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Well, I finally went to the trouble of activating and updating all my
various brokerage accounts. I’ve sort of collected them like old
business cards, and I use them about as often as I use old business
cards, because they pretty much all have the same value. I don’t
participate in ESPP (been burned too many times), and any stock options
I’ve ever received are so far underwater that they’ve collapsed under
the submarine pressure.

And yet I have a couple of reasons to investigate these accounts now.
For one, my company is nearing a split with its parent company, and with
it will likely come some kind of hefty option grant. Considering that
we’re pretty much near a historical low in our stock price (it’s
actually been rising a little recently, which is fine, because I seem to
have acquired some options in the past couple years without really
trying) it may be a good time to consider exercising.

For another reason, you need look no further than this recent news item. Remember when
I said I’d been burned before on ESPP? Well, sometimes — in
very rare circumstances — a bad burn heals pretty
well…