Article
Sell or hold your vested RSUs?
This is one of the most-asked questions about RSUs, and one of the least advisable. The decision structure. No recommendation attached.
The tax on the vest is owed either way. The sell-or-hold question is a separate, independent portfolio question about how much of your net worth you want in one company's stock.
The reframe that helps most people
The clearest reframe: post-vest RSUs are just shares of your employer that you happen to own. If you were handed the cash-equivalent value today, would you go buy that same amount of your employer's stock? If no, selling and redeploying isn't a "loss." It's rebalancing to what you actually want to own.
Three factors that actually matter
- Concentration. If a single employer's stock is more than 10–20% of your liquid net worth, the volatility is real and asymmetric. The same company also pays your salary.
- The tax is a sunk cost. Ordinary income tax on the vest is owed whether you sell or hold. Only the future gain (or loss) after vest day is affected by the sell decision.
- Time horizon and conviction. Holding past one year turns future gains into long-term capital gains. That's a real benefit, if you'd actively choose to buy this stock today.
What this page doesn't do
It doesn't tell you to sell. It doesn't tell you to hold. Anyone who tells you the "right" answer without knowing your full financial picture is guessing loudly.
For a real answer, talk to a fee-only fiduciary planner who has seen a hundred versions of your situation and has no product to sell you.
Want to see what your vested shares are worth after taxes? Try the calculator.