Leaving Google: what happens to your GSUs and benefits?
By Vaibhav Goel, registered financial advisor (SEC record) · Formerly a product director at DoorDash, ex-Google, ex-Microsoft · LinkedIn
Updated September 17, 2026
Unvested GSUs are generally forfeited when your service ends, under Alphabet’s filed 2024 agreement. That makes your last day a financial decision as much as a career one: get the service-end date and the treatment of the next vest in writing before you name it.
Picking your last day
A departure two weeks before a vest can cost more than a month of salary, so work backward from the date. Alphabet’s filed 2024 agreement provides for forfeiture of unvested GSUs on your service-end date, with a stated death exception.[10] Your award, its amendments, any country provisions, and a separation agreement can all change the answer, so get your own dates in writing.
Before you choose a date
Line up every grant’s next vest against the calendar. If a vest falls within a few weeks of when you want to go, the cost of staying is a few weeks; the cost of leaving is the vest.
Before you give notice
Ask for the effective service-end date and how it treats the next vest, in writing. If a leave might come first, read the leave policy for your country: vesting during leave follows it, and the agreement does not print it.
Your last two weeks
Download every award statement, your cost-basis records, and payroll history while your accounts still work. Check the beneficiary on your stock plan and 401(k).
Your last day
Unvested GSUs are forfeited as of this date. Vested shares are yours and stay in your brokerage account; the trading policy still applies while you hold inside information.
After
Health coverage: continuation coverage, a partner’s plan, or the individual market, each with an enrollment window. 401(k): you can leave the balance in Google’s plan or move it; balances of $5,000 or less are cashed out automatically, so a small account needs a decision before that happens.
Leave and forfeiture terms from the award agreement; the 401(k) cash-out threshold from the plan’s 2023 annual return; coverage paths from the Department of Labor.[10][33][20]
The death exception, and the beneficiary form
On death, every unvested GSU vests immediately and the shares are delivered to your designated beneficiary within 30 days. With no designation they go to your estate, which means probate before anyone can sell. Designating a beneficiary in your stock-plan account takes a few minutes and is the single cheapest piece of estate planning a Googler can do.[10]
If you are taking a break
Budget the living costs, the health coverage, and the tax on whatever you sell to fund it, without assuming another refresh grant. Alphabet is often the largest position of someone who has been there a while, so the question is which lots pay for the time off and what they cost to sell, not whether the stock will be higher when you come back.
A common question
What happens to unvested Google equity if I leave?
They are generally forfeited. The most recent RSU agreement Alphabet has filed publicly provides for forfeiture of unvested GSUs when service ends, with a stated death exception. Your own award, its amendments, country provisions, and any separation agreement can change that, so confirm the effective service-end date before relying on an upcoming vest.
Connect this to your wider plan
Meet your financial advisor
Simple Money Advisors LLC is a California state-registered investment adviser.
Vaibhav Goel
Co-founder of Simple Money · Registered financial advisor · SEC record
Investment adviser representative, registered with the State of California.
Vaibhav spent fifteen years building products at Google, DoorDash and Microsoft before becoming a licensed advisor. He works with people in tech on the whole picture, equity, taxes, investments and cash flow, as one plan rather than four.
Vaibhav Goel on LinkedInA complimentary conversation about your goals and whether our services are the right fit. No obligation.