Unclear how the "deposit shares in 401(k)" step works. 401(k) contributions come from salary: you can't just put random things in your 401(k) except in specific

Unclear how the "deposit shares in 401(k)" step works. 401(k) contributions come from salary: you can't just put random things in your 401(k) except in specific circumstances (like a rollover). You can do in-kind transfers _out of_ an IRA (and maybe a 401(k), I'm not sure), but you can't do in-kind transfers _into_ a 401(k) or IRA. IRA contributions have to be cash, 401(k) contributions have to be cash comp. The employer could match with shares in some circumstances, but the point of the article is that Tesla is forgoing all matches, so that's not relevant.