Stocks have 3 values; A) tradeable on a Stock exchange. (Capital value) B) income from dividends (income value) C) voting rights (direction value) If the co

Stocks have 3 values; A) tradeable on a Stock exchange. (Capital value) B) income from dividends (income value) C) voting rights (direction value) If the company is not publically traded, then Capital value more or less disappears (can be assumed to be 0). Income value is almost always the primary use-case for this kind of share. Usually "employee held shares" have limited or restricted voting rights. (An extreme short-term position might be "liquidate the business and divide the spoils", which might be popular if the majority is nearing retirement, but is clearly not good for business survival.) These shares should in no way ever be considered as part of your retirement plan. Period.