Did you know a signing bonus will “make you whole” if you leave before the stock options mature.
One time I worked for a startup artificial intelligence company. I received a small amount of stock because I was not very high up on the totem poll at the time.
My husband, Curtis, and I bought a house for $123K in San Francisco Bay Area. We still like the house. Zillow says it is worth more than $1M now. We would not be able to afford it now! We used the equity different ways.
- Put me through school – finished up undergrad in accounting at Cal State East Bay
- Earned an MBA from the University of Sant Clara.
- Put both niece and nephew through engineering school. We paid tuition for 10 years! She is a civil engineer and he is a mechanical engineer.
- Bought house for my mother-in-law who wanted to move to Las Vegas.
- Bought an independent auto repair shop that we had for about 20 years.
- Bought a Matco tool franchise – selling tools to auto technicians on route in Santa Clara
The stock options were worth far more to us than my itty-bitty salary at the startup. It changed our lives and those in our family. It provided for:
4 college degrees, 2 homes, and 2 businesses.
It would be nice if our house was paid off. I’m 72, Curtis is 76. But we decided these other things were more important.
If you are ready to negotiate for a new job and this is something you might be able to consider, I am a career coach. You can schedule a call with me; there is no charge for a consultation.