Sell your RSUs at vest, or hold?
Calculator · free · no signupCompare the after-tax payout from selling at vest and reinvesting in the market versus holding the shares — across the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,823
Sell + invest wins by $4,992 over Hold 1 yr.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,462 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,254 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,823 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,830 |
Sold 442 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 558 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,615 in cash and buying $44,615 of this stock today.
Would you voluntarily put that much of your bonus into a single position? If not, sell-at-vest is the rational default — and diversifying captures most of the long-run return without the single-stock variance.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
One vest is the start, not the plan.
OptionsAhoy plans every vest, exercise, and hedge across years — across bullish, neutral, and bearish scenarios. Free during beta.