Many investors buy stocks for the long run. After purchasing good, solid companies, they sit on their investments year after year in hopes of seeing gains compound.
But even for these buy-and-hold investors, the “long run” rarely equates to “forever.” Money Talks News reader Jane M. worries that she might be stuck with some blue-chip stocks for the rest of her life.
Jane asks Money Talks News:
“I have a few stocks (Ford and Disney) and I want to sell them. The brokerage I used to buy them is no longer in business.
I brought my certificates to a brokerage company that’s in town. But they said they don’t do selling. But if I want to buy more, they can help me. So, am I stuck with these for the rest of my life? Please help.”
Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson, CPA, points out that Jane is referring to the old-fashioned paper certificates that once were issued to people who bought shares of stocks. Today, of course, shares are held electronically.
When Jane brought her paper certificates to a local brokerage firm, the company said it couldn’t accept them. That is why she’s wondering if she is stuck with the certificates — and her stocks — forever.
Fortunately, that’s not the case. To fix the problem, Stacy — a former Wall Street stock broker — says Jane can contact the stocks’ transfer agent directly. In the case of Ford and Disney, that agent is Computershare. Stacy continues:
“They can sell the shares for you or convert them to electronic form. Or, your brokerage firm can also do that if you mail them in with a medallion signature guarantee.”
A medallion signature guarantee is a special type of stamp that guarantees the authenticity of a signature when someone is attempting to transfer securities like stocks.
If there’s another brokerage company with an office in Jane’s town, she can walk in with her certificates and the company should be able to handle her situation, Stacy says in his video response to Jane.
If not, Jane will need to get a medallion signature guarantee and mail the certificates to either the transfer agent or a non-local brokerage firm willing to accept them.
About Ask Money Talks News
Ask Money Talks News is a series published by Money Talks News. While the articles are freely available, the ability to submit questions is available exclusively to regular readers of the Money Talks Newsletter.
Subscribe here and follow along to have an opportunity to submit a question. In the newsletters, we periodically solicit questions and publish instructions for how to submit them.
We can’t answer every question we receive, of course, but we do prioritize questions that apply to a majority of our audience. You can find answers to past questions on the Ask Money Talks News page.
Add a Comment