Keep or sell shares

silver7

Hi sadly my Mum passed away on Christmas day and I am now in the process of sorting out her estate, probate(DIY) with the help of MSE etc. She currently has shares in Bt, Santander, Lloyds, International Power and Barclays and I am unsure whether to just get them transferred into my name or sell them. Don't have much idea about shares and wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advise. Thanks in anticipation.

sabretoothtigger

I dont view those as high risk or especially over valued right now. Some would advise against any ownership of banks by retail customers but you already own them, they are higher risk.
If FTSE gets to 6000 then think about selling and buying a tracker instead which is safer or do that now if you cant risk any loss of value

Masomnia

If you need the money you may as well sell, in any case you haven't lost anything.

If you don't need the money I reckon it's worth hanging on, you never know they may increase in value a bit. The dividends could work out well in future too.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

middlepuss

Unless you need the cash I'd be inclined to keep the shares.

I guess you know that all you have to do is send off a share transfer form to each company's registrar along with the grant of probate.

RetiredInThailand

silver7 wrote: »

..... shares in Bt, Santander, Lloyds, International Power and Barclays and I am unsure whether to just get them transferred into my name or sell them.

Most of those are currently at a fairly low historic value, so (assuming they dont collapse completely, which is always possible, especially for two of them) they can really only go up. It may take many years though.

However you leave out the most important information: what proportion of your savings do these shares represent? And how many years income is that? ie If you lose the lot next week, would it make much difference to your entire savings pot, and could you earn it back quickly?
How you act should be based on this.