Please Help me Re:Stocks/Shares.......

feelinglikeathicko

:hello: to Everyone

I really need help!

My husband bought some shares via his company six years ago. Neither he nor I have any idea about shares and suchlike. When I asked why he signed up to buy them, his explanation was that everyone else bought some so he did (at this point you're thinking what I bright man I married, right). He doesn't have the slightest clue what he's bought or what to do with em (in my defense, it was before he met me!).

So, I need some basic advice. He owns 42 shares plus 168 stock 'options'.

He receives regular 'portfolio' updates but it's all in french, just to confuse me more.

Please can someone help.
1) What are stock 'options'?
2) If he wants to sell his shares, what should he do?

Just any advice to fill me in on this area would be very much appreciated

Thank You

Best Wishes

Thicko

Quarantz

I could help you, at least with the translating. I did send you a PM on how to get in touch with me.

Debt_Free_Chick

An option is an opportunity to buy shares, usually at a specified price and often on a specified date (or within a specified period).

When the date comes around, you look at the market price of the shares i.e. what you would get if you had shares and sold them. You then look at the price specified to buy them, on the option. If the specified price is lower than the market price, then you would buy the shares stated in the option and sell them immediately making a tidy profit!

Options like this only work if the market price on the day you can exercise the option is higher than the buying price specified in the option.

When you exercise the option to buy the shares and then sell them immediately, all of this is usually taken care of by the administrator of the option plan - so you rarely have to find the money to buy them outright and you don't have to hold on to them.

Of course, if you did want to hold on to them you could do so, in the hope that the price would rise even further or that they would pay good dividends.

Does the company not have a plain english guide to the stock option plan?

feelinglikeathicko

Really appreciate your replies.

Quarantz - That's really helpful & good to know someone's there for any translation. I'm still going through the papers now so I'll keep your email for future use - Thanks so much.

Debt_Free_Chick - Nice simple explanation, especially regarding the stock options, I understand a bit more now. The price of his actual shares has dropped dramatically since he bought them. The price the company are offering the options at are 42 euros, when I looked on the company website they are currently worth just 12.77 euros so I will stay away from taking up their offer I think! They just bought another company so the shares are starting to rise so I'll bide my time for a bit.
As far as the Company having a plain English guide, not that I know of. My husband no longer works for the company. Once a year he gets a portfolio statement - all in euros, all in french. Once a year he get a shareholders invitation to vote (on what, who knows?). There's a company that acts like a third party that keeps all his info which I can access online and I've applied for an access number & password. Once I get that maybe it'll start to fall into place. Please forgive me - Maths and french we're never my thing!

Anyway, Thanks to both of you, much appreciated.

:T

BJC_2

Who is the compay? Do a bit of research into them, is it large? Is it multi-national? Do they pay a dividend? When do the options expire? Why did share price dive (was it because of the takeover)?
In my experience companies that offer employees shares and/or options are inviting employees to partake in the furture of the company. Look at the workers who eventually owned shares in stagecoach, they made a fortune in a company that was on the verge of bankrupcy.