Cybersecurity Tips: Especially If You Have Significant Assets

Cybersecurity Tips: Especially If You Have Significant Assets

In this episode of EWA's FIN-LYT Podcast, Matt Blocki and Chris Pavcic break down the cybersecurity threats most likely to impact individuals today and what you can do right now to protect yourself. While these steps apply to everyone, they are especially critical if you have significant assets at a custodian like Fidelity or Charles Schwab. With the average data breach costing over $4 million globally and ransomware attacks happening every 11 seconds, this conversation is more relevant than ever. Matt and Chris walk through the layers of protection every person should have in place, starting with your custodians. They cover what Fidelity and Charles Schwab do behind the scenes to protect client accounts, including 24/7 monitoring, insurance coverage, and the ability to lock down outgoing transactions so money cannot be moved without your direct authorization. From there, they get practical. The conversation covers SIM swap protection, why app-based two-factor authentication is significantly more secure than a text code, how to use a VPN on public Wi-Fi, the importance of a password manager, freezing your credit with all three bureaus, and tools like LifeLock, DeleteMe, and Incogni to monitor and scrub your personal data from the internet. Matt also shares how he uses a dedicated travel phone with no financial accounts when traveling internationally. This episode is designed to be the 80/20 guide to cybersecurity. You could have all of these steps in place within one to two hours, and they will protect you from the vast majority of threats individuals face today. If you have any questions or want help setting these up, reach out to the EWA team. Connect with EWA: https://ewa-llc.com/ [https://ewa-llc.com/] https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/] https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/ [https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/] View EWA Disclosures and Firm ADV: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977 [https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977]

EWA Stock Market and Portfolio Commentary Q3 2026

Welcome to EWA's Q3 2026 Market and Portfolio Commentary. In this update, Matt Blocki, Nick Stonesifer, and Jordan Fediaczko break down what's driving markets mid-year and how EWA portfolios are being positioned as we head into Q3. The core message: stay constructive, but make the risk work harder. After a sharp market recovery, the team is trimming broad equity beta, reducing the equity overweight from 3% to 1%, while keeping the highest-conviction exposures in U.S. large cap growth and AI-linked opportunities. This is not a bearish call. It's disciplined portfolio management: harvesting gains where conviction is lower and concentrating risk where the earnings story remains strongest. This commentary covers: • Why we trimmed equity overweight from 3% to 1% and why this isn't a bearish signal• Geopolitical risk as a behavioral trap and why discipline beats headlines • The energy shock asymmetry: how rising oil prices hit Europe and China harder than the U.S. • Fed policy uncertainty and the debate between Core PCE (3.2%) vs. Trimmed Mean PCE (2.4%) • Why earnings, not multiple expansion, have been doing the heavy lifting for markets • AI infrastructure and energy leading EPS revisions, with active managers still underweight • Active country selection as global dispersion widens dramatically (Korea +73%, Indonesia 26%) • The stock bond diversification dilemma and why we're adding liquid alternatives as a true shock absorber Throughout the video, we reaffirm EWA's core philosophy: stay disciplined, stay diversified, and concentrate risk where conviction is highest. If you're an EWA client and have questions about how these changes impact your portfolio or financial plan, please reach out to your advisor. Connect with EWA: https://ewa-llc.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/ https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/View EWA Disclosures and Firm ADV: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977

Employee Equity: Should You Give It, How to Structure It, and When It Goes Wrong

In this episode of EWA's FIN-LYT Podcast, Matt Blocki and Jamison Smith tackle one of the most complex and consequential decisions a small business owner can face: whether to give employees equity, and how to do it without creating a legal or financial nightmare down the road. They open with a real-world story of a company that grew from a $2 million startup to a $300 million valuation, only to find themselves forced into a private equity deal because they had never planned for how to reward and retain the key people who helped build it. The lesson? Equity planning is not something you do when you need it. It is something you do before you need it. Matt and Jamison break down the three core reasons business owners turn to equity, which are reward, retention, and recruiting, and then walk through how the structure of your business (C Corp, S Corp, or LLC partnership) determines nearly every option available to you. From RSUs and ISOs in a C Corp, to the rigid single-share-class limitations of an S Corp, to the remarkable flexibility of profit interest in a partnership, each structure carries distinct tax consequences, legal implications, and practical trade-offs. The conversation goes deeper into phantom equity, stock appreciation rights, ESOP structures, vesting schedule design, and the often-overlooked risk of what happens to a partner's equity stake in a divorce. If you are a business owner thinking about bringing key people into ownership, or an employee trying to understand what equity is actually worth, this episode covers the framework you need to make that decision well. Like and subscribe for more episodes covering the financial decisions that matter most to business owners and high earners. Connect with EWA: https://ewa-llc.com/ [https://ewa-llc.com/] https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/] https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/ [https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/] View EWA Disclosures and Firm ADV: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977 [https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977]

Financial Planning for OpenAI Employees: Equity, IPOs, and Concentration Risk

In this episode of EWA's FIN-LYT Podcast, Jamison Smith and Tyler Houston break down what financial planning actually looks like for OpenAI employees navigating one of the most complex wealth creation moments in modern history. If you work at OpenAI, you are likely sitting on significant equity through the company's PPU structure, a profit interest that triggers capital gains taxes only at the point of sale. The window to make smart decisions is short, and emotional pressure can lead to costly mistakes. Jamison and Tyler walk through how to approach tender windows strategically, why having a "number" in mind before that window opens is essential, and how to structure your holdings into two clear buckets: financial security and upside participation. They also cover tax mitigation strategies like direct indexing, long/short approaches, and donor advised funds, along with estate planning tools that can help protect appreciation from federal estate tax. IPO lockup periods, 10b5-1 plan frameworks, insider trading risk, and how to choose a financial advisor who actually understands the startup world round out the conversation. If a tender window is approaching or an IPO is on the horizon, this episode gives you a clear framework to protect what you have built while staying in the game for what comes next. Connect with EWA:https://ewa-llc.com [https://ewa-llc.com/]/ [https://ewa-llc.com/] https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc [https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/]/ [https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/] https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/ [https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/] View EWA Disclosures and Firm ADV:https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977 [https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977]

How to Cut Your Tax Rate in Half During Retirement

In this episode of EWA's FIN-LYT Podcast, Ben Ruttenberg and Chris Pavcic break down one of the most overlooked risks facing high earners headed into retirement: the assumption that your tax rate will automatically drop when you stop working. Spoiler, it often doesn't. Ben and Chris walk through exactly why that happens and what you can do about it starting today. The conversation digs into the three forces that quietly push retirement tax rates higher than most people expect: Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), Social Security income, and IRMAA Medicare surcharges. Using 2026 tax brackets, they illustrate how a couple can shift from a manageable 24% rate to a 35% rate almost overnight after one spouse passes, without any change in lifestyle or spending. Ben and Chris also cover the core strategies for managing your tax exposure before and during retirement. These include Roth conversion planning during the gap years before RMDs kick in, strategic use of brokerage accounts to live on while keeping taxable income low, and pairing donor advised funds with Roth conversions for a powerful double tax benefit. They also break down asset location, explaining which types of investments belong in your pre-tax, Roth, and brokerage accounts and why that distinction matters more than most people realize. The episode closes with a discussion on Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), 529 gifting strategies, and lifetime gifting as tools to reduce both income and estate tax exposure. As Ben puts it, none of these strategies work in isolation. They have to be coordinated as one plan, and the earlier you start, the more room you have to work with. If you found this episode valuable, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who could benefit from a more proactive approach to retirement tax planning. Connect with EWA: https://ewa-llc.com/ [https://ewa-llc.com/] https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/ [https://www.instagram.com/ewa.llc/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/equilibrium-wealth-advisors/] https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/ [https://www.facebook.com/EquilibriumWealthAdvisors/] View EWA Disclosures and Firm ADV: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977 [https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/308977]