The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: maizefolk on September 14, 2018, 05:20:49 PM
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The front has very fancy printing, company logo, state company is incorporated in and the following text.
This certifies that:
MaizeMan
1234 Main St
Anytown, USA
is the owner of **XX** fully paid and non-assessable shares of common stock, $.XX par value per share of $CorporationName transferable only on the books of the Corporation by the holder hereof in person or by duly authorized attorney upon surrender of this Certification properly endorsed.
This certificate is not valid until countersigned by the Transfer Agent and register by the Registrar.
In Witness Whereof, the said Corporation has caused this Certificate to be signed by its facsimile signatures of its duly authorized officers and sealed with the facsimile seal of the Corporation.
Then I have signatures, a corporate seal, and countersignature/registration signature. The back as a fillable form that reminds me of a car title for transferring the shares to another party (although it states the signatures must be guaranteed by an eligible guarantor institution).
Ideally, if these represent real shares, I'd like to sell them, or at least get them into an online brokerage. But I'm completely lost as to what to do with a paper stock certificate, it took me a while to convince myself that what I'm holding actually is a paper stock certificate (I'm still only about 90% sure so feel free to tell me if any of the above test/description sounds fishy), and my googling skills are failing me, mostly turning up cases of people finding expired paper certificates when going through grand parent or great-grand parents estates.
Additional context: $CorporationName is publicly traded. The certificate was issued earlier this year, not something found in inheritance from a great grandparent. The number of shares * the current online price would mean the certificate was valued the mid-four figures, so neither a life changing amount of money, nor so little that I'm inclined to just file it in a drawer somewhere and and forget it.
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Where did you get it?
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Sounds legit to me. I think if you take it to a brokerage they should be able to help you convert it into electronic form.
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I used to have paper stock certificates and am pretty sure I sent them insured certified mail to Vanguard. I think I had to sign the back signing it over to the brokerage.
Call your brokerage and ask to be sure you sign the right place.
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Where did you get it?
Receive in the mail with a brief letter saying "Thank you for your service on board XXX of $WhollyOwnedSubsidiaryCorp from date A to date B. Enclosed is a certificate for XX shares of $CorporationName."
I did in fact service on that board just didn't realize I was being compensated for it.
Sounds legit to me. I think if you take it to a brokerage they should be able to help you convert it into electronic form.
I used to have paper stock certificates and am pretty sure I sent them insured certified mail to Vanguard. I think I had to sign the back signing it over to the brokerage.
Call your brokerage and ask to be sure you sign the right place.
Okay, unfortunately my brokerage is online only, but I can certainly call them and see if they'll accept it, and, if they will, send it by certified and insured mail.
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Yep, legit. Don’t lose it, it’s a royal pain in the ass to replace it.
Make note for your records of the stock number, issue date, number of shares, etc. when you sell will it have capital gains? Do you have any capital loss to offset taxes if needed? If you have a stock you were thinking of dumping you might be able to ‘optimize’ from a tax perspective.
Woohoo! Monies!
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Good point to record all the relevant details before it goes into the mail.
I should indeed have some capital losses this year that should more than offset gains from the new shares. Although it occurs to me that maybe these get taxed as income if they are really in payment for services rendered. Anyway, out of the blue unexpected free money is a good surprise, regardless of the ultimate tax rate.
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Good point to record all the relevant details before it goes into the mail.
Or a box when you move across the country. Or so I’ve heard......
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Good point to record all the relevant details before it goes into the mail.
I should indeed have some capital losses this year that should more than offset gains from the new shares. Although it occurs to me that maybe these get taxed as income if they are really in payment for services rendered. Anyway, out of the blue unexpected free money is a good surprise, regardless of the ultimate tax rate.
Nope. Capital gains. Obviously short term if you sell this year.
Call and ask how to do it right, but send them to whatever brokerage firm you use for your taxable account if you have one.