What should I do with my Employee Stock Purchase Plan now that I quit?

Question

I no longer work for the company with whom I own about $3000.00 through Mellon IN vestor Services.

I just recieved a notice giving me three options:
1. Transfer all shares to a regular shareholder accout with Mellon INvestor Services.

2. Issue certificates for all whole shares

3. Sell all shares and close the account ($2.00 service fee for each transaction involving a sale. The share price per share will be an average of all the companies shares sold that day)

I have very limited knowledge on stocks. can someone help please?

I just recieved the letter, but I've had a new job for 5 months now.
By the way I am a college student.

Answer 1

Option 3 is what we did and it worked out well. There will be taxes taken out, but the extra little cash might help you out during your transition.
Or you could go to option 2, but the stocks could go way down and you could loose most of what you have.

Answer 2

Did they "contribute 10%", or did you but stock at 90% of some set price? Usually employee plans are set up to buy stock 10% or 15% below some market price. If the sale price is greater than that market price, your cost basis is the market price to calculate gains, and the 10% discount is ordinary income. Yes, you need to calculate an average price, since you also bought some stock with reinvested dividends. You should have information from the company that outlines the tax consequences. I had such a booklet for each of the companies I worked for over the years that had stock plans.

Answer 3

You should keep the stock and transfer it to a regular account brokerage account. Just make sure they dont charge any fees at all. Consider it your emergency fund but in the form of a stock. If you desperately need the money in the future, call the brokerage company and find out how to sell the stock online by yourself (about $10) instead of having them sell it for you (around $40). Assuming you dont touch the account and the business is a successful one, the value of the stock will grow over time.

Answer 4

You should do #1.

Answer 5

If you are going to need money or you want an emergency fund you now have that option.The last thing I would do is roll it into that brokerage as your fees to sell or purchase more would be costly. Cash never hurts to have around.

Answer 6

If you are in desperate need of the money #3 otherwise #1

Answer 7

I'd say the first thing to do is determine if the stock is worth hanging onto and decide from there...

Answer 8

choose no.1