5044 Brush fire 3 - investment account

Sunday, January 17, 2016

"The beauty and intricacy of a person's mind has little or nothing to do with outward appearances."

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First, some extraneous thoughts:

Microsoft keeps urging me in popups to "reserve my copy of Windows 10".  Why "reserve"?  Are they in danger of running out of copies?

The huge Power Ball lottery.   I am amused by the people who accuse ticket buyers of being mathematically challenged, pointing out the enormous odds of winning.  So what?  Even though I never buy lottery tickets, I don't see those who do decide to take a chance on huge winnings as mathematically illiterate.  The way I see it, someone has to win, someone will win, and I have exactly the same chance of winning as that person.  So two dollars is not too much to share that person's chance at a billion or two.  (However, I don't have the same attitude toward buying tickets every day.  There are better ways to spend that money.)

Anybody else getting whiffs of McCarthyism from the Republican candidates?  (An interesting detail -- Joseph McCarthy's grave is on the banks of the Fox River.)

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Back in November I got a call from Piper.  He was sending me some papers he wanted me to sign.  He's moving his clients' accounts to a different custodian.

So, the papers arrived.  Currently the custodian of my account is a well-known Wall Street bank.  I didn't recognize the name on the forms to which he wants to move my account.  He's also changing the brokerage that holds his license.  As of January 1, his relationship with the old brokerage ends.  I don't know the right terms for all this stuff, or the nature of the relationships, but that doesn't really matter.

Anyway, having never heard of this new custodian, I did some research, and I really really don't want to transfer to them.  This issue has consumed a lot of physical and emotional energy lately, and I'm tired of it.

They're in Alabama.  (Immediate bells went off.  Alabama?  Would I be depending on graduates of the Alabama public school system?) A bit over a year ago they fired several top executives because, uh, somebody was using company funds for yachts, summer homes, vacations, or whatever.  Digging a bit deeper I get the impression that this company is a good-old-boys country club run for the sole benefit of the good-old-boys who figured they'd found a goose that lays golden eggs with very little attention required.  

Lots of other unpleasant details.  

The most damning, as far as I'm concerned, is that in the summer of 2014 an employee took a laptop home and lost it in a restaurant bathroom.  The damning part is that client records (personal info, SS#s, account numbers, account activity, etc) are kept on the laptops, the employees are allowed to take them home, and nothing was encrypted.  A lower-level employee said that purchase of an encryption package had been submitted for the budget every year, and every year it had been rejected, "no funds in the budget" for that.  But check out what the executives are paid.  This is a clear indication to me that the safety of client data is very low on their priority list.

They've got some large nasty lawsuits going on, some from those fired executives, at least one multi-million dollar suit alleging shady business practices, and so on.  Of course, they might even prevail.  I don't care.  What matters is that there have been some very bad decisions made, and the culture of the company is such that an employee does not feel free to bring problems to management's attention for fear of being seen as "not a team player", or "rocking the boat", which is never a good thing.  They were fined (a piddling amount!) for the lack of encryption, and I have been unable to find anything about what they're doing about security now.  Doesn't matter.  I am not convinced that the attitude that lead to the cavalier treatment of client data is not endemic.  It'll crop up somewhere else, in some other form.

After a hundred years in business as a private company, they've been bought out by one of those fast-growing folks who snap up "companies in turmoil", as these folks have been described, at a bargain price, such purchase frequently to raid the assets or at least to absorb them.  This could be a good thing, but according to what I have been able to find out about the agreement, they are going to be allowed to operate autonomously.  I presume under the same management.  Not a good thing.

I asked Piper why he chose this particular bunch, and what I got back was a long screed about how wonderful the new brokerage firm is (is that what you call the folks he now works under?), but nothing about the custodial idiots in Alabama.  So, then I did the research on the brokers, and they're fine. 

So, no, I'm not going to sign the forms to move my account.  If Piper can't handle it where it currently is (does it matter who he's licensed through?  Maybe it affects how he's paid?) then, well, oops.

Piper is getting frantic.  In my latest email to him (I won't talk to him on the phone anymore, especially not about this) Friday I asked what our options are.  I know him well enough to know that now he's going to go into high gear to convince me, but my mind is made up, heels are dug in, and I really don't want to discuss it further.

Up in the air right now.

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Something else I know about Piper -- "research" is a foreign concept to him.  He used to send me some of the most outrageous emails, you know, those mass mailings forwarded all over the world that originate with satirical "news" sites as truth, but are obvious blatant lies to anyone with half a brain, but believed by people who WANT to believe them.

I always responded to those with articles and sites that refute them, usually Snopes.com, but he never learned, and I finally had to get a bit insulting -- "please, before making yourself look like a total ass, do some minimal research before forwarding this crap".  He stopped including me in his distribution, but I'll bet he still believes that crap.

So, I'll bet he took someone's recommendation in choosing that Alabama bunch without ever doing any research of his own. 
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4099 I hate utility companies

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

-- Plato --

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Last Friday I had lunch with Piper.  I didn't want to talk business, but he did mention that he thought I'd be very happy with the way we weathered the storm.  I reiterated that I wasn't worried, hadn't been worried, and no I don't need details.  Corporate profits are still at an all-time high.  It'll all come back.

Today I got another report from Progress Energy.  I own a bunch of something called "Contingent Value Obligations".  The damn things are worthless.  We owned stock in Florida Progress, inherited from Jay's mother, and sixteen years ago somebody pulled a quick one, and we got CVOs for our stock.  This is an explanation:

In connection with the acquisition of Florida Progress Corporation, Progress Energy issued 98.6 million CVOs. Each CVO represents the right of the holder to receive contingent payments based on after-tax cash flows above certain levels of four synthetic fuel facilities purchased by subsidiaries of Florida Progress Corporation in October 1999. The CVOs are debt instruments and, under GAAP, are valued at market value. Unrealized gains and losses from changes in market value are recognized in earnings each quarter.  

We're supposed to get checks from the profits of the subsidiaries, when the profits are above a certain level.  Well, in the past sixteen years, due I believe to creative bookkeeping, those subsidiaries have yet to show a profit!  (Above that certain level.)  So all these years later, we/I have yet to see a penny from the "taking" of our stock.  There's got to be something wrong with that.  We're supposed to believe that Progress Energy is still hanging on to subsidiaries that aren't making a profit, and haven't in sixteen years?  Or perhaps that "level" was set ridiculously high?  Every so often I get a letter wherein PE offers to buy the CVOs.  For a few cents each.

Yeah, sure.

Um, no.  I can wait you bastards out.
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4094 Stock Market

Monday, August 24, 2015

There's more money to be had in pandering to ignorance than in explaining it away.

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Yeah, how 'bout that stock market, eh? 

I talked with Piper last week, and told him yes, I'd heard, no, I'm not worried, and I told him strongly, in no uncertain terms, he is not to attempt to "play" the market with my account.  No selling off anything, no buying anything in an attempt to find bargains, no nothing.  Stand pat with my account.  Let it ride.  He seemed to be ok with that, which surprised me.  I'm sure he's freaking out today, but he's got other accounts he can play with besides mine.

The market has crashed before, and it always recovers eventually, and then goes higher.  We just need to be in nice solid boring stuff that will recover, and I have plenty of patience.  It was a bit too high, too optimistic given the state of Europe and China, and with no nice stimulating wars on the horizon it had to drop to a more reasonable level.  This huge drop is because people are in a panic.  It will stabilize when everyone calms down.

I told Piper at the end of last year to get me out of the far east, primary and secondary --- it was obvious that China was headed for the same housing-lending-banking train wreck that the US had not so long ago.  Yep.

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The green quote above, by the way, is absolutely random.  Not that it applies, anyway, except that it mentions money.
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3995 Life is ... well, it just is.

Monday, December 1, 2014

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy."

 --Robert Anthony--

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I went up to the old house Saturday morning, November 15, just for the day, just to make sure the furnace was on and that it was running well.  It was 40 degrees in the house when I arrived and turned the furnace on.  I spent the next five hours sorting papers in the big filing cabinets, while the house warmed up.

I found a lot of neat stuff.  Once upon a time, in the old days, people wrote letters - actual penmanship, on real paper.  I had always kept personal letters and cards.  I found letters from my mother, letters from my youngest sister, copies of letters I had written to Jay's family when he was sick, and a few old love letters from suitors, including a love letter from Jay from before we were married.  

I set most of those aside to bring down here. I read the one from Jay several times up there before adding it to the "keep" pile; I'll read the others some day. I brought back with me a large box of paper for recycling, thinking I'd bring the "keep" letters back on the next trip, which was supposed to be later that next week.  

I stayed only until evening.  By 5 pm the house was up to 65 degrees, but I'd had enough.  I was freezing!  Shivering.  My hands were shaking so badly I was having difficulty handling papers.  We forget that it's not just the air in the house that's cold and needs to be warmed, but everything in the house. Walls, floors, furniture, appliances - they all suck heat out of the air (and out of me) until they get up to air temp.  That takes a long time.  So I set the thermostat back to 60 degrees, went to the diner in the village for dinner, and came on home.  I intended to return the next Thursday, the 20th, then stay until Saturday, and sort and pack up some more.

That Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't bend my left knee without a lot of pain, and it wouldn't support any weight bent.  It was fine straight, I just couldn't bend it.  There was no swelling, no heat or redness, no lumps, no tender spots, nothing.  I suspect I'd slept on it funny and sprained or strained something.  The main problem was the knee, but my hip was complaining, too.  (I notice stuff like this happening more as I get older. Side effect of increased wisdom, I guess.)  I was walking like a pirate swinging a wooden leg.  Stairs were interesting, and I couldn't drive because I couldn't use the clutch, so I wasn't going north.

By Sunday it seemed a bit better, but I didn't really trust it until like Tuesday, but with Thanksgiving on Thursday, there was no way I'd be on the highways until ... well ... today at the earliest.  Sigh.

So much for my determination to get moving on that house.  I hadn't been up there since early summer, for various reasons that now sound like excuses, but were really valid at the time - like Hal being in the shop and waiting for parts several times, and a very bad cold followed by a sinus infection, and commitments made to Daughter and to Nugget, and so on.  Not to mention that IRS thing and some other businessy garbage that took time and attention.

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Speaking of the IRS thing, I am going to have to have a serious talk with Piper.  He is in charge of my investments, and he moves money around too much in my estimation.  He's always buying this and selling that.  I can't complain that he has lost money for me, but he seems to consider it a game to "beat the market".  He's starting to look like a damn day-trader, with MY MONEY!  Having no particular expertise in that area, it's difficult for me to rein him in.  Well, he was proud that he had increased my holdings by something like 22% in 2013.  Then I got the annual statements from my 401K and my IRAs, which I control, not him.  My strategy is to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there.  

My 401K and three IRAs all had gains over 33% in 2013.  That's 33%.  If 22% is pretty damn good, then 33% is fantastic!

So next time I see him, I'm going to tell him to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there. I don't want to see more than three trades a year.  Period.  I'll spoil his fun, and he's going to have fits, but that's it.  I've had it.  Every trade he makes costs me money in processing fees, and I see no advantage in "playing" the market.  My IRAs are in no-load low-fee index-based mutual funds, and they are growing just fine, thank you.  They dipped a little in 2007-8ish, but they more than recovered just fine.  

Actually, I know what's going on.  He dearly loves everything Wall Street.  I don't think he has any other hobbies.  The Market IS his hobby.  His daughter has joined him in his business, and over the past five years she has gradually taken over most of his accounts, the largest of which are large union and business retirement funds.  He has retained his private accounts.  Like mine.  We are all he has left to indulge his passion.  

The other problem is that his buddies are all gloom-and-doom Wall Street Republicans who can't see anything ahead but recession and depression from Democrats (especially when led by a brown one), so he takes their advice and panics and sells off everything before every election.  I could strangle him for that.  Is anyone aware that the economy is just fine?  33% growth in index accounts in 2013?  Yeah, the middle class isn't recovering very quickly, but that fabled 1% is doing just fine.  The rich are getting richer.  Corporations are doing just fine.  

I hope I can convince him to settle down.  I hope I don't have to fire him.  I will if I have to, but it would cost a small fortune to pull out, and I don't know where I'd put it then.  I've met a few investment counselors in the past decade (remember The Ditz, for example?  That's what she does) and I don't trust any of them.  At least I can trust Piper - trust is not the problem with him.  He really thinks he's doing the best for me.  I just don't agree with his political philosophy and management methods. 

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Oh, almost forgot.  There was a big storm at the old house the day before Thanksgiving, and a huge tree fell across the top of the driveway.  One of those that pulled the root ball out of the ground.  The Hairless Hunk sent me a text msg plus photo this morning. His wife's mother had died last week, too, so he apologized that today was the first time he'd checked the house since the storm. (Sheesh.  Yeah, take care of your family first, Hunk.  Don't apologize for that.)  He has been rotating his excess vehicles at the top of my drive so it looks like there's activity at the house, and from the tiny photo it looks like maybe his car got hit by the tree.  His note didn't say anything about that.  So, anyway, until he clears the tree out, I don't think I'll be going up there.  I hope It doesn't snow before then, or it will be a real mess!

Why are things so complicated?
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3466 Done and to do

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Please stop blaming your narrow-minded prejudices on God.

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I hope to accomplish a few things today. Last night I wrote checks for the month's bills and I'll mail them today. No, I don't do online or automatic payments - no one sticks their fingers in my bank accounts but me!

I'm paying $284 per month for fuel oil for the old house on a 12-month budget plan. Of course I've been using a lot less oil, so I now have a $1,200+ credit with them, with four more months to go on the plan. So I called them, and they have marked my account paid in full. We'll start again in July with a much lower monthly amount.

Same thing with the electricity for the old house. That's $164/month on the budget plan, and I'm running a healthy credit. It's the dehumidifier, furnace fan, and upright freezer eating power. Next trip up I'll empty the freezer and so that should drop, too.

I discovered that Classmates.com is still hitting my credit card for membership, so I went to the website and discovered that I have manual renewal, NOT automatic renewal so they shouldn't be doing that. I could probably sue them. I called the credit card company and that will now stop.

My GP and the urologist wrote some scripts for tests. I can't read them, so I don't know what to schedule with the lab and the hospital. I think I'll just go there, show them the bits of paper, and let the folks at the desks figure it out.

I wrote an email to The Angel to let him know I killed my DBA, and I need to pull together the tax stuff to mail to him.

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I have become more conscious of money lately. I sold $320K of stock (not from the managed account, from the portfolios I still controlled) to buy this house. Piper said it was fine, that I was just transferring investments from stock to real estate. He seemed to think it was an equal trade. His analysis annoyed me, because those stocks paid over $8K/year in dividends, adding to my income, plus they increased in value. So my disposable income dropped. Worse, this house is costing me almost $10K/year in taxes and insurance, for a net loss of $18K/year in cash that used to be available for other purposes. I do not consider trading an investment that paid 8k/year for an investment that costs 10K/year a wise investment. This house certainly is NOT increasing in value by 18K/year.

My retirement and SS checks total about $36K per year, so I now have to pull from my managed account to cover big ticket items like long term insurance, car insurance, life insurance, various taxes, and so on, thus reducing that principal.

My SS checks are not on my own account. I'm drawing widow's benefits on Jay's account, so I'm going to go to the SS office, maybe tomorrow, to see if I'll get more if I switch to my own account. I have a longer work history than Jay, at a higher salary, so maybe it'll be a little bit more. Maybe not. The online SS site won't tell me because I haven't worked in so long (or some dumb fool reason - I forget exactly).

I'm glad I'm on a diet.
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3169 Spitting

Sunday, February 20, 2011

“[That] is forbidden. But possible.”
-- Common French saying --

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I don't get into political discussions with Piper any more. He's solidly extreme right wing, sees only the wingnut viewpoint. He tries to "educate" me, to turn me from my obviously mistaken ways, but I just shake my head and change the subject.

In all the bad things that have been happening in his life right now, the good thing is that the market is picking up. He congratulated me Friday that of all his investment clients, I've been the only one who didn't panic at all back when everything was tanking. I just shrugged and assured him that everything would eventually come back. Sooner or later. Sit tight. (During the bad times he looked really bad. Discouraged. Wanted to avoid talking to his clients.)

I've made back all the money I lost during the dip, and made 3% on my investments in the past month alone. Piper wanted to give all the credit for the turnaround to his new tea bag buddies in Congress. I pointed out that yes, rich folks are brightening up. I've heard that sales of BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus are up, luxury resorts and spas are picking up again. But it's not so bright for the little folk. His buddies in Congress are making all kinds of cuts, but the programs they're cutting are all cuts to the poorer folks. Services. They're taking from the poor and giving to the rich. So yeah, naturally the rich are happy, and that's what's reflected in the market.

As Field says, "Those 235 poli-tricksters remind me of the bully that goes to the playground looking for a fight, and ignores the bigger kids shooting hoops and heads straight to the swing and jungle gym to pick on the smaller kids."

The smaller kids can't afford lobbyists.

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I don't understand why they want to cut Social Security. Despite everything you hear, SS is not running out of money. In fact, SS has been running a significant surplus, and actually lends money to the federal government. They just don't want to count the loans as SS assets, because then they'd have to pay them back. Oh, by the way, remember when "they" wanted to "privatize" Social Security, i.e. invest the money in the stock market? Funny that we don't hear so much about that these days. I wonder why. I guess they forgot why Social Security was started in the first place.

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Last time I had been to the old house, from all the droppings it looked like the mice were running riot, so I set mouse traps. I caught only one mouse. I don't understand.

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I buy a lot of stuff online. The delivery guys around here (FedEx, UPS, USPS, and that other one) just drop the stuff on the doorstep. UPS is the only service that bothers to ring the doorbell, sometimes. At the old house, I was way up a long drive off the end of a dead-end street, and the house wasn't visible from the road or from neighbors' houses, but delivery guys always rang the doorbell when they left a package. Here, houses are cheek-by-jowl, the doorstep and anything on it is close to and clearly visible from a street full of traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians, but the delivery services just dump the package and run.

Several times I've stepped out the front door and found packages I didn't know were there.

Worse, I could have stepped out and NOT found packages I DIDN'T know SHOULD have been there.

FedEx is the weirdest. They have little stickies that say "We delivered your package", and have spaces for date and time, and check boxes for things like front door, back door, garage, neighbor, and so on.

Only two problems. They don't fill out ANY of the spaces or boxes, and they stick it on the package!

What good does that do?

(Oh, look, there's a Delivery Notice on this package saying they delivered a package. I wonder where the package is?)

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When I'm on the computer in the morning and evening, Jasper bugs me to play. I accidentally discovered how to get him to not disturb me.

I sit at the desk on a canvas director's chair. I had put another canvas chair next to mine one day to show someone something on the computer. Jasper has appropriated the chair. I guess he likes the canvas sling seat. He's happy to sit or sleep there, as long as I reach over and stroke his head every so often.

The only problem is that it's right below the printer, so I have to warn him before I print anything. He's such a chicken....

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Last month Daughter was running out of pants, so I invited her to shop in my closet. I had some loose knit drawstring pants that fit her expanding belly fine. She's fine on tops - she wears a lot of baggy sweaters anyway. Yesterday she said she's down to one pair of shoes, running shoes that are wide enough for her expanding feet. We wear about the same size, but my feet are wider than hers, so I think I'll be short some shoes soon, too.

Baby's due the end of April. No, after three frustrating ultrasounds, they still don't know, so "quit asking!"
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1751 Tax Paper

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Abraham Lincoln: The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

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I forgot to take the garbage can down the driveway last night. This is serious. It's packed full, and Jasper's been eyeing the large bag in the kitchen that's been sitting there for two days waiting for room in the can outside.

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Piper is pressing me to get the docs to him so The Angel can do my taxes. I'm feeling guilty because I haven't done it yet. I spent much of today sorting papers to try to pull it all together.

Over the past two months of volunteering at the tax clinics, I now feel really guilty. The clinics were to help people who earned too little to have filed taxes in the past. If they want to get that "economic stimulus" rebate, they have to file this year, even though they don't owe anything. People were coming in with no other income but the pittance they get from welfare or social security. One or at most two hunks of 1099 paper in hand, or letters with a number handwritten in a blank.

I'd heard that the rebate was $600 for an individual, and $1200 for a couple. At the last clinic I was horrified to hear that's only for people who do pay taxes. For these folks, it's only $300 and $600! My comment was that the people who need the most get the least. It doesn't seem fair.

So, pulling my paper together, I am almost embarassed to note that I have more than 17 separate sources of income. Yeah, most are only a few dollars a year, but, still, I guess it adds up. I have difficulty understanding how people make it into their 70s with no retirement, no savings, no investments, no assets. Ok, intellectually when you tell me why in any individual case I can understand, but on an emotional level I don't understand. My daughter has never held any one job more than 3 years, cycles through minimum wage and runs close to poverty level because she can't seem to settle on a career, keeps starting over, refuses to "sell herself to corporate America", and won't accept help from me, and yet when she hooked up with Hercules in her late 20s she already had a brokerage account with a respectable balance.

I guess it's in the blood. Being thrifty, I mean. (Ok, cheap.) I'm driving a used 2003 Aerio when I really want a Porsche Boxster convertable (and I can afford it - but when I think about the insurance, and the expense of repairs, and other ongoing costs, I cringe). I don't have cable and won't pay for texting on my cell phone, won't pay retail for clothing or anything else if I can help it. Daughter's car is ten years old, I think. I don't completely deprive myself - I buy me toys and anything else I want, but there's a bit of cringing in the buying, and again I cringe at the thought of ongoing costs. I like buying gifts for others because then I have the joy of the buying and the giving, but it's a one-time expenditure, and I like that a lot.

Daughter gripes about people she knows who eat steak on a hamburger budget. I eat hamburger on a steak budget. Which is better? To live for now, or for later? Or when the later becomes the now, you can't enjoy it because you've trained yourself for so long not to?

[Why am I reminded of the t-shirt I saw in the 70s? "If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."]

And before anyone starts muttering about the difference between giving and getting, I have always given away at least 30% of the annual income from investments, to charities, friends, and family, which would not be available at all had it not been invested first.
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1333 Reducing the Stock(s)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Piper will be pleased. Today I sold all the Eastman Kodak (capital loss!), Met Life, Verizon, Comcast, Progress Energy, AT&T, half of the Chevron, and some of the remaining Exxon/Mobile.

Piper wanted me to sell all of the British Petroleum, but for some reason, when I came to that one on the list, my dialing finger balked. No idea why, but when I get feelings like that, I listen. I also don't want to sell Marathon yet. It split 2 for 1 on 6/18/07, and right after a split is not a good time to sell (or buy, for that matter). Piper will just have to accept that.

All that remains now of that particular portfolio is a few companies in certificate form, a few companies in transition, one that I couldn't find the transfer agent for, and what's left of the oil companies. They'll all go next year.

Piper will put the proceeds into mutual funds and tax-free bonds.

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I spent most of the afternoon trying on clothes. I filled a large storage container with tops that are too large for me now, but are still nice (donate or sell), and threw out an equal amount that I'd be ashamed to admit I once wore. The closet shelves are looking a little bare now, but there was so much dross that I hadn't been able to find anything and had been wearing the same few things over and over. So that's ok. Even though there's less stuff, it's more available.

Slacks, jackets, blouses, and dresses on the racks are next. I know there's going to be a lot that is too big, or that I won't ever wear again. It takes me a while to admit that something is just plain unflattering (well, I admit it enough that don't wear it, but not enough to get rid of it), but I'm going to be tough. Out, out, ugly stuff!
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1329 Pleasing Piper

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

This evening I decided I can't procrastinate any longer. I've got to do the dreaded research for the odd lots. I gathered all the communications, account reports, and dividend check stubs for so far this year. Then I opened the "To Sell" folder - and right on top was a list of all stock to be sold, along with the phone numbers, account numbers, and notes as to whether they were certificate or book-entry.

Wow! I must have done all the research sometime last year, maybe when I sold the first batches, and forgot I'd done it.

So all I had to do was check the numbers against current stubs, and locate the few certificates (neatly filed in the cabinet, yay me!) Ready to make the calls tomorrow.

I'm getting a little worried about stuff like that - not remembering that it was already done. I seem to lose bits and pieces, like what I did last Wednesday evening, for example, or Friday. The calendar is blank for those days, so so is my mind. Or when was the last time I'd talked to so-and-so. Sometimes things seem farther away in time than they are.

Other things seem condensed. Something that happened a week ago feels like it happened yesterday.

I'm having trouble with time. It gets mixed up, and passes without my noticing sometimes. Sometimes I get wrapped up in other things, like conversations, and don't notice time passing. Maybe it's that I don't have any kind of regular schedule. I go to bed when I finish whatever has captured my interest, sometimes at 1 am, sometimes at 6 am. I get up when I finish sleeping, sometimes at 8 am, sometimes at 1 pm. Then having nothing regular during the day exacerbates the problem. Some days I never even get dressed.

No wonder time has no meaning....
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1319 Procrastination

Friday, June 22, 2007

I am in major procrastination mode. I decided that I had to do two things today: Gather up the clematis, and get the information together to sell the odd lots.

I have very carefully done neither.

The clematis is supposed to climb some chicken wire wrapped around the downspout next to the front porch. Every few years I cut it back to a few inches from the ground. It got cut back last fall, and with the mild winter and steady rain we've had, it has already grown a good 10 feet. Problem is, it isn't growing up the downspout. It has spread across the flower bed, over the azaleas, and halfway up the rhododendron.

Gathering it and tying it up isn't the hard part. The hard part is spiders and snakes. That area is full of spiders, and therefore is full of garter snakes who eat the spiders (I assume they eat the spiders - I HOPE they eat the spiders). Every time I've fussed in that area, I've flushed snakes. I'm not afraid of snakes, especially not garter snakes (although they DO get pretty big around here) - it's the spiders that really worry me. Big wolf spiders. It really won't be that bad. It's just so easy to find something else to do. Like visit YouTube. Much preferred over spiders and snakes.

Selling the odd lots will be easy. All I have to do is call the stockholder relations phone number on Monday, give them my SS#, account number, and count of shares to sell. Simple. I love that "all I have to do"!

I have to first find out what the stockholder relations phone number is for each of them. Some are available online, but only if you navigate some very dense web sites to find it. Some numbers are not available online. Some of them will have a number on a dividend check stub, but many of them are minor split-off stocks that don't pay dividends. None of them handle their own trades anyway.

Then find the account numbers. The ones that pay dividends will be easy. The ones that don't will be harder. I have to rely on my having filed the proper past communications in a timely fashion, and I've never been very good at that. The papers I need will be around here ... somewhere ... probably in a "to be filed" stack ... somewhere. Ack.

If I have the account numbers, I may not have to have the actual count of shares. The stupid things have a habit of splitting and spinning off. I'm never quite sure what the heck I've got. One more reason to get rid of odd lots of small stocks, anyway. They're never worth much, don't pay beans, and have a habit of reverse splitting, getting taken over, sold off, or changing names. I suppose if you have 3,000 shares of some small mid-western telephone company, it might be worth keeping track of it, but 5 shares acquired in a spinoff? Bleck.

I suppose once I get started it will be easier. Keep thinking - one step is one step forward, and you don't have to do it again. Getting started is the hardest part.

There's just so darn many of them!
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1312 Ack! Taxes!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Lunch today with Piper. Before lunch we went over my accounts. He's getting annoyed at my procrastination in selling my odd lots. He advises me not only on my investments, but on the tax ramifications. 60% of what he's controlling for me is in tax-free bonds. 100% of what I'm still holding is taxed. The longer I hold onto this stuff, the more it throws off his tax planning.

Recognizing "annoyed" in Piper requires some familiarity with him. The man's always cheerful and amusing. The only clues to annoyance is that he gets momentarily serious, or explains something more than once.

So I came home from lunch thinking about taxes, and how I may have thrown off the 2007 estimated tax calculations, and possibly 2008 as well, and then I realized with horror that it's now the 20th, and June's estimated tax payment was due LAST FRIDAY! ACK!

I've never been late before, so I don't know what the federal penalty is, but New York State misplaced a payment a few years ago (the idiots applied it to Jay's ss#, even though he'd been dead three years by then, and it was MY ss# on the form and on the check), and the penalty was pretty big. And before we'd got it straightened out, they were assessing penalties on the penalty. Ack ack!

So, another thing on the to-do-immediately list.

In the meantime, the Aerio's tire has gone flat again.
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1172 Financial News

Monday, March 19, 2007

Ticklers from today's financial news:

• Stocks spike on news of merger deals...
• Stocks spiker higher Monday as Wall Street joined overseas markets in riding a wave...
• ExxonMobil up on OPEC...
• Mergers warm Wall Street after subprime chills...

Can I call it? I'd have felt really bad if I had sold out when I was supposed to. This doesn't mean it won't dip again, but the future looks better.
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1170 Financial Decisions

Monday, March 19, 2007

Talked with Daughter yesterday. Her father has agreed to retire, has signed the papers, and will be moving back east. His elderly mother's home has her old beauty parlor attached, and his sister has begun converting it into an apartment for him. The ball's rolling. I guess the main impetus was when his blood sugar got low enough that he was able to look around and realize all the things he had let go, like the taxes, car registration, and so on. Daughter was supposed to return last Saturday, but her flight had been canceled because of the snow, so she's returning Tuesday, late. I asked her what the weather was like there, and she said it's in the 70s. I was surprised. It's in the low 20s here, and near Boulder it's 70s?

According to both the thermostat and the thermometer on the desk, it's 74 in my house right now, and I'm still freezing. My hands and nose and legs are so cold. Maybe it's because there's no sun today. Maybe I'm not eating enough fats or something. I am literally shivering.

Piper told me last Wednesday that he wants me to sell all my odd lots of stock, and about half the large oil company blocks "by the end of the week", so we can transfer more into bonds and mutual funds. By the end of last week. He said that the recent severe drops in the market wouldn't affect the odd lots much (like, 3 shares of this cheap stock, 14 shares of that moribund albatross, most acquired through spinoffs), and that the oil stocks have held their value, so they'd be ok. Well, I got busy with other stuff, and it didn't happen.

I spent much of today gathering transfer agent contact information, and researching recent market activity on the stocks, intending to make the sell order calls this afternoon. And now I'm glad I didn't sell last week, and I think it'll be a while before I unload the oil stocks.

Yeah, the oil stocks didn't drop much in the "market correction", relative to the share price, not like other industries that got hit harder, but it still averages out to $7 per share. Considering that I was about to sell more than 2,000 shares, a drop of $7 is $14,000 !!! The drop in oil stocks is a temporary "ouch" reaction, and it's going to go back up, faster probably than the rest of the market. So, uh uh, I'm not going to sell right now. Piper will just have to wait.

Yeah, ok, why do I have a financial adviser if I won't listen to his advice?

He's not just looking at the stock sale prices - he's also looking at tax issues and the prices of the tax-free bonds and mutual funds he wants to buy. That's what he does. But I have a feeling that the oil stock will rise before the bonds and funds. Oil will be ahead of the average. If it takes two months (and I don't think it'll take that long), that's only two months of taxes. That's not so bad. I have this weird idea that I can take a $14,000 "loss" to buy less expensive bonds, and bonds don't grow, or I can "grow" $14,000 then buy $14,000 more bonds, which retain value. The latter makes more sense to me.

Piper's job is to recommend a conservative and cautious path. I'm willing to take a chance. We get along because he doesn't fuss at me when I do it.
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1136 Annoying Stock

Sunday, February 25, 2007

I canceled a planned outing with FirstWoman last night because I was tired, frustrated, and full of inertia. I just didn't want to make the effort. I canceled rollerskating with Angie this evening for the same reason.

I'm frustrated and feeling guilty because I've got so much to do, and it's not getting done. Every time I start something from the "to do" list, something happens and I get sidetracked.

This afternoon I decided I MUST start pulling together the tax stuff for The Angel, and start looking into selling more stock for Piper's planned portfolio balancing. The first thing I picked up from the financial bin was a proxy packet from my favorite stock.

This particular stock is one that I have told Piper I will not sell! No way! Not for nuthin! I like it! The stock has gone up steadily for the past six years - it is now worth more than five times what it was in 2000, and it pays good dividends. He agrees that I'd be crazy to sell it - in fact, I should buy more.

The company is being "acquired". A smaller company in the same industry is going to buy it out for 26 billion dollars. For each of our shares, we stockholders will get .67 share of the smaller company, and a bunch of cash.

I am being asked to vote my shares, for or against the acquisition.

Naturally, I need more info.

Three hours, and a trip around the internet, later, I voted a resounding NO!!! (Not that I have enough stock for them to notice....)

First of all, I will end up with 1/3 of my investment in equity, and 2/3 in cash on which I will have to pay capital gains tax. I would prefer a straight stock trade. Gimme a bunch of yours for all of mine. This deal amounts to selling 2/3 of a stock I never wanted to sell at all. I could turn around and buy more stock, but I'd still be out the tax.

Since the announcement, my company's stock has continued its rise, but the stock of the smaller company has fallen. Analysts seem to think that it is a "fair" offer to the stockholders, since .67 share of the smaller company plus the cash offered equals slightly higher than the current price of my company, BUT, and here's the scary part, most of them think that the smaller company is going to hurt themselves badly, that they really can't afford the 26 billion. So those ".67 share"s could be worth even less in the future, even though after the acquisition, it will be the largest company in the world in this industry. (A giant, but an injured giant.)

I am exceedingly annoyed.

That, The Amazing Race, and several phone calls, absorbed the afternoon and evening.
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Daughter and Hercules have been househunting in central NJ. Yesterday she said that they'd found the perfect house, and they had submitted an offer. The house had been on the market only one day. Today she called and said that someone else had submitted a bid, too, and it had apparently been accepted, even though their offer was probably higher. I wish I knew more about NJ real estate law, and how offers should be presented.

Emotional roller coaster for the kids. This is the second time that's happened to them in the past month.

I advised her to leave their offer "live" while they continue looking. The other buyers' deal may fall through. Besides, the real estate market is in decline, and in six months they may be able to get more house for the same money.
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780 Van News - Expensive News!

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Mr. T. called this morning. He said that he went to the local Chrysler dealer and talked to the service guy. They figure the problem is probably (no guarantees) in the wiring harness to the computer. Mr. T. says the dealership might be able to tweak and repair it, and they have better access to parts, so I should take the van to them. Mr. T. would have to replace rather than repair, and that's $1300 to $1800. And it could still be that much at the dealer.

And even if it's "fixed", I'm nervous. I'm thinking I'm going to have to buy a small, cheap, maybe used car, for just in case. In the past six months, I've driven something like six weeks worth of rental cars, and that's ridiculous.

Mr. T. says it's time to get rid of the van. I suspect what he's really saying is "I don't want to work on this dog anymore. Go buy me something nicer and simpler to work on."

In good shape, because of its rarity and the demand for handicap-equipped minivans, I could get close to $30,000 for it. But I won't get much if it's not dependable. It looks like I'd have to fix it, THEN sell it, but if it's fixed well enough to sell, I won't want to sell it. Deep breath.

My earlier moans about finances are increased. I am very unhappy.

It's not like I don't have it, but I'd have to spend from working principal (as opposed to a savings account, which since the reroofing is zero), and that's against my principles. Spending principal reduces my income - forever! It especially grates this year. We moved me out of 100% equity (stock) and into a mix of equity, fixed, and money market. Piper keeps saying that all these tax-free bonds he's buying me will "save a fortune in income tax" thereby significantly increasing my effective annual income. The other day, I startled him by pointing out that it will take seven years! of tax free interest income to make up for the enormous capital gains tax I have to pay this year (out of principal!) on all that stock we sold.

I'm getting really nervous. Mother is not happy.