Category: equity compensation

Simplifying the Equity Compensation Complexities: Keep it, Spend it, or Save it

If you’re wondering how to maximize the value of your incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NQSOs), restricted stock units (RSUs), or other forms of equity compensation, you’re not alone. After all, there is plenty to think about if you’ve been granted equity compensation. You may dream of how to strike it rich. You may fear you’ll do something wrong and miss out. You might become mired in taxing technicalities, including AMT calculations. All that thinking can backfire if “TMI” (too much information) prevents you from proceeding.

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How Incentive Stock Options May Be Taxed: And Some Caveats About Seeking A Qualified Disposition

Who doesn’t love a great tax break? You and I can’t personally reverse a bear market or revise Federal regulations. But we do get to decide when and how to exercise, hold, and sell our incentive stock options (ISOs), dictating whether we have a qualified disposition or disqualified disposition. Why not make best use of your tax-planning powers when you do?

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What to Expect When Your Company IPOs and How to Prepare for a Liquidity Event

Being part of an initial public offering, or IPO, is an exciting time. This is when a private company goes through the process of getting listed on a publicly-traded exchange. Where shareholders may have previously only been able to buy or sell the company’s equity in private deals (if allowed by the company), an IPO allows for company stock to be bought, sold, or traded…

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What You Need to Know about Double-Trigger Restricted Stock Units

If you work for a private company and receive restricted stock units as part of your compensation package, that equity compensation may have a double-trigger provision. While not all restricted stock units, or RSUs, come with this feature, it’s an important element to understand. What Are Double-Trigger RSUs? Double-trigger restricted stock units are those that…

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Hi, I'm Daniel Zajac, CFP®, EA

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I write about equity compensation and employee stock options in a way that is easy to understand.