I know it’s not polite to talk about money, but this one hurts and I have to get it out.
I received an email from my investment company telling me that my “withdrawal” had been processed and a check sent to me. Having requested no transactions I was worried and immediately logged in to see what was happening. Well, it seems that the last of the financial hits from the failure of Mega bank has been finalized in my world.
Earlier in the year I transferred all the actual money from my dead 401k into a new investment fund and it is nicely producing a tiny growth and will eventually be the nest egg it once was. However, when this transaction occurred they didn’t touch the company stock in my portfolio. As a no longer traded item, I’m not sure anyone knew what to do with it – so it sat there.
They finally figured it out and I have been cut a check for a little over $135.00. This will be a nice addition to the upstairs TV fund or a small addition to my short term savings fund but looking at the yearend statement for the fund in total I want to throw up. This tiny little check means that I am “recouping” $0.00376 cents on the $1 of my original holdings. If you’ve got a calculator, I’m sure you can figure out the starting figure. I’d post it, but it makes me too sad.
I know that in the overall course of things, I got off pretty lucky. I walked away with a nice severance, I obtained work right away and am ending the year on very solid footing. I am NOT WHINING. However, this financial loss is real and extends to every shareholder of Megabank stock who didn’t think to sell when the price dropped from $38 a share to $16, and then poof. It’s ‘nice’ that the FDIC seized the bank and sold it for pennies on the dollar to a bigger more stable bank with a more stable portfolio. People who banked at the bank were “secure” in their insured holdings, but the investors… got screwed.
I was at a party earlier in the month and ran into someone I knew briefly at the bank and we had the usual catch up conversation. How are you? Are you working? Is that your choice? And for many people the answers are, I’m good, I miss the people at the bank, I’m (am /not) working (at xxx.com) and I think I (love / hate) it. Many people are not as employed as they were before and have embraced the change. Some have chosen totally different paths, and some are still looking for the right position. This gal, isn’t working (after not looking at all until the fall) and is frankly ANGRY about it. She wanted to know if I was considering suing. Sue!? Who? The state court already said the shareholders didn’t have a case and that the FDIC had every right to seize the bank. (I find it fishy that it all went down less than 10 days before TARP monies were offered…but that’s a different thing.) So, no, I haven’t thought about suing. I lost a lot of money and a job I liked working with a team of people I respected and it is done. Being angry doesn’t change anything.
I think the only thing I can do is learn from it. Lesson 1: don’t buy the CRAP the CEO and CFO tell you. When the stock starts to freefall, get out. Lesson 2: Don’t invest more $$ in the company you work for than you’re prepared to lose. I was only 20% invested in my 401k in Megabank stock. I now see that that was too much and should I be lucky enough to work for a traditional employer again with a 401k I’ll cap that % at a lower rate, especially if stocks are part of my compensation package. (If they are giving me stock, maybe buying more is a silly idea.) And, don’t hold the compensation stock too long. The stock I was “given” as part of my compensation package that I cashed out I turned into my condo which was a very good investment for me. Had I held it, it would have been worth nothing – or rather 0.00376 cents. ICK. Sure I paid taxes on it, but tax is better than a pot full of nothing.
PS – don’t take investment advice from me. I’m just rambling here.
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