It literally is as simple as being free money - there is some added variance but that goes in both directions and you're only considering one. It is a 50% gain too... if you invest 10k and you get an extra 5k on top that is an additional 50% added to your investment. A loss of 33% can wipe out that gain, unless there is something drastically wrong with your company at the moment (and there might be, given the current climate) then I don't see the issue... and if that were the case then I guess this scheme is moot anyway as the bigger risk is to your job itself, ergo you perhaps should be looking to jump ship.
I appreciate you sharing your point of view so hoping I'm not coming across as argumentative. I'm just not much of a gambler and this feels like a gamble. Here's some simple numbers, which I'm happy to have corrected if I'm way off.
Invest £1000
Match is £500 less 40% tax so match is actually £300 (that's 30% of my outlay)
Total pot is £1300. If the shares dip 25% then I'm losing.
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