tikitoast
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2006
- Messages
- 48
I don't post much, but read this board avidly. I realize I'm hoping for vindication and justification and approval from y'all, but basically I just need your objective advice.
This whole thing is not really a problem, but I have a tendency to make even little things problematic. Anyhoo, my uncle has been managing a stock portfolio for me for the past 15 years. Now the trust is up (as of today, my 45th birthday), and he has to fork it over to me. I've been walking around in a daze of disappointment because there's even less money in there than there was originally--around 80k in 1992. The money had grown by about 20k in 1999, then the crash happened and I'm down to like 62k now. That's what I'm going to get.
My uncle should really just be a swell guy and cut me a check, but he's not going to do that. He wants me to keep this money in his lousy losing portfolio that's done so brilliantly in the past. Me, I think he's got some bells to be trying to lord it over me this way (he still thinks of me as a kid), particularly when he's shown he's a horrible money manager. I believe he feels bad about the situation, but he's urging me to keep the portfolio in its present configuration and wants me to stay with the same broker (whom I have no reason to trust), so the money can grow for another 15 years.
Wow, I'm thinking, if I keep letting it "grow" the way it's done in the recent past, I won't be able to buy a milkshake with what's left.
So I received a letter today from my uncle's representative, saying I need to give the present broker my social security number. Why?? Apparently they need my info in order to transfer the name on the account to me. I'm assured that they're leaving my uncle's name out, but I think this broker lady is a personal friend of his. My fear is that, when I go to cash out (because I've got my own plans for this cash), she's going to tell on me to my uncle, and then I won't hear the end of it. Because although he's no longer the rep of this trust, he still has my phone number and could make my life unpleasant. He thinks I need his advice on every damn thing. I'd be willing to take it, but he hasn't exactly shown stellar judgment in money matters. Why on earth should I continue to treat him like he's God? I think he's having trouble letting go...
Anyway, I'm going to take some of the cash and retire our debt (credit cards and student loans), and we may use a portion for a down-payment on a house. The rest we may well invest, but I don't care to invest it with my uncle's broker. The portfolio has performed like crap, I'm afraid to lose more, and frankly I have no way of knowing what happened (my uncle won't provide me with the statements). For all I know this broker is unethical. So I'm going to ask her to cash out my portfolio, but...
I'm scared. I'm terrified of my uncle. It's like something out of Don Giovanni or Mozart's warped childhood with his controlling father. I'm afraid of this guy like I used to be afraid of my dad. What can he do to me? He lives across the country. He's an old guy. He can't kill me for cashing out the portfolio he's clearly emotionally attached to, but I'm nonetheless afraid.
I want to do it secretly. Is it possible? Can I do it in a letter? I'm supposed to communicate with the current broker and give her my social, which I really don't want to do. Should I just call her and do it orally, or document it and put my request in writing? Why am I so nutty and terrified? It's my money. I don't want to be put in a position of having to explain to this broad why I want to cash out my own portfolio, but I'm afraid she's going to give me a hard time. And then tell on me to my uncle. With whom she's probably having an affair.
Okay, I'll stop rambling. I just want somebody to say something that'll make me feel better. Sorry if this wasn't terribly on-topic... Am I worried about nothing here?
This whole thing is not really a problem, but I have a tendency to make even little things problematic. Anyhoo, my uncle has been managing a stock portfolio for me for the past 15 years. Now the trust is up (as of today, my 45th birthday), and he has to fork it over to me. I've been walking around in a daze of disappointment because there's even less money in there than there was originally--around 80k in 1992. The money had grown by about 20k in 1999, then the crash happened and I'm down to like 62k now. That's what I'm going to get.
My uncle should really just be a swell guy and cut me a check, but he's not going to do that. He wants me to keep this money in his lousy losing portfolio that's done so brilliantly in the past. Me, I think he's got some bells to be trying to lord it over me this way (he still thinks of me as a kid), particularly when he's shown he's a horrible money manager. I believe he feels bad about the situation, but he's urging me to keep the portfolio in its present configuration and wants me to stay with the same broker (whom I have no reason to trust), so the money can grow for another 15 years.
Wow, I'm thinking, if I keep letting it "grow" the way it's done in the recent past, I won't be able to buy a milkshake with what's left.
So I received a letter today from my uncle's representative, saying I need to give the present broker my social security number. Why?? Apparently they need my info in order to transfer the name on the account to me. I'm assured that they're leaving my uncle's name out, but I think this broker lady is a personal friend of his. My fear is that, when I go to cash out (because I've got my own plans for this cash), she's going to tell on me to my uncle, and then I won't hear the end of it. Because although he's no longer the rep of this trust, he still has my phone number and could make my life unpleasant. He thinks I need his advice on every damn thing. I'd be willing to take it, but he hasn't exactly shown stellar judgment in money matters. Why on earth should I continue to treat him like he's God? I think he's having trouble letting go...
Anyway, I'm going to take some of the cash and retire our debt (credit cards and student loans), and we may use a portion for a down-payment on a house. The rest we may well invest, but I don't care to invest it with my uncle's broker. The portfolio has performed like crap, I'm afraid to lose more, and frankly I have no way of knowing what happened (my uncle won't provide me with the statements). For all I know this broker is unethical. So I'm going to ask her to cash out my portfolio, but...
I'm scared. I'm terrified of my uncle. It's like something out of Don Giovanni or Mozart's warped childhood with his controlling father. I'm afraid of this guy like I used to be afraid of my dad. What can he do to me? He lives across the country. He's an old guy. He can't kill me for cashing out the portfolio he's clearly emotionally attached to, but I'm nonetheless afraid.
I want to do it secretly. Is it possible? Can I do it in a letter? I'm supposed to communicate with the current broker and give her my social, which I really don't want to do. Should I just call her and do it orally, or document it and put my request in writing? Why am I so nutty and terrified? It's my money. I don't want to be put in a position of having to explain to this broad why I want to cash out my own portfolio, but I'm afraid she's going to give me a hard time. And then tell on me to my uncle. With whom she's probably having an affair.
Okay, I'll stop rambling. I just want somebody to say something that'll make me feel better. Sorry if this wasn't terribly on-topic... Am I worried about nothing here?