Stock Markets Exposed
Should I flip my ESPP stock?
I got a new job six months ago at a large company with an employee stock purchase plan. Since then, I have been setting 15% of my income aside to purchase stock. The plan has both a look-back provision and a 15% discount. The stock is currently trading about 10% higher than it was when I enrolled, so I will use the look-back provision to purchase stock at 85% of the trading price last November. Are there any clever CPAs out there who can give me advice on whether I should flip the stock or hold it until November 2008 so that it will only be subject to long-term capital gains tax? I was planning to flip the stock, but I just found out last week about the difference in taxation. Thanks for your help!
Public Comments
- yes, elmo! flip it like there aint no tommorrow! i'm just amazed that sessame street characters can buy stock
- My company offers the same thing. When I first started almost 3 yrs ago, I found out that they would do a 50% match after 18 months...great. As it turned out, not only did they match it after 18 mo's, but the stock has grown to roughly 2.5x what I paid. I took it out and put it into a Roth IRA in a good, stable fund. I still put 2% of my pay into the ESIP, but I move it over to the Roth every 6 months when it comes time to redeem.
