My parents gave me Google and Microsoft stocks years ago… Should I let them ride or start diversifying?

The stocks my parents gave me have grown a lot, and I’m wondering what to do next. Should I hold onto them and let them grow more, or would it be smart to sell a few shares and use the money elsewhere?

I was thinking about selling enough shares to get $7,000 to max out my Roth IRA and maybe invest in VOO for a few years.

What would you do? Is it better to keep riding these winners or start diversifying now?

120 shares of Google from decades ago? So… do you have thousands of shares now because of splits? Or did they just buy a few shares back then and splits brought it up to 120?

Nev said:
120 shares of Google from decades ago? So… do you have thousands of shares now because of splits? Or did they just buy a few shares back then and splits brought it up to 120?

If it’s from 2014, 120 shares would’ve turned into 2,400 shares now. That’s like half a million dollars. Amazing investment if it’s true. I’ve started doing something similar with my kids’ savings by putting it all into AIQ.

Nev said:
120 shares of Google from decades ago? So… do you have thousands of shares now because of splits? Or did they just buy a few shares back then and splits brought it up to 120?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Google has had huge splits over the years. Maybe they bought 3 shares in 2000 and it grew from there?

@Zephyr
My parents bought my brother 5 shares of Apple in 1998. Now he has over 500 shares thanks to splits. Crazy how time works on these things.

Nev said:
120 shares of Google from decades ago? So… do you have thousands of shares now because of splits? Or did they just buy a few shares back then and splits brought it up to 120?

They probably started with a few shares, and the splits just did their thing over the years. That’s how these numbers add up.

Hold onto them. Use fresh money to invest in VOO.

Bennett said:
Hold onto them. Use fresh money to invest in VOO.

Same. That’s what I’ve been doing.

Bennett said:
Hold onto them. Use fresh money to invest in VOO.

Why would you do that? If someone handed you $500K today, would you put it all into just two companies?

Bennett said:
Hold onto them. Use fresh money to invest in VOO.

Why just VOO? I split my investments between QQQ and SPY too.

Brook said:

Bennett said:
Hold onto them. Use fresh money to invest in VOO.

Why just VOO? I split my investments between QQQ and SPY too.

Why hold two S&P 500 ETFs? Isn’t that redundant?

@Ollie
It’s called diversification! :joy:

We need a screenshot! I’m dying to know how much these stocks have grown.

Cody said:
We need a screenshot! I’m dying to know how much these stocks have grown.

Same here! Would love to see it.

Hold onto them. No taxes until you sell, and I don’t see these companies going downhill anytime soon.

Cary said:
Hold onto them. No taxes until you sell, and I don’t see these companies going downhill anytime soon.

If your income is low enough to qualify for the 0% capital gains bracket, this might actually be the perfect time to sell and diversify a bit.

@Zeph
Fair point. In that case, it might make sense to sell a little.

Cary said:
@Zeph
Fair point. In that case, it might make sense to sell a little.

I’d sell enough to diversify into VOO while keeping the tax bill low.

If I were you, I’d hold onto them and use new money to start investing in an S&P index fund.

Keep them for your kids someday. That’s what I’d do.