Large financial decision, I need help deciding
For Context:
I will be 60 years old this September, here is my financial situation.
I currently make $150k annually, and should maintain at least that until I retire.
I'm currently in debt at $140k including some IRS troubles and student loans for my oldest daughter.
I currently have about $20k in savings, I've been slowly growing that while putting as much as I can monthly into the debt.
I believe I can have the debt cleared in 2-3 yrs max.
Now here's the situation: I have $400k in a "retirement" ESOP from a company I worked for for 30 years, I left that company 8 years ago. The value is based strictly off of company performance. The money generally is paid in 9 annual installments upon retirement so you don't even get a lump sum payment. The stock is not frozen, so when the company performs well it still grows, in the last 4 years it has grown $177k so it generally does well above any market or high yield accounts that I know of. My projections based on averages shows that account to grow to around $625k by the time I turn 65. However just like the market, if the company has a really bad year I stand to lose a lot and having every one of my eggs in one little basket doesn't seem smart.
I just received a letter from that company wanting to buy out the stock and do a one-time lump sum payment, something they have never done in the past. I don't know why, I'm thinking they need to free up some shares (I know they'll never "split" the stock) but the reason doesn't really matter. If I take the lump sum, I can wipe out every penny of debt I have and still have maybe $200k leftover that I can reinvest in something else.
I believe the smart choice is to go ahead and take the lump sum payment, clear the debt. With that done I can easily pump $5k a month into whatever I put the $200k into and I think I can be back at that $600k number by 65 if not more? Is this the right decision? or should I just stay my current path? Clearing the debt and do a max-savings plan seems like the right decision but I keep second guessing myself.