bas-financial/bas-financial-intro-call

Sources: IRS Publication 525 and IRC section 422 (incentive stock options and the 3-month rule); IRS guidance on exceptions to the 10% early-distribution tax (rule of 55). The ~90-day exercise window is standard equity-plan practice and is set by your plan, not the IRS.

#EquityCompensation #StockOptions #LayoffFinances #RSUs #SanDiego #TechLayoffs #HighEarners

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If you have a large 401(k), either at your current job or left behind at an old one, there is a good chance money is coming out of it every year and no one is actively managing it for you. You do not write a check for it, so it can feel like it costs nothing. A 2021 U.S. Government Accountability Office study found that about 4 in 10 401(k) participants believe they pay no fees at all (GAO-21-357, 2021). If you cannot say what you pay, you are not alone, but you are also flying blind.

In this video I break down the three things you are actually paying for inside a 401(k), why a cost that looks tiny can quietly shrink a final balance over a career, and the second half of the problem that gets talked about far less: the advice gap. On a lot of plans, the costs come out and no actual advice ever comes in. No one picking your investments for your situation, no one rebalancing, no one asking how close you are to retiring.

With 2026 contribution limits now set and 2027 on the horizon, this is a sensible time to look before you steer more money in. I also cover three things you can check on your own statement today. If you want a closer look at what your plan costs and whether you are getting advice for it, the review walkthrough is linked below.

This video is educational content, not personalized financial advice.

See what your 401(k) actually costs you: https://www.bas-financial.com/401k-fee-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-19&utm_content=wk_podcast_401k Book a complimentary intro call: https://meetings.hubspot.com/bas-financial/bas-financial-intro-call

#401k #401kFees #RetirementPlanning #HighEarners #FinancialPlanning #RetirementSavings #SanDiego

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Your restricted stock vested, and taxes already came out of it. So why is there often still a bill waiting in April? This video walks through where the gap comes from: companies withhold on vesting RSUs at a flat 22% supplemental rate, but for a high earner those dollars are usually taxed higher, sometimes at 35% federal and California income tax on top. That difference is what shows up later.

We cover the two levers you have to close the gap, adjusting your paycheck withholding versus making an estimated tax payment, and why the right choice depends almost entirely on how late in the year it is. We also cover the mid-January final estimated-payment deadline and the safe-harbor rule that lets you avoid an underpayment penalty without being perfect to the dollar.

This is educational content, not personalized tax or investment advice. Figures are 2026 federal amounts and your own result depends on your full return. Talk with your CPA about your situation.

⏱ Chapters

0:00 Why there's still a tax bill after RSUs vest

0:30 What actually happens when RSUs vest

0:49 The 22% withholding rule

1:12 Why 22% isn't enough for high earners

2:34 Your two levers to fix the gap

3:20 Why the calendar decides which lever

4:44 Deadlines and the safe-harbor rule

5:30 If your RSUs vested this year

6:20 The bigger picture: concentrated stock

7:20 Get the checklist / book a review

📋 The checklist for San Diego high earners: https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=podcastn&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk_longform_henry

📅 Book a complimentary review: https://meetings.hubspot.com/bas-financial/bas-financial-intro-call

Bradly Stevens, MBA, CEPA™, ChFC®, CLU®, WMCP®, AIF®, LUTCF®. Wealth Advisor, BAS Financial, San Diego.

#RSU #EquityCompensation #TaxPlanning #HighEarners #SanDiego #RestrictedStock #YearEndTax #FinancialPlanning

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Private equity, private credit and other alternatives may start showing up on 401(k) menus. Before anyone decides whether that's a good idea, there's an earlier question: do you know what you're paying for the funds you already own? A 2021 Government Accountability Office report (GAO-21-357) found that 41 percent of participants incorrectly believe they don't pay any 401(k) plan fees. If private assets arrive in a plan, one route is inside a blended fund such as a target date fund, which means the cost and any restrictions can arrive there too, with no new line on the menu.

This video walks through the Department of Labor's proposed rule, announced March 30, 2026, with its comment period closed June 1, 2026. It is still a proposal, not a final rule. It would give plan fiduciaries a process-based safe harbor when selecting the funds on a menu, built on six factors: performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, a performance benchmark and complexity. It does not require any plan to add alternatives. Brad explains what liquidity and valuation mean for an account that is priced every business day, and why a safe harbor protects the fiduciaries' process rather than any participant's outcome.

It also covers where participants can find their plan's own fee disclosure, which 29 CFR 2550.404a-5 requires plans to provide (a comparison chart of the menu at least annually, and a quarterly statement of certain fees charged), and five questions worth asking a plan before alternatives land on it. Nothing in this video is a view on private equity or any specific fund.

Timestamps:

0:00 Private equity may be headed for your 401(k)

0:40 What the government is proposing

1:33 The fees you already pay

3:01 Where to find your fee information

3:33 Two things that change with private investments

4:50 Who's looking at the whole picture

5:38 Five questions to ask your plan

5:53 Next step

This is educational content only. It is not personalized investment, tax or legal advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, hold or sell any investment.

What a 401(k) fee review looks at: https://www.bas-financial.com/401k-fee-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-05&utm_content=wk_podcast_401k

To go through your own plan's disclosure, book a complimentary intro call: https://meetings.hubspot.com/bas-financial/bas-financial-intro-call

Also coming up: "How Much Is Enough?", a complimentary live webinar, Tuesday October 13, 2026, 12:00 to 1:00pm PT. Details are on the events page of the BAS Financial website.

#401k #401kFees #PrivateEquity #AlternativeInvestments #RetirementPlanning #FeeDisclosure #DepartmentOfLabor

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When you leave a long career with a big block of your own company's stock inside a 401(k) or ESOP, one decision at separation can't be redone. Most people roll the whole account into an IRA, which is the default and usually right for the rest of the account. But for the appreciated company stock, that same default can erase a tax break called Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA), and once the shares move into an IRA, it's gone for good. This video walks through what NUA is, how the numbers actually work, and when it fits. Under the NUA rules (IRS Topic 412 and Publication 575), you take the company shares out in a lump-sum distribution and pay ordinary income tax now on only the cost basis, while the appreciation is taxed later at long-term capital gains rates when you sell. For tax year 2026, per IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, long-term capital gains top out at 20% while ordinary income for a high earner tops out at 37%. Roll the shares into an IRA instead and the whole position, basis and appreciation both, comes out later as ordinary income. We also cover the conditions that make or break the election (lump-sum distribution, shares distributed in kind, the whole account cleared in one tax year, a triggering event like separation), and the three situations where rolling everything to an IRA is genuinely the better call, so you can tell which side of the fork you're actually on. Timestamps: 0:00 Hook and framing 1:02 What NUA actually is 3:10 The fork, with a number on it 5:06 The conditions, stated plainly 7:02 When rolling to an IRA is the right call 8:47 The order it actually happens in 10:20 Summary 11:06 Next step This is educational content, not personalized financial, tax, or investment advice. The San Diego HENRY strategy: https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video_description&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-09-28&utm_content=wk_longform_henry Book a complimentary conversation: https://www.bas-financial.com/book #NetUnrealizedAppreciation #NUA #CompanyStock #401k #RetirementPlanning #TaxPlanning #ESOP

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Most Employee Stock Purchase Plans go underused, and usually not because employees decided against them. Industry survey data from the NASPP puts median ESPP participation at roughly 38 percent, meaning the majority of eligible employees are not enrolled. In this video I walk through how a Section 423 ESPP actually works, using the plan features that show up most often at San Diego tech, biotech, and defense employers.

We cover the two design features that determine whether a plan is worth using: the discount, capped at 15 percent for a qualified plan and now offered at the full 15 percent by 85 percent of qualified plans per the 2023 NASPP/Deloitte Tax Equity Incentives Design Survey, and the lookback provision, present in 83 percent of those plans. We also cover the IRC Section 423 limit of $25,000 of stock per calendar year measured at grant-date fair market value.

The back half covers the difference between a qualifying and a disqualifying disposition and the concentration risk of having your paycheck, ESPP shares, and RSUs all attached to the same employer. It closes with how to build a repeatable process rather than re-deciding during every enrollment window.

Sources referenced: NASPP/Deloitte Tax Equity Incentives Design Survey (2023); IRC Section 423; IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 retirement plan limits).

This video is educational content and is not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Your own plan document and circumstances determine what applies to you.

More on how we work with high earners in San Diego: https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video_description&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-08-09&utm_content=wk_longform_henry

Book a complimentary equity compensation review: https://outlook.office.com/book/[email protected]/

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Most people estimate how much of their net worth sits in their employer's stock by opening one app and checking one balance. That balance is usually the smallest piece of it. The real figure includes vested shares held elsewhere, unvested RSUs already scheduled on a calendar, ESPP shares, and employer stock inside the 401(k) if the plan offers it.

The piece almost nobody counts is their own future earnings, which are a claim on the same company. Thirty percent of assets in employer stock plus a hundred percent of income from that employer is a very different exposure than thirty percent of assets and forty percent of income. This walks through how to run both numbers.

Then the part that gets skipped: knowing the number doesn't automatically mean selling. Research by Hendrik Bessembinder (Journal of Financial Economics, 2018) found that 58% of US common stocks from 1926 to 2016 had lifetime returns below one-month Treasury bills, and that the entire net gain of the US market came from the best-performing 4% of listed companies. But a large appreciated position carries a real cost to unwind. Per IRS Topic 409, long-term gains run 0%, 15%, or 20% federal, and per IRS Topic 559 a 3.8% net investment income tax applies above $200,000 single / $250,000 married filing jointly of modified AGI, with California taxing the gain as ordinary income. Four levers get covered with the tradeoff named on each, and none of them get resolved, because the right answer depends on your basis and your bracket.

More on equity compensation and concentration for San Diego high earners: https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video_description&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-08-24&utm_content=wk_longform_henry

Webinar: "Do You Know What Your 401(k) Fees Are?" Thursday, August 27, 2026, 12:00 to 12:30 PM PT. Details on the events page at bas-financial.com.

Book a complimentary review: https://outlook.office.com/book/[email protected]/

#EquityCompensation #RSU #ConcentrationRisk #TechCompensation #SanDiego #HighEarners #CapitalGains #FinancialPlanning

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"Do I have enough to work with a financial advisor?" is the most common version of this question, and the number by itself does not answer it. Two people can hold the same balance and be in completely different situations. One has three old employer plans, a stock position that arrived through a vesting schedule, and an election due by year end. The other has one index fund and nothing pending. Same money. Not the same problem.

This video works through what actually creates planning need, using current data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August 2025 that people born 1957 to 1964 held an average of 12.9 jobs between ages 18 and 58, and that 56 percent of the jobs they started between ages 45 and 54 ended in under five years. Capitalize, working with the Center for Retirement Research, estimated in September 2025 that there were 31.9 million left-behind 401(k) accounts in the U.S. as of July 2025, holding about 2.1 trillion dollars, with an average balance near $66,691. On the equity comp side, Schwab's 2025 workplace survey of 420 stock plan participants, published that September, found company stock averaged 32 percent of participants' total investment portfolios, with 49 percent of non-sellers waiting on market conditions and 29 percent citing tax implications.

It also covers the honest other side: when you may not need to pay anyone right now, and three questions you can run on your own situation tonight without talking to anybody.

This video is educational content and general information, not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice for any individual situation.

Wealth coordination for San Diego high earners: https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video_description&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-08-17&utm_content=wk_longform_henry

Upcoming complimentary webinar: "Do You Know What Your 401(k) Fees Are?" Thursday, August 27, 2026, 12:00 to 12:30pm PT. Full details on the events page at https://www.bas-financial.com/events

Schedule a complimentary review: https://outlook.office.com/book/[email protected]/

#FinancialPlanning #EquityCompensation #RSUs #401kRollover #ConcentratedStock #SanDiegoFinancialAdvisor #HighEarners

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Most people assume an old 401(k) or a self-managed IRA is fine simply because nothing looks wrong with it — no scary letter, no dropped balance, nothing flagged. That's usually not because everything's fine. It's because nobody's actually looking.

This video walks through what an old 401(k) is typically costing you in fees and missed attention, how to track down an account you've lost touch with after changing jobs, what's worth checking on a self-managed IRA at least once a year (allocation drift, beneficiary designations, overlap with a current plan), and the questions worth asking before you decide to move anything — or leave it exactly where it is.

Forgotten or left-behind 401(k) accounts in the U.S. held about $2.13 trillion in assets as of July 2025, roughly a quarter of all 401(k) savings nationally (Capitalize, 2025). Separately, a 2026 Fidelity study found the average American has worked for six employers, and that only 32% of people have rolled a previous balance into a current workplace plan, with just 21% moving one into a personal IRA — most have done nothing at all.

This is educational content, not personalized advice — nothing here is a recommendation to move your specific account.

More on our old 401(k) & IRA review approach: https://www.bas-financial.com/old-401k-ira-review?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-08-06&utm_content=wk0806_longform_old401kira

Want a complimentary conversation about your own accounts? Book here: https://outlook.office.com/book/[email protected]/

Sources cited: Capitalize, “The True Cost of Forgotten 401(k) Accounts” (2025); Fidelity 2026 study (via Yahoo Finance/247wallst, July 2026).