SNAP Stock: When Your Equity Plan Becomes a Check-Cashing Kiosk

Let’s talk about Snap Inc. — the social media company that may have invented disappearing messages, but whose stock charts suggest they also believe in disappearing shareholder value.

At Snap, executive stock behavior isn’t just a footnote in the 10-K — it’s a masterclass in how to treat your equity plan like it’s a paycheck from 1997 and you need to hit the check-cashing store on the corner.

SNAP: A Snapshot of Sell Now, Think Later

A quick look at insider activity shows a pattern that would make most wealth planners wince:

• Regular stock sales like clockwork, regardless of market conditions

• Exercise and sell combos, timed not with value or performance, but with the vesting calendar

• No pretense of “long-term holding” — just a straight-up liquidity event every month or two

It’s less “invested in the company’s future,” more “I’ve got property taxes due in Brentwood.”

The Problem with the Paycheck Mentality

For executives and directors with large stock compensation, this behavior can:

• Destroy the potential for long-term capital gains

• Trigger higher marginal tax rates (ordinary income + NIIT + AMT if ISOs are involved)

• Signal to markets (and employees) a lack of long-term alignment

More importantly, it turns what should be a wealth-building asset into just another cash flow tool — like you’re converting RSUs into DoorDash.

There’s a Better Way

We’re not saying you shouldn’t sell your stock — you absolutely should have a plan to diversify and create liquidity. But doing it without tax awareness, market sensitivity, or strategic pacing?

That’s not a plan. That’s deferred income with a side of regret.

Use your equity compensation like the strategic wealth lever it is — not like it’s the weekend and your vesting hit your account like a direct deposit.

ExecStockTax.com — because stock compensation should build wealth, not cover your HOA dues.