Articles on real questions tech employees ask: How much company stock is too much? When should you sell RSUs after they vest? What are the ESPP mistakes that trip people up? Do you exercise options or sell them? Should you convert to a Roth during a sabbatical or layoff year? We cover stock diversification, equity compensation moves, and tax planning that matters for your situation.
How to Diversify Company Stock, Lot by Lot (a Walkthrough from Modera Wealth Management)
To diversify company stock, sell the lots with the smallest tax bill per dollar first, name each lot before the trade settles, and keep the lowest-basis shares for last.
Continue reading →RSU vs stock options: which $100,000 to cash in, $97,000 or $65,000
For a tech employee with both grants and a house to buy: RSU vs stock options, which to sell first, with a $100,000 worked example.
Continue reading →How to Decide How Much Company Stock Is Too Much When Retirement Is 10 to 15 Years Away
The shortcut matters most if you are 10 to 15 years from retirement and hold RSUs, exercised options or ESPP shares, because a 40 percent drop costs 8 percent of net worth at a fifth and 20 percent of net worth at half.
Continue reading →ESPP Mistakes to Avoid at 52 When You Buy Every Period and Never Sell
Picture a 52-year-old who opens her brokerage app each January, sees a pile of company shares and a tax form she doesn't quite understand, and closes the app again.
Continue reading →Six Questions for an Equity Compensation Advisor: How Modera Wealth Management Would Answer Them
Meet Shane (29) and Celeste (31), newly married and both working at a startup that hasn't gone public.
Continue reading →The Modera Wealth Management Guide to When to Sell RSUs After Vesting
RSUs are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vesting, and that value becomes your cost basis, so a $60,000 vest sold at $60,000 adds $0 of new gain.
Continue reading →Roth Conversion for Tech Employees: Why Waiting for the Next Big Salary Costs More
Conversions have no income limit, and the converted amount is taxed as ordinary income in the year it happens.
Continue reading →Should you hold bonds in an IRA or taxable account?
The trade-off is that money in a 401(k) or IRA is taxed as ordinary income when you take it out, and it can be locked up until 59½.
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