Kyler Nielsen, CFP

Kyler Nielsen, CFP Financial Advisor at RiverBranch Wealth Advisors, A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, in Fort Worth, Texas

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08/19/2026

Something I’m really big on is that wealthy parents should consider giving to their children earlier in life rather than waiting until they can inherit.

It’s a fact of life - at some point, you will pass, and you may leave your kids with a nice nest egg for their own retirement. But let’s fast forward a bit - at what age are they really getting that money?

Average life expectancy in the U.S. is about 79, and the average age at first birth is about 28. That means many inheritors may be close to 60 by the time they receive that inheritance.

By that point, many of the major life-defining financial events have already happened:
• They may have already purchased their “forever” house
• Their own kids may already be done with college
• They may have already spent years grinding to pay off student loans or credit card debt

Meanwhile, they receive a significant amount of money after the fact, when they are already in their peak earning years. That same money may have helped them:
• Pay down stubborn high-interest debt
• Invest more for their own future
• Help create an exit strategy from a job they hate
• Start a business they’re more passionate about
• Slow down and scale back so they can spend more time with their kids while everyone is young and healthy

The timing of the transition that wealth can make a huge difference in your future family’s trajectory. Simply hoarding cash until you die just to pass it on can feel like a missed high five.

I’m not saying you should sacrifice your own financial security - that obviously should come first, but if your plan already shows you have more than enough, it’s worth asking:

“Would this money have more impact after I’m gone, or while I’m still here to see what it helps make possible?”

08/18/2026

Are you actually rich, or are you just earning a lot?

The tension of “feeling broke” at a high income is really a structure problem. You may earn a strong salary, receive an annual bonus, and have meaningful equity compensation, yet:

• Your net worth isn’t growing
• You’re carrying high-interest debt
• You increase your spending with each pay bump
• Your cash flow still feels tight

It’s very possible to earn $400k/yr and still live paycheck to paycheck - I’ve seen it in real conversations myself.

That income gives you the ability to build wealth, but it doesn’t build wealth for you automatically. That’s why high income and financial confidence don’t necessarily coincide. Confidence tends to grow when there’s a process in place for turning your salary, bonuses, and equity compensation into cash reserves, diversified investments, and real career flexibility.

A larger paycheck can improve your lifestyle – an intentional planning process can turn what you earn into tangible wealth.

08/12/2026

Some investors will owe capital gains tax for 2026 without selling their investment or receiving any actual cash from it.

At the end of this year, Qualified Opportunity Zone investors may be forced to recognize deferred capital gains without selling any of their interest in the investment or receiving any liquidity.

For context, a QOZ basically allows people to invest in distressed local businesses and real estate projects, and in exchange those investors get to defer taxes owed from other investments and may qualify for additional tax benefits, but that’s not my point here.

The thing that I think people should take away is this:

Unstructured tax deferrals can create future liquidity problems.
Suppose you’re a corporate exec that sold $500k worth of company stock and deferred the gain through one of these QOZs. At the end of this year, you now have to recognize the gain, even if you still own the fund, regardless of whether the QOZ has given you a single cash distribution yet or not.

Meanwhile, you may have competing priorities in the background! Additional RSU vests you’ll owe more taxes on, college expenses, planned home purchase etc..

Deferring the tax bill can buy you some time, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to prepare for it. This is why I think that every tax deferral strategy should have a corresponding liquidity plan! You should at least always know about how much you’re going to owe, and how much cash you have to pay it!

08/10/2026

One of the easiest financial tips I'll give to anyone who is looking to improve their overall situation is as simple as setting up automatic contributions and savings to their investment and retirement accounts.

It’s just human nature to not make a contribution to an investment account or an IRA whenever you get paid - it’s so much easier to leave that money in your checking account to spend it at brunch on Saturday morning. (Bottomless mimosas, anyone?)

Set your investing up to where it occurs automatically so you don’t even have to think about it. You probably won’t notice any changes at first, but if you keep at it long enough and you don’t touch it, you’ll notice a difference over time!

07/24/2026

Go to any internet personal finance forum and you'll find hundreds of people confidently telling strangers exactly what they should do.

The problem? Most of them don't know ANYTHING about the person asking the question. (Dunning-Kruger effect, anyone?)

Income, taxes, goals, family situation, assets, career plans, nothing.

Popular advice =/= good advice.

Good advice actually fits the person receiving it.

07/21/2026

The best meetings you have are the ones where you don't even touch your slide deck.

I sat down with somebody for about an hour and 15 minutes recently and had a full-blown conversation with them about where they are and ultimately where they want to be headed from a money perspective. He's doing very well at a pretty young age, a couple of years older than me. He's a high earner, with multiple forms of equity compensation, two kids, and a handful of lofty goals that he wants to hit:

• Fully funding both kids' college educations
• Being able to become entirely work optional within 12 years
• Continuing to be able to afford more expensive vacations and experiences, like taking his kids to Disney World every year

And we talked through a whole bunch of different things to see about getting him there:
• Making sure his emergency fund was up to par and fully funded
• Building up specific investment accounts for him to draw from in those early years of work optionality
• Talking about pre-tax vs Roth vs after-tax 401k contributions and which ones make more sense now and at different points in the future
• How to continue using a small inherited account to kickstart his kids' college education funding
• How to think about his vesting RSUs and whether he should diversify or not, and building a framework for how to use those to hit his work optionality goal

Not at a single point in that conversation did we talk about how the market has done this year, what interest rates are going to do, or what's going on geopolitically in the world right now. Nothing about GDP growth or corporate earnings or any of that stuff.

Just him, his goals, and building the framework to hit those goals on a blank excel spreadsheet.

He said it was one of the best meetings he's ever sat in on.

07/20/2026

Warren Buffett recently said that investors increasingly prefer gambling.

Owning a large amount of "winning" company stock can make it tough to recognize when you’ve joined them.

Buffett also noted that "it’s becoming tougher to find attractive values when so many market participants prefer speculation." He pointed out that meaningful investment opportunities can be rare, which makes patience and discipline especially important.

For those of you receiving equity comp, that discipline can become harder as company stock rises. As the stock performs well, continuing to hold can feel like the "patient" choice, and sometimes that works!

Other times, doing nothing leaves you with far more company stock than you’d choose to buy with the same amount of cash.

You don’t need to make a new decision every time shares vest. You can (and should) have a pre-determined rule structure in place that will help guide your action with each vest and liquidity event.

A strong market can reward risk for longer than expected, but that doesn’t mean the risk still isn't there.

Before your next vesting date, consider this: "If this stock award had arrived as cash, how much of it would you use to buy your company’s stock today?"



https://cnb.cx/4fkhhja

https://bit.ly/3RkBEF0

07/17/2026

Are you delaying a sale of your company stock because you think you'll regret it?
You're not alone - many I know many other people think the same thing!

Sell, and the stock might keep climbing, hold, and the stock might fall.

So, you wait.

At first, waiting feels neutral, 'safe'. It's human nature to let that become a decision by default over time.

This shows up often with RSUs, ESPP shares, and vested stock options. The stock may have performed well. You believe in the company! Selling can start to feel like betting against your own success!

I'm sure I sound like a broken record on this, but seriously, ask yourself:

If these shares were cash today, how much would I buy?
What percentage of my net worth is tied to this company?
How much of my income, bonus, and future equity depends on this company?
Would missing some upside hurt more than being overexposed during a major decline?

If every vesting event turns into the same internal debate, the problem probably isn't the stock - It may be the absence of a repeatable framework.



https://bit.ly/4pnWhwm

07/13/2026

Parents and grandparents often ask me, “What’s the best account to save for my kids/grandkids?”

It's a great question, but one that I can't answer without answering a different question first:

"What do you want this money to do?"

A 529 can be a strong fit for education planning.
A UTMA or UGMA account offers more flexibility, but the child eventually gains control.
A custodial Roth IRA can be powerful if the child has earned income.
A Trump Account may be worth looking into for additional long-term retirement-focused savings for minors.

The account matters absolutely matters, but the purpose of the money is what actually drives that decision!

Before choosing where to save, decide:

Is this for college?
Do you want flexibility if they don’t need it for school?
When are you comfortable with them controlling the money?
Are you trying to fund education, teach responsibility, build wealth, or some combination?

The best kids’ savings strategy starts by assigning the money a "job"!

07/09/2026

Your money should work as hard as you do! If you want increased clarity and a plan built specifically for you, head over to the link in my bio to schedule a time for us to meet!

Address

1200 Summit Avenue Ste 860
Fort Worth, TX
76102

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