When Company Stock Becomes One of Your Largest Assets: Equity Planning for Stryker Employees 

For many Stryker employees, equity compensation begins as a welcome benefit and later becomes something much larger. The first grant may feel like a reward for hard work. Then another award arrives, shares vest, and the account balance keeps growing. Eventually, what once felt like a side benefit may become one of the largest assets your family owns. 

That usually does not happen through one big decision. It happens quietly. A vesting date passes. Shares are held because there is no immediate need to sell. Work gets busy. Family priorities take over. The next grant appears, then another, and the review gets pushed to a later day. By the time many professionals stop and look closely, their employer stock represents a much larger percentage of their wealth than they intended. 

Equity awards can be a powerful tool for building wealth, but they should not run on autopilot. Restricted Stock Units, stock options, taxes, cash flow, and career timing all connect. The goal is to understand what you own, why you own it, and how it fits into the rest of your financial life. 

When RSUs Vest, Compensation Becomes an Investment 

Restricted Stock Units, or RSUs, are often misunderstood because the process can feel automatic. A grant is awarded. Time passes. Shares vest. Taxes are withheld. Because there is not always an obvious action required, many people simply move on. That is where planning begins. Once RSUs vest, your employer has delivered that portion of your compensation. From that point forward, continuing to hold the shares is an investment choice. 

A helpful question is this: if you received cash instead of shares today, would you immediately use all of it to buy company stock? Some people would. Others would direct a portion toward retirement, diversification, college savings, debt reduction, charitable giving, or cash reserves. There is no universal answer, but the question separates habit from intention. RSUs are generally taxable when they vest and are delivered, and they are treated as ordinary income, similar to wages. If shares are later sold, there may also be capital gain or loss depending on the sale price compared with the value at vesting. That is why each vesting event deserves attention from both an investment and tax perspective.  

Loyalty Is Not the Same as Portfolio Design 

Many long-tenured employees are proud of where they work. That pride is understandable. You may believe in the mission, respect the leadership, value your team, and plan to remain for years. None of that means every available dollar should stay in the same stock. 

Your career and your portfolio have different jobs. Your career reflects your talent, contribution, and professional commitment. Your portfolio should support your family, protect flexibility, help fund retirement, and preserve what you have built. Those two responsibilities can overlap, but they should not be confused. Reducing a concentrated position does not mean you are betting against your employer. It means you are protecting your household balance sheet. A company can be strong, respected, and important to your career while still representing too much risk inside your personal finances. 

Concentration Risk Is Bigger Than Market Volatility 

When people think about investment risk, they often think about price swings. Concentration risk is different. It is the risk that one event could affect several areas of your life at the same time. 

If your paycheck, annual bonus, future grants, unvested awards, and a large portion of your investments all depend on one business, your financial picture may be more connected than it appears. That does not mean anything negative is expected. It simply means one company is still one business. Every household should decide how much single-stock exposure feels appropriate. For some, the answer may be 10%. For others, it may be higher. The right number depends on age, retirement timing, total assets, cash reserves, taxes, future income, and comfort with uncertainty. Once that target is clear, future vesting events become easier to evaluate. 

Stock Options Require a Separate Review 

Non-Qualified Stock Options, often called NQSOs, are different from RSUs because they require action. An option gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy shares at a preset price, commonly called the exercise price or strike price. If the market value rises above that price, the option may have value. If it does not, exercising may not make sense. 

This creates a timing question. Should you exercise now, wait, sell immediately afterward, or hold the resulting shares? The answer depends on more than the current stock price. Taxes, cash, concentration risk, retirement timing, and other income all matter. 

For non-statutory stock options, the IRS generally says income is recognized at exercise based on the fair market value of the stock received, less the amount paid for the shares. The spread between the exercise price and market value can become taxable income. That is why exercising options can create a larger tax bill even if you do not immediately spend the proceeds.  

Waiting Too Long Can Reduce Flexibility 

One common mistake is ignoring options until a deadline is near. Because they may sit quietly in an online portal for years, it is easy to assume there will always be time. Then expiration approaches, retirement becomes real, or a new job appears, and several choices need to be made at once. 

Rushed decisions can be expensive. Exercising too many options in one year may push income higher than expected. Waiting until the final months may leave little room to coordinate retirement contributions, charitable giving, estimated tax payments, or diversification. In some cases, valuable awards can expire unused because no one reviewed them early enough. Good planning does not mean exercising everything immediately. It means looking far enough ahead to preserve flexibility. Some employees may benefit from spreading exercises across multiple years. Others may wait. A few may exercise and sell in the same transaction. What matters is that the decision is made with the full picture in view. 

Before You Retire or Change Jobs 

A career move can make equity compensation more urgent. A common misunderstanding is that vested options are yours forever. That may not be true. The rules are governed by the equity plan and your individual award agreements, which should explain what happens when employment ends. 

Before giving notice or choosing a retirement date, review every outstanding grant. Know which awards are vested, which are unvested, when options expire, how long you may have after departure, what cash may be required, and what tax impact could follow. It is easier to answer those questions while you are still employed than after your final day has passed. Even if the answer is to take no action, that conclusion should be deliberate. Often, the costliest outcome is finding out too late that a deadline has limited your choices. 

Build a Review Process Before the Next Vesting Date 

The most effective equity decisions are usually made before a deadline is staring you in the face. Rather than waiting until shares vest, options approach expiration, or a career change is already underway, it helps to create a regular review process. That review does not need to be complicated, but it should be consistent. 

Start by looking at how much of your overall wealth is tied to company stock across every account. Then review upcoming RSU vesting dates, outstanding stock options, expiration timelines, and any cash or tax impact that could come with exercising options. From there, decide what percentage of your portfolio you are comfortable keeping in employer stock and what steps may be needed to stay within that range. 

For one employee, that may mean selling a portion of vested shares each year. For another, it may mean holding more stock while gradually exercising options over time. Someone approaching retirement or a job change may need a more detailed plan around deadlines, taxes, and liquidity. The right answer depends on the full picture, but having a process helps prevent emotion, habit, or last-minute pressure from making the decision for you. 

The Takeaway 

The point is not that every vested share should be sold or every option exercised right away. Holding may be appropriate. Selling may be prudent. Exercising may be timely. Waiting may be justified. The issue is whether your equity compensation is being reviewed with intention. 

For successful professionals, company stock can become meaningful wealth. It can also create avoidable complexity if it is never coordinated with the rest of the plan. Your RSUs and options should be reviewed alongside your 401(k), taxable investments, cash reserves, charitable goals, estate documents, insurance, tax strategy, and retirement income needs. 

At GDS Wealth Management, we help Stryker employees evaluate RSUs, Non-Qualified Stock Options, concentration risk, taxes, retirement readiness, and career transitions as part of one coordinated financial plan. If equity compensation has become one of the largest parts of your financial life, a second opinion can bring clarity before the next vesting date, exercise deadline, or major transition. 

For more information, connect with us on LinkedIn and subscribe to the GDS Wealth Management YouTube channel.