RSU vest: sell and diversify in an index fund, or hold the stock?
If you get RSUs (restricted stock units), you often have to choose: sell at vest and put the cash into a diversified index fund (e.g. VOO, VTI, QQQ), or keep the company stock. This calculator compares both paths using historical growth from your vest year to today—so you can see how each choice would have played out.
Compare: hold stock vs sell and invest in index
Enter any stock ticker (e.g. your employer) and an index fund (e.g. VOO, VTI, QQQ), the year you vested, and how much $ you received. We’ll show what that amount would be today if you had held the stock vs if you had sold and invested in the index, using historical prices.
Diversifying into an index fund reduces single-stock risk; holding company stock can pay off if the company does well but concentrates risk. See why compounding matters and the retirement calculator for the big picture.
Related research
The ideas in this guide are backed by academic and policy research. We organize fundamental studies by Margin Score pillar on our Research page.
View research for this pillar →Key studies: Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data.