BAS Financial

10/16/2026

The RSU tax gap is really a symptom of something bigger. When a chunk of your pay comes as stock, your income lands in lumps and the withholding system doesn’t keep up. Catching the gap in October gives you choices: adjust withholding, time a sale, plan a payment. Catching it in March just means writing a check and finding out the number. A complimentary review is a good way to get ahead of it.

https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk1012_reel_rsuoctober_fb

10/16/2026

Quick question for anyone who's changed jobs: what did you actually do with the 401(k) you left behind?

A lot of people mean to deal with it eventually — roll it into an IRA, move it into the new job's plan, something — and then life happens and it just sits there. Sometimes for years.

There's nothing wrong with leaving it where it is. But it's worth knowing what you're paying in fees, what it's actually invested in, and whether it still makes sense for where you are now versus when you first set it up.

So: did you leave it in the old plan, roll it into an IRA, roll it into your new employer's plan, or (no judgment at all) have no idea what happened to it?

Drop your answer below. And if you want to actually look at an old 401(k) of your own, here's a walkthrough of what to check:

There are costs inside that old account. Is anyone providing anything in return? What an old 401(k) and a self-managed IRA each cost, what they each miss, and how to find out where you stand.

10/16/2026

The decision that feels most urgent after a layoff is usually not the one with the nearest deadline. The order is set by your plan documents and a few fixed dates, not by what is keeping you up at night.

First, your unvested RSUs. Most of them stop vesting on your last day, so there is nothing to time, you just want a clear read on what you are actually walking away with. Second, any vested options have an exercise window that opens at separation and tends to be shorter than people expect. Third, the old 401(k), which can wait, but the rollover-versus-check call is easy to get wrong once a check is in your hands.

Keep in mind, these do not arrive one at a time. The severance paperwork, the options window, and the 401(k) notice tend to land in the same few weeks, each on its own deadline, and usually with no single person looking at all of it together.

This one is close to home for us. We are a San Diego firm, and the UTC and Sorrento Mesa offices are a short drive away. If you are one of the ServiceNow folks here sorting through this right now, I am happy to do a complimentary review of where your equity comp stands at separation and what order to take the decisions in.

Do you want to take a look at that?

Unvested equity, vested shares, options and the 401(k) all land at separation, and they are not on the same clock. Two of them close permanently on a date written into your plan document. Which two, and what the order does to your tax year.

10/15/2026

Here is a simple test for how much company stock is too much. If today you had the cash value of your vested RSU and ESPP shares sitting in your account, would you go out and buy that many shares of your employer with it?

For most people the honest answer is no. They would never choose that concentration on purpose. They just ended up there because the shares arrived through vesting, one grant at a time, and selling never felt like the right day.
The point is not that concentration is always wrong. It is that holding by default is still a decision, and it is worth making it on purpose.

https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk1011_ihe_concentration_fb

10/14/2026

Found a gap between what was withheld on your RSUs and what you’ll actually owe? You’ve got two levers: adjust your paycheck withholding, or send an estimated payment yourself. Which one makes sense is mostly about what month it is. A $10,000 gap in February spreads across 20 paychecks. The same gap in December would wipe out your last two checks of the year. The calendar decides. We can walk through which lever fits your situation in a complimentary review.

https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk1012_reel_rsutiming_fb

10/14/2026

If you are funding a profit-sharing or cash balance contribution for yourself every year, there is a question worth asking before you sell the business: does a buyer add that money back when they value it, or treat it as a real cost?

It usually depends on who the contribution is for. The owner's own retirement contribution often gets added back as an owner benefit. The staff's contributions are frequently treated as a real cost of running the business. That distinction can move the number a buyer puts on paper.

Most owners do not find this out until they are already in a sale conversation. Here is how it actually works.

A coordinated financial strategy framework for San Diego small business owners: retirement plan design, tax strategy, valuation, and exit planning.

10/14/2026

64% of people earning six figures say their income is just barely enough to stay afloat (Harris Poll, 2025).

When you earn well and it still feels tight, it’s usually not a budgeting problem. It’s that the decisions that matter most at that income, RSUs, tax timing, concentration risk, cash flow, are the ones no one ever taught you to make.

Every week I send one short, plain-English email on exactly those decisions. No jargon, no pitch.

If you want to actually understand what your money is doing, that’s the easiest place to start:
https://www.bas-financial.com/newsletter-signup?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=enewsletter-signup&utm_content=reel_newsletter_fb

10/13/2026

You need cash in the next year for a down payment or an April tax bill, and most of your money is tied up in company stock. Sell some shares, or borrow against them?

Both work. They just hand you different risks. Selling creates a tax bill you can see today. Borrowing through a securities-based line keeps the shares, but it is a callable loan secured by one stock, and the lender can sell your shares to cover a drop, often without notice.

The honest answer is not a dollar threshold. It is a short list of variables: why you need the money, the rate, the payback schedule, whether it is one-time, and whether there is a better option. Here is how the two branches compare.

https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk1011_ihe_borrow_fb

10/12/2026

Your RSUs vested. Taxes already came out. So why is there still a bill in April?

The short version: companies withhold on vesting stock at a flat 22%, but for most high earners those dollars are actually taxed higher. The difference is the gap nobody set aside for.

In this video I walk through the two ways to close it, bumping paycheck withholding versus sending an estimated payment, and why which one makes sense depends almost entirely on how late in the year you catch it.

10/12/2026

If your RSUs vested this year, your company probably withheld federal tax at a flat 22%. For a lot of high earners here in San Diego, those dollars are actually landing in a 35% bracket. That difference is the gap that shows up as a bill in April, and that’s before California takes its share. Worth checking how much was really set aside before the year closes. If you want a second set of eyes, that’s what a complimentary review is for.

https://www.bas-financial.com/the-san-diego-h-e-n-r-y-strategy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=weekly_2026-10-12&utm_content=wk1012_reel_rsugap22_fb