StockOpter.com FAQ’s

Although StockOpter.com users can modify grant expiration and vesting dates/shares to model post employment provisions (e.g. Retirement, Severance, Termination, Change of Control, etc.), it is tedious to have to edit the grant data each time to switch between scenarios.

To avoid this click the “Add Company” button on the “Company Information” page to add a “dummy” company ticker to the participant’s record (I.e. IBM2).  You can then enter an alternative set of grants to reflect specific post employment provisions.  Make sure the dummy ticker isn’t an actual company to circumvent nightly price updates and irrelevant monitoring alerts.

Participant records are allowed to have a maximum of 3 associated company tickers, but since most clients receive equity compensation from a single company the spare tickers can be used for modeling purposes.  The alternative holdings can then be viewed in the StockOpter Dashboards to run what-ifs and printed as reports to give to clients.  Keep in mind you will have to manually change the stock price to generate an updated “alternative” analysis.

We occasionally receive technical support calls or emails reporting that StockOpter.com is not functioning correctly in a situation where the user is familiar with what should be happening. This is entirely different from support calls where the user is new to a particular function in StockOpter.com and hasn’t reviewed the HELP text. In these situations we remind users to always read our help text when they get stuck.

Situations where the system isn’t working the way it has in the past are usually due to problems with ones browser application (i.e. Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.) or with their internet connection. When this happens we suggest doing the following:

1. Logoff StockOpter.com
2. Close your browser
3. Restart your browser
4. Log back on to StockOpter.com
5. Resume what you were doing

You may even need to restart your computer. If this doesn’t solve the problem, send a note to stockopter@networthstrategies.com and we’ll take action to resolve it.

Financial advisory firms interested in acquiring new high net worth clients and assets under management by engaging executives with equity compensation grants can use this outline (or attachment) to implement an executive assistance program:     Implementing-Executives-Services-w-StockOpter

Overview:

This list of tasks is designed to assist financial advisory firms to implement an Equity Compensation Assistance program using StockOpter.com.  For additional information contact Bill Dillhoefer at bdillhoefer@networthstrategies.com or 541-383-3899.

Tasks:

1. Establish detailed project plan (e.g. tasks, dates, responsibilities, costs)
2. Define the Executive Services Offering (questions that need to be answered):
   • Who is the target market: clients, prospects, companies ?
   • What are the deliverables:
     • Personal Equity Compensation Profile Report?
     • Quarterly report updates and review session with advisors?
     • Nightly monitoring of individual’s diversification criteria monitoring?
     • Online “Participant” access to do what-ifs?
   • What is the dollar value of these services and when are the fees waived?
   • How is this program marketed and to whom (i.e. Companies or Individuals)
   • Who is involved in the delivery of these services?
   • What is the process for getting referrals?
   • How is this program measured for success?
3. Review StockOpter.com Data Privacy and Security documents:
   • Detailed information can be found at under the “StockOpter.com for Advisors FAQs in Advisors: Data Privacy / Security topic
   • NWSI ISO 17799 document (detailed security information)
   • NWSI Data Security and Policies document
4. Setup StockOpter.com System:
   • Establish account at: http://stockopter.com/stockopter-products/stockopter-com-for-advisors/
   • Create sample “Participant” case for testing and training purposes
   • Review “Import” and “Prospect” functions for potential corporate offering
   • Create company branded and approved report template using standard templates
   • Create UserIDs and set appropriate functionality level
   • Establish participant data access standards (who can see/modify which clients)
   • Review monitoring alert defaults and determine who they are sent to (i.e. main contact advisor, participant or both)
   • Review and modify “Alert” templates as necessary
   • Review “Participant Site” functionality using test case for potential use
   • Contact Net Worth Strategies to discuss customization requirements
5. Define & Document StockOpter.com Usage Process (e.g.…..):
   • Acquire equity compensation data (electronic for groups or individual grant summaries for manual entry)
   • Enter/import data into StockOpter.com and verify via Dashboards
   • Select report template and create reports (individually or in batch)
   • Share analysis with client via StockOpter report and/or online dashboards
   • Take action as required and update data on StockOpter.com (e.g. grants exercised or shares sold)
   • Set or modify monitoring alerts based on participant criteria (e.g. next review date, Insight ratio, concentration, grant expiration, vesting, goal attainment, etc.)
   • Contact participant when alerts are triggered
   • Setup periodic review sessions with participant (i.e. quarterly) and produce updated report for discussion
6. User training:
   • System Administrators
     • System admin (e.g. UserID creation, usage monitoring, etc.)
     • System setup (see above)
     • General functions
     • Data access controls
   • Financial Planners (create the analysis/report)
     • Analysis concepts
     • Data entry / importing
     • Dashboards
     • Report creation
     • Alert monitoring
     • Participant access
   • Relationship Advisors (deliver/explain the analysis)
     • Analysis concepts
     • Dashboards
     • Participant access
     • Alert monitoring
7. Conduct Pilot Program (to confirm process and make adjustments)

The monitoring function of StockOpter.com is probably its most powerful and useful feature. This is because it automatically alerts users and/or plan participants by email of critical decision triggers based on the daily closing stock price.

Decision triggers are set for individual participants and include: grant vesting or expiration, Insight/VaR ratios, goal attainment, concentration level, stock price and participant case review or renewal date (e.g. Insight Ratio < 10%, Expiration = 6 months prior, etc.). Here’s a brief overview of how to use the monitoring function to help participants make timely and prudent decisions regarding their company stock and options:

1. From the Monitoring menu select: Participants to Monitor and review the HELP Text and Disclaimer information.
2. Identify the participants you wish to set monitoring triggers for and click the Triggers (decision values) or Reminders (decision dates) link. The adjacent Alerts link will show a list of the archived alerts for this participant.
3. Click the Add New Trigger or Add New Reminder button and select the Trigger Type and Criteria/Period from the drop downs. Enter criteria values and then check the appropriate recipient boxes for who the alert should be sent to (Main User and/or Participant) and choose the Template from the drop down. Lastly, check the Active box.
4. Create as many different trigger/reminders for each participant as needed and Edit or Delete them as required. HINT: set a “Participant Renewal Alert” to let you know when their case renews so you can control this billable event (use the Manage Participants function under My Accounts to control the Auto Renew process)
5. The archive of triggered alerts can be viewed using the My Alerts or Company Alerts functions. The Participant Alerts function archives all the triggered alerts that were set by participants from the “Participant Site”.

Just because a stock option is “underwater” (current price less then the exercise/grant price) doesn’t mean it is worthless.  Stock options have a value greater than just the intrinsic or in-the-money value due mainly to stock price volatility and the time to expiration.  This is called “Time Value”.  StockOpter.com calculates this value and explains why participants need to understand it to make informed decision.

Stock options are generally granted for a period of 7 to 10 years so it’s likely that they will be in-the-money at some point.  Consequently it is a good idea to use StockOpter.com to track the grant over its lifetime in order to help clients make timely diversification decisions based on decision triggers and important dates.

The attached article by John Olsen, CLU, ChFC, AEP does a good job of explaining why “Under water” doesn’t necessarily mean “drowned”.

File Attachment(s):     John Olsen Review of StockOptercom 3-17-09.pdf   (20kb)

StockOpter.com users can allow participants to sign on to the system to facilitate collaboration with their advisors.  The participant interface enables clients to:

1. Update their outstanding grants (e.g add new grants/vesting’s, delete expired grants, update exercise/sale transactions, etc.)
2. Modify their personal assumptions (e.g. tax rates, held shares, diversified investment value, etc.)
3. Create an updated report using the current stock price and modified assumptions
4. Model “what-ifs” using the Dashboards
5. Set decision monitoring alerts (participants are emailed when the triggers are met)

To enable participant access: 1) Verify the participant’s email address on the Participant Information page (the participant’s email address serves as their user name to sign on to StockOpter.com)
2) select the “Allow Participant Access” box (requires Level 2, 3, 4 or 5 user status) and hit the “Submit” box. More information on this can be found in the help text panel.

Note: Participant access is automatically disabled upon expiration or de-activation. It can also be manually disabled by un-checking the “Allow Participant Access” box.

StockOpter.com is designed to be shared with participants. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Create a report from the “Reports” menu and take them thru it in person or over the phone
• Use the Dashboards to describe the StockOpter concepts to the participant either in person or via a web-conference
• Enable Participant Access to let them sign-on to StockOpter.com to create a report or use the Dashboards (this should initially be done under the guidance of an advisor.)

Note: For more information on enabling participant access see the separate usage tip on this topic.

Participant/Client cases in StockOpter.com will generally renew automatically one year after creation and annually thereafter.

To change the Auto Renew setting: 1) From the “My Account” menu select “Manage Participants” (this requires Levels 3-5 user status), 2) Use the column filters to identify the participant and verify the current renewal selection, 3) Click the “Edit” link to check or un-check the Auto Renew box as required and hit the “Update” link. For more information see the Help text.

Note: Participant cases that have been changed so as not to renew automatically can be accessed and monitored through the current renewal date. Upon expiration, participant cases are de-activated and can be re-activated at any time using the “Activate Participants” function in the “Participants” menu (this is a billable event).

The initial StockOpter.com user (Main Contact) in a company by default has access to the participants created by any system user. However, additional StockOpter.com users have access to only the participants they create unless they are provided with “All Participant Access” or are granted individual access by the “Main User”.

To enable a company user to access all participants in the system: 1) From the “Administrator Links” panel on the Home page select “Company Users”  (this requires Level-5 user status). 2) Select a user name from the list, hit the “Edit” link and choose “yes” from the “All Participant Access” drop down box then hit the Update link.

NOTE: The user must be created using the “Company Users” function beforehand.

The participant reports created using StockOpter.com can automatically include your company branding and disclaimers by adding it to the report templates.

Steps: From the “Administrator Links” panel on the “Home” page select the “Manage  Report Templates” function and “Download” the template you would like to brand. When prompted, “Open” the file, copy your logo to the page header and do a “Save As” to rename the template. Then hit the “Edit” link” button to upload it back to the system.

More information can be found in the “Company Templates Edit” page help and in the “Report Template” FAQs.

StockOpter.com was designed to be used by multiple users within the same company. This feature facilitates the collaboration of people who need to share client cases. There is NO cost for creating additional users for your StockOpter.com account.  Furthermore, the sharing StockOpter user IDs is HIGHLY discouraged because it increases security risk.

Steps: From the “Administrator Links” panel select the “Company Users” function and hit the “New User” link. Additional information about this function can be found on the “Company Users” page and in the “My Account/Administration” FAQs.  Access to the “Company Users” function requires a Level 5 user type.

Yes! Use the link below.

NOTE: The form does not request additional required assumptions such as volatility, risk free rate, financial goal or tax rates. It is up to the StockOpter.com user to estimate these assumptions.

File Attachment(s):

  StockOpter Analysis Client Data Requirements (57kb)

The following information is needed from your client in order to run a StockOpter valuation and risk analysis:

• Current grant summary with vesting schedule (get grant docs)
• The estimated value of the client’s outside investments (brokerage & retirement) not including any company stock or options
• Owned shares info to include: acquisition date, acquisition price, number of shares, cost basis and exercise and/or sell date

Note: To model multi-year diversification strategies using StockOpter’s tax and cash flow functionality you will need the client’s most recent tax return.

Yes, when users add new participants they are given the option to create the case from scratch or clone/replicate one from an an active or inactive case.

Participant replication or cloning may reduce the amount of data entry required to setup a new case especially if the new participant has a number of similar grants from the same company.

NOTE: New participants must have unique “Participant IDs” and contact information.

StockOpter.com automatically processes all vesting and expiration events which can be found on the “Events” page which has 3 separate tabs: Vesting/Expired, Exercised and Sold.

Restricted and performance grants once vested automatically create Owned Share Lots less the number of shares based on the Withholding Tax Rate (Net Owned Shares).

The “Exercised” tab lists any events created using the Exercise function on the Grant Info page and the “Sold” tab lists events that are created using the Sell function on the Owned Share Info tab. For more detailed information please refer to the Help box on the applicable pages.

The system will automatically send an email alert to the account Main Contact and Billing Contact 7 days prior to a participant coming up for renewal. Users can also choose to set up their own alert for a participant with other date ranges if so desired. To do this you will need to go to the Monitoring menu, select Participants to Monitor, find the participant, click the Reminders link, click the New Reminder button, using the drop down on the field Reminder Type choose Participant Renewal Date and finish entering the criteria for the Reminder. Please refer to the HELP box for additional information.

No. All data entered into StockOpter.com is never deleted. De-activating a participant will take them out of your active list of participants and can be re-activated at any time using the “Activate Participant” function.

You can grant other users in your company account either full or read-only access to your participants. To grant access to All of your participants go to the My Account tab and select My Participant Access, click on the New link then use the drop-down list to select the user. To grant access to individual participants, select Manage My Participants select the participant’s name by clicking on the “+” select New then use the drop-down list to select the user.  Please refer to the HELP box for additional information.

Under the “Participant” menu, select Activate Participants, search for the participant and hit the Activate button. Please note that you will need available Tokens in the account

Under Participants, select De-activate Participants, search for the participant to de-activate and hit the de-activate button. Please be aware that if you de-activate a participant before the renewal date, you will no longer be able to access that participant unless you activate them again.

In order for a participant case NOT to renew automatically at the end of a subscription period an authorized user must go to My Account and select the Manage Participants function. You will then need to select the participant, hit “edit“, uncheck the auto renew box and click the “update” link. This will ensure that the participant is not renewed at the end of the subscription period but will allow access to the participant until that date is reached, at which time the participant will be deactivated.

Participant cases can also be deactivated using the De-activate Participants function from the Participants menu. Deactivation takes effect immediately so it might be better to use the Manage Participants function.

Note: If a participant does not renew or is deactivated, they are no longer accessible or monitored. Deactivated participants can be re-activated at any time using the “Activate Participants” function from the “Participants” menu.

StockOpter.com is designed to support an unlimited number of vesting events and multiple schedules (e.g., annual, quarterly, monthly, etc.). For a vesting schedule that first vests annually after one year and then monthly for 3 years, enter these periods separately.  The vesting schedule towards bottom of page will be updated accordingly.

NO. This is a violation of our services agreement. Participant cases can’t be used for multiple clients. The exception to this is husband and wife participants.

The StockOpter.com client report templates are Word documents containing variable tags (e.g. TICKERTAG) and table bookmarks (e.g. ITM) that are used to merge data from the program into a report.

The system comes with a variety of sample templates to assist users to develop their own. The “All Output” template lists the names of all available output variables and bookmarks.

Note: Users are free to create custom branded templates, but a registered StockOpter copyright must be preserved at the bottom of each page.

The following report templates are included with a subscription to StockOpter.com. They can be customized using the Manage Report Templates” function under the Administrative Links section by “Level 5” users only. When run using the Create Participant Documents function under the Reports tab these templates produce reports that serve specific purposes. Here are descriptions of available report templates:

*YEAR SO Analysis (Options & Owned Shares): This report is for clients with only employee stock option grants and owned / long shares. It excludes the sections pertaining to Restricted / Performance shares.

*YEAR SO Analysis (Options ONLY): This report is for clients with only employee stock option grants. It excludes the sections pertaining to Restricted / Performance and Owned shares.

*YEAR SO Analysis (Restricted & Owned Shares): This version of the StockOpter report is designed for clients who just have restricted/performance and owned/long shares. It excludes sections pertaining to employee stock options.

*YEAR SO FULL Analysis (Options, Restricted & Owned): This report is for participants who have stock options, restricted/performance grants and owned/long shares. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the client’s company stock and option holdings.

*YEAR SO SHORT Analysis (Options, Restricted & Owned): This report is a shorter version of the “FULL” StockOpter Report for Options, Restricted and Owned shares (see above). It excludes detailed concept descriptions and is ideal for providing clients with periodic updates.

*All Output List (NOT a Client Deliverable): Displays all the output (e.g. data input tags, tables & charts, and calculated values) that can be produced by StockOpter.com for a selected participant. It is designed to be a comprehensive list of the different information that can be included in StockOpter reports.

NOTE: The old Benefit Statement, Report Covers, Policy Statements and Teaser templates have been deactivated.

1. “Download” the template using the Manage Report Templates function under the Administrator Links section of the HOME page. (be sure to review the HELP info) This will open a Word document on your system.
2. Go to the place in the document where you want to add the new table and use the “Insert” function to insert a “Bookmark”.
3. In the bookmark dialogue box enter the name of bookmark (e.g. LA3) and click the “Add” button. A list of all the StockOpter table/chart bookmarks can be found in the “All Output List” report using the “Insert Bookmark” function in Word.
4. After completing the bookmark dialogue, enter a description of the new table (e.g. LA3TABLE) on the line where the invisible bookmark was placed (this allows you to easily locate the bookmark). You can also add descriptive text above or below the bookmark at this time.
5. Use the “Save As” function to save your new template with another name.
6. Use the Add New Template button on the Company Templates page. In the dialogue box enter a description, browse for the saved template file, check the “Active” box and click the “Submit” button.

That’s it. Now you can select this template when you are producing reports and it will include the new table or chart.

Yes, the CURRENT StockOpter All Output List template includes all the current report variables.

Note: Reports created by this template are NOT designed to be used with clients.

To view the template itself (no client data just the data replacement variables), use the Manage Report Templates function under the Administrative Links section by “Level 5” users only and Download the template.

To produce a report containing all the tables, charts and data produced by StockOpter.com, use the Create Participant Documents tab after selecting the client and choose All Output List (alternatively you can use the functions under the Reports menu).

To force a participant report to paginate as desired automatically when run, you must open and edit the template in Word (refer to the Reports FAQ on “Page Breaks” on how to do this).

Go to the location of the pagination error in the template and highlight it using your mouse. In Word 2010, 2013 and 2016 use the dialog launcher located in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group of the ribbon on the Home tab to access the dialog box. Then select the “Line and Page Breaks” tab.

To keep a section of the report together so that it doesn’t break between two page check the boxes for: Keep Lines Together and Keep with Next. After completing your changes, Save, Upload and test your template by creating a report. You may have to go thru multiple iterations to get the template to paginate the way you want it. For more information on how to “Control Pagination” in Word use the help function.

StockOpter.com uses tags and Word bookmarks to merge data into report templates. Tags are used for single variables and are displayed with capital letters (e.g. CLIENTNAME = Sally Sample or CURRENTPRICE = $50). Word bookmarks are used for tables and charts (e.g. ITM = In-the-money value table or CON = concentration graph).

NOTE: Word bookmarks are managed using the “Bookmarks” function on the “Insert” menu.The bookmark label (i.e. ITMTABLE) is for identification purposes only and is NOT the bookmark itself. Bookmarks can’t be copied or moved manually. To add, delete or go to a bookmark use the “Insert/Bookmark” function.

To view the position of bookmarks check the “Show Bookmarks” box under the “Advanced” section of the “Options” menu on the “File” tab in Word 2010, 2013 and 2016.

The text following the bookmark symbols in the StockOpter.com templates is for identification purposes only and is not part of the bookmark itself. This text is removed during the report creation process.

Use the Manage Report Templates function under the Administrator Links section of the StockOpter HOME page (Level 5 users only) and review the HELP info on the “Company Templates” page.

Click the download icon to download the template you want to modify from the template list. Depending on your system you may have the option to “Open” or “Save” the template on your computer so it can be edited in Word.

Once you’ve completed and saved your modifications, we suggest that you use the Add New Template buttons so that you don’t replace the current template.

Level 5 users can add and remove the report templates listed when creating client deliverable reports by using the Manage Report Templates function under the Administrator Links section of the StockOpter HOME page to activate and deactivate templates. Only “Active” templates show up on the various report selection lists. For more information refer to the HELP text on Company Templates page.

No, but the “Investment Risk/Reward” section of the StockOpter report contains tables and graphs that show options and share valuations at various different stock prices.

If you don’t have MS Office installed on your computer you may not be able to “Open” participant reports that have been downloaded from StockOpter.com. The system may prompt you to either “Find” an application that can open a “.docx” file or “Save” the report. Some systems (i.e. Apple) have the ability to view Microsoft Word files.

There are a variety of no cost ways to open a Word document without having Microsoft Office installed. Here are 3 alternatives, but there are probably others that can be found by searching the internet.

1. Obtain the “Word Viewer” from the Microsoft Download Center. This function will allow you to view, copy and print Word documents but you won’t be able to edit them.
2. Download and install “Open Office” from www.openoffice.org. This open source application will allow you to edit .docx files as well spreadsheets and presentations.
3. Upload the .docx file to “Google Docs“. You will need to sign up for a Google Account, but you will be able to view and edit .docx files, spreadsheets and presentations.

StockOpter participant report page break problems are usually a result of merging a large number of grants into the report template. Participant reports with more than 7 option or RSA grants may not paginate as desired. You can fix the page breaks in the report manually using the “Insert/Breaks” function in Word, but this treats the symptom not the cause and the participant’s report will paginate incorrectly each time it is run. To automatically paginate participant reports you will need to modify the report template as follows:

An authorized user (Level 5) can modify templates from the Home Page under the “Administrator Links” section and clicking on the “Manage Report Templates” link. To edit a template click the “Download” link and then “Open” this document for editing in Word. To change the way a report paginates you will need to adjust the “Line and Page Breaks” setting in the “Format/Paragraph” function. After the adjustments are made the template must be “Saved” and then uploaded by clicking on the  “Add New Template” button. For more information on adjusting the “Line and Page Breaks” in Word review the “Report Templates” FAQs.

An authorized user (Level 5) can modify templates from the Home Page under the “Administrator Links” section and clicking on the “Manage Report Templates” link. To edit a template click the “Download” link and then “Open” this document for editing in Word. Once updated and saved, you can then use the “Add New Template” button to create a new template. This will preserve the original template from being overwritten so you can modify it again if needed.

This is because a template has not yet been selected or remembered. Click on the “Select Template” button (upper right corner) and select a template from the drop-down list. The “Download” links will now be activated.

This is because the grant data has not been entered for the selected participant.

When participant cases are created in StockOpter.com the system automatically applies the following default monitoring triggers (values) and reminders (dates) to keep advisors informed by email of key decision criteria without having to set these up manually:

* Trigger: Insight Ratio < 15% * Reminder: Grant Vesting – 1 day prior * Reminder: Grant Expiration – 6 months prior * Reminder: Grant Expiration – 1 month prior

Default triggers and reminders serve as “early warnings” to alert users to look into the participant’s situation. A participant’s individual triggers or reminders can then be modified or delayed as required using the “Participants to Monitor” function under the “Monitoring” menu.

To modify or add to the defaults, use the “Company Default Trigger/Reminder” functions under the “Monitoring” menu (requires Level 5 access). Information on how to use these functions is provided via the “HELP” text.

No. Once a participant case is no longer active via non renewal or de-activation all monitoring activity ceases. If the participant is re-activated, any formerly established “Triggers” and “Reminders” will commence monitoring again at that time.

StockOpter.com runs a nightly monitoring program at around 8 p.m. (PST) using the closing market price to send participant alert emails to the “Main User” and/or the participant themselves of any “Triggers” or “Reminders” whose criteria have been met.

You will receive an email with a link that takes you to the “My Alerts” page upon login where you can view the alert, change the criteria or delay it for a specific number of days (i.e. for Blackout Periods).

You can also view alerts after logging on to StockOpter.com in the following ways:

1. On the “Home Page” under the “User Info” section, click on the “Unviewed Alerts“
2. Under the “Monitoring Menu” select the “Participants to Monitor” function and click on the “View” link for the participant
3. Using the “My Alerts” function (Main Users)
4. Using the “Company Alerts” function (Level 5 Users)
5. Using the “Participant Alerts” function (Shows the alerts set by the participant.)

Don’t panic. There are links on the StockOpter Login Page that will allow you to identify your user name and reset your password.

Yes, under the My Account menu there is an Applications Log . Users need Level 5 access for this function which lets them view and export a list of all login activity for their company User Ids and participants, as well as any failed login attempts.

If you are logged on to StockOpter.com there is a View Terms link toward the bottom of  the My Account page that will display the StockOpter.com Managed Hosting Services Agreement.

Alternatively, you can find a link to our Hosting Services Agreement under the Legal tab on this website page: http://stockopter.com/stockopter-products/stockopter-com-for-advisors/

No, there is no charge for adding StockOpter users. Accounts are encouraged to create separate user IDs for anyone who will be using the system and calling NWSI for support. To add or deactivate users, click the “Company Users” function under the “Adminstrator Links” section on the “Home Page“(Level 5 users only).

By default StockOpter users can ONLY access the participants they create unless they are given “All Participant Access” by selecting “Yes” from the dropdown when creating a new user id or by selecting “Edit” under the Company Users List.

Go to the My Account menu and select the My Company function. Find the User ID in the Main User Contact drop down list or Billing User drop down list, make your selection and hit the Update Company button.

Note: you will need to create the user with the Company Users function if they don’t already have a StockOpter User ID.

StockOpter.com was designed to be used by multiple users within the same company. This facilitates collaboration between people who need to share client cases. Level 5 (Admin) access is required to add, change or deactivate StockOpter.com users.

Steps: From the “Home Page” select “Company Users” under the “Administrator Links” section  select “New” to add a new user id.

To Edit or De-activate a user id, click on the “Edit” link and make the neccessary changes or uncheck the “Active” box and hit “Update”

StockOpter.com has 5 different user levels (Levels 1 – 5) that provide users with different types of functionality. Level 1 contains the lowest level of functionality and Level 5 the highest.

To access this information go to the “User Levels” function in the “Administrator Links” section of the StockOpter.com HOME page. Review the HELP info for additional details.

To print this information use the “Screen Print” capabilities of your computer and browser.

To allow other StockOpter.com users in your company to access the client cases you’ve created (this assumes these user DON’T have All Participant Access), go to the “My Account” Menu and select “Manage Participants” click on the “+” sign, then the “New” link and select the user form the dropdown list and hit “Update”.

Check the Read Only box if you don’t want the user to be able to modify the participant’s data.

The list of users can be managed using the “Edit” and “Delete” links.

The initial StockOpter.com user set up in your account by default has access to all the participants created by any other user. However, additional StockOpter.com users have access to only the participants they create unless they are provided with All Participant Access or are granted access by the Main User (the user who initially created the participant case).

To enable a user to access all participants in the company account (This requires Level 5 Access): From the StockOpter.com “Home Page” under the “Adminstrator Link” section select the “Company Users” link, click on the “Edit” link for the user   choose “Yes” in the dropdown list All Participant Access then hit the “Update” link.

NOTE: the user must be created using the Company Users function beforehand.

Yes, the comprehensive security questionnaire for the StockOpter.com application was updated in August 2022. This document is available at the link below.

File Attachment(s):    Net Worth Strategies, Inc. – StockOpter.com Security Questionnaire  (102kb)

The current version of the Net Worth Strategies “Data Security and Privacy Policies Handbook” is available at the link below:

File Attachment(s):  NWSI Data Security and Privacy Policies Handbook  (102kb)

StockOpter.com has separate development, test/quality and production environments. All modifications to the system are coordinated by the VP of Operations as follows:

1. Modifications are specified in writing to the “Development Team” by the VP of Operations
2. The Development Team then creates the code on our development environment
3. When the modifications are ready for testing the Development Team promotes the new code to the Test/QA environment
4. The “Test/QA Team” then thoroughly tests the modifications which often takes several iterations
5. Upon completion of testing and acceptance by the Test/QA Team, the new code is promoted to the production system by the “Production Team”
6. A final test of the modification is done on the production system by the Production Team

Net Worth Strategies, Inc. pledges that all information collected on our Web sites will be used for internal purposes only. No information will be shared, given, or in any way distributed to any third parties, other than the minimum data needed to complete a credit card purchase.

• • Q: Where is the source code located?
  • A: StockOpter.com is not a compiled program so the source code exists on the NWSI Development machine and the Azure server.

• • Q: Are there specific control management tools used to manage the StockOpter.com source code?
  • A: No.

• • Q: Who has access to the source code and how is access granted or controlled?
  • A: Only the NWSI development team has access to the source code and access is granted by the head of development.

• • Q: What is the DR / redundancy strategy of source code?
  • A: NWSI does a nightly backup of the source code machine and the Azure server is a backed up weekly.

• • Q: How are changes to source code tracked and approved?
  • A: By NWSI development team and the head of development.

• • Q: Can anything be published that did not go through an approval process?
  • A: No.

Detailed security information pertaining to StockOpter.com can be found in the attached ISO 27001 document.

File Attachment(s):   Azure – ISO 27001 Assessment Report – 6.21.2022

StockOpter.com user passwords are stored as a salted sha-1 hash (e.g. Base64{sha1[password.salt]). The salt is a minimum of 8 bytes in length and is generated using a random number generator. There is a unique salt per password and the salt is stored in a separate column of the database and is not encrypted. To verify passwords the user’s input is concatenated with the user’s salt and a sha1 hash performed to compare it to the password. If they match, the user is logged in.

The StockOpter.com database retains all participant records indefinitely (deactivated cases can be reactivated using the Activate Participants function. Participant cases can be permanently removed from the database for a fee upon request.

Tape backup media and disk drives containing StockOpter.com data will be DOD Secure Wiped when no longer needed.

Yes! Net Worth Strategies, Inc. currently uses Microsoft Azure (https://azure.microsoft.com) to host StockOpter.com. We switched hosting service providers in January 2017. We were previously using Rackspace. Here is our current Network Diagram – Azure

User Names:

• Are created by authorized users (Level-5)
• Can contain letters (case does not matter), numbers or special characters (i.e. JOE.USER1)
• The minimum length = 5 and the maximum = 20 characters
• Can’t be changed or removed from the system after creation (they can be deactivated / disabled)
• Must be unique within StockOpter.com
• Should NOT be assigned to multiple user for security reasons
• Do not automatically expire from inactivity (an authorized user must deactivate them)
• Created and managed by authorized company users as required

Passwords:

• Minimum length = 5 characters, maximum = 20 characters
• Passwords can’t contain user names
• Any combination of upper/lower case letters, numbers and special characters is allowed
• Users can reset their passwords at any time (they will receive an email confirmation)
• Fail attempts are logged

Custom Password Validation Settings:

• Minimum & maximum lengths can be specified (max can’t exceed 20)
• Number of day to reset password
• Can be set to require an upper case, lower case, number or special character
• Users locked out after X number of failed attempts
• Passwords must not match X pervious passwords (max 10)
• Setup fee to implement these validations: $250 / account
• Additional password validations can be provided via custom development

Contact Bill Dillhoefer at 541-383-3899 or bdillhoefer@networthstrategies.com for more info.

Yes. The entire StockOpter SQL database is encrypted using the AES encryption algorithm and a 128 bit key.

A “Dynamic” penetration test was performed by Breachlock (www.breachlock.com) on May 17th 2022 on the StockOpter.com application (https://app.stockopter.com) hosted by Microsoft Azure.  No “Very High,” “High” or “Medium” security flaws were identified.    Only 8 “Low” issues were detected.  For more information and/or a copy of the Summary Report contact Bill Dillhoefer.

Here are the results of a recent network vulnerability scan of www.app.stockopter.com conducted by Jack Robson of Nimble Development.

File Attachment(s):    StockOpter.com Vulnerability Scan  (150kb)

Here is the most current Microsoft Azure SOC/2 report that audits the hosting environment used by StockOpter.com.

File Attachment(s): Azure SOC 2 Type II Report (2021-04-01 to 2022-03-31)

Please see the attached “Hosted Services Agreement.” (Below)

File Attachment(s):    SO.com Click Thru Agreement  (196kb)

NO. This is a violation of our services agreement. Participant cases can’t be used for multiple clients. The exception to this is husband and wife participants.

StockOpter.com is a pay per use system based on annual client/participant cases. StockOpter accounts need to be pre-funded with case “tokens” which are used to create or renew participants.

The cost per case token varies based on purchase volume.  Current pricing can be found under the Pricing tab on the StockOpter.com for Advisors page.

To setup a StockOpter.com account and view payment options go to the Account Setup form.

To add to your account token balance, sign-on to StockOpter.com and use the Add Case Tokens to Account function under the My Account menu.

Currently case tokens do not expire however, unused tokens are non-refundable.

To view or download your account activity go to the Home page under the “Administrator Links” section (must be a Level 5 user)  click on the “Account Transactions” link, which will land you on the “Account Transactions” tab. This will display payments to increase the number of client case tokens and client case usage transactions for adds, renewals and reactivates. 

Note: As of April 1, 2018 account balances were converted from dollars to annual client case tokens. Prior account transactions can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the “Account Transaction Archive” tab

Yes. StockOpter.com sends the Main Contact of the account and the Main User of the participant/client an email notification 7 days in advance of a scheduled renewal. The participant’s Main User can set an additional alert by using the Participants to Monitor function under the Monitoring menu as follows:

1. Selecting the participant
2. Click the Reminders link
3. Click the New Reminder button
4. Using the drop down on the field Reminder Type choose Participant Renewal Date
5. Complete the rest of the information and then select the Active box.

For more information see the HELP text on the Participants to Monitor page.

Automatic renewals for participants can be turned off using the Active Participants function.

When you first sign up for a StockOpter.com account, you are charged an initial set up fee of $150, which can be used to take you through your first client case once the data has been entered. The following implementation services are also available from Net Worth Strategies, Inc. and can be purchased online when the account is created at: https://app.stockopter.com/create-new-account

• Custom User Training: $400
• Tax & Cash Flow Customization Assistance: $500
• Report Template Customization Assistance: $400

Prices subject to change based on specific user requirements.

Contact Bill Dillhoefer (bdillhoefer@networthstrategies.com) at 541-383-3899 for more information.

Yes, the attached StockOpter.com Service Level Agreement contains information about system availability, performance standards and the procedures for problem resolution. For more information contact stockopter@networthstrategies.com.

File Attachment(s):    StockOpter.com SLA 2020

The system will automatically renew active participants/clients that have the Automatic Renewal box checked at approximately 8 PM (PST) on the renewal/expiration date. A client case token is deducted from the account balance at that time.

The StockOpter.com Main Contact User will receive an email 7 days in advance alerting them when participant cases are scheduled to renew.

To manage your renewals use the Active Participants function under the My Account menu after logging in to StockOpter.com.

Note: unless approved by NWSI, participant cases WILL NOT renew if the token balance is zero. The participant’s Main User will be notified by email if this happens.

If you still use the old Internet Explorer browser, you may find that the Dashboard “sliders” and various “edit” or “delete” links are missing or that the drop down selectors aren’t working. If this is happens don’t panic it’s just another Microsoft “issue” that can be dealt with.

The fix is simple, just change the browser mode to “Compatibility View” by using the “Tools” or “Page” drop-down and selecting “Compatibility View Settings”. From this dialogue box you can add StockOpter.com to a list of websites that will be displayed using “Compatibility View”.

This should correct the problems, but in case it doesn’t try using Google Chrome or upgrading to Microsoft Edge.

Although StockOpter.com has been optimized to run best under Microsoft Edge, it appears to work well using the Safari browser from Apple. No add-ons are required to run the videos and the reports open automatically with Word when downloaded.

StockOpter.com also works well using the current version of Google Chrome version. No add-ons are required to run the videos and the reports open automatically with Word when downloaded.

No, the “Recipient” version of StockOpter.com can only track and analyze stock and option positions for a single company.

Your company’s stock plan platform was designed to administer an equity compensation program.  It was NOT designed to provide guidance on how to get the most out of your company stock and options.  Although your company platform may enable you to exercise stock options and sell company stock, it WON’T give you guidance on when and why to diversify.

StockOpter.com produces an equity compensation diversification analysis that allows one to make timely, informed and profitable decisions.   The StockOpter analytics illustrate time value, leverage, forfeit value, concentration, goal attainment, value at risk (VaR) and risk/reward.  These concepts help establish a decision-making framework that can be used for the long term duration of your company holdings.

Your company can’t provide you with advice on what to do with your grants and you shouldn’t rely on sketchy “water-cooler” guidance.  For only $95/year StockOpter.com for recipients can prevent you from making costly errors.  To see for yourself sign up for the free 60 day trial.

Your company’s stock plan platform was designed to administer an equity compensation program.  It was NOT designed to provide guidance on how to get the most out of your company stock and options.  Although your company platform may enable you to exercise stock options and sell company stock, it WON’T give you guidance on when and why to diversify.

StockOpter.com produces an equity compensation diversification analysis that allows one to make timely, informed and profitable decisions.   The StockOpter analytics illustrate time value, leverage, forfeit value, concentration, goal attainment, value at risk (VaR) and risk/reward.  These concepts help establish a decision-making framework that can be used for the long term duration of your company holdings.

Your company can’t provide you with advice on what to do with your grants and you shouldn’t rely on sketchy “water-cooler” guidance.  For only $95/year StockOpter.com for recipients can prevent you from making costly errors.  To see for yourself sign up for the free 60 day trial.