Many people treat their RSU grant as a single number, but leaving a job splits it into two completely different pools of stock with two distinct outcomes.
Under typical plan terms, unvested RSUs are almost always forfeited the moment you leave a company. Vested RSUs are already yours, and walking out the door doesn’t change that. In this article, you’ll learn what happens to RSUs when you leave a company.
Unvested RSUs are forfeited under typical plan terms
Under most standard RSU plans, any shares that haven’t vested by your last day are simply cancelled. You don’t get a prorated amount for the portion of the vesting period you worked, and you don’t get cash instead. The unvested grant disappears from your equity, the same way it would if you’d never been granted it.
There are exceptions, but they’re negotiated, not automatic: a severance agreement that accelerates some vesting, a qualifying termination clause written into an executive’s offer letter, or a company-wide event like an acquisition that triggers accelerated vesting for everyone. Unless one of these applies to you, assume unvested RSUs are gone the day you leave. Your specific plan document is the only way to know for certain what applies to you.
Vested RSUs are yours, no different from any other shares you own
Shares that have already vested are a different story entirely. They vested, were taxed as ordinary income at that point, and are sitting in your brokerage account exactly like any other stock you own. Leaving the company that granted them doesn’t touch your ownership, your cost basis, or your tax treatment. You can hold them, sell them, or do anything else you’d do with any other shares.
The one operational detail worth checking: some employers use a specific brokerage platform for equity compensation, and you may need to confirm your account transfers to your own name, or gets converted to a regular retail account, rather than staying tied to your former employer’s plan administrator.
Why this moment tends to be a wake-up call
Vesting happens gradually. One grant every quarter, a modest number of shares each time, that most people never sit down and add up the total. Leaving a job is often the first time someone actually looks at the full number, and the answer can be a surprise: years of steady vesting can quietly turn into a position that’s 30% or 40% of someone’s entire net worth, all riding on one company’s stock.
That’s the real reason “what happens to my RSUs” is worth understanding properly. Because if you’re not careful, you might not know you’re carrying a concentrated stock position.
What to actually do with the vested shares
Once you’ve confirmed what you’re holding, the shares themselves don’t need to be tied to your former employer any longer. If the position is small relative to the rest of your portfolio, selling and reinvesting is usually the straightforward move. There’s no tax reason to keep holding stock in a company you no longer work for.
If years of vesting have left you with a large, appreciated position, selling all of it at once means a real capital gains bill in a single tax year. That’s where an exchange fund becomes worth a look: instead of selling for cash, you contribute the shares to a pooled fund in exchange for a stake in a diversified pool, deferring the tax rather than triggering it immediately.
If this is the position you’re in, see if you qualify for the Glidepath fund — a way to diversify your portfolio and defer capital gains.
A quick note on stock options
RSUs and stock options aren’t the same thing, and they behave differently when you leave. Options generally come with an exercise window, often 90 days, after which unexercised vested options can expire. RSUs don’t have an exercise step at all. Vested RSU shares are simply yours, with no window and no deadline to act. If your equity package includes both, treat them as two separate decisions rather than one.
Bottom line: What happens to RSUs when you leave a company
Unvested RSUs go away when you leave. Vested RSUs stay yours, indefinitely, with no deadline attached.
Vested RSUs leave you with a decision to make. Sell to get cash or to diversify your portfolio, contribute to an exchange fund to defer tax, or, if you think the company’s still growing, hold.
Not sure whether your position qualifies for anything beyond a straight sale?