Dude, where's my stock?

January 16, 2008 12:34 PM

Help me find my lost stocks

Umpteen years ago, I came into ownership of a small handful of stock from a large insurance company. I can't recall why. It had something to do with my employer at the time and their health benefits package.

Anyway...I have utterly lost track of said stocks. I vaguely recall being able to log on to some online service to check the value. For the life of me, though, I can't even recall which service it was, let alone what my login might be. In addition, I've been going through our files, trying to find the paperwork that came with the stock. Nothing so far.

So...how does one re-connect with their long-lost stocks? Especially if I can't locate my paperwork.

Yeah...obviously, I'm pretty stock-management-illiterate

posted by Thorzdad to Work & Money (5 answers total)

You might try investor relations at the company you hold the stock of. Can you contact your former employer? Do you have any records about your former health benefits package?
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 12:56 PM on January 16, 2008

They should send you info at tax time on dividends, etc. You might try opening "junk mail" that might be this.

Second, if it has been long enough, the state you live in may have escheated the checks that you haven't cashed from dividends going to an old address or otherwise going unclaimed. So check with your state's comptroller or whomever. In California the information is available online, though it takes a lot of song-and-dance and almost a year to get the money back. But, hey, at least you'd immediately know the name of the company you hold stock in.
posted by lothar at 12:57 PM on January 16, 2008

What you need to do is find out who the stock's registrar is. It's likely not the company themselves, but their head office will be able to tell you. If you have a broker, a word with someone in the back office may be helpful here. Contact the registrar and tell them your story and (at least in the 2 countries I've done this in (at work, for other people, that is)) you'll need to complete a stat dec, essentially indemnifying them for the vanishingly small possibility that someone else does something naughty with the certificates. I guess you'll also need to update your address.

I'm having trouble finding a listing as google's localisation is thwarting me, but I'd guess Computershare would have a bit of the market over there. Maybe call them and see if they are, or can find for you, the registrar.
(oh, they have a company list online too.)

I'm not au fait with the US scene, but if it's like aus/UK, you should then ask about having the stock converted into an uncertificated format, and you'll end up with just an account numbe/PIN or similar.
posted by pompomtom at 1:28 PM on January 16, 2008

Could it have been a mutual life insurance company that de-mutualized? Wikipedia has some examples listed that might jog your memory.
posted by magicbus at 2:35 PM on January 16, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks all!
The missus did a much more thorough digging though the files. She found a dusty scrap of paper from a year ago from Computershare. It's a good thing she's the family packrat...with a name like "Computershare" I would've definitely tossed it out, thinking it was some PC store or something.

I had to re-register my account, but I am now re-united with my Wellpoint shares.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:29 PM on January 16, 2008