My
employer offers an Employee Stock Purchase Plan with quarterly
"purchase periods" where, instead of offering the typical 15% discount
on the plan shares, they offer a 100% match on the # of shares for each
purchase period - but ONLY 3 years after each purchase period IF I
haven't already sold those shares.



They don't provide the match if I sell them immediately after the
purchase period and b/c the purchase periods are quarterly (i.e. they
are "rolling") I essentially have to keep investing to keep benefiting
from their 100% match.



QUESTION IS: is this worth it (anecdotally speaking)?



My main concern is losing principal - given that they don't match until
3 years out, there's nothing that says that what I'm holding on to
couldn't tank during that time, although the upside is that my shares
will obviously double at that 3 year point. The other thing is that if
I want to receive the match I of course always have to keep investing
quarterly, but I suppose I can always stop my contributions at any time.



QUESTION BEHIND QUESTION: if it's worth it, then when I go to sell
(after the whole match), then I don't ever want to sell under 1/2 of
the stock price that I got in at, right?



There seems to be another question, which is at what price (i.e. the
ceiling) do I no longer buy in at? But I don't think this is relevant
b/c as long as I'm not selling under 1/2 of the stock price that got in
at I should be good?



Seems all pretty straightforward, but I've severely confused myself with trying to think through the scenarios & algebra...



Thanks a ton!

Link to question:  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090620160722AAhwsKl