By unexercised I mean unexercised.  Stock options vest continually (well, usually monthly or quarterly usually, after the 1-year cliff); when they&#x27;ve vested, you have the right to exercise them, and they&#x27;re considered your property.  You only exercise them when you choose to, and it&#x27;s at that point that you&#x27;re taxed on the difference between the current stock price and the strike price.<p>Many of my coworkers would auto-exercise-and-sell their options immediately as they vested.  If I&#x27;d done this then it would&#x27;ve added between $15K-$60K for each of the first 5 years, but the last year would&#x27;ve been about $130K instead of $350K (I benefitted significantly from the stock price appreciation of GOOG, even if I did screw up nearly everything tax-related).<p>I left Google because five things happened within a year or so: #1 I started feeling bored at work #2 My existing project ended and I couldn&#x27;t find one that really excited me #3 I passed a million bucks in liquid net worth #4 The outside tech world started entering what seems to be a period of high uncertainty and #5 I started thinking seriously about marriage &amp; kids and realized I only had a few years left.  So, in the spirit of YOLO and with immediate financial concerns taken care of, I figured it was time to do some things I&#x27;d always wanted to do.