Longitude Financial Planning

Everyone wants a life filled with love and wealth. The problem is, it can take a lifetime to achieve and worse, once you're there, it can be quickly lost. You may know that money problems are the #1 most frequent reason for divorce. I work to keep newly married couples from joining that statistic. As a recently married financial planner, I'm interviewing millionaire couples with long marriages to learn the secrets they wish they’d known sooner. I share stories from the Boomers, Gen-X and Elder Millennials so you can make your marriage stronger and skip the mistakes. Sign up for my free newsletter below 👇 https://lnkd.in/eeY7rFsV

Last night I attended a presentation at the National Eagle Scout Association of Austin. The topic was emergency preparedness. My most valuable takeaway was an affordable source of basic pantry items or emergency food supplies in Round Rock, TX. The mormon church operates home storage centers across the country. You don't need to be in Austin or a mormon to benefit from this service and be prepared... or save a few bucks 😉 Checkout the sliced freeze-dried strawberries 🍓 #BePrepared #Groceries #Inflation #YoungProfessionals

How to "pay" 0% capital gains this year to avoid paying 15% or more in the future Understanding the 0% Capital Gains Tax Bracket can help young professionals and couples keep more of their investment earnings. Here's how it works and why it matters for your wealth-building strategy: Your taxable income determines if capital gains are taxed at 0%. For singles, gains are tax-free up to about $48,350; for married couples filing jointly, it’s up to $96,700. Here’s a simple way to check if your income qualifies you for the 0% capital gains tax bracket : Take your gross income (your total earnings before taxes) Subtract the standard deduction: $15,750 if you’re single, $31,500 for married couples (2025 numbers). If what’s left is under $48,350 for singles or $96,700 for married filing jointly, your long-term capital gains could be tax-free up to those limits. Example: A married couple earning $120,000 minus their $31,500 deduction leaves $88,500 in taxable income. $8,200 within the 0% Capital Gains bracket Keep in mind, your taxable income includes wages plus any investment gains you realize during the year. Plan sales carefully to stay under these limits. Tax planning around these limits can help you grow wealth efficiently, especially early in your career. Actionable Tip: Estimate your taxable income and see if you can sell investments without paying capital gains tax this year. #TaxSmart #InvestmentTips #YoungInvestors #FinancialPlanning

Pay less in capital gains taxes... without getting in trouble with the IRS As year-end approaches, investors can maximize tax efficiency through capital loss and capital gains harvesting. Here's a quick guide to both strategies for 2025: 🪓 Capital Loss Harvesting: Sell investments at a loss to offset gains elsewhere, reducing your taxable income. Excess losses can offset up to $3,000 of ordinary income and be carried forward. Replace sold assets with similar, not identical, investments to avoid the wash sale rule. 💰 Capital Gains Harvesting: Consider realizing gains strategically when in a lower tax bracket (including the 0% long-term capital gains bracket). This resets your cost basis and can reduce future tax liabilities. 📅 Year-End Focus: November and December is prime time for harvesting as you get a clearer tax picture. But stay alert to opportunities throughout the year during market dips or shifts. ⚠️ Pro Tip: These moves apply to taxable accounts only. Work with your financial planner to align harvesting with your broader portfolio strategy. With these tax-smart moves, it’s possible to lower your tax bill while keeping your investments aligned with your goals. Actionable tip: Before the holidays get busy, review your taxable portfolio for potential losses and gains to harvest. Don’t wait till the last minute! #TaxLossHarvesting #TaxGainHarvesting #YearEndTaxStrategy #FinancialPlanning

Why Small Biz Owners Should Soft-Close Books by Fall 🍂 Getting a head start on year-end bookkeeping is an easy win for entrepreneurs who value time, precision, and cash flow confidence. Step-by-Step to Year-End Success: 🧾 Review and reconcile accounts while transactions are fresh. Spare yourself the tax-time detective work. 📊 Categorize income/expenses now to spot errors before they snowball into costly issues. 💡 Draft a smart budget for next year with real data, not guesswork. Avoid These Common Pitfalls: ⛔ Mixing personal and business expenses. Keep accounts separate for clean records. 😮💨 Unrecorded or misclassified transactions lead to messy reporting and missed deductions. Advanced Moves for Power Users: 🕹️ Use cloud-based bookkeeping for real-time insights and easy collaboration with your team. 📈 Run monthly closes (not just year-end) for agile decision making and instant cash-flow clarity. ⚡ Integrate with payroll, invoicing, and tax apps for seamless compliance and forecasting. Pro Tip: Set a “soft close” deadline: Aim to finalize your books by mid-November, enjoy your holidays, and hand over clean documents for stress free tax filing in 2026! #EntrepreneurLife #AustinBusiness #BookkeepingTips #TaxReady P.S. If you need support, schedule a free accounting review

When I was 19, I made my first “real” investment. RadioShack. It felt smart at the time. A brand I knew, a company with history, and a stock I thought would “bounce back.” Instead, I lost $500. That loss turned out to be a valuable financial lesson. I learned that: • Nostalgia isn’t a strategy. • “Good stories” don’t make good stocks. • Familiarity is a dangerous bias in investing. That $500 wasn’t wasted, it was tuition. It taught me how to analyze businesses, read financials, and separate emotion from data. For young investors today, there’s an even better way to learn, without losing money. I share the full story (and the practical takeaways you can use right now) on the blog: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eFJVKmAK What was your first money mistake? What did it teach you?

I had two very different conversations with Austin entrepreneurs last week. Both were young and both had started their companies within the last two years. despite their similarities, they had opposing answers to the same question. I asked them both: “Are you as fulfilled when building another person’s business vs working to build your own?” The first answered that he was 90% as fulfilled when building his boss’s business vs working on his own. The second said that he was so unfulfilled that he couldn’t ever see himself going back to W2 employment again. What was the difference in their experience? What lead to such drastically different attitudes? The first entrepreneur was respected when he was a W2 employee. He was given the freedom to perform to his greatest ability, and recognized for his accomplishments by his leaders and managers. I know he also enjoyed time with his co-workers in the off-hours. The second entrepreneur was not given the same freedoms, respect or recognition as a W2 employee. He also mentioned not feeling a sense of community within his employing organization. My conclusion: Leadership matters. The right leader can make a employee feel as if they are an owner within a greater organization. Consistent respect, recognition and freedom make an employee feel fulfilled. Bad leadership does the opposite. In one of these cases, leading to the employee quit and move on. These two, highly skilled individuals added a lot of value as W2 employees. Now they are adding the same value (if not more) to their community through entrepreneurship. Love to see it! Who's story resonated with you more? #Leadership #YoungEntrepreneurs #Austin #Fulfillment

Level up your Investment knowledge without getting lost in finance-speak Investors talk about “puts” and “calls”, right? Let’s break it down simply, because understanding these contracts is important in any field 📈 Call Options: Think of these as a “right to buy” a stock at a certain price before a certain time. Imagine reserving a concert ticket, you pay a fee to lock in a price. If the ticket’s value rises past that price, you've profited. 📉 Put Options: These are a “right to sell” a stock at a set price within a timeframe. It’s like insurance, you’re locking in a price today in case things go south tomorrow. 🔍 Why do investors and companies use them? 🚀 To amplify gains when they believe a stock will move sharply. 🛡️ To hedge against risk, especially in volatile markets like commodity markets. ⚠️ But here’s the key: Options are contracts that take advantage of leverage but they’re not for everyone. Used wisely, they protect portfolio value. Used recklessly, they can magnify losses 💬 Pro tip for investors: Before trading options, understand your risk tolerance and practice with paper trades to learn how time and volatility impact value. #FinancialEducation #InvestingSmart #OptionsTrading #WealthBuilding

Your equity compensation is powerful! Plan properly and harness its full potential💼 Whether it's RSUs or stock options, early and mid-career professionals have unique opportunities and challenges managing these assets as part of their long-term financial strategy. Here’s what you need to know: 📅 Understand your vesting schedule & tax timings: RSUs are taxed as income at vesting, stock options at exercise or sale. ⚖️ Balance growth & risk: RSUs have value once vested but concentrate risk; stock options offer leveraged upside but can expire worthless. 💸 Plan to cover taxes: Consider timing exercises to maximize your tax benefits. 🎯 Align equity plans with your goals: Retirement, education, or major purchases 🧠 Educate yourself or seek advice: Each equity plan is unique and requires tailored strategies. Maximize the value of your equity without surprises! Stay informed, plan ahead, and keep your financial future in focus. Actionable Tip: Review your latest equity grant details this week and map out your vesting calendar. That’s the first step to informed decisions! 🚀 #EquityCompensation #FinancialPlanning #StockOptions #RSUs #WealthManagement

What if Adam Smith could tell us which U.S. manufacturing sectors actually make our nation wealthy? It’s not the ones churning out cheap goods or raw materials. It’s the industries that pack the most economic value into every pound they produce. From semiconductors to pharmaceuticals, the data reveals a 7,500-fold gap in value density between America’s most advanced manufacturers and its lowest-margin sectors. In this week’s analysis, I break down how value-per-pound economics can guide smarter industrial policy and why it might be time to rethink what “Made in America” should truly mean in the 21st century. #Economics #Manufacturing #Innovation #USA