Free PDF Guide

The Stock Compensation Guide

Equity pay is a second income with its own tax code. How each grant type really works, and how to turn paper wealth into actual wealth without a tax accident.

What’s inside

  • The three tax moments

    Grant, exercise or vest, and sale: the framework that locates every equity-comp tax bill before it lands.

  • RSUs: taxed like salary, held like stock

    Vesting, the withholding gap that surprises high earners, and the sell-or-hold question stated honestly.

  • Options: ISOs, NSOs, and the AMT

    How each option type is taxed at exercise and sale, qualifying dispositions, and the AMT trap that turns paper gains into real tax.

  • ESPP: the discount worth understanding

    Qualified plans, the lookback, and the holding-period math on the closest thing to free money in your benefits.

  • The 83(b) decision

    Early-exercise and restricted stock: when the 30-day election is a bargain and when it's a bet you shouldn't make.

  • NUA and the endgame

    Net unrealized appreciation for employer stock in a 401(k) — the exit door that closes permanently if you roll over first.

Jim Crider

Written by Jim Crider, CFP®, founder of Intentional Living FP — a fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm in New Braunfels, Texas.

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This guide is educational only and is not specific financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax figures reflect 2026 rules and are subject to change. Fee-only fiduciary · No commissions · Always on your side of the table.