US Shares Warning

Caroline_a

About 10 years ago I worked for a US company who were privately owned. They were going to float on the New York stock exchange and so we were offered shares at a cheap rate. I bought some, the company went public and I just left the shares to do whatever shares do!

I check every so often on what they are priced at, and noticed the other week that they'd gone up a bit. So that, combined with the level of the dollar against the pound made me think about selling them. Long story short, I eventually discovered that my shares had gone into something called 'escheatment'. What this meant was that one of the US states had grabbed my shares! Now, you can get them back, but it involves lots of hoops to jump through. I have no idea how long it will take, but it's definitely annoying that they can just grab your assets without so much as a by your leave!

I will keep you updated on what happens - I've now sent in all documentation required, but a warning for anyone in the UK who happens to have some US shares!

Le_Kirk

This should only happen when someone dies intestate and is to prevent assets sitting there unused and untouchable. Have you died and not informed the proper authorities? More likely as you did not make contact for such a long time, they have decided that such is the case. Hope you recover your shares.

meer53

Letting shares "do whatever shares do" is never a good idea.

Caroline_a

meer53 wrote: »

Letting shares "do whatever shares do" is never a good idea.

No, probably not, but for most of last year I was going through cancer treatment, so can't say I was really very interested in doing anything with them!

And no, I'm pretty sure I'm not dead....

ThumbRemote

meer53 wrote: »

Letting shares "do whatever shares do" is never a good idea.

Given that shares are a long-term investment, it can be a perfectly sensible idea.

RuthnJasper

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Have you died and not informed the proper authorities?

I had no idea that the mystical East of England was that mystical!
x

meer53

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Given that shares are a long-term investment, it can be a perfectly sensible idea.

I think the OP's post proves otherwise. If i tied my money up in shares in a foreign company i'd check on them pretty regularly. Or is that just me ?

shaun_from_Africa

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Given that shares are a long-term investment, it can be a perfectly sensible idea.

If you buy shares and then simply forget about them and let them "do whatever shares do", it means that you could miss a company being bought out or them buying out another company, a company going into liquidation or a company whose share price suddenly rockets up or down for one reason or another.

Yes, shares are often (but not always) a long term investment and any investment where the value can fluctuate massively should always have an eye kept on it.

The OP's case is a perfect example of why it doesn't make sense to follow your recommendation.

bairn7

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If you buy shares and then simply forget about them and let them "do whatever shares do", it means that you could miss a company being bought out or them buying out another company, a company going into liquidation or a company whose share price suddenly rockets up or down for one reason or another.

Yes, shares are often (but not always) a long term investment and any investment where the value can fluctuate massively should always have an eye kept on it.

The OP's case is a perfect example of why it doesn't make sense to follow your recommendation.

Wouldn't most of the situations you mention involve some form of investor communication and/or voting notification? In which case, the OP should have received communications keeping her updated on the performance of the shares and any large events which could affect her holding.

I suspect the OP did not keep a correspondence address up to date or something to that effect.

Caroline_a

Ok - I did keep an eye on the shares - I still have a few friends who work there, plus I kept an eye on what they were trading at. Also, my address/contact details haven't changed during this time. I just didn't do anything with them, ie sell them! The shares had dropped to a couple of dollars above what they floated at, so I was waiting for them to rise - which they have now!

I've had no correspondence from the company apart from invitations to attend AGMs - which, given they are across the Pond I tended to ignore! I certainly had no indication that the shares had been seized!

My point about making this post was that I thought I could treat them like UK shares and happily sit back and watch them go up and down.... apparently not!

meer53

Caroline_a wrote: »

Ok - I did keep an eye on the shares - I still have a few friends who work there, plus I kept an eye on what they were trading at. Also, my address/contact details haven't changed during this time. I just didn't do anything with them, ie sell them! The shares had dropped to a couple of dollars above what they floated at, so I was waiting for them to rise - which they have now!

I've had no correspondence from the company apart from invitations to attend AGMs - which, given they are across the Pond I tended to ignore! I certainly had no indication that the shares had been seized!

My point about making this post was that I thought I could treat them like UK shares and happily sit back and watch them go up and down.... apparently not!

This could happen to any shares, UK or US.