Incentive stock options (ISOs) are a form of compensation distributed by a company to their employees. Typically, companies use ISOs as a vehicle to retain top employees, reward specific milestones or successes or as an incentive when hiring new employees. ISOs can be a lucrative long-term compensation benefit, particularly if […]
employee stock options
How Do You Pay the Exercise Cost When You Exercise Your Employee Stock Options?
If you have employee stock options, you’ve likely spent time considering how and when to turn the value of those options into cash proceeds you can actually use. To turn stock employee stock options into cash, you have to exercise them. When you exercise, you are buying shares of company […]
How to Use a Stock Swap to Exercise Your Employee Stock Options
A stock swap can be a great strategy to use if you have employee stock options you’d like to exercise and hold. It allows you to use the fair market value (FMV) of company stock you already own to pay for the exercise cost of newly acquired employee stock option […]
Leverage on Your Employee Stock Options: Good or Bad (or Somewhere in Between)?
If you receive grants of employee stock options, you should understand the concept of leverage and how it can impact the value of your options. You can’t eliminate the issue of leverage altogether, as it is inherent in employee stock options. But knowing how, when, and by how much it […]
6 Steps for Handling Equity Compensation as a Conservative Investor
If you done any research or reading on equity compensation and employee stock options, you’ve likely come across terms and phrases like “concentration risk” and “too many eggs in one basket.” You may have also read up on stories that detail how a declining stock price wiped out someone’s seemingly […]
Should You Exercise and Sell All Your Employee Stock Options Right Now?
If you have employee stock options, you’ve probably spent time considering the absolute best time to exercise those options — and from there, whether you should sell or hold your shares. Answering the question of “when” — when to exercise, and when to sell — is wrapped in complexity. With […]
