Restricted stock units are often offered as part of a compensation package to attract and retain key employees They are restricted in that certain requirements must be met before the employee can obtain full ownership rights to the value of the units. Receiving your...
I’m Daniel Zajac, CFP®
I write about employee stock options and equity compensation in a way that is easy to understand.
How to Use a Cashless Exercise of Incentive Stock Options to Manage Cash Flow
If you have employee stock options, you need to determine what kind you have so you know if a cash or cashless exercise makes sense: incentive stock options (ISO) or non-qualified stock options (NQSO). The differences go far beyond their names. ISOs may provide tax...
New Resources on Equity Compensation, Blog Updates, and More
I'm passionate about using my experience to help people like you understand what to do with employee stock options, RSUs, and other forms of equity compensation. I spend a lot of time developing resources to educate on this topic because I believe it's important that...
ESPP Tax Rules – And How They’re Affected by a Qualifying Disposition
An employee stock purchase plan, or ESPP, can provide employees of a company a vehicle through which to purchase that company’s stock. This is usually done through automated payroll deductions, which makes the system convenient, and employers may offer added benefits...
9 Year-End Planning Tips for Your Equity Compensation
You might not give much thought to the equity compensation you receive throughout the year (until you’re forced to take action with it). But even if you do have a long-term plan in mind, it’s smart to pause periodically and review the overall strategy. The end of the...
How Exercising Incentive Stock Options Could Impact Your Cash Flow
Before you do anything with your incentive stock options, you need to get clear on how exercising those ISOs could affect your assets and your cash flow, and what will it cost you in terms of real money. You need to know the cost of exercising your options, for...
What to Do When Your Restricted Stock Units Vest
Restricted stock units (RSUs) might seem relatively easy to manage once they vest, especially when compared to the potential complexity of vested non-qualified and incentive stock options. RSUs look straightforward because your options can seem limited, meaning you...
Understanding the 83(b) Election for Non-Qualified Stock Options
If you have non-qualified stock options, you’ve likely spent time researching when and how you’ll face taxes for them. As a general rule, you will be subject to ordinary income tax on the profit you make when you exercise non-qualified options. Being taxed when you...
What You Should Know About the Alternative Minimum Tax
The alternative minimum tax (AMT) acts as a sort of parallel tax system to the regular federal income tax system. For taxpayers, this means they need to calculate their income twice: once under the regular tax rules and a second time under AMT. After running this...
Six Things to Know About Pre-IPO Incentive Stock Options
The choice of when to exercise your incentive stock options can be a difficult one, with serious implications for financial planning and taxes. When your company is still pre-IPO, that opens up an entirely separate set of concerns that you may need to be aware of. The issues associated with pre-IPO incentive stock options (ISOs) are particularly relevant now, as early-stage companies increasingly find private funding sources and delay the date of their IPO. As the length of time between startup and IPO increases, more and more employees are facing the question of the costs and benefits of pre-IPO ISO exercise.
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NEW! The Ultimate Guide to Equity Compensation
Understand what you have, what you should consider, and what ultimately matters to you.
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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