In the past, my wife and I have been with Fortune 100 companies that allow us to purchase stock at between 10-15% discount.

I'm changing jobs and joining another Fortune 100 company. Their employee plan allows you to purchase stock via payroll reductions at fair market price, but if you hold the shares for 2 years, they match the number of shares (so 100% profit assuming flat price).

Surely I should max this out and then sell shares after 2 years to manage exposure, right?

Is there a limit to how much you can buy and they will match?

IrishTxAggie said:

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They hiring?!

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I knew enough people that worked at Enron to not ask that question

AggiEE said:

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Is there a limit to how much you can buy and they will match?

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It is limited to 5% of salary, whereas our 10-15% discount plans had a higher limit of 15% of salary.

My wife paid for grad school with her Enron stock options.

How much is maxing it out?

Definitely reduces risk, but certainly no sure thing as a lot can happen in 2 years, including you wanting to change jobs.

Enron example and 2008 both extreme examples, likely wouldn't have dated well in either of those cases (depending on exact timing of 2007-2009 of course).

Also, taxes can eat much of it, including probably ordinary income tax on match portion.