What Should I Do With My Stock Options?

Question: What Should I Do With My Stock Options?

Stock options are a great perk offered by many companies. Stock options allow you to purchase stock at a reduced price. You are required to hold onto the stock for a set length of time before you can sell the stock. The company allows the employee to benefit from the growth of the company when they offer stock options.

Answer:

If you have been given the opportunity to purchase stock options, you may want to take advantage of them if you can currently afford to do so. You should not go into debt to purchase stock options. It is important that you weigh the risk of these stocks against what you can afford to lose. You should also only purchase stock options if you are confident that the company is going to continue to grow and profit. You should also look at the conditions regarding the stock options and how long it takes you to become vested in the stocks. If you are planning on leaving the company soon, you may not want to purchase the stocks. When you purchase the stocks you should also plan for tax implications, some stock options are given as tax free, and you will only pay a capital gains tax when you sell them. Others are reported as taxable income.

If you purchase the stock options you should set a goal about when you want to sell the shares. You may want to hold onto a certain percentage of your shares, but it is important to diversify your investments and savings, so you will need to sell some of your stocks. You may set a dollar figure amount to sell your shares, and then sell the percentage you have agreed on. Additionally you may want to set another dollar figure amount when you sell another percentage. You may have times when the stocks decrease in value, don’t panic and sell them. You should ride out the lows in the stocks.

When you own stocks you will receive dividends on the stocks. You should determine what you want to do with this money now. You can really improve your retirement savings by putting your dividends directly into an IRA or another savings account that has been earmarked for retirement.