One word: Enron

If you truly have 2/3 million in stock for one company surely you have the resources to speak with a professional, not just rely on the opinions of stay at home moms and lawyers.

I'd sell something like 10% a year, just shaving off a bit of profit. So if it tanks I've at least gotten something out of it, but if it takes off I can still realize the majority of the gain.

We do the opposite of what nearly every financial planner says and hold on to the majority of the stock we own from DH's employer. Why? If we sell it, we incur significant capital gains. We try to minimize our fees when investing, and creating a bunch of commissions either through a mutual fund, or by churning individual stocks isn't what we want to do. It is a good, well-managed company, and we think that the long-term trend should be up. Yes, people lose money in companies like Bear Sterns, Enron, etc, but people also become wealthy owning a single company, think like Apple & Walmart. Last, OP didn't say who earned the stock, but in my case, DH did and so he gets a bit more say in how it is handled.

That said, we have cashed out when buying a house, and at one point to diversify. We can still retire and send our kids to college if the stock suddenly lost its value. Those things were covered first before taking a risk on an employer's stock.

How much total unrealized value are you talking about at this point?

Probably safer to diversify at least some of it. There's a chance it could be the next Apple or Google but it could also be worth $0 with just one scandal.

Individual stocks are the riskiest. I'd rather earn my 7% average over the long haul (over 5+ years at least) with that money, which is a much safer and more realistic bet.

Not google, but thank you!

My husband works at Google too, and we're holding on to ours.

I'm in the same boat. I selll when they have vested for a year so I can get the cap gains tax at 15%. I don't
want to be overly invested in one entity. I also think cap gains tax is eventually going to go up as part of a larger tax deal.

Anonymous wrote:We have over 750 shares of a stock that when we were given it (hiring incentive) was trading around 330? Maybe 350? I forget. The stock is fully vested at this point, and trading at 840. We are very diversified with a different investment portfolio, but this is obviously a ton of this one particular stock to be owning. It makes me feel vulnerable. At what point do you start selling your stock? This particular stock is reputed to be heading to $1500. We don't need the cash, but my opinion is that we sell off a portion and hold on to the majority. My partner insists that selling any is shortsighted in terms of where he thinks that the stock is headed. Advice? I feel like its too much stock to hold in one company. I'd very much appreciate any advice or conventional wisdom around holding/selling employer stock. Thank you!

Make sure to understand the tax implications and time the purchase and the sale accordingly.

My friend who worked for Bear Stearns got rid of everything he got each round as soon as he could. Figured it was risky enough just working for them. He ended up very glad that he did that.

I only exercise my options right before they expire.

Don't know much about stocks, but maybe consider 50/50, selling and holding! I also hearing that gambling song by Roger someone

We have over 750 shares of a stock that when we were given it (hiring incentive) was trading around 330? Maybe 350? I forget. The stock is fully vested at this point, and trading at 840. We are very diversified with a different investment portfolio, but this is obviously a ton of this one particular stock to be owning. It makes me feel vulnerable. At what point do you start selling your stock? This particular stock is reputed to be heading to $1500. We don't need the cash, but my opinion is that we sell off a portion and hold on to the majority. My partner insists that selling any is shortsighted in terms of where he thinks that the stock is headed. Advice? I feel like its too much stock to hold in one company. I'd very much appreciate any advice or conventional wisdom around holding/selling employer stock. Thank you!