[erichurkman]

It's even worse when you consider AMT; sure, dropping $10k to buy your stock might be achievable, but if the FMV of those shares has gone up appreciable, you may find yourself in pain come tax day. (If your strike was $1/share, but the FMV is now $10/share, $9/share "gain" has to be considered as income for calculating your alternative minimum tax.)

[ska]

The tax burden is the primary problem, that is what all this discussion is really about.

[x0x0]

I dunno, I had to pay nearly $15k to exercise options and while I barely escaped amt issues, the money wasn't easy. And represented a 10% rebate on after-tax salary for the period I worked for that company.

[ska]

Sure, that happens. But it is a very different situation from the one where AMT (in the US, other jurisdictions have similar issues) makes it financially impossible to exercise your options.