And am very new to PP and the concepts herein. And wondering if I should sell my stock in said employer. I survived the 2008-2009 layoffs.
Short Version… Y E S !
Long version…
It depends… Let's assume the worst that happens is just that its a mere temporary dip and your out of work for a while whilst the stock market goes down, you could sell now and buy back later?
Ensure you have liquidity to pay the bills/debts for at least a year
Also… As your new try not to be too freaked out by the info on here, it can be daunting at first, we are here to help, the future can be good despite the headwinds that face society, take care…
SR
Hello darcieg76.
I'm jealous that you are even able to sell your company stock. My husband's retirement is at least in cash but always shows up at stock first and then we have to wait 6 months to change the next batch to cash.
IMHO if your stock is not in immovable retirement funds you should probably put those resources into something else.
I have to admit that we really love watching to see which will be most entertaining or interesting every year at this time.
But I almost had to turn off the TV and have a teachable moment with my kids last night during the Rocket Mortgage commercial which was basically a promo piece for Keynesian economics!
Get a mortgage! Go into more debt! Buy more stuff! Generate more jobs so those people can qualify to go into more debt so they can buy more stuff! That's the American Dream!!
I almost got sick…
Keith
Well, that's an interesting version…house of the rising sun chords and melody with the words of Amazing Grace sung to them.
That's probably not a question you should have answered on some comment section on some website…but the basic things I asked myself when I had company stock were:
- How much of my net worth is tied up in this one stock? If it's over 10%, time to dial it back. Need more diversification.
- How much more of this stock might be coming my way this year (and next, and next)? If more, then I might be tempted to clear even more out right now.
- How would I feel if this stock went to half its current value? Could I sleep?
- What are the prospects for my specific company? Is there any chance that the stock is overvalued right now?
- What would happen to the price of this stock when (not if) the economy goes into another recession? How did it behave in 2008?
- What are the tax implications of selling right now? Will I have to find cash because there are options involved? If so, can I afford the tax and/or cash hits?
Your results may well turn out differently.
Thanks, Chris. And thanks to everyone else who shared their insights.
Definitely not over 10%. To be honest, I don't even know what my net worth is. I'm very uneducated in this stuff and only have my current career, my 401K, and stock in my company. We're talking quite a small amount of stock–like $10K. But if it's going to keep going down, and there's a chance I might get laid off, it might be good to have the cash cushion.
Because my stock holdings are fairly small, yes, I could sleep if it went to half its value, but I'd be disappointed that I hadn't sold it.
I'll need to do my research for questions 2, 4, 5, and 6. It's quite a stable company, but its stock did go down a fair bit in 2008-2009, IIRC.
I listened to your podcast with New Harbor–do they deal with small potatoes people like myself? One thing that's been nagging me for years is that I'm not working with a financial advisor.
Was introduced to your work on Robb Wolf's podcast, by the way, and was captivated by the idea of resilience, especially on the permaculture, sustainable food production side of things.
Thanks!
Thanks for the insight, Wendy!
Thanks, ScubaRoo. I am equally freaked out and intrigued. 
Darcieg76, I totally understand where you are coming from and often feel the same. I've been following PeakProsperity and similarly situated experts for more than a year now and while I feel better educated than before, I still feel lost at times. ESPECIALLY concerning my financial situation. Luckily for me I don't have stocks nor major debt other than law school debt. That said, I have been building a pretty sizable nest egg of "cash" in the bank and have been fairly paralyzed about what to do with it. The concept of staying out of harm's way can't be emphasized enough - protect what little you do currently have!
I recently opened a 2nd bank account in a small hometown bank to just to spread my savings out and not have everything I own financially speaking sitting in the hands of Wells Fargo. I still don't feel all that confident in digits on a screen as far as my wealth goes but I don't exactly have a safe place to keep a bunch of cash or metals currently (I'm a renter, not a home owner.) So, I'm just keeping my powder dry hoping I can be financially limber enough to maneuver the mine field that lays ahead.
In other words, just standing firm and limiting exposure where you can is the safest play and has been for a little while, especially for the small fries like us who don't have a ton and could be really hurt if what little we have disappears.
I still have some work to do to feel better about where I sit since I only have cash and no land or chattel, but that will come at hopefully soon to be depressed panic-driven prices.
I would start whittling down the law skool debt. Rate is probably like 7%?
Yep, 7.165%. I've been largely hoping the rapidly changing future helps me deal with that. I currently work a job that qualifies for debt forgiveness after 10 years but who knows if that will even be around when I need it. I don't trust it to be (I'm 2ish years into the program.) I could pay down a considerable bit of it right now but then I'm left with less cash to purchase land with. Once I can get my living situation squared away I'll start paying down that debt, especially if I no longer work for the government or don't qualify for loan forgiveness. No matter what I do that $95k in school debt will be the largest and only debt I take on.
It's just felt foolish to throw my money down that law school debt hole right now when I could use it for more useful things in the shorter term.
Mark
It seems like everyone just ignored your post, and maybe I should too, but I just felt the need to point out what I think are a couple of flaws.
1- I know it was just a rough number, but seriously, I'm not sure how anyone could retire and live for 40 years on $2M in investments, unless part of your perfect world is the ability to get at least a guaranteed 5% return. And I think if you own a house, car, a few other items, you'll actually only have a bit over a million to invest, so maybe we need that ROI to be closer to 10%?
2- So let's assume we tax all the wealthy down to that $2M baseline. That probably generates less than 10 Trillion in tax revenue once we've bled Bezos and all his counterparts down. That still doesn't pay off the national debt (or come close). So where do the tax revenues come from then? All from the people we expect to still keep trying to build their wealth above the baseline (even though they know it would be futile in the long term)?
I actually like some of the ideas in your post, but I just don't think it offers the nirvana it might seem to.
Best,
Keith
Good to see other new-ishbies out there in a similar situation–thanks for responding.
Yeah, renter here, too. Would love to be an owner so I can start investing in more living and material capital, but, on the other hand, no mortgage to pay off. On the other hand, who knows how high rent might go?
So you have enough cash saved up to buy some land? That's an enviable position to be in. Are you thinking Austin area or moving out of the area? I'm in Seattle, and I love the PNW, so I'm looking to stay somewhere close.
I'd like to get my spouse on board, but I think I need to learn more before anyone will take me seriously…
Dear Curious CDN,
I was interested to see your comments. I have a consulting company that is working with the best e-bike system that I've ever seen. His technology is incredible, and I believe that he is poised to dramatically change urban transportation. I thought I would mention this to you, because I just thought that the two of you might work well together. Let me know if you are interested, and we can talk further.
Have a great weekend!
Kieth we can and must do a lot of things. This is not a one dimensional problem. (Sorry. Predicament ).
But I am of the opinion that salvation actually lies in the opposite direction. Not less pooling of money, but more . Once we have grasped the nettle that we cannot keep everyone alive, then we must abandon the futile attempt.
This will allow us to pool all our resources and escape the restrictions of this planet and it's gravity well. Once free we can rebuild our numbers to plague proportions because the universe is ridiculously generous to those beings who escape the restrictions of their womb.
Here. Get a feel for the subject.
https://youtu.be/udAL48P5NJU In my Father's house there are many rooms.The all-time geatest understatement.
But first we must grasp the nettle. It is my hope that this is what we are witnessing.
If we assume that each robot takes away two human jobs (because they can work 24/7, and faster, this may be a low assumption) then we can account for 520,000 missing jobs…with many more on the way and those losses accelerating.
There are now more than 260,000 robots working in U.S. factories.Eventually it will be discovered that Henry Ford was right....industrialization and capitalization only make sense if you have customers that can afford to buy your products.Orders and shipments for robots in North America set new records in 2015, according to industry trade group Robotic Industries Association. A total of 31,464 robots, valued at a combined $1.8 billion, were ordered from North American companies last year, marking a 14% increase in units and an 11% increase in value year-over-year.
Shipments rose 10% over 2014 to 28,049 units. The biggest increase in robot orders came from buyers in the automotive, semiconductor and electronics industries, according to the trade group.
The most popular jobs for these robots were industrial, including coating and dispensing, material handling and spot welding.
(Source - MW)
From a friend, Bose MA is in the process of laying off at least a new 500. What is left of Bose in MA?
Yes, in a real money economy Man-Machine would be balanced by market forces.