Standard Life shares - sell & pay debt/keep?

sammy115

Forgot to say - the other good news is that I will have some shares from Standard Life when they demutalise. Now, previously in another life I would have sold them and spent the money. The new me is wondering what to do?

I could

1. Sell the shares - not many only 253 bit of money - and pay it off my debt.
2. Keep the shares long term - get some bonus shares after a year.
3. Keep the shares short term - see if I get a bit more money for them in six months.

I know I am in debt but i am hoping that if my employment tribunal pays out I may not be in debt this time next year, but the DFW in me says sell now and pay off a bit of debt.

Are there any financial whizzes out there who might be able to tell me what to do.

Am going to post this over on pensions and investments anyway.

maxamos

I'm not a financial expert by any means (wouldn't be on these boards if I was) but I heard that with them listing on the stock market there may be a possibilty of someone taking them over which would mean it would be wise to hold on to the shares for a bit.

I'd recommend reading as many finacial sites as you can as there is quite a lot talk about this share issue at the moment.

themaccas

I think we are going to sell our 500 shares, I can't be bothered to see if and when the price rises. Standard Life have continuously let us down and I don't see them behaving differently in the future. Any money we get will go to pay towards the patch of land we are buying next to our house.

Johnhowell

Sammy,

Have you been asked which format you would like the share certifcate?

I would get a paper certificate rather than opting for an electronic shares holding account.

When Northern Rock floated I got a holding account run by Bank of Scotland (I think) and when I wanted to sell they only traded on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I lost a few quid because the price changed over those few days.

A certificate in your hand is as good as cash - you can walk into a high street bank and cash it - obviously check for comissioning fees, etc.

If you get the money straight away instead of shares there may be no fees.

John

Anniek1969

I'm with you themaccas, we've got 243 shares and an endowment that looks like we might make about £1000 if we want to wait another 11yrs, totally lost faith in them so considering taking the money for the shares and cashing in the policy. Took a risk a few years ago with DH company shares and lost out big time so I don't think I'll bother taking the risk with them, only works out about £500 but it would be very usefull.

sammy115

I woke up and decided to take the money. It will pay my capital one card off in one fell swoop and the satisfaction of that is worth more than a few measly quid in a year or twos time.