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Ask HN: Are stock options as bonus worth anything?

6 points by saxmrussell ↗ HN
(throwaway account, of course!)

I work for a startup where employees are paid performance-based bonuses at year end. Apparently I've killed it last year (yay me!) so management offered me a significant amount of cash as a bonus.

Icing on the cake is that they allow me to convert this cash to stock options. The options are struck about 20% below value of stock.

My question is this: do I take any options or not? I can definitely use the cash. Working like I have these past few years, I have no money in the bank and live paycheck to paycheck. The bonus, though not huge, would give me at least a few months of rent & basic expenses in case I lose my job or the company goes belly up.

A safety net is important to me because I have a wife and daughter to feed. If something were to happen to my ability to make money, they'd end up on the street.

Thanks a bunch folks.

13 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 31.1 ms ] thread
jacksondeane
Pretty straight forward here... take the cash. With a wife and family, you need some savings for a rainy day. I don't know your specific situation, but I rarely count on options as money in the bank.
belcherj
Cash! Should the company go bust, you get fired, you can't work, etc. you must have a backup! I keep 3 to 6 months worth of cash on hand in a savings account that is at a bank not accessible from my day to day bank. That way I am not tempted to spend it. I never look at it. Ever.

If you do decide to go with the stock options have $50 of your direct deposit each paycheck go into the above mentioned savings account.

brudgers
Choosing the options might be seen as a sign of commitment to the company and taking the cash might be seen as a lack thereof...

...or it might be just seen as choosing cash over options.

The interpretation is going to depend on the culture of the company and the personalities of management.

There's no canonically correct answer.

codegeek
"A safety net is important to me because I have a wife and daughter to feed. If something were to happen to my ability to make money, they'd end up on the street."

Take the cash. Your situation demands it. Stock Options can always come later when it is time for next bonus.

patrickskim
No, not unless your company is a public company. Bird in the hand.
argonaut
I think you answered the question yourself in the last three paragraphs.

1. Are you given enough stock options such that the difference between the strike price and the "actual stock price" (how did you even determine the "value of stock"?) is equal to the cash you would receive otherwise?

saxmrussell
Let me rephrase then:

s/value of stock/price of stock as determined by management/

argonaut
That's only even more confusing. The strike price is by law supposed to be the "fair market value" of the stock option. So what do you mean by the "price of stock as determined by management." While the strike price is typically kept artificially low by use of 3rd-party audit firms that calculate valuations, how do you know management is not artificially inflating the price of stock (so as to give you a misconception of the worth of the stock).

Also, you should make clear what the cash equivalent of stock is. Is it cash = cumulative difference between strike price and "price of stock as determined by management"?

johnrgrace
The strike price doesn't have to be "fair market value" by law, but if the price is under the price then it becomes current taxable income.
mchannon
Look at it a different way. You have $20,000 cash. It's yours, in your hand. It looks like it's your last $20,000. Do you want to invest it in your employer's company or yourself?
nicholas73
Ask for a mix of cash and options. One thing I learned while trading stocks is that you don't have to go all in or all out. It's part of managing risk.
johnrgrace
Are you maybe being given the chance to get direct stock instead of options? Check on that.

To be honest if these are options for a non public company than the complexities of it are going to be VERY high, if you can't understand them you could be taken advantage of.

There has to be a whole host of restrictions on the shares and when you can exercise the options etc. In part there HAVE to be restrictions because if you can own enough shares and can sell them freely you could force the company to become public.

fringedgentian
If it is a non-publicly traded company, then you have no access to your investment. You wait and hope for two things to happen: 1. the company increases in value, or at least doesn't go bankrupt 2. you get an opportunity to sell your stock and get your money out. This can happen when it goes public or if they make some deal to sell part of their company to another company, but regardless you have no control over it and it's not something that happens quickly or frequently. Likely years.

I think 20% off is not a good enough bargain for you to take on that level of risk, with no savings and a family.