Stock Markets Exposed

We live in America, but have stock in the UK, please help!?

We live in the US, but my husband works for a UK-based company and was recently awarded stocks by this company. This stock (trading in the UK) has decreased in value rapidly since we received it a few months ago, meaning that we're paying taxes on the value awarded, but the shares are only worth what we owe in taxes for them :(. In any case, we're trying to determine ... should we keep the stock and hope it goes back up? Should we sell all of the stock now before it drops any more? Should we keep some of the stock, but sell a percentage and re-invest in other UK stocks to diversify our UK-portfolio? Our other thought is to sell all the stock and invest the money in an apartment / home in the UK that we would keep over time in hopes of long term appreciation. We plan to continue living in the US for now, but may at some point want to re-locate to the UK so it will be nice to have some money there. Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! The question is quite general and less about the particular stock (yes, it's a good company - tech co actually - with lots of work 'in the pipeline', growing and expanding, etc.). Really, I'm trying to figure out, is it bad to have all our UK stocks in one company or should we diversify? If we diversify, should we sell now while this stock is low and buy other stocks now? Or is Real Estate in the UK typically just a better bet than the stock market? Looking for pros and cons and just generally informative types of answers to help in the decision-making process - Thanks :)

Public Comments

1. Real estate is often the best bet. It is impossible to answer you on your stock, not knowing what stock it is. We would have to know what the company is expecting for the future, who it's competitors are, all kinds of stuff. But I have never had bad luck with real estate. And the U.K. is not losing population, so if you know how to manage the property by keeping it rented, and get a good deal on a place first, then you should probably go that route. But buying property would mean selling the stock, so maybe you should find out the possiblities of where the stock might be going soon. Almost all stocks are down right now, but most will be going back up before the end of the year, maybe.
2. If the company is sound and will last the years just keep them ...the American dollar is down for now. Six of one half a dozen of the other . Would you invest in USA.
3. since you don't say what the stock is..........I don't know how anyone can help you....... If you have a broker,ask them for an analysis of the company.............and a recommendation