No one likes to see a stock they own go down in value. When we buy stock, we hope the price rises so we can earn a profit on our purchase. It’s bad enough, then, when our share prices fall instead. But what’s potentially even worse? Seeing those falling stock prices...
I’m Daniel Zajac, CFP®
I write about employee stock options and equity compensation in a way that is easy to understand.
4 Taxes to Plan for When You Sell Your Incentive Stock Options
If you try and look up information to learn more about your incentive stock options, most of what you’ll find addresses what happens when you exercise your options -- but doesn’t go much farther than that. You may already know that when you exercise your incentive...
How and When Are Incentive Stock Options Taxed
Incentive stock options are a form of employee compensation that allows you to participate in the appreciating value of a company's stock price. A type of stock option that comes with potentially complicated tax scenarios. Similar to non-qualified stock options,...
4 Questions to Ask If You Have Employee Stock Grants
Some companies offer employee stock grants as part of a compensation package to help attract, retain, and reward key employees. Both the business and the employee share the hope that the stock price of the company will increase over time, which in turn can increase...
How to Exercise Incentive Stock Options to the AMT Crossover Point
Finding the best time and best strategy to exercise incentive stock options is difficult. Competing considerations on income tax, investment planning, and financial planning make it difficult to address the best time to exercise incentive stock options (ISOs) with a...
What You Should Know About Cash Exercises of Employee Stock Options
There are many reasons to exercise your employee stock options: a pending retirement that might require re-allocating assets; an approaching expiration date that warrants a “use it or lose it decision; a strategic exercise plan that integrates tax and financial...
4 Non-Tax Questions You Need to Ask of Your Employee Stock Options
When dealing with employee stock options, the conversation usually centers around issues of income tax and investment risk. We talk about taxes because the amount of tax you pay has an impact on how much money you actually receive when you finally sell your shares....
What You Need to Know About Drawing Down Your Assets in Retirement
Retirement planning is often summed up into a single question: How much money do I need to retire? Unfortunately, this question leaves many well-intentioned retirees far short of the actual goal. While understanding how much your retirement may cost, it’s just one...
5 Basics I Wish Everyone Knew About Employee Stock Options
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 --...
4 Ways to Lower the Alternative Minimum Tax when you Exercise Incentive Stock Options
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...
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Hi, I'm Daniel Zajac, CFP®, EA
I write about equity compensation and employee stock options in a way that is easy to understand.
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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