What to do....What to do??

Inadilemma

Hi All, I have a fairly nice dilemma and I'm just not sure what to do so was hoping for some 'advice'.
For a number of years I've been paying into a company savings / shares scheme of which the value is now roughly £25K (paid in just over 10K) and now the payment period is finished my dilemma begins, I have a few options I guess:
1) Sell the lot, cross everything that they don't rocket in price and put against my fairly hefty mortgage
2) Sell the original stakes worth and put against mortgage
3) Sell all or some and invest the money elsewhere?
4) Leave them where they are and just let them be
I suppose my worry is that there are a lot of eggs in one basket, ie Job, Pension and savings in one place. I do have another scheme for half that amount still going with about 6 years left to run. I just don't know what to do, anyone any ideas? I do also have the same amount (25K) in other savings / ISAs etc

gozomark

"I suppose my worry is that there are a lot of eggs in one basket," -as would mine

If you had 25K in cash would you invest it all in these shares ? If not, you should sell unless there are tax implications which are big enough to override your decision

gozomark

option 2 v3 - that depends on your assessment of the likely returns from whatever you might invest in, and your personal attitude to risk - only you can answer that

gozomark

"Sell the lot, cross everything that they don't rocket in price and put against my fairly hefty mortgage" - given that you will still have half that amount invested in the company, would you rather they plummeted ?

Inadilemma

gozomark wrote: »

"Sell the lot, cross everything that they don't rocket in price and put against my fairly hefty mortgage" - given that you will still have half that amount invested in the company, would you rather they plummeted ?

Yes thats a very good point....doh!

Thrugelmir

Sell and pay off the mortgage.

If you've another savings scheme running then you've still a sizable single share holding.

Best to diversify and spread your investments.

gadgetmind

You're likely to have a gain of £15k on this, and 15000-10600=4400 will be subject to tax at either 18% or 28% depending on your marginal rate. Not nice!

Your options are -
1) If these are approved options/saye then within 90 days of exercise you can transfer up to £10680 worth (at current share value) directly into an ISA. Your remaining shares could then be sold and my envelope shows this would be within your CGT allowance. (BTW, I'm assuming you haven't done a S&S or cash ISA this year - you have then it limits your options.)
2) Transfer some of the shares to your spouse to get 2x CGT allowance.
3) Dispose of the shares over more than one tax year, but you just missed that!
4) A combination of the above.

All of these are very easy, and I've done various combos with Hargreaves Lansdown and they have been very efficient. I'm happy to advise on the mechanics if/when you decide what to do.

If you choose to continue holding, then it's best to ISA them up (directly with yours, via "Bed and ISA" for spouse) to avoid future CGT issues.

I also agonize regards hold/sell with options and have always seen sense and diversified. As it happens, holding would have been better much of the time, but there you go!