Even if that’s not the case, what’s stopping you from selling enough stock yourself once they vest and make quarterly payments?
My tax rate was 22%+7.3% FICA near the end when I moved to Florida - a state with no state income tax.
I remember in 2010 there was an investigation reporting about how how shocking amount of credit card debt Americans have or etc.
I’m sure there is basis in reality, but I think these “X-type of person is having financial issues” blog articles are popular because people identifying with that problem (as small of a number of people that maybe) love sharing and pointing to the article to justify their own troubles. This creates more ad revenue for the producer.
Dividend investing underperforms the market, and pulling that money into your spending budget typically underperforms inflation.
If I lost my job, then I would definitely use the money for my living costs. Until then, I prefer any bonuses, RSUs, Dividends, and interest stay in my investment account for further compounding.
While I could live off of my base income working remotely in the burbs of Atlanta, there is no way that my friend who had to relocate to Seattle and had two kids and a wife could have managed on the same $160K base.
When my base salary was $150k in SF, I worked a side contracting job to cover lifestyle costs so I could max out ESPP and 401k. Certainly if you have a family, you may not have the time to do that.
The reason I’m not at Amazon is for the same reason. I don’t work more than 40 hours a week on a normal basis and that’s what my new manager wanted me to do to show “improvement”.
Don’t cry for me. I saw it coming two months ago and I already had a few feelers out and I am 99% sure that one will come through within the next two weeks ago.
There are a many jobs that only require 20-30 hours per week. You can still limit yourself to 40 hours per week of work, but enjoy the benefits and security of multiple jobs.
That's your choice[1]. Some people sell upon vesting, and others liquidate periodically or to make down payments on property or health emergencies instead of going into debt. I suppose if one had a rainy day fund and the value of their RSUs doubled over one year, they may be tempted to spend the emergency fund since their net worth has gone up.
That said, I suspect you holding onto RSUs means you end up not saving as much for an emergency from your checking account, so you get an extra bit of liquidity.
1. I held onto RSUs too until I realized its indistinguishable from being paid extra cash and choosing to buy shares in my employer. I prefer rebalancing my portfolio with my preferred diversification mix.
My investment portfolio profits (or RSU vests or bonuses) never make their way to my checking account.
Are people really dipping into their investment accounts to cover living costs? Maybe for home or car purchases?