[greenyoda]

Unfortunately, getting the $50K as a lump sum could have negative tax implications. If it pushes you into a higher tax bracket, you could end up paying more tax than if you got a little bit each year. Plus, you'll have the disappointment of seeing much less than $50K after all the taxes (income taxes, social security, etc.) are withheld.

Also, by having to wait five years for the money, you're giving up any possible investment gains and income that you could have made if you'd had the money earlier.

[nknight]

I'm not sure how easy this would be legally, but they might be able to set it up to drop most of the $50k into the employee's 401k.

The employer + employee contribution limits are currently $49k/year, so even if the employee is contributing their $16.5k max, you could mitigate a hell of a lot of the taxes.