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In today's ever-evolving financial landscape, achieving independence through smart investing is more important than ever. If you're on the lookout for dividend stocks that can provide not just returns but peace of mind, consider exploring investment trusts. They can be excellent vehicles for long-term growth. Check out these three promising investment trusts that could be the keys to unlocking your financial future. Discover more here: https://okt.to/3ShG7b

Stock Options are not compensation Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital states quite poignantly: "Less than 5% of companies funded in 2020 & 2021 will ever grow into the valuations they were funded at." Ouch. What will this mean for those of us with vested Stock Options in a VC-funded privately held company? Firstly, lets be clear: Stock Options issued in a privately held company is different from being issued Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) for a publicly traded company. With RSUs a company is essentially giving you something equivalent to compensation once they are vested. RSUs are typically given to employees of publicly traded companies (those listed on exchanges) as then the employee has the ability to liquidate their vested RSUs into the stuff you can pay a mortgage with 💸 On the other hand, Stock Options are just that: the option to purchase a unit of Stock at a given price with your own money. With Options, the idea is that the company will have (hopefully) gone public and the stock price will be greater than the amount you have to pay for the Option. Otherwise, if your company is privately held then you have no place to trade your equity for cash. Regardless, vested Options in a privately held company could be converted to Stock, but you need to: a) use your own after-tax dollars to pay for the stock b) sit on that stock until the company goes public or some other liquidation event takes place Ergo: Options are not compensation. What are Options good for then? Companies use them as an incentive for you to stay; at least until you can vest your Options. RSU serve this same purpose. Retaining talent is tough, any edge a company can use is helpful. What Gerstner also metions is that #venturecapital firms that have invested at high valuations may want to take a company public. The investors will get to cash out some portion of their stock and generate a return. A public investor will purchase the stock if there are indications of growth; this demand should then up the stock price. Potentially a good outcome for employees with vested Options If the Directors of the company decide to take a different road for a clearing event, they could just fold or sell the company. That scares me because typically the VC investors retain "preferred shares". Their shares get paid first in full, then whatever is left over is distributed amongst the other class of shares. Your shares have now become diluted. That's bad for employees. There's also no public data for how well a privately held company is faring or whether there's any sort of liquidation event on the horizon. You cannot be an informed investor given these circumstances. So I guess this is a cautionary tale: when offered Options in a privately held #startup just know that you assume risk if you had given up anything for the Options (i.e. higher pay). Options are not compensation, and any company who presents them as such are being dishonest.

What Are Your Thoughts 💭? What Would You Do If This Happens In Regards To Your Investments? What Do You Have In Place To Protect Your Investments From A Crash Like This?

Our latest blog explains how to fine-tune your financial filters for more efficient decision-making. Discover how to optimize your investment strategies using EquityRT's Stock Screener. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/eK9ujHPn #EquityRT #StockScreener #InvestmentStrategies #FinancialResearch #Innovation #Investments #InvestmentResearch

In this final salute to 2023, Richard Skeppstrom and the Brockenbrough Investment Team attempt to make sense of a chaotic but fruitful year.  🔗https://lnkd.in/e-fPFPc6 to read the full piece. #Brockenbrough #InvestedinYourFuture #marketcommentary

What a first half of the year in markets! Scott Miller & Brett Miller, CFA, CFP® break down first half market performance, explain the importance of starting investing at a young age, and give their top 5 things to watch for the second half. The 4 minute read is found in the link below: https://lnkd.in/eWxxHQbT

From the Archives: Private Equity — The Emperor Has No Clothes Private equity's popularity among institutional investors is easy to explain, Nicolas Rabener says. It comes down to high returns, low volatility, and a lack of correlation to traditional asset classes. But are such attributes too good to be true? To find out, Rabener attempts to replicate private equity returns with public stocks. https://ow.ly/19Vv50QbCnJ

From the Archives: Private Equity — The Emperor Has No Clothes Private equity's popularity among institutional investors is easy to explain, Nicolas Rabener says. It comes down to high returns, low volatility, and a lack of correlation to traditional asset classes. But are such attributes too good to be true? To find out, Rabener attempts to replicate private equity returns with public stocks. https://ow.ly/bq8m50QbCnK