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NQSOs - Basics

NQSOs › Basics

Articles

Stock Options 101: The Essentials

Podcast and video included! So your company has granted you stock options. Now what? Stock options give you a potential share in the growth of your company's value without any financial risk to you until you exercise the options and buy shares of the company's stock. Before you exercise your options, their built-in value is subject to pre-tax growth—which can be significant. This article explains the essential facts that you must know to understand your options and make the most of them.

VIDEO! Employee Stock Options: Core Aspects To Know

With expert insights from the editor-in-chief of myStockOptions.com, this video covers the essential aspects of employee stock options that you must know to make the most of them, including the key concepts of vesting, exercise, and the option term. Running time: 4:12.

How To Avoid The Most Common Stock Option Mistakes (Part 1)

Avoid the fumbles others made with options during past ups and downs in the stock markets. Situations where common errors tend to arise can be classed into nine categories, including option-term expiration, job termination, corporate mergers, financial planning, and various life events.
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Stock Options Made Simple: Comparing NQSOs & ISOs

Videos included! Stock options rose to fame in the 1990s. Even on the TV sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine got stock options and wouldn't shut up about them (annoying the heck out of George). Options remain popular. This article explains the two types and how they work.

Stock Option Fundamentals (Part 1): Know Your Goals And Terms

Stock options aren't just for the folks on mahogany row any more. But turning stock options into the real green stuff takes some know-how. You need to know certain features of your grant to decide when to exercise your options and sell the stock.

Getting The Most From Your Stock Options This is premium content

Podcast included! Stock options are a major element of your long-term incentive compensation, offering tremendous potential to accumulate personal wealth. Given your stock options' complexity, it’s essential to develop a strategy to realize their full potential.

Stock Option Fundamentals (Part 2): Vesting And Expiration This is premium content

You cannot cash in your stock options immediately. The options must first be vested, and you don't own them forever.

How To Avoid The Most Common Stock Option Mistakes (Part 2) This is premium content

Avoid the mistakes others made during prior ups and downs in the stock markets. Common errors arise in nine different situations, including job termination, mergers, financial planning, term expiration, and various life events.

Stock Option Fundamentals (Part 6): Exercise Methods This is premium content

Exercising stock options is like playing a hand of cards: if your plays are strategic, you'll probably "know when to hold them and when to fold them." But, as always, rules and regulations apply to what you can do.

Stock Option Terms: What You Can Expect This is premium content

Podcast included! Get a sense of what you should, and should not, expect in the terms of your stock option grant. A major survey of companies looks at trends in vesting schedules, post-termination exercise rules, and other plan features.

Presentation! Nonqualified Stock Options: An Overview

PowerPoint presentation (in PDF) that the editorial team of myStockOptions.com developed to provide a convenient crash course on the basics of nonqualified stock options. myStockOptions Pro members may request permission to use it for company employees or financial-planning clients.

FAQs

Video included! What are the top 10 questions I should ask about my stock options?

You should know the answers to the questions in this FAQ's checklist and be familiar with the topics presented in the related video. Understanding these will help you make the most of your stock options and prevent costly mistakes...

What is a nonqualified stock option?

A nonqualified stock option (NQSO) is a type of stock option that does not qualify for...

In brief, how do nonqualified stock options and incentive stock options differ?

Companies in the United States can grant two types of stock options: nonqualified stock options (NQSOs), the most common type, and incentive stock options (ISOs). The table in this FAQ summarizes and compares the major traits...
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Video included! When are nonqualified stock options taxed?

You are taxed when you exercise nonqualified stock options and thus acquire the underlying shares of your company's stock. The difference between the market price of the stock at exercise and your exercise price is...

Will my employer report to the IRS any income from an NQSO exercise?

Your employer will include the amount of the spread at exercise of an NQSO on...

What is the significance of the US Supreme Court's 2018 decision about stock options?

In Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling involving stock options. While initially it appears that the application of the decision is narrow and applies only to employee stock options at railroad companies (also perhaps RSUs and other types of stock compensation), its implications are broader...
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