Goodbye Wealth, Hello Reality

My company sent me some information on the new company they have retained to manage their stock option program. We can now login and sell our options. Back in the good times, it wasn't unusual to receive $50 to $100 profit on every share. All of my options are now well underwater, and some of them will expire soon. And I currently have 4300 options vested. Yes, it would have been as much as $430,000. And I work with lots of people who got more than this out of their stock options over the years.

Now for a burst of reality. I always sold my options right after they vested, so it is not as if I had $430,000 in my hands and let it slip away because I was greedy and wanted more. Another burst of reality is that I did get some money from my options - specifically I was able to pay off a car loan and get some money for a down payment on my current house. So I have no complaints. And for a final burst of reality, most of us in high tech who are still working are just glad to have jobs. It's been a long and hard downturn, and reality is most of my friends have lost at least one job during this time.