When you work for a company that goes public, you can bank millions. That’s what happened to a Reddit poster recently. The Redditor said that they already had $1.5 million in cash and are projected to have $6 million worth of company stock by year’s end — and he plans to sell as much stock as he can at each opportunity as his stock vests. He’s working with a CPA to minimize taxes and wants to put his money into a few safe funds.
However, he’s also not sure exactly what to do with his newfound riches. What he would like to do is purchase his dream home at a cost of $1.5 to $2 million, quit his high-paying job but keep spending $5K a month, and be able to travel when he wants. The question is whether that dream can come true or not.
Will his company stock enable his dream lifestyle?
There’s a lot of variables that will determine whether the Redditor can live the way he’s hoping.
For one thing, he hadn’t actually sold the company stock at the time of posting. While he may project he’ll have $6 million when all is said and done, he can’t make long-term financial plans until the stock vests, the sell order is complete, and his money is actually in his bank account. With all of those assets tied up in one company, he’s at far greater risk of losing his expected gains if something goes wrong than he would be if he was in a diversified portfolio of ETFs.
If he’s hoping to work in some capacity, he will also have income coming from that job — and potentially health insurance. This will make an impact on whether he can afford his dreams or not. If he doesn’t have to pay for expensive insurance on the individual market and he has a steady source of income, he won’t need to rely on his savings nearly as much.
He also indicated he has no kids but may get married in the coming years, which could mean that children are in his future — and his expenses could increase significantly.
Finally, there’s the question of the home purchase. He currently has just $20K in savings outside of money in retirement accounts and the money from his company IPO. That’s not enough to make a down payment on a $2 million house. If he pulls this money from investment accounts, he’d significantly reduce the money invested and thus the income his accounts can produce. If he makes just a 20% down payment and borrows at a rate of 6.85% for a $2 million home, he’d be looking at around $10,484 in monthly mortgage payments plus taxes and insurance on top of that — so he’d actually need a whole lot more than $5K per month.
Running the numbers with a financial advisor is a good idea before taking action
Until he has more certainty about both how much his company shares will be worth when they’re sold and what his future needs will be, the Redditor should hold onto his job and put his plans for early retirement on hold. It’s easy to rush into things when you get a big windfall, but acting rashly before really doing the math could just end up leading to regrets.
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