A Wealth of Options Can Now Be Measured

Corporate human resources staffs can now breathe a sigh of relief with the advent of Optionwealth, a Web site that helps employees value their options. The site provides assistance by advising individuals as to when they should exercise their options, and helping them calculate their worth now and in the future. So as not to worry about missing an important date, the site's OWL Tracker includes alerts to keep employees aware of grant vesting dates, grant expiration dates and the number of days remaining to favorable capital gains tax treatment for each group of shares held. The OWL Forecaster helps to create a strategy going forward, giving best and worse stock prices, what if scenarios, as well as bringing in "life twists" to help plan for events such as buying a house. For instance, it will tell someone whether it is more advantageous to sell shares or borrow funds. Evaluating options can be taxing on employees and their human resources departments. Studies show that "38% of valuable options are never exercised."