I like employer owned companies. These are companies where the employees both have shares and have say-so in the running of the company.

I assume that you are talking about a publicly traded company that is cajoling employees into buying stock.

There are many arguments against this. The first is that it puts workers in a situation where their entire financial future is in the fate of a single entity. If the employer goes bust; then workers lose both their jobs and their savings.

The above argument also applies to investing pension funds in the employer.

A second argument is that it can lead to accusations of insider trading.

I have mixed feelings on such insider trading. I've owned shares in my employer. I bought stock when they made good decisions and dumped stock when they made bad decisions. Was my judgment on management decisions insider information?

Well run companies often offer stock option programs. Employee stock options allow employees to share in the rewards of the company stock without the risk of putting all of one's savings in the same barrel as their income.

Since stock options provide a better way to get employees into the game, I would question any employer, aside from employee-owned firms, that pressure employees to buy stock.

!WINE