how to cash out of an esop
being vested doesn t necessarily mean you can cash out of your esop generally it s only possible to redeem these shares if you terminate employment retire die or become disabled age is often an important factor distributions are rarely permitted to people under 59 or 55 if they have left the company if there are distributions before these ages they would normally be subject to a 10 tax penalty specific information about how to cash out of an esop can be found in the terms listed in the plan s guidelines some esops may distribute dividend payments to employees who are still at the company other in service distributions may be done by some plans as well esop and other forms of employee ownershipstock ownership plans provide packages that act as additional employee benefits and embody the corporate culture that company managements want to maintain other versions of employee ownership include direct purchase programs stock options restricted stock phantom stock and stock appreciation rights 