https://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/kyler.nielsen/, https://www.ameriprise.com/collaboration/schedule?Id=cYLL4ILSe0DcIqJ_

Kyler Nielsen, CFP, 1200 Summit Avenue Ste 860, Fort Worth, TX (2026)

05/29/2026

It’s May 29th, (or, 5/29 day!) so let’s talk about something a lot of parents have questions about:

“How should I save for my kid’s college education when I don’t actually know what their future will look like?”

This is a common pain point I see with parents all the time. Truthfully, it’s a hard question to answer! College is usually a goal that sits far out in the future, and over 18 years, a lot can change.

Maybe your child wants to go to a four-year university.
Maybe they pursue a master’s degree, doctorate, or professional program.
Maybe they choose trade school.
Maybe they skip college altogether and enter the workforce or start a business.

So the real question becomes:

"How do I invest for their future without locking every dollar into one outcome?"

Let’s address the elephant in the room first: There is no account that is perfectly safe, grows aggressively, and gives you unlimited flexibility. Those three goals are always competing with each other.

So instead of trying to find the “perfect” college savings account, it usually makes more sense to build in layers, so consider a framework like this one!

Layer 1: 529 plan
This can be a great tool for education savings because the money can grow tax-deferred and be withdrawn tax-free when used for qualified education expenses.

Layer 2: Taxable brokerage account
This gives you more flexibility. If your child doesn’t go to college, the money can still be used for other goals - helping with a home, starting a business, buying a car, or simply staying invested!

Layer 3: Future cash flow
A common fallacy I see is - not everything has to be pre-funded!
For many high-earning families, part of the strategy is simply planning to cover a portion of education costs from future income at the time those expenses actually show up. This is one of the ones that's completely flexible; some parents are willing to help with this, some are not - it really just depends on you and what your goals are!

Layer 4: Student loans (as a tool, not a default)
Student loans aren’t ideal - but they are a lever you can pull, and in some cases, using loans to bridge a gap can allow you to preserve flexibility elsewhere, rather than over-allocating to a single outcome 18 years in advance.

Remember though: the key isn’t choosing between growth and flexibility - it’s understanding how much of each you actually need! Once you know that number, its much easier to put in a plan from there!

For many families, the right answer may not be “put everything in a 529.”

It may be some money dedicated to education and some money kept flexible, but it’s helpful to have a plan that adjusts as your child’s future becomes clearer.

You don’t have to think about saving for college as just about paying tuition – you can think about college savings as “how do I give my child options?” without creating unnecessary restrictions for yourself along the way!

https://bit.ly/4fUZBwe

05/28/2026

If you’re already contributing to your 401(k) but aren’t sure what comes next, this post is for you!

A 401(k) is a great starting point, but that on its own usually isn’t enough to be the full plan.

For many high-earning professionals, the real question becomes: “Where should my next dollar go?”

A simple order of operations may look something like this:
1. Contribute enough to your 401(k) to get the employer match.
If your employer is offering matching dollars, that is usually the first place to start.

2. Consider a Roth IRA, if your income allows.
Roth IRA contributions can grow tax-free, and qualified withdrawals can also be tax-free if certain requirements are met, including age and account-holding rules.
For high earners, this step may require additional planning because income limits can restrict direct Roth IRA contributions.

3. Go back and consider increasing your 401(k) contributions.
Once you have captured the match and evaluated Roth options, the next step may be contributing more to your 401(k), potentially up to the annual limit.

After this point is where things can become more customize to you! Some things to consider are:

4. Add flexibility through a taxable brokerage account.
A brokerage account does not come with the same tax benefits as retirement accounts, but it can provide flexibility. This can be especially valuable if you have goals before retirement, like buying a home, starting a business, or creating more financial flexibility.

5. Consider education savings through a 529 plan.
If funding education for children or family members is a priority, a 529 plan can allow money to grow tax-deferred and potentially be withdrawn tax-free for qualified education expenses.

6. Do not overlook an HSA if you are eligible.
Health Savings Accounts can be powerful because they may offer a triple tax advantage:

Tax-deductible contributions.
Tax-free growth.
Tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses.

The main point is that investing beyond your 401(k) is not about finding the “best” account in isolation - it’s about matching each account to the job you need it to do, whether its retirement, tax flexibility, education funding, healthcare costs or even future optionality - The ‘right’ order depends on your income, tax situation, goals, benefits, and how much flexibility you need.

A good investment strategy does not just help you save more. It helps you put each dollar in the right place for the life you are actually building.

Personal finance is PERSONAL!

https://bit.ly/4nVVQbT

05/28/2026

Did your company just hand you stock… and a tax problem at the same time?
If you have shares vesting and you’re worried about getting crushed on taxes, this post is for you.

The honest answer is that with company stock, there usually isn’t much you can do to avoid the tax event created by vesting itself. When shares vest, the value of those shares is generally treated as ordinary income. In other words, it’s taxed more like a bonus than a long-term investment gain.

That doesn’t mean you’re powerless!

There is no magical answer to “How do I make the vesting tax disappear?” So that question usually isn’t worth spending time on. However, here are some practical questions you should be asking!

1.) How do I reduce my overall taxable income this year?
If you are not already maxing pre-tax 401(k) contributions, that may be one of the simplest ways to offset some of the income created by vesting shares. (and you can use your company stock to support this if used thoughtfully!)

2.) How do I use my company stock to fund my 401(k) then?
If extra 401(k) contributions reduce your paycheck, you may be able to sell vested shares and use that cash to supplement lifestyle needs. Consider selling some of your new shares at vest!

3.) How do I manage concentration risk?
Once shares vest, you should ask: “If this were paid to me as a cash bonus, would I use all of it to buy my company stock?” If the answer is no, selling some (or all) of the shares may be the more disciplined move.

4.) How do I use losses strategically?
If shares you own are trading at a price lower than what they vested at, tax-loss harvesting may help offset capital gains and potentially an extra little bit of ordinary income, with unused losses carried forward.

5.) How do I avoid an April surprise?
Many companies withhold taxes on vested shares at a flat supplemental rate. If you’re in a high tax bracket, that withholding may not be enough. The shares withheld at vesting are only prepayment - not necessarily your final tax bill.

The theme here is to stop treating vesting as a surprise and start treating it as a recurring planning event.

Know what is vesting, estimate the tax impact, review withholding, decide what to sell, and coordinate the strategy with your CPA or tax professional. If you want a more structured way to think through your stock compensation decisions, I built a simple framework to guide you through the key questions around taxes, cash flow, and concentration risk.

You can access it here! https://bit.ly/4a0sOCh

05/22/2026

If you’re sitting on more cash than you need because every other financial decision feels uncertain, you might like this post.

Most people know that cash is not always the most efficient place for money, and high-earners are absolutely smart enough to recognize that too. They know inflation matters, markets tend to reward long-term investors and they know idle cash can slow financial progress.

However, for so many people, that big balance in their savings account feels safe and they really want to keep it there, not because it is part of a clear strategy, but because it allows them to avoid making a mistake.

Honestly, I get why!

When your income includes bonuses, RSUs, stock options, or company stock, there are a lot of moving parts. Taxes can be confusing, your future income may be uneven, equity vesting may change your cash flow the market may feel uncomfortable, a big purchase may or may not be looming..

So, our natural default becomes:

“Let’s just keep it in cash until things feel clearer.”

The problem is that things rarely feel perfectly clear, and without a framework, “temporary” cash can quietly become a long-term non-decision.

If you’re sitting on a big pile of cash, ask yourself:

“Is this cash serving a purpose, or is it protecting me from a decision I have not made yet?”

A helpful framework is to separate cash into buckets:

1. Safety cash
What do you really need for emergencies, income gaps, or career uncertainty?

2. Known spending cash
What is earmarked for taxes, home projects, tuition, travel, or major purchases in the next 12 months?

3. Opportunity cash
What are you intentionally keeping available for flexibility?

4. Undecided cash
What is sitting there simply because there is no plan for it yet?

That last bucket is usually where some questions really start to get answered, and the answer is rarely “invest it all.”

Sometimes keeping more cash is the right call, but sometimes the better move is to redeploy part of it toward a diversified portfolio, pay down debt, reduce company stock exposure, or simply create a more intentional liquidity strategy.

Stop letting uncertainty make every decision for you.

If this is the kind of financial decision you’re trying to make more intentionally, head over to my profile to schedule a time for us to meet!

https://bit.ly/4tWVIdL

05/20/2026

A lot of the people I work with are not short on opportunity.

They have strong income, receive large bonuses, have vesting RSUs and stock options, and access to retirement plans, deferred comp plans, ESPPs, and other benefits.

On paper, there is a lot working in their favor, but opportunity and structure are not the same thing and that gap can create a ton of financial stress.

People often falsely assume that because income is high, the plan must be strong, and high income can cover up a lack of structure for a long time, but eventually, you will start to see cracks, especially when complexity has grown unchecked for years.

A simple example:
Someone receives a large bonus and has RSUs vesting throughout the year.
They want to be responsible, so they hold extra cash, delay investment decisions, and keep company stock because they are not sure what the “right” move is.

None of those decisions are irrational, but without a framework, they can become a pile of indecisions.

Cash sits too long, stock concentration grows, taxes get reactive and long-term goals stay vague. What I’ve also found over time is that financial progress depends more on momentum than intention – meaning, you have to actually do the things in order to get move along and grow.

Don’t just ask yourself, “Am I making enough?”

Instead, think: “Does each part of my compensation have a clear job?”

That is where building a framework starts - this is not about making every decision perfectly, it's about making decisions intentionally, so you can feel confident in those decisions.

Remember - your process should not be random!

If this is the kind of financial decision you’re trying to make more intentionally, lets connect! I share more thoughts here on stock compensation, concentrated stock, and planning through complexity.

https://bit.ly/4tRgxHF

05/18/2026

If you own company stock and you’re thinking, “The price is up… maybe I should sell,” this post is for you.

That may be the right move. But before making the decision based only on the current stock price, it’s worth taking a step back.

One thing people sometimes underestimate with company stock is how much timing can affect the tax outcome.

For example, if your shares have grown quite a bit since they vested, selling before you’ve held them for a full year may mean that gain is taxed at short-term capital gains rates, which are often higher. If you wait until you’ve held the shares for more than a year, that gain may qualify for long-term capital gains treatment, which is often more favorable.

That difference can be meaningful, but this is also where the decision gets more nuanced: waiting is not automatically the better answer.

If the stock drops while you’re waiting for better tax treatment, the tax savings may not matter much. And if a large part of your net worth is already tied up in one company, reducing risk may be more important than trying to get the best possible tax rate.

That’s why I think the better question is not simply:

“Is the stock price high enough to sell?”

It’s:

“What am I trying to accomplish by selling, and what tradeoff am I making?”

Sometimes selling now makes sense. Sometimes waiting makes sense. And sometimes a balanced approach (selling part now and part later) can help you avoid turning the decision into one big all-or-nothing moment.

The goal is not to predict the perfect time to sell!

The goal is to make a thoughtful decision with enough structure that you understand the tax impact, the investment risk, and the purpose behind the sale.

A little planning before you sell can create a lot more confidence after you do!

https://bit.ly/3R7xoIy

05/14/2026

Your money should work as hard as you do! If you need increased clarity and a plan built specifically for you, head over to the link on my profile to schedule a time for us to meet!

05/13/2026

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time over the past few months increasing my understanding of AI. Not necessarily just how to use it, but how it works and the infrastructure behind it. Specifically, so I can better understand the mechanics of how it works and how I can leverage it better in my professional and everyday life.

One of the things I’ve discovered is that, from a business perspective, AI is a unique concept. It can be very high revenue, but the margins can also are very low, and one of its biggest challenges is scalability.

That’s one of the patterns I see with many high-earning clients I work with.

As their income grows, so does the responsibility of everything else with it.

More decisions.
More complexity.
More people depend on them.

From the outside, it can look good. Amazing, actually, but internally, they feel like they’re constantly running at full capacity, if not exceeding their max capacity.

This happens with a lot of high-income earners.

Promotions add pressure.
Equity compensation adds decisions.
A more luxurious lifestyle adds additional maintenance and expenses.
Wealth adds complexity.
And the responsibility of all of that adds mental burden.

Just like in AI, the question starts to shift from:

“How do I produce more?”
to:
“How do I build structure that can actually handle more?”

Because success that depends on you personally carrying every decision, task, and obligation is unsustainable.

Most of the people I work with aren’t always striving for just higher income.
They’re searching for more room to think, grow, be present and to take advantage of opportunities that appear without feeling stretched thin.

If your income keeps growing but your capacity doesn’t, you’re not building leverage.
You’re just building a bigger, faster treadmill that’s going to be much harder to stop someday.

If this resonates, visit my profile to schedule a time for us to talk through whether your financial life is giving you more capacity, or quietly consuming it.

05/11/2026

Lots of high earners who are eligible for deferred compensation plans oftentimes take on the same type of risk as those who have equity compensation plans – too much reliance on their company.

Most high earners evaluate 409A deferred compensation decisions based on one question:

“Do I want to pay taxes now or later?”

The thing to note here is that your deferred compensation is typically unfunded and is subject to your employer’s general creditors - that basically means you may be deferring your income into an IOU, and that IOU can only pay out if your firm can pay out later.

So, the question shouldn't just be: “What is my tax rate?”

It’s also: “How much employer specific risk am I taking?”

And frankly that’s the question most people skip.

You already have career risk (your paycheck) and you may also have equity risk (RSUs/options/ESPP).

Deferred comp adds employer credit risk.

If all three point to the same employer, you don’t just have a “benefit”, you have a single-company household balance sheet.

Ask yourself: “If my employer had a rough year, what percent of my net worth is effectively tied to them? What would my net worth look like if it was 35% lower?”

If that number makes you feel uneasy, go to my profile and follow the link to schedule a time for us to meet.

https://bit.ly/4eFJfY6

05/08/2026

If you make great money and have company stock but still feel like your cash flow lacks direction, this post is for you.

One of the biggest pain points I see amongst highly compensated professionals is that oftentimes a framework has never really been put in place to help make decisions on what to do with each grant, each vest, and each sale.

As a result, they have spent years accumulating company stock as part of their compensation package, and they really don’t know what to do with it.

An extremely simple framework that I like to use is a three-bucket approach.

Bucket 1 is for taxes and withholding.

Using RSUs as an example, when the shares vest, you receive taxable income in the amount of the vest.

Your company usually withholds about 22% or so for federal taxes, and you receive the rest.

However, for high-earning households, 22% is often not enough withholding to fully cover the tax bill.

It can be extraordinarily helpful to figure out how much you’re needing to withhold prior to the vest, and put that dollar amount off to the side to help cover your tax liability next year.

Bucket 2 is for future you.

Another big issue that these same type of people run into is over time, they accumulate way too much in their company stock.

As a result, they are very over-concentrated to one stock and have big-time single-company risk.

One rule of thumb here is to consider liquidating your company stock immediately upon vesting.

The income is going to hit your tax return either way, but you can at least reduce the risk of accumulating way too much of your portfolio in a single company stock.

You can also use these dollars to invest in a more diversified portfolio, allocate those dollars toward a kid’s college fund, or pay down high-interest debt.

The cool part about this bucket is you get to choose.

Bucket 3 is the enjoyment bucket.

You work really hard for your money, and you are really good at whatever it is that you do.

And it’s OK to treat yourself with a long weekend trip, a vacation, or whatever it is that brings you joy and fulfillment.

Just don’t allocate too much to this bucket, and be very intentional about what it is that you do.

If your next equity comp bonus hit tomorrow, how much of that would disappear because you don’t have a plan in place?

If you’re interested in building out a framework specifically for your equity compensation package, head over to my profile and follow the links at the top of my page to schedule a time for us to meet.

https://bit.ly/4d8yKLL

Kyler Nielsen, CFP

05/29/2026

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05/22/2026

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