Ravenous Wolf
04-09-2004, 08:03 PM
I am truly dismayed to discover people (mostly my co-workers) who turn down free money.
I hear my co-workers from my current job and previous jobs gripe about money and debt, yet when free money is flapping in front of their face, they seem to tune it out.
The reason I bring this up is because I am about ready to turn in my taxes and my calculations were made on the sale of my stock.
Years ago when I worked for a fairly large mortgage banker, the parent company gave everyone 25 shares of their stock (from the parent company). Some of my co-workers scoffed at that because they came from outfits that gave away hundreds if not thousands of shares but they still snapped up those 25 free shares.
However, afterwards many other co-workers told me that they would not accept those "free" 25 shares of stock because they would have to pay taxes on them. I tried to explain the fallacy of that logic to some people but that fell on deaf ears.
I only stayed with the company for just over two years so I only ended up with 50 shares (25 times 2).
Two years ago I sold that stock for $800. I was signing papers to get my house built and I needed every dime I could get a hold of and $800 for free came in handy.
That employer even gave us a stock purchase plan. Like we put down $100 of our own money for a certain number of shares (over 100 shares) as a down payment for the loan on the stock purchase. Then the divends are reinvested for the life of the loan until the dividends completely pay off the loan. You never pay another dime afterwards. I did that twice (one time each year) until I left the company. The stock was sold this past October. As a complete total, I got a check for $2800 (minus outstanding loan amount from sale price). Not bad for only putting about 200 clams out of my own back pocket.
Of course that money pales in comparison to the Silicon Valley types who are accustomed of getting free money worth tens of thousands of dollars. But my point is simply this. Free money is free money. Why turn it down?
Ironically, WAMU bought up that mortgage banker and has now has laid off everyone in the San Antonio and Jacksonville location. I still keep in contact with some of my former co-workers. Guess what, many are still unemployed and broke. I asked them about the free stock and the stock purchase plan and none of them ever took advantage of it. One co-worker was a pot head who smoked weed three times a day so I could understand she wasn't all there when it came to thinking. But I bet that everyone else could sure use that "free" money right now.
Even for smaller amounts (like 25 shares of stock), free money is still free.
I hear my co-workers from my current job and previous jobs gripe about money and debt, yet when free money is flapping in front of their face, they seem to tune it out.
The reason I bring this up is because I am about ready to turn in my taxes and my calculations were made on the sale of my stock.
Years ago when I worked for a fairly large mortgage banker, the parent company gave everyone 25 shares of their stock (from the parent company). Some of my co-workers scoffed at that because they came from outfits that gave away hundreds if not thousands of shares but they still snapped up those 25 free shares.
However, afterwards many other co-workers told me that they would not accept those "free" 25 shares of stock because they would have to pay taxes on them. I tried to explain the fallacy of that logic to some people but that fell on deaf ears.
I only stayed with the company for just over two years so I only ended up with 50 shares (25 times 2).
Two years ago I sold that stock for $800. I was signing papers to get my house built and I needed every dime I could get a hold of and $800 for free came in handy.
That employer even gave us a stock purchase plan. Like we put down $100 of our own money for a certain number of shares (over 100 shares) as a down payment for the loan on the stock purchase. Then the divends are reinvested for the life of the loan until the dividends completely pay off the loan. You never pay another dime afterwards. I did that twice (one time each year) until I left the company. The stock was sold this past October. As a complete total, I got a check for $2800 (minus outstanding loan amount from sale price). Not bad for only putting about 200 clams out of my own back pocket.
Of course that money pales in comparison to the Silicon Valley types who are accustomed of getting free money worth tens of thousands of dollars. But my point is simply this. Free money is free money. Why turn it down?
Ironically, WAMU bought up that mortgage banker and has now has laid off everyone in the San Antonio and Jacksonville location. I still keep in contact with some of my former co-workers. Guess what, many are still unemployed and broke. I asked them about the free stock and the stock purchase plan and none of them ever took advantage of it. One co-worker was a pot head who smoked weed three times a day so I could understand she wasn't all there when it came to thinking. But I bet that everyone else could sure use that "free" money right now.
Even for smaller amounts (like 25 shares of stock), free money is still free.