ESPP - Redundancy

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Norbert2023

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Hi All, first time poster so hope I’m putting this in the right place! I’m being made redundant at the end of May. I’m in the ESPP with my work and the the next scheduled purchase for shares is the start of May. I’d planned to leave all the shares there when I go but someone mentioned in passing I should sell asap. I purchased all the shares myself at a discount and they’re available to sell so seem to be vested. Does anyone know the downside of leaving them there when my employment ends? I will still have access to my account etc after I go. many thanks
 
The company is making redundancies. Do you expect this to move the share price up or down?
 
The redundancies were announced many months ago, the share price has been rising since but has dipped very recently due to wider economic forces. I don’t think right now would be a great time to sell and I was hoping to leave them there long term. I’m just worried if I’m making a mistake not to withdraw from my final purchase cycle and sell up now if there are repercussions in doing this given I’m leaving.
 
At the end of an ESPP period the shares are yours just like any shares you buy yourself. You don't need to sell just because you're leaving your employer. (No point in putting money into the scheme starting in May though.)

Some people will make a good point that you shouldn't be heavily invested in any single stock - however that's a choice rather than anything you have to do.

It's presumably a US broker? But since your employer has confirmed you will continue to have access so at least you're not being forced into hasty action.

One thing to do is periodically log in to the account, US brokers can close the account if they see no activity for a few years then hand the shares to the state, who'll then sell them - process called escheating.

If you'd like to keep the shares for years you could look to eventually transfer the shares to a EU based broker - avoids risk of echeating, and you move away from a restricted account that may be partly under the control of your employer.
 
ashambles said:
At the end of an ESPP period the shares are yours just like any shares you buy yourself. You don't need to sell just because you're leaving your employer. (No point in putting money into the scheme starting in May though.)

Some people will make a good point that you shouldn't be heavily invested in any single stock - however that's a choice rather than anything you have to do.

It's presumably a US broker? But since your employer has confirmed you will continue to have access so at least you're not being forced into hasty action.

One thing to do is periodically log in to the account, US brokers can close the account if they see no activity for a few years then hand the shares to the state, who'll then sell them - process called escheating.

If you'd like to keep the shares for years you could look to eventually transfer the shares to a EU based broker - avoids risk of echeating, and you move away from a restricted account that may be partly under the control of your employer.
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Thank you, yes I thought that was the case given I’ve purchased them as opposed to them being shares given by my employer. It is a US broker so I’ll make sure to look into that, thanks for flagging.
 
Normally after 3 years you will have to transfer your shares to your own broker…my former company uses computershare and I will need to transfer out to my own broker
 
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