8/24    I'm buying a house in Silicon Valley. Is it a better idea to sell
        my ESPP stock or my options for my down payment? Thanks.
        \_ YOU ARE AN IDIOT! BUY HIGH???
        \_ Stock options.  Stock options have expiration dates.
        \_ The real answer is depends. Your options might expire, but
           if you sell your options in a same day sale, the acutal
           amount of money you are going to get is ~ 40% (Bill C needs
                                                     \_ ~ 58%
                                                        \_ Okay, I agree
                               that this number depends on the withholding
                               you specify at the time of the sale, but if
                               you specify any less than 32% you are going
                               to get shafted on 15 April. Read the fine
                               print and talk to a tax attorney, in some
                               cases the tax penalty starts on the day of
                               the sale. So, its like 32% tax + option
                               price + 7% state + 1% medicare + 1.5% SSI.
                               Maybe adding the option price isn't exactly
                               right, since you have to pay that anyway.
           is cut). If you make a lot of profit (greater than $250K) you
           may get even less because of AMT. Note that this is for non-qual
                                        \_ wrong
           options (the kind that you get if you join a company after it
                        \_ wrong
           is public). For ISO options (the kind you should get if you join
           a pre-ipo company) the % Bill C gets is a little differnet and
                \_ wrong
           you may walk away with as much as 60% - 70% even on a same day
           sale. If you decided to buy your non-qual options and hold them
           after 1 yr you can walk away with up 75%. The story of ESPP shares
                \_ Please don't use Bill C.  He doesn't get taxes you paid.
                   Otherwise, he'd be richer than Bill G.  Uncle S is the
                   \_ He's the DGLF that raised the tax rates and keeps
                      vetoing any tax relief. Bill C spends my money on
                      worthless crap like welfare and environmental reg.
                      when I would rather see it used for things like
                      ICBM's, Aircraft Carriers, Battle Ships, Space
                      Based Weapons Platforms, Mars landers etc.
                   person getting your taxes.
                   \_ All of you need to talk to Monica L.
           is different since you own them. All you have to do is wait until
           they have been held for more than 1 year and you just pay 20% of
           the profit to Bill C.
           \_ This person is wrong on several important points. Talk to a
              tax accountant; why the hell are you asking this here? And to
              this poster: stop giving advice --aaron
                \_ aaron, would you rather have a house or an Asian Chick?
                        \_ are they all out of chics? --aaron