Comments on: Sell Your 401(k) Company Stock Right Now!

By: Barbaara Vasquez

Barbaara Vasquez — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:24:52 +0000

I am trying to sort this “STOCK SELLING” process for 2 years, and still am not clear on the process.

I have company stock in my 401K, am retired. I would like to sell the stock, and understand that I can go to a discount broker to do this. I’m clear on that part of it. Here’s my question?

Do I contact the plan administrator and tell her that I want all my stock to be transferred into a taxable broker’s account?

Is there a difference in receiving them by stock certificate and/or a cashier’s check made payable to the broker.

I do believe that the money must not pass through my hands.

Then once the account is set up, I can turn around and sell them and then give my cash?

I believe that I can sell them the next day if I want to?

CAN ANYBODY OUT THERE CONFIRM AS TO WHETHER I’M INERPRETING THIS CORRECTLY; AND MAYBE COULD PUT IN A MUCH SIMPLIER THAN I DID.

ANY tips on discount brokers?\

thanks

By: Free Money Finance

Free Money Finance — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:20:50 +0000

Star Money Articles for the Week of April 30

Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: AllFinancialMatters hates property taxes. MightyBargainHunter gives a really simple retirement formula. Five Cent Nickel suggests three ways to make your IRA wo…

By: After Bankruptcy

After Bankruptcy — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:34:22 +0000

Great news. My wife’s 401k is WAY heavy in company stock.

Changing that ASAP.

By: Debt Hater

Debt Hater — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:50:30 +0000

I’m glad to know this considering my company’s stock in my 401k is the lowest performing “basket” in my mix. It’s lost value every quarter for the past year and is far lower than it was just a few years ago. All of the company match is in the stock. I will be unloading as much as I am eligible to get rid of, post haste.

By: Average Joe

Average Joe — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:50:16 +0000

I most definitely agree with this post.

Too many horror stories (Enron, Worldcom, etc..) of people completely relying on 1 company for their salaries and retirements. So take that matching contribution and diversify.

By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:56:28 +0000

At many companies, you don’t have a choice; your employer match is given in stock, not cash, with restrictions as to when you can sell it. I wouldn’t buy company stock in a 401K either.

By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:21:22 +0000

This is a bit of a tangent, but one argument for _not_ doing this is if you plan to leave your company shortly, and have a lot of gain in your company stock. Here's a good article on this topic. In short, if you have company stock in your 401K and quit your job, you can take the stock out, pay ordinary income tax and penalties on the cost basis (ie, the cost of the stock when the company gave it to you) of the stock, sell it, and pay capital gains tax on the stock appreciation (here, meaning the sale price of the stock minus its cost basis). Depending on the situation, this may well be better than rolling the company stock over into an IRA and doing withdrawals at retirement age that are taxed at ordinary income rates.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 01 May 2007 18:18:35 +0000

“If you work for a public company, the match your employer provides in your 401(k) is almost certainly in company stock.”

I think you’re overstating how common that his. I know at least at this company, matches are allocated pro rata to the funds you select for your own contributions. One of those is the company stock fund, but well, that’s you’re choice.