Here’s the latest news, tips and information for financial advisors with clients or prospects that have company stock and options.
Strategic Diversification of Employer Stock: The following case study, illustrated using StockOpter Pro, describes a four step process that enables financial advisors to secure immediate and recurring company stock diversification/reinvestment transactions. Right now get StockOpter Pro at a low introductory price. An introductory license of SO/Pro is good until May 1, 2015 and allows users to run an unlimited number of goal based diversification strategies for clients.
Insider Trading and Use of 10b5-1 Plans: This article by Rich Friedman from Ayco’s latest Compensation and Benefits Digest offers a detailed look into the risks of SEC insider trading violations and how 10b5-1 trading plans can be an important part of a company’s overall compliance program.
Incentive Stock Option (ISO) Planning Guidelines: January is probably the best month for clients to decide whether to exercise and hold their ISOs for qualified tax treatment. This article explains a few basic guidelines that will help you avoid the high cost and brain damage associated with running a detailed tax analysis for individuals with ISOs.
Finding Companies that Grant Equity Compensation: The beginning of the year is a great time for prospecting. Unfortunately, finding local companies that offer employee stock options or restricted shares isn’t easy. This article explains why a list of equity compensation granting companies can’t be acquired and offers a process for creating your own.
New Features: StockOpter.com is continually being updated and improved. Many of the changes are internal and deal with performance and security, but new user features are also regularly added. Here are two new features that make StockOpter.com the best tool for advisors who work with corporate executives:
- The Company Users function can now create “Restricted” users who’s info can be included in reports, but can’t access the system. Back office user of StockOpter.com will find this handy.
- All Participant Reports are now “Archived” in PDF format, but reports are still created in Word format to allow minor format changes.