Affirm (AFRM) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · AFRMSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling Affirm RSUs at vest vs. holding through 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
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of AFRM today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in AFRM. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
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% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
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 | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 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.
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.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →About Affirm
Affirm (AFRM) is a public Fintech company, incorporated in Nevada and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. IPO'd Jan 13, 2021.
Last close: $74.69 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at Affirm typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Affirm Holdings, Inc. is an American financial technology company and a point-of-sale lender. Founded in 2012 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, it is the largest U.S. based buy now, pay later (BNPL) financier. As of 2025, Affirm reports nearly 27 million users and processing $37 billion in annual payments.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Buy-now-pay-later financing without compounding interest or late fees is Affirm's core product proposition. Max Levchin, Nathan Gettings, Jeffrey Kaditz, and Alex Rampell founded Affirm in San Francisco in 2012 through the HVF startup studio; Levchin, a PayPal co-founder, became CEO in 2014. The company charges merchants a fee to offer installment options at checkout and earns interest income on longer-term loans, partnering with Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. Affirm IPO'd on Nasdaq as AFRM in January 2021, with shares more than doubling on the first day of trading.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · news.crunchbase.com
Equity comp at Affirm
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-05-07.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Affirm.
Affirm (AFRM) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
Example: 500 Affirm (AFRM) RSUs vesting at $74.69 per share is $37,345 of ordinary income on vest day. After roughly 32% combined federal + state + FICA (~$11,950), the post-tax share value is ~$25,395. Holding 12 months for long-term capital-gains treatment then only matters for the price change between vest and sale; the ordinary income at vest is already locked in. The calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math.
All Affirm tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company.
Affirm equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my Affirm RSUs at vest?
- Affirm restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does Affirm grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Affirm typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise. Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do Affirm RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Affirm restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
Find another companyFintech peers
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Affirm equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.