8 ms·

This is really wrong. You can very well assume that it's worthless. If you do, chances are you will not do your research on things like early exercise and 83(b

This is really wrong. You can very well assume that it's worthless. If you do, chances are you will not do your research on things like early exercise and 83(b) filing (whether, for example, you work at a company that even allows things like that). Then, in the very small chance that your equity is actually worth something, you will be kicking yourself really hard because if you'd only prepared, you could've been paying LTCG on the whole spread, rather than dealing with AMT and trying to find a private buyer for your illiquid stock to pay off the IRS and the CA FTB.

vacri 10y ago
That all sounds like a fancy way of saying "playing the lottery".
- aub3bhat 10y ago
  Thats like saying programming is fancy way of saying "banging fingers on keyboard".
  - signa11 10y ago
    > Thats like saying programming is fancy way of saying "banging fingers on keyboard". perhaps you were referring to the 'infinite monkey theorem' ? i would rather believe programming to be nothing like that.
    - collyw 10y ago
      test driven development seems to encourage that. Bang away until it turns green.
      - hardlianotion 10y ago
        You should try precisely that - much harder to do than it seems.
  - vacri 10y ago
    Let me paraphrase the parent: "fiscal gibberish, fiscal gibberish, Then, in the very small chance that your equity is actually worth something [sic], fiscal gibberish, fiscal gibberish" Sounds almost like the definition of a lottery to me.
- mcherm 10y ago
  No, it really isn't. I agree roughly with the claim that you should plan your life based on the assumption that your stock options are quite likely to be worthless, but the comment you replied to is making specific and highly meaningful points that anyone receiving options really needs to understand.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  The odds aren't THAT short.
etatoby 10y ago
> you will be kicking yourself really hard because if you'd only prepared, you could've been paying LTCG... AMT... illiquid stock... IRS... CA FTB... ACME... Road Runner... Look, I won't be kicking myself neither hard not soft, because I made a conscious decision to study and become proficient in another field. You finance people work under the assumption that everybody cares—or should care—about the underlying concepts of your field, not to mention the details such as jargon and acronyms, just because we have to use money to conduct our daily life. That's demonstrably false. It would be like assuming everybody who uses a smartphone should care and become proficient on TCP, signals, sockets, PIDs, scheduler priorities, and what not. In a word, foolish. Considering the stock options you're given basically worthless, unless fortuitously proven otherwise, and making your employment decisions based on salary alone (and other non-monetary factors) is a valid strategy, because it allows you to avoid having to invest time into studying and understanding all those foreign concepts. Since time is a finite resource, choosing how to spend it while still having your butt covered is great advice. On the other hand, if you are a founder of have otherwise invested a considerable amount of time and energy into those shares, it would be foolish not to seek professional advice on their management, as the article rightly points out.
- gaius 10y ago
  You finance people work under the assumption that everybody cares—or should care—about the underlying concepts of your field Those aren't finance terms, they are taxpayer terms! Long term capital gains, alternative minimum tax, everyone knows who the IRS are...
  - hifumi 10y ago
    But those acronyms are vague and I had no idea what they were until you spelled them out.
    - 1812Overture 10y ago
      That's the point of the article.
- 10y ago

vacri 10y ago

That all sounds like a fancy way of saying "playing the lottery".

aub3bhat 10y ago
Thats like saying programming is fancy way of saying "banging fingers on keyboard".
- signa11 10y ago
  > Thats like saying programming is fancy way of saying "banging fingers on keyboard". perhaps you were referring to the 'infinite monkey theorem' ? i would rather believe programming to be nothing like that.
  - collyw 10y ago
    test driven development seems to encourage that. Bang away until it turns green.
    - hardlianotion 10y ago
      You should try precisely that - much harder to do than it seems.
- vacri 10y ago
  Let me paraphrase the parent: "fiscal gibberish, fiscal gibberish, Then, in the very small chance that your equity is actually worth something [sic], fiscal gibberish, fiscal gibberish" Sounds almost like the definition of a lottery to me.
mcherm 10y ago
No, it really isn't. I agree roughly with the claim that you should plan your life based on the assumption that your stock options are quite likely to be worthless, but the comment you replied to is making specific and highly meaningful points that anyone receiving options really needs to understand.
bbcbasic 10y ago
The odds aren't THAT short.

etatoby 10y ago

> you will be kicking yourself really hard because if you'd only prepared, you could've been paying LTCG... AMT... illiquid stock... IRS... CA FTB... ACME... Road Runner... Look, I won't be kicking myself neither hard not soft, because I made a conscious decision to study and become proficient in another field. You finance people work under the assumption that everybody cares—or should care—about the underlying concepts of your field, not to mention the details such as jargon and acronyms, just because we have to use money to conduct our daily life. That's demonstrably false. It would be like assuming everybody who uses a smartphone should care and become proficient on TCP, signals, sockets, PIDs, scheduler priorities, and what not. In a word, foolish. Considering the stock options you're given basically worthless, unless fortuitously proven otherwise, and making your employment decisions based on salary alone (and other non-monetary factors) is a valid strategy, because it allows you to avoid having to invest time into studying and understanding all those foreign concepts. Since time is a finite resource, choosing how to spend it while still having your butt covered is great advice. On the other hand, if you are a founder of have otherwise invested a considerable amount of time and energy into those shares, it would be foolish not to seek professional advice on their management, as the article rightly points out.

gaius 10y ago
You finance people work under the assumption that everybody cares—or should care—about the underlying concepts of your field Those aren't finance terms, they are taxpayer terms! Long term capital gains, alternative minimum tax, everyone knows who the IRS are...
- hifumi 10y ago
  But those acronyms are vague and I had no idea what they were until you spelled them out.
  - 1812Overture 10y ago
    That's the point of the article.
10y ago