An employee stock purchase plan, or ESPP, is an employee benefit that allows employees to purchase company stock via payroll deductions. If you have an ESPP, you can often purchase shares at a discounted price to the fair market value. Some companies offer a discount...
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What Is Net Unrealized Appreciation?
If you own company stock inside your 401(k) plan, you may want to know about net unrealized appreciation. Net unrealized appreciation, or NUA, is a financial planning technique that may allow you to obtain preferential tax treatment on a portion of your 401(k) assets....
Why Your Employee Stock Purchase Plan May Be a Great Deal
Many employers offer an employee stock purchase plan, or ESPP, to allow employees to purchase company stock with ease. As an incentive to participate, many ESPPs allow you to purchase stock at a discount from the current market price. ESPP’s may also allow for a...
4 Questions to Ask When Your Employee Stock Options Vest
Employee stock options may be issued as part of an employee compensation package. Companies may offer this type of equity compensation as a way to reward key employees and retain top talent. If the company does well, and the stock price increases, the employee can...
Why an Early Exercise of Your Incentive Stock Options Might Be Your Best Bet
If you have incentive stock options but haven’t made a plan for them beyond “I’ll figure it out later,” you may want to consider the alternatives, and the alternatives are many. One of the many strategies that you may consider is to exercise some or all of your incentive stock options early. How early depends on many factors, but earlier than a faced expiration date.
What is a Disqualifying Disposition of Incentive Stock Options?
Incentive stock options, or ISOs, are a type of employee stock option. Often considered the favorable employee stock option as compared to non-qualified stock options, they may present an opportunity to receive a preferential tax treatment when you exercise and sell the incentive stock option shares. To obtain this preferential tax treatment, you must meet specific rules regarding the timeline between when the incentive stock option is granted, and when you sell your shares. The timeframe between when you exercise the option and when you sell the shares matters, too.
The Basics of Non-Qualified Stock Options
Non-qualified stock options are a type of employee stock option that is unique in that they retain tax characteristics similar to restricted stock units and employee control and decision-making similar to incentive stock options. From an income tax standpoint, profit is subject to ordinary income tax rates when you exercise your non-qualified stock options.
The Basics of Incentive Stock Options
There are two types of employee stock options: incentive stock options, or ISOs, and non-qualified stock options, or NQSOs. Generally speaking, incentive stock options are the more complicated of the two. These complexities may include holding period requirements, potentially preferential tax treatment, and the alternative minimum tax.
Evaluating 3 Non-Qualified Stock Option Exercise Strategies
Non-qualified stock options (NSOs) are commonly issued to allow employees to participate in the upside potential of a company. While they can offer the potential to amass wealth, they’re also usually part of compensation packages referred to as “golden handcuffs.”...
4 Strategies for Exercising Your Incentive Stock Options and the Tax Impacts of Each
Incentive stock options may be offered as part of an employee compensation package. In a best-case scenario, these options can offer an invaluable benefit to you as an employee. You may benefit most if your company offers incentive stock options (or ISOs) at a low...
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Hi, I'm Daniel Zajac, CFP®, EA
Understand what you have, what you should consider, and what ultimately matters to you.
NEW! The Ultimate Guide to Equity Compensation
Understand what you have, what you should consider, and what ultimately matters to you.
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