Need strategy help--to claim or not to claim?

I have a few questions--moderators and old-timers, I would really, really appreciate any help you might be able to offer.

For my application, I have:
5 points for under 28
15 points for BA degree

I think I can get 25-35 points for income, and between 25-50 points for work experience.

I'm not sure what the best plan of attack is--should I claim the smaller amount that I am more certain I can get, or should I try and get as many points as possible and claim everything?

For example, my income for the last year was just barely 40k. However, this includes stock sales (of my company's stock, part of my employment package) that aren't on my pay slips. This means I need 2 documents showing the stock sales, and as these documents are fairly complicated, I worry that trying to include this income will make the processing of my application more confusing and take more time. My income without the stock sales is still over the minimum, so I could get 25 points easily.

My work experience is more complicated. I have 4 jobs that I am hoping to claim, that covers only about 5 years of work. (I work in a volatile field, etc.) I'm honestly not sure which ones of these will count as graduate level, because I've read all of the documentation, and it doesn't appear to be very logical. One of the job was a 'senior' role (I oversaw 7 people), but it was only 9 months long. My current job is possibly a 'specialist' role--I can document a dozen different trainings that I've gone through as part of the position, and I have 'Specialist' in my title. However, I think it's probably a long shot that I will get approved for the full 50 points. What's the better strategy? Only submit my last 2 jobs and take 25 and thus make me look like a more respectable citizen who hasn't changed jobs so much, or should I go for broke and claim the 50 points for specialist?

Thank you for reading my long post. I'm in the end stages (I hope) of getting this together, and I appreciate everything I've learned here!

Hi Giblet,

From your description, I see that you are easily able to qualify for the HSMP in the following categories:

1. Under 28 = 5
2. Educational Qualifications = 15 (ofcourse, subject to NARIC equivalence)
3. Income = 25
4. Experience = 25
---------------------------
Total = 70

This figure is more than sufficient to qualify for the HSMP as the caseworker will not evaluate further once you have reached the magic figure of 65.

We have seen people on this forum with 10+ years of experience, currently holding the position of General Manager and were awarded only 25 points rather than the claimed 50 points (believe me, the letters were very detailed and pretty convincing enough!). Bottom line being that as you claim more points so does your case becomes more complicated and more prone to subjective assesment by the caseworker which may be wrong at times.

Hence, I would humbly suggest going by the minimum points approach wherein you can stick to the basics and concentrate on presenting a simple and easy to understand case to the evaluator.

All the best!

regards