<prompt> Human: my employer offers employee stock purchase plan at 5 discount? I am thinking about starting to invest in stocks. I am not sure if employee stock purchase plan is a good idea.Thanks for the feedback. This is my new employer and the benefits packet included the employee stock purchase plan. The employer allows the buy in quarterly. We can buy up 25k worth after tax dollars. I am not sure on restrictions such as how long do we need to hold it for? This would be a really great if they offered dividends but sadly they dont  <response>: The general advice about owning significant amounts of stock in the company you work for is that its not a great idea, sort of putting all your eggs in one basket. That said, you might be able to use the ESPP to start an investment fund. There are a couple things you need to knowconsider though. 1. Are the ESPP stocks vested over time, or are you required to hold them for a certain period of time before selling? If so, keep that in mind.2. The discount offered by your employer will be taxed as regular income when you sell. If you are still working at your company at the end of the year, they normally report that on your W-2, but they might not. If you are still interested, enroll in the program and then just sell the company stock as soon as you can. Put that money in whatever stocksinvestments you want after that. Or hold some of the company stock if you think itll do well. 