I need a crash course in RSUs. I just got notice that the company I work for will be granting us 60 RSUs, vesting quarterly, starting in January. Anyone have any good resources to point me toward? From googling, my understanding is that the value of the company stock at the time it's vested will be taxed as ordinary income. I plan to sell it as soon as it's vested to cover taxes and reinvest the remaining in VTI. I'm looking for anything I'm missing, whether my basic understanding is correct, any tax optimization strategies I'm not considering. Thanks!
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Aathomp90
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5 replies
Replies (5)
JayRam
8 months ago
That's the basic idea. You probably don't need to worry about the tax implications with 60 RSUs (depending on what the future value is per share) but if you receive larger grants in the future, you might need to make estimated tax payments or adjust payroll withholding to keep your tax payments on track.
Remember to add beneficiaries to your RSU brokerage account.
I personally believe there is value in owning some equity in one's employer. Many of the best-managed companies are employee owned. It gives you an opportunity to benefit from your employer's growth in a tax-advantaged way. Of course, keep the percentage exposure within reason. The problems come when employees using their stock like a savings account or have well north of 5-10% of their net worth in a company that they have little control over.
Del S
8 months ago
Sounds like you've got it. It also sounds like you're planning to diversify when it vests, which is what most people would probably be best off with.
For those that are in that situation but on the fence about immediately selling stock they can sell, think about it the other way:
- If you had cash, would you buy just that stock from your company and nothing else?
- Since you can convert the stock to cash and back, you should answer the "should I sell" the same way you answer "would I buy just this"