by Ben Hockema, CFP® | Apr 14, 2026 | Personal Finance, Tax Planning
It is easy for us Financial Planners to forget how complicated the tax code is for those that don’t spend every day thinking about it. Given income taxes are top of mind right now, with the April 15th deadline rapidly approaching, now is as good of a time as any to...
by Ben Hockema, CFP® | Jan 15, 2026 | Uncategorized
Tax planning is rarely about a single rate or rule. The most meaningful decisions come from understanding how tax brackets, capital gains, Social Security taxation, Medicare premiums, and surtaxes interact across different phases of life.From a planning perspective,...
by Ben Hockema, CFP® | Apr 28, 2025 | Equity, Equity Compensation
Over the past year, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in people coming to us with questions about equity compensation.Some are approaching major liquidity events. Others are navigating RSU vesting for the first time. A few are realizing, a little too late, that...
by Ben Hockema, CFP® | Mar 13, 2024 | Investing
This post is the second of our series looking behind the scenes of how we manage portfolios for our ongoing clients. Behind the Scenes of Your Portfolio: RebalancingOften overlooked when thinking about your portfolio are the different ways that taxes are generated,...
by Ben Hockema, CFP® | Feb 28, 2023 | Basics, Employee Benefits, Investing
Put company benefits and IRS regulations together, and you’re just asking for complexity masked as an acronym. Many employers provide access to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Accounts (HSA) to employees to allow pre-tax payments of various...
