Author Topic: A few random shares...  (Read 2380 times)

tickledginger

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A few random shares...
« on: October 14, 2017, 01:21:00 PM »
I recently discovered I have about $3500 in stock shares I didn't know still existed. (They were gifts from relatives when I was growing up, and I thought they had been spent on my college education. Most of them had, but a few didn't, and they'd been sitting there reinvesting in the interim.)

I've been planning to dump them in with our other index fund investments, but I've gotten caught up in tracking them, trying to pull the trigger at a good time, first waiting for the quarterly dividend, then tracking the stock price, etc. Essentially, I need a face-punch so that I stop messing around with these relatively small fluctuations so I can get more out of where most of our money is working for us...right?

Additionally, I paid graduate school tuition this year so it seems like this would be a good year to make the move.

Thoughts? I'm very likely overthinking this. It's what I do.


EngineeringFI

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2017, 01:28:03 PM »
Do you have any debt? For example, consumer debt with a high interest rate? If so I'd sell those things immediately and throw it all at the debt, then enjoy the "guaranteed returns" of not paying interest on that portion of the debt anymore!

RWD

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2017, 01:29:23 PM »
Thoughts? I'm very likely overthinking this. It's what I do.

Sell them and invest according to your investment policy statement. $3,500 is a really small amount of money to be overthinking.

Maybe read the investment order post?
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/investment-order/

tickledginger

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2017, 02:25:15 PM »
No consumer debt besides graduate student loans, which are currently in their grace period, and we're actively throwing money at them before that ends in (supposedly) two years - and then we'll be able to refinance them at a lower rate. We're currently at half of what we borrowed, so I think we're making good progress there - we may even be able to pay them off before monthly payments start.

I've read the order many, many times...it's just the gamification in my head. I KNOW I'm getting caught up over a few dollars in fluctuations before pulling the trigger, but then my mind thinks about frugality and how $10 can make a difference...and I wait one more day, or week, or (soon to be) quarterly dividend. For so long, $3500 was a HUGE amount of money in my life, so I do appreciate the validation that I've grown beyond that point.

Thank you!

RWD

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2017, 02:50:11 PM »
Waiting for the dividend doesn't gain you anything. When dividends are paid the share price should drop accordingly.

tickledginger

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2017, 05:31:07 PM »
You're right. Thanks for the reinforcement.

Proud Foot

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Re: A few random shares...
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2017, 09:43:50 AM »
You can get more out of it if you are close to the ex-div date. Looking at McCormick (MKC) which is getting close to paying a dividend you can see where you could have made more money.

Div Declared 9/26 After Close, Close price: 96.81
Ex-Div Date 10/6, Close Price 98.18
                  10/7, Open Price 96.83
Date of Record 10/10, Open Price 97.21, Close Price 97.45
Current Price 99.22

If you sell now you will be up from the ex-div date and will still receive the 0.47/share dividend on 10/24.

As far as your actual investment, how does it fit into your IPS and what costs would there be to sell and reinvest those funds?