ON-DEMAND ADVISERS GIVE BACK WEBINAR
The Paycheck Advantage:
How to Keep More of What You Earn
Most people glance at their paystub and move on — missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.
This session shows you how to decode your paycheck, adjust your withholdings with confidence, and make the most of pre-tax benefits like retirement plans, health savings, and commuter accounts.
Learn how small, legal tweaks can boost your take-home pay and reduce surprises at tax time.
What will I learn?
Your paycheck is the financial “engine” behind everything else—budgeting, saving, benefits, taxes, and even avoiding nasty surprises in April.
In this practical, easy-to-follow webinar, CFP® professional Vidalia Cornwall breaks down the anatomy of a pay stub and shows you how to translate confusing line items into clear, actionable choices—so you can keep more of your money working for you and make smarter decisions about retirement, benefits, and withholding.
You’ll learn how to:
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Read any pay stub with confidence—gross pay vs. taxable pay vs. net pay, and what actually determines what hits your bank account.
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Understand what’s “controllable” vs. “non-negotiable”—federal withholding and benefit selections vs. Social Security/Medicare (FICA) and other fixed payroll taxes.
- Avoid tax-time surprises by learning why refunds happen, what it means to owe, and how to target “close to even” instead of giving the government an interest-free loan.
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Use the W-4 strategically—when to update it (life events, side income, changing credits) and how to make adjustments without guesswork.
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Spot the real cost of benefits and retirement contributions—including why a $100 increase to a pre-tax 401(k) contribution may reduce take-home pay by much less than $100.
- Turn your paycheck into a planning tool with tactics like splitting direct deposit to automate savings and aligning bill due dates with paydays for smoother cash flow.
GET PERSONALIZED ADVICE
Want 1:1 help with your paycheck, taxes, and benefits?
Book a free one-on-one session with a certified financial planner volunteering through Advisers Give Back. They’ll help you decode your pay stub, adjust withholding if needed, and optimize benefits and retirement contributions—so you can keep more of your money and avoid tax surprises.
Advisers Give Back is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that makes it easier and more rewarding for financial advisers to give back to their community, while getting data-driven insights on the impact they're having.
We're on a mission to close the racial and gender wealth gaps by increasing access to independent financial advice for millions of Americans.
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