Author

About the Author
Malcolm Ethridge is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, speaker, blogger, and self-proclaimed personal finance nerd. His areas of expertise include retirement planning, investments, tax planning, insurance, equity compensation, and other executive benefits. He leverages that expertise to help senior managers and executives in tech make sense of some of the most complex financial situations that working professionals tend to face.

Performance Shares: The Future of Executive Compensation

Creating stock grants that base payouts for executive employees on more than just their continued employment has become the new norm for a growing number of companies. These special stock grants are known as performance shares, and nowadays tech workers who reach executive status are more likely to receive grants of performance share units (PSUs)…

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What Happens to Your RSUs When You Retire?

While in the middle of your career and possibly raising a family—likely in your 30s, 40s or 50s—it can be challenging to plan for the day full-time employment is an option rather than a requirement. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that the decisions you make during your pre-retirement years directly affect when…

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ESPPs Become More Attractive in a Bear Market

For opportunistic investors, employer stock purchase plans (ESPPs) become more attractive in a bear market. This is because stocks are bought at an additional “discount” on top of the 15% price cut that is inherently built into the plan. ESPPs are employer-sponsored investment plans that allow employees to purchase company stock at a discounted price—typically…

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How to Manage Your Emotions Around Your Equity in a Down Market

With the tech-heavy Nasdaq index down more than 25% so far this year, many tech employees worry that they are seeing a replay of the dot-com boom and bust of the late 1990s and early 2000s. And although those fears may be well-founded (there are certainly several similarities between now and then), since the financial…

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Changing Jobs? You May Want to Take Your 401(k) With You

If you recently changed jobs or are currently considering an offer for a new one, you have probably thought about your new salary and benefits package, the commute, and perhaps even how you will reward yourself for a job well done. However, there is a good chance you may not have given much thought to…

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Own Company Stock Inside Your 401(k)? Here’s Something to Be Aware Of

These days, companies must get creative about the ways in which they both compensate and motivate their workforce. One of the most popular practices is to offer employees opportunities to own company stock, essentially helping them take ownership of their work performance, whether good or bad. And one of the more popular ways companies support…

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How to Save for Retirement as a One Income Household

When a couple makes the decision to live exclusively on the salary of one spouse or partner, they may take the time to review their monthly cash flow and cut out any unnecessary expenses prior to making it official. However, a topic that is likely to be put on the back burner is the issue…

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Here’s How to Know Whether to Self-Prepare Your Taxes or Hire a Professional

Every year, somewhere between January 1st and April 15th, millions of Americans work their way through the five stages of grief as they prepare and file federal and state tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And although, for a very small few, this time of year can bring about feelings of elation, for…

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Time to Negotiate Your Next Pay Increase? Ask for Stock Instead of More Cash

If there is one thing that workers of all job types across every industry can agree on, it is that they could always benefit from having more money in their paycheck. It does not matter how much a person currently makes or the amount of it they actually spend; there is always room for more….

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Ways to Make Your Charitable Giving Count Come Tax Time

When it comes to managing personal finances, charitable giving is a well-established tool often used to assist individuals and small businesses with year-end tax planning. With strategic and well-timed donations, you can minimize tax liability while supporting the causes you hold dear. Traditionally, people consider charitable giving simply as writing a check to a few…

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Considering an Early Retirement Offer from Your Employer? Here’s What to Consider First

Right now, a growing number of employers are offering more tenured workers large, lump sum payments to turn in their key cards and credentials and retire early. In times of economic uncertainty, companies will immediately begin to reassess payroll costs and make decisions on how and where to reduce overhead to lower their fixed expenses….

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Your Employer Just Granted You Stock Options. Now What?

Stock options are no longer just for the few executives at the very top of the org chart. Many publicly traded companies now make them available to non-executive staff. And while splitting compensation between cash and stock has some real benefits, turning those stock option certificates into real dollars takes some careful planning. It is…

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You Just Turned 50 and You’re Behind on Your Retirement Savings. Here’s How to Catch Up

When it comes to saving for retirement, it is never too early to start, but the last decade or so before you reach retirement age can be especially critical. By then, you will probably have a pretty good idea of when (or if) you want to retire, and, more importantly, still have some time to…

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Just Inherited a Retirement Account from a Loved One? Here’s How to Keep the IRS from Taking Half

We have all seen the headlines: Baby Boomers are set to pass somewhere between $60-75 trillion — depending on the study — to their heirs over the next 20 or so years. In other words, we are set to witness the largest generational wealth transfer of all time. It is also said that most of…

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