Frustrated, automatic stock purchasing program enrolment at my place of employment

cool story bro

Sounds like a mistake. I was in a stock purchasing plan, on purpose, and I had to fill out paperwork. I doubt they can just auto-enroll you.

JoeBlack23 wrote: ↑ Sounds like a mistake. I was in a stock purchasing plan, on purpose, and I had to fill out paperwork. I doubt they can just auto-enroll you.

It really doesn't make sense to me. Oh well. I'm back to work tomorrow (Tuesday) so I can talk to my HR manager and figure it out....

it's just weird because like even if it's an error, I'll have to decide if I sell it, keep it, and just deal with it now.

Before auto quitting, consider whether they "match" what you put in and the discount they give you.

While you shouldn't have all your investments tied to a company you work for, the incentives may make a decent proposition to buy now and sell when possible.

Drew87 wrote: ↑ It really doesn't make sense to me. Oh well. I'm back to work tomorrow (Tuesday) so I can talk to my HR manager and figure it out....

it's just weird because like even if it's an error, I'll have to decide if I sell it, to keep it, and just deal with it now.

It's likely not vested yet, so you can request a reversal.

renoldman wrote: ↑ Before auto quitting, consider whether they "match" what you put in and the discount they give you.

While you shouldn't have all your investments tied to a company you work for, the incentives may make a decent proposition to buy now and sell when possible.

This. Stock purchase programs usually have some kind of matching (free money) and it's rare that they aren't worth it, unless your company has shitty fundamentals lol.

Employer stock purchase programs where you get stock at a discount from current market value or they throw in matching funds can be a good deal. But it depends how stable the company stock is.

You need to understand some tax implications:

When you receive stock under these circumstances, it's a taxable benefit. You will pay income tax at your full rate on the financial benefit you received, either the discount or the extra contribution from the company.

You may not be allowed to sell the stock right away, but if the stock drops between when you received it and when the tax bill becomes due the following April 30, that's your problem, not the CRA's problem. You still owe tax on the original benefit, even if it has been more than wiped out by the stock drop. I know employees at a high-tech company who got this kind of stock offer who thought they were getting generous stock bonuses of over $10,000 in some cases. But months later the company crashed, their stock dropped to pennies, they were out of a job - and then the CRA bill showed up for thousands of dollars worth of tax on stock that was now worthless. They had to pay.

I find it odd that you were somehow enrolled. Unless you signed something without fully reading it. But as others said see if there is any benefit to being in it. The company I work for matches 50% of what I put in. No discount on the purchase of stocks but hey for every 100 I put in they give me 50. But I also trim the shares every few months and send the funds to prepay my mortgage or diversify in other companies. Some ppl I work with just let their stocks pile up and grow. But I would rather spread it around.

But also only invest if your company is relatively stable and preferably of the "blue chip" kind. If its a startup company and you still want to maybe just put a small percentage of your pay in.

slumlordz wrote: ↑ I find it odd that you were somehow enrolled. Unless you signed something without fully reading it. But as others said see if there is any benefit to being in it. The company I work for matches 50% of what I put in. No discount on the purchase of stocks but hey for every 100 I put in they give me 50. But I also trim the shares every few months and send the funds to prepay my mortgage or diversify in other companies. Some ppl I work with just let their stocks pile up and grow. But I would rather spread it around.

But also only invest if your company is relatively stable and preferably of the "blue chip" kind. If its a startup company and you still want to maybe just put a small percentage of your pay in.

Oh in loving it... if it wasnt for that i wouldnt really have any savings. Lol. & i guess pension is nice...

But moral of the story is take the best benefits. Sure its a short term pain having a hundred bucks off your hard earned check. But if you can make ez money off it why not?