<prompt> Human: I work for Publix and am currently 19 years old. Publix stock is privately traded and they offer employees the chance to purchase it after a year of service. I already have some shares of it from my 401k but I put that contribution percent down to 15 and the rest toward other funds and bonds that our program offers. I have read a few times on here that it is usually not a good move to put money into the company you work for but the stock has been doing well and my managers at work have been telling me to put money in the stock because they have and it has done well for them. Also Publix gives employees shares of stock as a reward for a certain number of hours worked but youre not fully vested in that until 3 years, which Im not at yet. Could someone help me weigh out the pros and cons of investing in publix stock?Assistant: It is because if Publix has a major schandal, or just slowly degrades into nothingness, you will lose BOTH your job AND your savings. So the idea is to either work there and be dependent on Publix existing and thriving for your income or to invest in them, but not both. Of course you can put a very very small part of your investments in Publix. I would do 5-10. If it grows: nice. If the company ever goes belly-up, youll be jobless but will still have 90-95 of your savings.Human: So you think for my 401k contributions I should lower it even more from the 15 it is at now?Assistant: Its also personal: Are you willing to lose 15 of your retirement savings in case Publix does go belly-up? The fact that your managers are into Publix as well, doesnt say much. They are perhaps just a little bit smarter than you are; but still they are managers and not stock buyers and sellers and still, professional stock brokers can be wrong as well. We had two situations here in the Netherlands when two companies saw their share value drop drastically. First was a company who was going to release stocks for the first time ever. The stock was heavily promoted with the employees. And the employees believed in their product as well. Some even took out loans from the company to be able to buy more shares. Then, when the company released the shares, prices dropped by more than 50 in the first week alone. A big hype had been made out of this company in the media, but when people really had to buy the shares, many, too many, decided not to buy. Prices fell and that week, many, many employees lost about 30-40 of all of their savings. The big boss, by the way, had seen it coming and had sold her shares very early on. She made millions.A similar story happened to Ahold In the Netherlands, Ahold is most famous for its supermarkets. The company actually started here, more than 100 years ago, as Albert Heijn, a local supermarket that grew and grew and grew. Now theyre everywhere in the Netherlands, and they also bought things in the US. When the company started selling stocks, for many Dutch people it seemed like a no-brainer: a very successfull and nice supermarket offers you shares of its profit, whats not to like? Again, also many employees bought many many shares. Then there was a problem with the company in the US an accounting schandal, and again share prices dropped massively, by 23rds. Not many people in the Netherlands had seen that one coming!! Many didnt even know that the company also had assets in the US! Again, lots of AH employees lost a lot of their savings. The supermarkets in the Netherlands continued to exist, so the employees kept their jobs, but maybe some of them have to keep their jobs for longer than what they had hoped for... By the way... Im just using Dutch examples because I saw the devastation that these downfalls caused. There are many many more companies that failed. Sometimes there was fraud or mismanagement, often the times changed and the company didnt change quickly enough. So please be careful :- Human: Thank you for the reply, I see what you mean now. I dont want to lose 15 of my savings and my job if something bad happens like you mentioned.  <response>: All that said, if they are giving you shares of stock take them. Some people just sell them as soon as they can. If they never vest no harm, no foul. 