What Should You Do With Employee Stock?

MARK RIEPE: I'm Mark Riepe. I head up the Schwab Center for Financial Research, and this is Financial Decoder, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It's a show about financial decision-making and the cognitive and emotional biases that can cloud our judgment.

If you work for a company that offers equity compensation, or you want to know more about it, this is the episode for you. Stick around to learn how to get the most out of your plan or how to evaluate a potential employer's plan. To kick things off, let's look at how prevalent these plans are.

Overall, as of 2022, there are some 25 million workers in the U.S. who have some form of an ownership stake in the company they work for, with just over $2 trillion in plan assets. That includes things like employee stock ownership plans, also known as ESOPs, equity compensation programs, and employee ownership trusts. Employee equity compensation is a big part of the financial system. In fact, it's even bigger than those numbers suggest because the U.S. stock market has increased substantially in the years since those numbers were first calculated.

Equity compensation can be a way for companies to attract and retain employees. It can also help create a work culture where employees think and act like owners. And obviously, it's a way for employees to benefit financially above and beyond a paycheck. In today's episode, we're going to look behind the numbers and pick the brain of an expert on employee compensation, and Sarah Buchardt is just the person for the job.

She's a workplace financial consultant and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®. She's helped employees at places like Google and Broadcom navigate their stock plans, workplace benefits, and general financial planning.

MARK: So Sarah Buchardt, welcome to the show.

SARAH BUCHARDT: Thank you for having me.

MARK: I think you were on a couple of years ago, I think if I remember correctly, maybe talking about 401(k). Is that right? 

SARAH: Yes, yes.

MARK: OK, fantastic. Before we dig into the ins and outs of equity compensation, financial services has so much jargon. What do we mean by equity compensation?

SARAH: Yeah, so with equity compensation, it's really just when a company is choosing to pay its employees with shares of company stock. I think compensation is a really fascinating topic because people can get really creative with how they attract and retain talent. People are familiar with the salary or their hourly wage as the foundation, but they also take into account things like healthcare benefits, bonuses or commissions, maybe some good food options on campus, vacation policies. And so equity compensation is like one of those items. And all of those pieces play a part in making a job attractive and compelling.

MARK: So if I'm a new employee, and this is something that's being … or maybe even an existing employee, and this is something that's being offered, what should I as an employee ask about, think about, you know, just so I can understand it a little bit better, what in fact I'm being offered.

SARAH: Yeah, initial questions around equity compensation are probably the same questions that you have about your paycheck. What, when, and where? So what is being offered to you? What type of equity compensation is coming your way? We'll go into some examples later, but the different types of equity compensation have different decision points and tax consequences. So it's good to know what type is being offered to you. 

When do these shares come to you? So shares often have some kind of timeline or vesting schedule that determines when the shares or the options are actually released to you. So when are you actually eligible to get those shares? And then where? So where do these shares get deposited? This is often with a brokerage firm like Charles Schwab.

And so you'll be prompted to open an account with a specific company or administrator so that you can actually receive the shares at the right time. So to summarize, what type of equity did you receive? When do you get access to that stock? And where does it actually get deposited?

MARK: There are a lot of ways that employers can compensate employees. This is just one of many. What makes this attractive to employers in the first place?

SARAH: Well, the hope is that this is aligning everybody's interests. So stock is ultimately partial ownership of a company. So when a company does well, the stockholders should also do well. This is quite a simplification of a lot of economic concepts, but the hope is that this is going to not only inspire but also reward employees for good work that aligns with the company's goals and missions, and it can also make people think twice about leaving a company. So equity compensation often has a time element to it. 

So you're learning about some stock that you're being promised in a way, but you have to hit a certain milestone to actually receive it. So you as the employee might be less likely to leave for a competitor if you know that you'll be getting stock by staying in your current role just a little bit longer. So it can be a great tool for retention as well.

MARK: A lot of different forms that this can take. One of the biggest is, I think, generally goes by the name restricted stock units. So I was hoping you could explain what those generally mean.

SARAH: Yes, so I love that we're starting with RSUs because they are the most straightforward equity compensation, in my opinion. So with RSUs, you are granted a certain number of shares. And so they're basically letting you know that you'll get a certain number of shares of this company's stock in the future. This usually comes with a vesting schedule. The most common one I see is time-based. So if you are still employed by the company on a specific date, you will get some of those shares that they promised in the grant. So it's a little bit like learning about a bonus schedule, but instead of getting paid in dollars, you're receiving company stock. Now, why would you as an employee want RSUs over a cash bonus? Basically, if the stock price goes up, you benefit. So, as an example, let's say you accept a grant of $100,000 worth of RSUs. To make my math easy, we're going to say that the share price today is $50. So they're going to use that to determine that you, as the employee, will get 2,000 shares of stock per this grant. If the vesting schedule is 25% a year, this means that every year you get 500 of those 2,000 shares.

So 500 shares at that $50 price today means that the company is hoping that you'll get approximately $25,000 a year as part of your total compensation. But the hope, of course, is that those 500 shares are worth more than $50 when they come to you. Let's say they're worth $75 a share when you get your first tranche, or your first 500 shares.

And so that means that your value is much higher than what you were expecting, right? About $37,500. But risk and reward are two sides of the same coin. The risk is that the stock price might be lower if those shares are worth less than what they were when they were granted to you. So let's say they're actually worth $30 a share at vesting. So then you're only receiving a value of $15,000. 

One benefit, though, is that they can never be underwater. So while it might be disappointing if they're worth less than you expected, they still hold value as long as that underlying stock holds value.

MARK: Another form is the stock option. And I think these are becoming less popular with many firms because of the simplicity of the restricted stock unit, but I think they're still out there for some people. So explain to me a little bit about what the stock option is and how that benefits if the stock price goes up, and by the same token, if it goes down, what happens?

SARAH: For sure. So stock options definitely have some similarities to restricted stock, but they also have kind of two additional terms. So they do have a grant date and a vesting date, just like the RSUs, but they also have an exercise date and a strike price. So when your options vest, this is just indicating when you can exercise the options. And exercising the options means that you're using the right to buy that company stock at a certain price. But you don't have to exercise the options right when they vest. They do have an expiration date, but usually this is many years in the future. So you as the employee have a little bit more control over when you actually take ownership of the shares. When you do choose to exercise those options, you're going to trade dollars for those shares.

And that takes us to our second term, the strike price. And this is determined when those shares are actually granted to you. So for a simple example, let's say you have stock options granted at a price of $10 a share. Once those stock options vest, you can act on them, but it's not the price on the vesting date that matters. It's the price on the date when you actually trade the option for the shares.

So if you don't exercise them until the shares are worth $20, then you hand the company $10 and they hand you a share of stock that's actually worth $20, which is great. But if the stock is worth $8 a share, for example, then you're not in such a great position because you would rather have your $10 than something that's worth $8. And so that's where the term underwater can come into play.

So stock options have become less popular. They are definitely more complex. They require more decisions from not only the company themselves that's administering the plan, but also from the employees that receive them. And so RSUs are going to be a lot simpler by just making it easy. It's just that vesting date that's really important for the RSUs.

MARK: Yeah, as long as the RSU is trading at a positive price, you're going to get something out of the RSU. As you described it, where the strike price is at $10, the stock was down to $8. If you hit the expiration date of the option, then the option essentially is worthless at that point.

SARAH: Yeah, and I think another piece too is RSUs are a lot simpler from a tax perspective as well. Those RSUs, once they vest, they're counted as taxable income on that vesting date. Versus with stock options, the tax moment doesn't come into play until you actually exercise them.

And then you can have different types of stock options. You can have non-qualified stock options, or you can have incentive stock options, sometimes shortened to ISOs, or I-S-Os. And so for those that they just have sort of trickier tax situations, and that can lead to triggering AMT in the event of exercising ISOs sometimes. So it's important to know that if you are going to exercise stock options, which kind you have. But you don't have to worry about that with RSUs.

MARK: A couple of other acronyms I wanted to run through here is ESPP, the employee stock purchase plan. So tell me a little bit about that.

SARAH: Yeah, so this is going to be a voluntary equity compensation program. So whereas the stock options or the RSUs are sort of automatically a part of your compensation, with ESPP, you kind of have to raise your hand and opt into it. And the process for that is they will take a certain percentage of your compensation and put it towards purchasing the company stock at a discount at a later date. Something to look for if you do have an ESPP or access to an ESPP, take a look at what that discount is, and if there's a look-back feature that can really kind of magnify the discount and make it quite substantial. So it's a voluntary program, which makes it different. And it's contributing some of your paycheck towards a purchase in the future.

MARK: Then what do … for the employee whose employer offers such a program, what should the employee think about? Because as you pointed out, the RSUs and this … and the stock options, they're just given to you, and, you know, you'd be crazy not to take them, right? The stock option program, you got to … that's a voluntary program that you got to sign up for. So what should you be thinking about to determine yes or no, participate or not participate? And if the answer is yes, how much to participate?

SARAH: So for ESPP, or employee stock purchase plans, essentially you're adding to the amount of stock that you hold in that one company. So I think it's important to weigh the benefits like a discount and the role that you would want that stock to play in your overall portfolio. Some people participate in the program and sell relatively quickly because they like the discount, but they don't necessarily want to add to their position in that specific company. So I think it comes down to what your overall financial plan looks like. And then you can decide whether or not you want to keep those shares and add them to your portfolio or sell them and just take advantage of the discount.

MARK: So let's contrast the employee stock purchase plan with the ESOP, the employee stock ownership plan. How do those differ from each other? 

SARAH: Yes. So E-S-O-Ps, sometimes also called ESOPs, are generally found within a retirement plan like a 401(k). So your company-sponsored plan has a number of different investments that you can choose within that retirement plan, and sometimes they make company stock available as one of those items. 

Just like with ESPP, it's good to take a look at what your overall allocation looks like and decide if you want more exposure to the industry or the asset class that your company stock happens to fall in.

MARK: Sarah, earlier you had mentioned that, you know, some of these programs are time bound. And I wanted to drill down on that a little bit, you know, particularly the vesting date, the exercise date for the options. What are the consequences if you aren't paying attention and you miss one of those dates? Is that a big deal? Is that not a big deal? What happens in that circumstance?

SARAH: Yeah, you certainly want to keep an eye on when the important dates are around your equity compensation. But the vesting date is most important, I would say, if you have RSUs. This is going to happen automatically, so it's not something that you have to necessarily take action on, but it is important for you to keep an eye on.

So with RSUs, that vesting date is the date the shares show up in your account. And the IRS is going to use the fair market value, or the price of the stock, on that date to determine your income tax liability. Now, just like with your paycheck, your company is going to make sure there's some tax withholding that happens at that vesting event. But it may or may not be the right amount.

So I think it's a good opportunity on that vesting date to go in and review how much stock came to you from a gross standpoint, how much came back to you as, you know, net of taxes, and just make sure that amount that was withheld automatically is in the right range. I'm not a tax advisor, but my rule of thumb when I'm planning with clients and just getting a sense of their overall situation is that, if the value of their RSUs that's vesting over a given year, if the value of those RSUs gross is relatively similar to their salary, we might be running into an under-withholding problem on the taxes. With RSUs, it's not that you're going to miss something. It's not that you're going to lose access to these shares if you don't pay attention to the vesting date. But you might be setting yourself up for an unfortunate surprise when tax season comes around.

MARK: Yeah, either you're going to have to come up with a larger payment than maybe you were expecting, or if you under-withhold too much, then they'll actually apply a penalty to you for not withholding enough. So I think that's the biggest risk there. What about for the options and the exercise dates? I think that's a little bit more of a dire situation if you forget about the date. 

SARAH: Yes. So for stock options, exercising that is your big tax day. The options do have to vest in order for you to exercise them, but you don't officially own that stock until you physically go in and exercise them. So this is a taxable event for non-qualified stock options. It's a very important date for incentive stock options. It might trigger AMT, or alternative minimum tax, with those shares, or those types of options. But like I said, this is something you have to come in and actually act on. So you might have the vested options, but the option to trade in some dollars for shares of the company's stock will eventually expire.

It's usually about 10 years after the shares were initially granted. But if you're leaving the company, for example, sometimes that timeline gets shortened to a matter of months. So it's really important that you understand when the shares will expire for stock options because you need to actually go in and exercise them before that moment.

MARK: Sarah, you know, forgive me, but a lot of this tax stuff is kind of depressing. So one last question here. What are some of the other tax implications that people need to think about, especially around timing? And we haven't, for example, talked about the employee stock purchase plan.

SARAH: Yeah. So taxes for equity compensation are very different depending on the types that you have. And so I can't claim to be an expert in all of these things, but I want to give folks a couple keywords to look for depending on the type that you have. So for example, with RSUs, that vesting event, that is your … one of your big tax moments. So when the shares vest, and they officially get deposited into your account, this is when the IRS is going to use the fair market value, or the stock price on the date that you got those shares, to calculate how much taxable income you've received from that vesting event. 

Now, from a planning standpoint, if your annual vesting amount is getting close to or is potentially more than your salary, you might want to consider taking a look at the tax withholding that happens automatically at the vest. So just like with your paychecks, your company is going to withhold some dollars or potentially shares in the case of RSUs to pay the tax obligation of that vesting event. But that's just an estimated amount. It may or may not be the right amount. And so usually when I start to see that RSUs are becoming equal to or greater than someone's underlying salary, that's a good time to start to think about maybe withholding more or doing some quarterly estimated payments to avoid a big surprise next tax season. 

For stock options, the exercise date is really important because this, for non-qualified stock options, is when you are sort of officially taking ownership of that stock, and the IRS is going to take a look at basically the discount that you get, the difference between the fair market value and your strike price, that's going to be considered taxable income for you in the year that you exercise non-qualified stock options. For incentive stock options, you might not be taxed on that, but that might trigger that difference between the fair market value and strike price could create an AMT, or alternative minimum tax, situation. So it's really important to be very thoughtful about that before exercising incentive stock options. 

And then of course, once you actually have this stock, then you sell the shares, and that can be a taxable event as well. Now, the good news here is no dollars should be taxed twice. So everything we've talked about before is just a way that you're sort of setting the cost basis for those shares. And so the sale is where, you know, maybe your more standard capital gains calculations might come into play for RSUs, for example. But one area that you really want to focus on, the sale of the shares, is if you have employee stock purchase plan shares, or ESPP shares. So when those shares are sold, the brokerage firm or the company that holds those shares is going to report whatever the price is that you purchased those shares for as your cost basis. You need to recalculate that cost basis no matter what when you go to do your taxes. Because there's always going to be an income element on a gain on ESPP shares. That discount that you got, a portion or potentially all of it, could be considered taxable income.

So ESPP, it's really important that you go in and recalculate that cost basis when you're actually filing your taxes in a year where you sold those shares. Otherwise you risk underpaying taxes on those or potentially paying taxes twice on a given dollar.

MARK: Sarah, earlier you mentioned that companies, they're looking at … with these lengthy vesting periods, they're looking to create an incentive for the employee to stay with the company longer. So how should the, if we put our employee hat on, how should the employee think about unvested shares and options into a, you know, a big career decision, for example, whether to stay at a company or to leave a company and go somewhere else?

SARAH: Employees always want to keep their total compensation in mind. If your compensation includes equity compensation, comparing just a salary offer is not going to give you the full picture. Taking a look at the unvested value of your RSUs or your stock options, for example, can also give you a negotiating tool when you're negotiating that new compensation package. 

In a perfect world, companies would have very similar equity compensation models. And so it would be very easy to compare. But a lot of times there's going to be differences, right? Maybe you're getting offered stock options at one company, but you currently have RSUs. Those are different animals. And so you want to consider your own personal risk tolerance as well.

There's potential upside with equity compensation, which is great. But there's also the risk that the stock price doesn't do as well as we hope.

So if you are evaluating a new offer, you want to of course think of what happens if everything goes right but also consider how your day-to-day expenses and long-term goals might be impacted if it doesn't go as well.

MARK: Another key decision point, I think this primarily applies to options, is when that option is nearing expiration date, and you're going to have to make, and let's say it's in the money, or the stock is trading above its strike price, you've got to make a decision whether or not to exercise it. And then do you exercise it and just sell all the shares, or do you exercise it and hold on to the shares? How do you go about evaluating that decision?

SARAH: For sure. And this is an important decision with options, but I would say that the same question applies to RSUs too, because when you're getting those shares at vest, you ultimately are making a decision whether you want to keep those shares or sell them. And so the first question, regardless, is do you want to hold that stock? Do you want to have that stock as part of your portfolio?

Another way to frame this question is if your company gave you the equivalent value in cash, would you use it to turn around and buy the company stock? If the answer is no, then look into some ways to maybe tax efficiently sell that position. But sometimes the answer is yes, I do want to hold some or all of that stock. And if that's the case, then you just want to consider how that stock fits into your overall portfolio.

If your portfolio needs more exposure to that sector or asset class, fantastic. Keep the stock. If you already have the exposure that you need to those areas, maybe you consider reinvesting it into other areas of the market to help kind of fill out your portfolio.

MARK: I think what makes this a little bit more complicated than your typical investment is that, if you end up accumulating even a small position in your employer, on the one hand, your career is kind of tied to the company. Now you own some of its shares. So you're, at some level, you're an owner as well. And then the more concentrated your portfolio, the more your overall financial situations are going to go up and down with the fate of the company. So how do you balance diversification considerations with the desire to, hey, if it's a great company, you know, why not try to take advantage of it above and beyond just being a standard employee getting a paycheck?

SARAH: Absolutely. I think it's great to go back to some financial, good financial principles for this kind of question. And a lot of times we look at the phrase of a concentrated position. So at what point does a position become so big in your portfolio that it almost creates its own gravity when the stock is up? You really feel it. And when the stock is down, we feel that even more, unfortunately, from a psychology standpoint.

And so the rule of thumb that we use here at Schwab is about 10%. Now, if someone has equity compensation through their employer, we like to use a range of 10% to 20% of your investable net worth. So if you were to add up all of your accounts, your savings account, your 401(k), the stock that you hold in the company, any other investments, and brokerage accounts you might have, IRAs, add all of those up. Figure out how much of the company stock you have in those accounts and take a look at that. If that company stock is more than 20%, that's probably a good sign that you have a lot tied up with that one company, and you might want to consider diversifying into other areas. It certainly helps folks sleep better at night when not only their short-term financial goals and their livelihood are connected to a company, but when your long-term success of your portfolio is also tied to a company, sometimes that's too much for one person. And so we can start to spread the risk out by keeping that concentration in that 10 to 20% range.

MARK: Yeah, and I think for some senior executives at a company, that may be difficult to keep it down at the 20, just because a much higher percentage of their compensation is coming in the form of equity. So they may kind of struggle to get to that. But I think the same principles apply, right?

SARAH: Yes. And especially when we have large amounts of equity compensation. I encourage people to remember that it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. We have some, you know, that 10% to 20% is a great rule of thumb, but we all have different size hands. And another way that I've seen people approach it is they have a really solid financial plan, which means that they know what they need to do to retire at a certain point and make sure that lifestyle that they have for that is comfortable. And maybe there are some other goals in there too, like paying for kids' college expenses or supporting other family members. Can be fun things too, right? Like maybe a second home or, you know, family vacations. But build that picture and understand how much you need to make that a reality.

And make sure that is in a disciplined, diversified portfolio. And then if you want to take a little bit of risk by maybe having more concentration in the company stock above and beyond that, you can do that knowing that you've covered your bases in these other areas that are really important to you.

MARK: I'm sure you've had this conversation with a lot of employees where you've kind of laid this out. And it wouldn't surprise me though if there's a certain fraction of the employee population that is just really hesitant to start drawing down the amount of money they've got allocated to the employer stock. Why do you think that is and how do you get them to really think about the full picture before committing to a particular path?

SARAH: For sure. There was a recent Financial Decoder episode with Kasey McCurdy. And I really liked the comments that he made that fear, regret, and envy are often factors in financial decisions. And for equity compensation, they really take the form of FOMO and paying taxes. We've touched on taxes a bit already. So I'll just reiterate that knowing the important dates for your type of equity can help you map out a tax strategy that helps you keep more of what you make. And so that's the important element with paying taxes. But sometimes people don't make any decisions because they're afraid that they're going to push a button that they can't undo. And while that can be the case, these are tax rules that are, while they can be complicated, that's definitely the role of tax professionals and financial professionals in your life to help you navigate them in a way that helps you keep more of what you've made and take good steps towards your financial goals. But when it comes to FOMO, I do want to quote Kasey because I loved the comment of what's prudent isn't always exciting.

There are some really exciting and enticing real-life examples where company stock has turned into life-changing money. I've seen it. I've worked with some of these clients at these companies, and frankly, some of the most interesting conversations of my career are because of company stock that, you know, basically went to the moon. But I've also had the conversations at the other end of the spectrum, too, where someone chose to keep all of the company stock that they received, and they were hoping that it would do well. And instead the stock lost significant value. And in one example that I think about a lot, you know, the person I was working with was faced with the reality that they needed to work much longer now than they wanted to, because the retirement savings that they hoped would be there just didn't pan out.

And so these are really kind of the extremes that we're working with though. And I really encourage people to remember that this is not an all-or-nothing proposition. You can make the most of your equity compensation by really defining your goals, knowing what's important to you. And that's going to make the decision about what to do with your equity compensation a lot easier because it needs to have the context of what's important to you. There's not really a simple mathematical right answer. It should always take into account what this money is actually going to end up doing for you.

MARK: Yeah, and I think sometimes a series of small decisions works out better for people than, you know, as you mentioned earlier, making one big decision, all or nothing, you know, big swing for the fences or to just walk away entirely. It doesn't have to be that way.

SARAH: Yes, it's very rarely all or nothing. We get to make a lot of little decisions about equity compensation. Sometimes we don't know we're making those decisions, right? If you've had RSUs and you've just let them vest and stay in the company stock, you've been making the decision each vesting event to hold that company stock. Whether that was the best decision for you is something that only you can say.

But it doesn't mean that you have to keep doing things that way. The next vesting event that you have, maybe you try something different, and you always have that option.

MARK: Yeah. And you know, the biggest thing is just to be informed about what your options are and then to make decisions, you know, accordingly. As you mentioned, you talked to a lot of different people at different types of companies. Some have done well. Some have done not so well. What are some other mistakes that you've seen people make, and how do you advise other clients to learn from those mistakes and make sure they're walking in with their eyes wide open?

SARAH: The underlying element to the mistakes that I see people make is that they think of their equity compensation as a standalone item rather than an active part of their financial life. So I've heard folks describe their stock as funny money or sort of feeling like it doesn't really hold real value. It's just numbers on a screen. And I've heard people say, you know, well, if it's still around when I retire, then maybe it'll be helpful then, but I don't want to count on it. But you don't just have to wait and see once that equity is vested. You really should make a plan for how it's going to help you achieve your goals. There are definitely elements of equity compensation that are outside of our control as individuals, but that doesn't mean that we have no say in how it's used.

So to me, this would be a little bit like building a desk, and you're holding a handful of wooden legs, and you're like, is this the number of legs that this table needs? I don't know. I'm just going to keep building and we're going to find out later. It's like that—you don't have to wait until the end to find out. You can take a moment right now and just do a little math, check a little bit and see if you have the right number that you need. So to your point earlier, smaller decisions along the way are going to be a lot easier to stomach than feeling like you have to wait until this one big moment in retirement, for example, to use the stock. You can use it in small ways along the way.

MARK: Well, I think the way you framed that's actually very nice. And maybe we should end here with one more question. So let's imagine a client has just left your office and they're going to go back, they're going to log into their stock plan account and take a look at what's there, what's vested, what's unvested, what are the dates associated with these things. What's the first question they should be asking themselves about that situation to kind of get them going to sort of be more prudent and thoughtful and intentional about their equity compensation?

SARAH: The most important thing they can do with their equity compensation is give it context. Don't let it just be numbers on the screen. You should ask yourself what you want those dollars to do for you. And you want to take a look at where you are today. How much of your net worth do you have in that one company stock? Knowing where you are today and where you want to be in the future will make learning the details a lot easier.

You will have context as to what you want these dollars to do for you. And that way you don't feel like you have to memorize rules about this equity compensation that has no specific application. You're learning the rules with your goal in the back of your mind. And that's going to help give those rules and decision points and all of those important details more meaning because it's personal to you.

MARK: So Sarah Buchardt, thank you very much. Sarah is a vice president and senior workplace financial consultant here at Schwab. She works with people in this situation, having a lot of equity compensation, all day long. Sarah, thanks for being here.

SARAH: Thank you so much for having me.

MARK: Sarah was a fantastic guest and gave us a lot of insights into employee compensation. If you want to explore the topic some more, there's a great section of Schwab's website called the Equity Award Center. There's a section called Build Your Understanding of Equity, and we'll link to it in the show notes. It covers a lot of what Sarah talked about with me today about different types of equity compensation.

If you're interested in how your equity compensation ties back into your overall financial goals, there's a section called Discover What Equity Can Do for You, and we'll link to that in the show notes as well. If you'd like to hear more from me, you can follow me on my LinkedIn page or at X @MarkRiepe. That's M-A-R-K R-I-E-P-E. As always, we'd appreciate it if you gave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or comment on the show if you listen to it on Spotify. We always like new listeners, so if you have a friend or two who might like the show, please tell them about us and how they can follow us for free in their favorite podcasting app.

For important disclosures, see the show notes and schwab.com/FinancialDecoder.