Quick story: In 1997 I thought it would be a great idea to invest $700 in Netscape which made Netscape Navigator, a browser software selling for $35 which allowed people to search the new thing called the Internet. Genius, I thought. Everyone will need the software to browse the Internet! Little did I know, Microsoft had invented Internet Explorer and had just begun to give it away. (Nice research on my part.)
Anyway, the stock plummets. AOL buys Netscape. Time Warner and AOL merge. AOL is worthless so Time Warner gets rid of it. And I'm left with a stock now worth $328. I gave up on it six years ago.
Here's the point: I bought the stock before online trading became the way to go. I have no idea how I found the brokerage house, but (I thought) they continue to send me statements of my failed stock. I finally opened one of the envelopes today and guess what: I am being charged a $35.00 "Inactive Account Maintenance Fee." (Scanned statement is above but still small.) A fee to manage an "inactive" account?
So I'm mad at the brokerage house but, for the life of me, I couldn't remember how I had found them in the first place. But I also knew that their envelopes had changed a few years back, so I finally looked up on the Internet who exactly "SIPC", the name on my statement, was. OH MY!
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10.05.2006
What The?
Quick story: In 1997 I thought it would be a great idea to invest $700 in Netscape which made Netscape Navigator, a browser software selling for $35 which allowed people to search the new thing called the Internet. Genius, I thought. Everyone will need the software to browse the Internet! Little did I know, Microsoft had invented Internet Explorer and had just begun to give it away. (Nice research on my part.)
Anyway, the stock plummets. AOL buys Netscape. Time Warner and AOL merge. AOL is worthless so Time Warner gets rid of it. And I'm left with a stock now worth $328. I gave up on it six years ago.
Here's the point: I bought the stock before online trading became the way to go. I have no idea how I found the brokerage house, but (I thought) they continue to send me statements of my failed stock. I finally opened one of the envelopes today and guess what: I am being charged a $35.00 "Inactive Account Maintenance Fee." (Scanned statement is above but still small.) A fee to manage an "inactive" account?
So I'm mad at the brokerage house but, for the life of me, I couldn't remember how I had found them in the first place. But I also knew that their envelopes had changed a few years back, so I finally looked up on the Internet who exactly "SIPC", the name on my statement, was. OH MY!
