Daniel Zajac, CFP®

5 Basics I Wish Everyone Knew About Employee Stock Options

September 11, 2018 By Daniel Zajac, CFP®, AIF®, CLU® Leave a Comment

There is no easy way around it, employee stock options are complicated. And depending on the type of stock options you have, how many you have, other types of employee stock options you own -- along with all your other specific financial planning needs -- understanding what to do with your employee stock options can become even more difficult to figure out. That’s the bad news. The good news is that with a little reading and some education on the must-know stuff, you can get yourself up to speed with the basics of employee stock options …

4 Ways to Lower Your Alternative Minimum Tax Liability with Incentive Stock Options

August 28, 2018 By Daniel Zajac, CFP®, AIF®, CLU® Leave a Comment

When you exercise and hold incentive stock options, it’s very possible that you will be subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT). This part of the tax code gets complex, making it difficult to understand. One way to think of the AMT is a pre-payment of income tax on exercised incentive stock options -- but actually dealing with AMT is a lot more complicated than simply changing the way you think about it. The amount you could owe due to AMT can be massive, and may potentially require you to find significant cash to cover the pending …