By Ben Rosbach & Miranda Osti As financial services become increasingly digital, protecting personal and financial information has become an important part of sound financial management. Financial fraud continues to evolve, and some schemes are becoming more sophisticated through the use of technology, including artificial intelligence. While these developments are worth being aware of, there are several straightforward steps investors can take to strengthen the security of t

By: Ashley Guapo Used correctly, a credit card is one of the best tools young adults have for building a strong credit history. The key phrase there is "used correctly". A credit card can build your financial foundation just as easily as it can undermine it and the difference usually comes down to a handful of specific mechanics and habits that most people were never actually taught. A credit score is a three-digit number, ranging from 300 to 850, that lenders use to determi

By: Jimmy Bisharat | Wealth Advisor, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management When an athlete loses money to investment fraud, the conversation often turns to how they could have let it happen. That overlooks something fundamental: someone deliberately deceived them. The responsibility belongs to the person who committed the fraud. InvestmentNews recently reported that former Texas advisor Siddharth Jawahar received an 11-year prison sentence for a Ponzi scheme involvin

By: Jimmy Bisharat NIL income is generally taxable, including cash, products, and services received in exchange for the use of your name, image, or likeness. That applies even if you never receive a 1099 or W-2. For college athletes and parents, the challenge is recognizing everything that belongs in that total. A sponsorship check is easy to count. Free clothing, gift cards, or haircuts in exchange for social media posts can feel more like perks. But those arrangements can p

By Jimmy Bisharat, Wealth Advisor at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management College athletes are using NIL money to make decisions that once seemed years away: buying homes, supporting family, and building a financial future before their professional playing careers have begun. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted that shift, reporting that University of Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita purchased a $950,000 home in Tucson. It is a striking example of how co

By: Kaytlin Hall Recently, my family experienced a frightening medical emergency with my 7-year-old son. What started as a rash quickly escalated into a high fever, swollen hands, red eyes, and a strawberry tongue. After several doctor visits and blood tests, he was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. Ironically, I work at Gerber Kawasaki, so hearing the word "Kawasaki" suddenly took on an entirely different meaning for our family. Thankfully, he re

By Jimmy Bisharat When you are looking for a financial advisor, it is natural to look for signals that tell you, “This person must be good.” Maybe they were named to a “Top Advisor” list. Maybe they have a wall full of awards. Maybe their website looks impressive. Those things can absolutely be positive, but they should not replace doing your own homework. Recent headlines around the Forbes | SHOOK advisor rankings are a good reminder of that. In August, SHOOK Research disclo

By Jimmy Bisharat “I ball like Tracy McGrady.” There is a reason his name became a lyric. Tracy McGrady was one of the most gifted scorers of his generation, earned hundreds of millions of dollars during his career and eventually became a Hall of Famer. But one of the smartest decisions T-Mac made had nothing to do with basketball. Early in his career, McGrady admitted he did not know much about the business and financial world he had suddenly entered. Rather than pretending

By: Robby Lewis If your company offers an Employee Stock Purchase Plan and you're not using it, you might be leaving free money on the table. In my work with tech employees, the ESPP is one of the most overlooked benefits I see. People max out their 401(k), watch their RSUs closely, and let the ESPP enrollment email sit unopened. Once you understand how it works, it's often one of the easiest wins in your entire comp package. How the Discount Works An ESPP lets you buy compa

By: Chase McCormick I'll be honest with you: a 529 is probably not the first investment account you should open. When you're building the pillars of your financial plan, a few things generally come first. On the surface, a 529 is a tax-advantaged way to save for a child's education. And that tax advantage is the whole reason to care: the money grows tax-free, and it comes out tax-free when it's spent on education. Similar to your Roth, a 529 has no annual tax drag or capital

By: Mia Samson Growing up, I was fortunate to have what people now call a village. Both of my parents were firefighters who worked 24-hour shifts and were able to trade off at the fire station so one of them could be home with us. My grandparents were regular babysitters, and nearly all of my immediate family lived within 30 minutes. At the time, I obviously didn't think about what any of that was worth. Now, as a financial advisor, I realize just how much money that kind of

For our final Summer Reading Challenge book, I read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, and I couldn't help but read it through the lens of a financial advisor. The story follows Danny and his older sister, Maeve, whose father built tremendous wealth but left behind an estate plan with heartbreaking consequences. After his death, the children are effectively pushed out of the only home they've ever known by their stepmother and left with very little. Danny does have access to an

By Jimmy Bisharat I see this more often than you might think. Someone has done a great job building up an investment account, but when we review their overall financial setup, they have very little cash available. When I ask about their emergency reserves, they point to the brokerage account. That is where I see a potential problem. A brokerage account can be a great tool for long-term investing, but relying on it as your emergency fund can expose you to unnecessary risk. If

By: Brett Sifling, CFP®, CEPA® Every August, a handful of states briefly stop collecting sales tax on the things families buy for school. That's a sales tax holiday. For a few days, the state waives its sales tax on specific categories (clothing, shoes, supplies, sometimes computers) almost always with a price cap on each item. Buy a $90 pair of shoes during the window and you skip the tax entirely. Buy a $110 pair and you don't. They're a newer invention than you'd guess, an

By: Jimmy Bisharat For years, SpaceX equity has been something employees accrued, tracked, and occasionally sold through tender offers. Now, with the IPO behind us, the lock-up period becomes the final gate between paper wealth and true liquidity. That is a big shift. For many SpaceX employees, the first question is simple: “When can I sell?” But the more important question is, “How should I think about selling?” Based on the current lock-up structure, liquidity is not expect

By: Zach Bainter, CFP® A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is opening the door to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for many more people. Previously, if you were enrolled in a Bronze or Catastrophic-level plan through the ACA marketplace, you weren't allowed to open or contribute to an HSA, even though these are often the most affordable plan options. That restriction has been removed, meaning individuals and families with these plans can now take advantage of

By Kaytlin Hall The Glass Castle is a book that stayed with me long after I turned the last page. It's a memoir about Jeannette Walls and her nomadic family as they navigate extreme poverty, instability, and a childhood unlike most of us can imagine. I had a true love-hate relationship with this story. As a parent, I was often frustrated with Jeannette's parents, Rex and Rose Mary. Every time Rex showed glimpses of becoming the father his children deserved, I was hopeful. The