If you’re anything like the typical corporate executive, you probably have questions about your benefits and wonder if there’s more you could be doing with them. We’re here to help you understand each offering and maximize the elections available to you in coordination with the rest of your financial plan.
Whether retirement is around the corner or off in the distant future, you want to ensure you save in the most tax-efficient manner for you and your family. Our team of advisors helps you get the most from both pre-tax and after-tax savings in your 401(k).
How we help Executives make the most of their 401(k):
Retirement is about more than just 401(k) contributions. Our integrated team of advisors and investment experts work with you to tailor your various benefits and asset allocations in them to you.
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For many of Houston’s top-tiered executives, their company may offer an excess benefit or benefit restoration plan to contribute to an employee’s 401(k) over an above the IRS’ 401a limits. Excess benefit plans like this one can have significant tax ramifications when they payout, so it's crucial to appropriately time your retirement to maximize the benefit's after-tax value.
Learn more about these plans here >>
For some companies, high-income employees are offered deferred compensation plans as a valuable benefit to defer real-time compensation into future years when you have a greater need for it. We offer guidance to optimize your deferred compensation elections in coordination with your expected retirement income to reduce taxes today and minimize them in the future.
At many of Houston’s energy companies, a significant portion of your compensation can come from the varying incentive plans—your bonus, stock options, performance shares, and restricted stock, to name a few. It's important to coordinate these incentive plans alongside your other financial assets to maintain a diversified portfolio over time and minimize your tax liability. We work with you to reduce overexposure to your company’s stock in a tax-efficient manner that fits your overall financial goals.
How we help Houston's professionals with their incentive plans:
You care about providing for and protecting those you love most, but do you have the right contingency plan in place if an unexpected event arises? As a fiduciary advisor working in your best interest, we never sell insurance products. Instead, we help you understand the various insurance options available to you and help you decide on a plan that works best for you and your family. Our goal is to ensure that you only pay for what you need instead of all the extras you don’t.
Selecting the Right Health Plan for You
Your company may have one health plan, or they may have many from which you can choose. With each plan comes various trade-offs and opportunities. Our advisors can walk you through each plan, plan your contributions for healthcare costs and future retiree medical costs in the most tax-efficient manner. We can also help you maximize your take-home pay by optimizing your HSA and FSA accounts when applicable.
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If you’re affected by workforce reductions and are “left standing,” we can provide insights on the critical decisions required for your company benefits elections and determine if retirement is a viable option for the present.
If you’re unsure about future employment or how an untimely layoff could affect your future, our team is knowledgeable about the ins-and-outs of severance packages and benefits. We can help you evaluate your goals, analyze your current financial status, and prepare for the next steps forward so you can start your next venture with confidence.
Earning a promotion can be exciting and filled with new responsibilities, a new job title, and potentially a higher salary and benefits package. What many executives fail to realize is that this also means more considerations and opportunities for mistakes. When you begin reaching certain income thresholds, there are more nuances regarding your 401(k) and other savings options, your taxes, and financial planning strategies you can leverage. If you aren’t adjusting your contributions or paying attention to specific tax forms, you could be leaving money on the table. As you climb the corporate ladder, your financial plan needs to evolve alongside you. We can help you pivot and adapt your financial strategy to ensure that you have a plan in place anywhere your career takes you.
High-Income Earners Make This Simple Mistake in Their 401(k) Contribution Calculation ALL the Time.
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If your career takes you beyond the U.S. on an expatriate assignment, there are many financial factors to consider before making a move. As specialists in both U.S. company benefit plans and financial planning, we can help U.S. citizens and residents looking to optimize their savings and finances on the road to retirement wherever they are in the world.
Accumulating assets in multiple countries can make it difficult to know where to seek guidance from, so our table below may offer some guidance:
Your Situation Entails: |
Work With a U.S. Advisor Like WJA |
Work With A Foreign Advisor |
U.S. Citizenship or Resident Status |
Working with an advisor in the U.S. such as Willis Johnson & Associates can help you navigate the financial, tax, and legal guidelines you’re obligated to by your citizenship. |
If you're not a U.S. citizen or resident, it may be more beneficial to work with an advisor in your home country or the one in which you're stationed. |
Assets Outside the U.S. Only |
Due to certain legal restrictions, U.S. advisors, such as Willis Johnson & Associates, are prohibited from managing certain foreign assets. If you’re planning to return to or retire in the U.S., Willis Johnson & Associates can help you convert your assets and leverage them accordingly. |
If most of your assets are outside the U.S., it may be best to work with an advisor in the country holding the assets to have the most flexibility in your options. |
Assets Across the Globe |
If you have assets in the U.S. and other countries, you'll likely need financial experts in each country. Willis Johnson & Associates can offer guidance on your domestic assets and help with converting or considering various foreign assets. | |
Work for a U.S. Employer, but Working in a Foreign Country |
By working with an advisor in the U.S., such as Willis Johnson & Associates, you can avoid the pitfalls surrounding the financial, tax, and legal guidelines you're obliged to by your citizenship and your time abroad. If you're planning to return to the U.S., you'll want a domestic advisor to appropriately convert everything for your U.S. tax return upon your arrival. |
Suppose you're not a U.S. citizen or resident and are working in a non-U.S. country. In that case, it may be more beneficial to work with an advisor in the country you're stationed in to get the proper guidance and education you need for your finances and taxes. |
For professionals who prefer to keep their assets in a foreign country, we recommend working with an advisor in that country who's well-versed in its tax, financial, and legal guidelines. Similarly, for employees on the company's international benefit plans, we recommend reaching out to your HR department or an advisor with expertise in your benefit plans and guidelines to understand best how to utilize them.
Learn How to Avoid Common Financial Mistakes Expats Make Here >>
After their retirement date or last day in a given company, many of our clients choose to continue working as consultants. If you plan to do this, we can help you understand how to structure your finances and retirement to fit your new role. Our team of tax and financial professionals can help you navigate:
Learn more about setting up a consulting practice here >>
Being recruited is exciting, but how can you know if accepting a new position is the right move? It is often difficult to directly compare the value of two compensation packages and all the benefits on the table. With our expertise in corporate benefit plans, we can map out the difference in value between your current job and the one you're considering to help you decide between them or leverage for a better offer.
Getting More From Your Finances Doesn’t Have to be Difficult.
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As you think about retirement, you might be asking the question: From where should I take the money I need for expenses? Our team can help rebalance your 401(k) for your transition into retirement while considering your full financial picture. We can also help you understand the various sources of contribution, including after-tax contributions, and how to get the most of your employer contributions without spillover into Excess Benefit Plans to maximize tax-efficiency when these plans payout. The transition from accumulating assets to living off of them can be tricky, so working with an advisor can help you understand which assets you should be pulling from and in what order to minimize taxes for a smooth retirement.
For many of Houston’s top-tiered executives, their company may offer an excess benefit or benefit restoration plan to contribute to an employee’s 401(k) over an above the IRS' 401a limits. Excess benefit plans like this one can have significant tax ramifications when they payout, so it's crucial to appropriately time your retirement to maximize the after-tax value of the benefit.
Learn more about these plans here >>
For some companies, high-income employees are offered deferred compensation plans as a valuable benefit to defer real-time compensation into future years when you have a greater need for it. Upon retiring, it's crucial to evaluate these elections' payouts when determining your expected retirement income to minimize taxes in your early retirement years.
If your company offers a pension, there are many decisions to be made leading up to retirement. One of the critical choices you make with your pension elections is how and when to receive your pension benefits. It is crucial to understand the trade-offs between lump sums and annuities, how changing interest rates can affect lump sum values, and the implication of timing and taxes. Before you make an irrevocable election, let us give you a second opinion.
Upon retirement from Chevron, many of our clients choose to continue working as a consultant. If you plan to do this, we can help you understand how to structure your finances and retirement to fit your new role. Our team of tax and financial professionals can help you navigate:
When you decide to retire after a long career can have a significant impact on your retirement income. Sometimes, waiting a few weeks or retiring just a month earlier can be a difference of tens of thousands of dollars. By understanding the timing of the payouts and tax implications of your benefits, along with the segment rates, we can determine the most tax-efficient retirement date for you that optimizes your income into your retirement days.
Getting More From Your Finances Doesn’t Have to be Difficult.
Meet with one of our experts to get started >>
Are You Ready for the Big Game? How to Avoid Financial Planning Risks and a Nail-Biting Finish Market Corrections Revisited and the Lessons We Learned
Willis Johnson serves as the CEO of Willis Johnson & Associates. As a Certified Financial Planner®, Mr. Johnson provides a full complement of financial services to individuals as they go through the transitions in their corporate life. Most corporate professionals will retire once in their life, but Mr. Johnson has assisted hundreds of clients to navigate through the retirement process over the course of his career.
In the span of over 35 years, Mr. Johnson has honed decades of experience assisting clients as they struggle with almost every important financial decision you can imagine. He has helped these corporate professionals to overcome their emotions and objectively assess their available options.
Mr. Johnson’s ability to listen to his clients’ motivations, paired with his acquired wisdom enable him to guide clients down a retirement path that maximizes their benefits while taking advantage of their unique opportunities along the way. Mr. Johnson considers himself both a financial advisor and a life counselor as he assists his clients in prioritizing their personal needs, offers realistic advice, and accompanies them on their path to financial success.
During his 35 years as an advisor, 13 years with a national financial advisory firm and 22 years as a principal at his own firm, Mr. Johnson implemented exclusive estate and financial planning techniques. His structured methodology-- customized for each client-- is still the basis of his approach today.
Building grounded, long-term relationships while understanding client objectives and goals is the foundation of Willis’ success as a Certified Financial Planner® professional. Mr. Johnson received a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Houston. He also practiced with a national CPA firm before obtaining his CFP® designation.
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Nick Johnson CFA®, CFP® believes that financial planning is more than numbers on a balance sheet and a standardized process. People are unique and should be treated as such. As President and wealth manager at Willis Johnson & Associates, Nick’s goal is to develop a solid understanding of his clients while providing a proactive approach to comprehensive wealth management.
Nick is responsible for monitoring the financial health of his clients and providing timely updates regarding changes to their financial plans. To effectively monitor a client’s financial well-being, an advisor must have a firm grasp of the life passions and/or goals specific to that individual. It is Nick’s job to initiate productive conversations where he can combine his own financial planning wisdom with the unique emotional elements of a corporate professional’s life.
Overall, Nick measures financial planning success by his ability to help corporate professionals maximize their hard-earned money. However, Nick considers himself successful as an advisor when clients naturally turn to him for financial advice as they would like a trusted family member or close friend. In addition to serving as an advisor, Nick serves an integral role as a member of Willis Johnson & Associates Investment Committee.
The Investment Committee makes all of the decisions in regards to asset allocation, style/theme distribution, and security selection for their client portfolios. Nick’s strong analytical skills, dedication to the fundamentals of investing, and Chartered Financial Analyst designation bring unique insight to their investment decisions.
In school, Nick always had a passion for analytic research and analysis but found within himself the need to balance that with personal connections. These desires led him to pursue a dual major in finance and drama, along with a minor in economics from Trinity University. He thrived in the finance and economics classes, often finding himself leading study groups and teaching concepts that came easily to him.
While concurrently studying finance, Nick spent most of his free time in the theater department working on over 40 stage productions both in the department and the community at large. This in-depth study of the humanities let him deepen his understanding of the motivations and inter-workings of people, a skill he uses very much to this day.
After graduating from Trinity University, Nick began working as an investment analyst at Willis Johnson & Associates He started his studies for the CFA® exam during this time as well. After gaining experience on the investments side, researching funds, tracking investments, and trading large blocks of client accounts, he moved over to the financial planning arm of the company and later transitioned into a financial advisory role.
In addition to being a CFA®, Nick earned his designation as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ after completing the board’s preliminary financial planning experience requirements and certification exam in April 2018.
Nick is a Houston native and uses his passion for learning to inspire the personal and professional development of the city’s working professionals and executives. He believes in the power of education to impact both the individual and their community by enabling more informed decision making in terms of their careers, their money, and most importantly, their life goals.
Nick is a strong proponent of continued education, which is reflected via his heavy investment in his personal career, the careers of the WJA team, and the lifetime careers of the clients he serves.
During his free time, Nick lectures as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Bauer College of Business, is involved in the CFA® Professional Mentorship Program, and is an active participant in the University of Houston Bauer College of Business’s SURE Program, which fosters a partnership between students and Houston’s business thought leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs from under-resourced communities.
When he’s not teaching or being taught, Nick enjoys spending time outdoors and embarking on weekend rock climbing excursions across the states.
Alexis Long is currently the Director of wealth Management at Willis Johnson & Associates, which allows her to meet people from diverse backgrounds with different goals and to assist them in reaching those goals as efficiently as possible.
For Alexis, financial planning combines her interest in producing detail-oriented financial plans with a desire to help people reach their goals, whether it be retiring early, paying for their grandchildren’s educations, buying a second home, or leaving a legacy for their children. Understanding what is truly important to a client is key to good financial planning, along with providing solid technical advice.
Previously, Alexis worked at another wealth management firm which was her first job in the financial planning and advising industry. She was able to learn the basics of financial planning from the ground up and quickly expanded her knowledge as a paraplanner.
After graduating with a BBA from Texas Tech University, Alexis held positions ranging from real estate to bankruptcy law while searching for her true career passion. It was not until her attendance in the MBA program at the University of Saint Thomas that she started learning more about the financial planning and advising industry. Alexis recognized financial planning and advising was the career that best suited her.
Since 1996 we’ve been helping corporate executives and professionals with their comprehensive financial planning needs. Our thorough understanding of the transitions in your corporate life allows us to appreciate where you have been and assist with where you are headed.