ExxonMobil Insights

ExxonMobil stock is at near-record levels. For many, selling stock now presents a dilemma. If you’re a retirement-eligible employee and you don’t want to sell shares of XOM at these high prices, hoping the upward trend continues, what are you to do? If you plan to leave ExxonMobil and you’ve got XOM stock in your EMSP, what’s the right strategy?

ExxonMobil employees often sign up for the EMSP because a supervisor or a more tenured colleague tells them it’s a good thing to do. But many participants continue to contribute without thinking through a Savings Plan goal or strategy. Have you considered these four questions?

Mae West, an iconic 20th-century American actress, singer, comedian, and sex symbol, reportedly once said: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.”

Mae wasn’t talking about net unrealized appreciation (NUA). But Mae’s observation raises a valid question. “Can there be too much of this good thing, this NUA?”

If retirement is only five years or less away, you should have a pretty good notion of what life will look like for you in this next chapter. With so many moving parts, it’s important to think through the implications of the various decisions you’ll make. Have you considered the following six questions?

Learn from the mistakes of others? Our blogger reflects on investing mistakes he’s seen participants in the EMSP make over the past forty years.