The Water Cooler: Latest gadgets or lots of money?

Most of you who read this blog are gainfully employed or are looking for gainful employment. You are also interested in the most high tech of all high tech. There are other things more important than working with lots of gadgets. Your idea of a good job may include enjoying yourself at work, getting paid fairly, and having a good boss. If your boss says to you, would you like to have the newest laptop and associated gadgets, or would you like to be paid more such as being granted stock options don’t hessitate. Taking the gadgets will make you feel good for a short time, like ten minutes until the next big gadget comes out. Taking stock options will help you feel good for a lot longer, because it can be one way to financial success. Just like when your mom rang the dinner bell and said, “come and get it”. Respond to your boss by saying, “where do I sign?”

Stock options are “granted” to you at a certain price, called the “exercise price”. After a predetermined time, the stock options are “vested”. This usually occurs over a three year period. After that you have a certain amount of time (usually ten years from the date they were granted) to exercise the options, which means you can buy the stock at the exercise price for a certain period of time, even though the stock price has significantly increased. For example, the company tells you that you have 100 options at the current stock price, which is $10 per share. After the options are vested, the stock price has increased to $20 per share. You have ten years to exercise the options. You can buy the stock for $1,000 (100 options times $10), and sell it for $2,000 (100 options times $20), or you could wait hoping that the stock price will increase even more. Dream about being granted a hundred times that, and you can then have enough money for daily Starbucks, and even the latest high tech gadgets. With enough options, you could update your gadgets every ten minutes.

Read [How Stuff Works]