If you would have said earlier that it was sub-optimal to exercise early since there would always be more value in selling the option (just another form of cashing in really!!)
/ This post is utterly ridiculous. I suggest you read a basic financial math book. Real investors, if they wish to take a market view, will resell the option for >= the intrinsic value in the market (strictly greater if implied volatility is anything other than 0). If the price was ever less than the intrinsic value then there exists a simple arbitrage. Exercising early is always suboptimal, modulo transaction costs and some minor difficulties like shorting at a retail level.