Vest already created ordinary income. Holding after vest is a new investment decision — turn “should I sell” into how many shares this calendar year versus next.
The vest is done. Tax withholding already hit payroll. Shares that landed in your account are now a concentrated bet you chose to keep, lot by lot. A sell decision this month is not a replay of the grant. It is a year map.
Vest is not the hold decision
At vest, the fair market value is ordinary income. Your basis is that value. The holding-period clock starts at vest (or settlement). If you sell the same day, there is usually little extra gain or loss — a few dollars of price move, maybe a withholding-share gap.
If you hold, you are making a second bet: that this ticker, at this weight in your net worth, is the place for that cash. That bet has nothing to do with how hard you worked for the grant.
“Should I sell my RSUs?” is the wrong unit. The unit is lots and years.
- This month’s vest is one lot, one clock.
- Last year’s vest is a different lot. It may already be long-term, or it may turn long-term in a few weeks.
- An older grant that vested in January is not the same decision as shares that just settled.
Selling “the RSUs” as one pile is how people mix a short-term year with a long-term year and call it one answer.
How many this year versus next
If you have a sell decision this month, write two numbers:
- Shares to sell in this calendar year.
- Shares to leave for next year — or later, after a clock turns.
Those numbers have to sit next to wages and any other vests still coming. A second vest in November can refill the ordinary-income bucket you just emptied in August. State matters. Estimated tax in September can matter. The ticker does not get a vote on the year.
Protect the equity from the emotion of the vest email. The email is a payroll event. The plan is the year grid.
Example (made-up numbers)
Example only. Not a real person and not a Lakefolio result.
Alex has a vest this month: 1,200 shares at $148. That is $177,600 of ordinary income already, whether or not a single share is sold. Supplemental withholding and share-withhold leave 780 shares in the account. W-2 wages for the year are $198,000. Another vest is on the calendar in November, about 900 shares.
Alex also holds 640 shares from a vest last March. Those lots turn long-term in a few weeks. Basis on that lot is $121.
Three different clocks, one “should I sell” question. Split it:
- This year’s vest (780 shares). Selling some or all this year mostly realizes the income already on the W-2. Little extra tax if the price is still near $148. Holding all 780 keeps a new $115,000 pile in one ticker on top of everything else.
- Last March’s lot (640 shares). Waiting a few weeks may move the gain from short-term to long-term. Selling it this week to “do something” about the new vest can turn a long-term year into a short-term year for no reason.
- November vest (not here yet). It will add ordinary income later in the same calendar year. A big sale in August does not erase that.
One workable year map in this example: sell 400 of the new shares this month (raise cash, cut the fresh concentration), wait on the March lot until it is long-term and then sell 300 of those in this calendar year or park them for January, and leave room in the year for the November vest so the stack does not surprise anyone in April.
Again: not a prescription. The method is lots, then this year versus next.
What to do with a vest this month
- Separate lots. New vest, older vests, anything still unvested.
- Mark each clock. Short-term, about to turn, already long-term.
- Write a this-year share number and a next-year share number.
- Put wages and remaining vests on the same page before you add another sale.
If the question is still “should I sell,” you do not have a number yet.
Run the years
Load the sample or upload an equity statement and pick the years. That is the first analysis: a tax-aware, year-by-year sell plan from the lots you actually hold.
Run the sample or upload a statement
Internal links: Lockup expiration: what to do · RSU tax if I sell this year
Lakefolio is educational software, not tax, legal, or investment advice.