INSIGHTS & NOTES
Practical notes for families, business owners, and professionals navigating decisions that rarely fit neatly into a spreadsheet.
FEATURED
Equity & Severance
Decision guide
A severance package is a tax event, a healthcare decision, and a career pivot all hitting at once. The order you take them in matters more than people think — and a few mistakes get expensive fast. Here's the sequence I walk Austin tech workers through.
Equity & Severance
Planning note
Vesting in Austin tech is a great problem to have, until 60% of your net worth is one ticker. The hardest part isn't selling — it's deciding what 'diversified' actually looks like for someone in your tax bracket.
Tax Strategy
Planning note
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rates were scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025. They didn't. Here's what changed, what carried over, and what to plan around — written by Bret at the firm.
Pre-Retirement
Planning note
If you're 55-62 and starting to ask 'do I have enough,' the answer isn't a target number. It's a stress test against the three things that actually break retirements: sequence risk, healthcare timing, and Social Security claiming.
Business Owners
Planning note
Most owners know about SEP-IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Far fewer have heard of Cash Balance Plans — an IRS-qualified vehicle that, for the right owner, can allow significantly higher annual contributions and meaningfully reduce current-year taxable income.
Family Planning
Planning note
Growing up in an immigrant household, the financial advice was simple and not all of it aged well. This isn't a personal essay — it's a list of the practical moves I see first-gen families miss, and what they cost over a lifetime.
Life Transitions
Planning note
The SECURE Act rewrote the rules for inherited IRAs — and most people who inherited one are still operating under the old framework. Cory walks through the 10-year rule, the eligible-designated-beneficiary exception, and the tax math underneath both.
Pre-Retirement
Planning note
The pre-retiree trap I see most often in Austin: pushing the date out one more year, then one more, then one more. Sometimes that's right. Sometimes it's avoidance dressed up as prudence. Here's how to tell the difference.
MARKET COMMENTARY
I'm new enough that I lean on the firm for market-positioning commentary. These are Cory and Bret's current views on conditions, rates, and how MWWM is positioning client portfolios.
Firm note
Valuations are stretched, the Fed is on hold, and the dollar is weakening. Cory walks through exactly how the firm is thinking about asset allocation heading into Q2.
Firm note
The Federal Reserve held rates again in March 2026. For retirees and near-retirees who depend on fixed income, Bret breaks down what to actually do with the duration question.
Market commentary reflects the firm's views as of the publication date and is subject to change. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
READING IS ONE THING
Thirty minutes with a fiduciary advisor. No cost. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about your money.
