ANOTHER YEAR... More adventures (Part 168t)

ANOTHER YEAR… More adventures (Part 168t)

One thing about selling stock is that you don’t get your money right away like you do if you were to sell a car. There is a three day ‘hold’ until the funds are available. However, since the money is at the broker’s, you can buy stock with the proceeds before the waiting period is up. Excited about my profit I wanted to get it invested right away. When I’d made the original purchase of the stock I’d just sold I had what’s called “Buyer’s remorse” because I wasn’t fully convinced it was a good choice. Now, having had two recent successes using suggestions from Stan, my broker, I couldn’t wait to get over to the office and make some more money.

Since the meeting with Lynda and Stan I’d avoided going over there not sure how Stan had felt about it. On this day I wasn’t concerned about that as this was business that I wanted to talk with him about. As soon as the tellers were in proof I headed over there promising Bret I'd be back before 5pm. The stock market had closed so things had settled down for them and I know I surprised Lynda when I walked in the door. Even though she was busy on the phone I got a nice smile. I pointed at Stan and she waved me to his area. He was also on the phone but motioned for me to have a seat. I couldn’t help but hear what he was saying and picked up on the fact that the brokerage was in the process of pricing another public offering that they were underwriting. I had no idea what it was but knew I wanted a ‘piece of the action’. I had to wait but when he got off the phone acknowledged that there was another IPO (Initial Public Offering) and asked if I wanted the details. I said yes but, in my excitement, really couldn’t have cared less. The stock I’d just sold and had made the nice profit on was in what we now call the energy sector. Back then they hadn’t grouped like businesses into small segments. The new offering was in the same general field and, as Stan had told me back when I bought the stock, it was “hot”. This company was in the same general field. I swear I didn’t even ask it’s name but told Stan I wanted 100 shares. The stock I’d sold was worth $1,900. When Stan told me that the stock was going to open at $25 a share he said I’d need an additional $600 but could get 75 shares with the money I’d get from the sale. Greed was the motivator when I told him I still wanted 100 shares even though I didn’t know where I’d get the additional money. Like with the sale of the stock, I had three business days to “settle”, or pay for the purchase of the new stock so I left already counting on a nice profit.

Schools had been reopened that day and Elle was, happily, back to work. She had some good news in that the teacher she was substituting for was going to be out a little longer. With no school for two days she felt she was getting cheated. My news for Elle was about the house next door. She wasn’t overly thrilled but agreed that having it occupied for part of the year was better than the current state of affairs. J J had told me that approval for the mortgage was a foregone conclusion as the man didn’t need it. The purpose was for possibly aiding in a future sale as back in those days mortgages could be assumed by a buyer. He had also indicated that there was no rush as he’d been told it would be Spring before they would start to move in. So, to put a positive ’spin’ on the whole thing Elle and I concentrated on the information, as little as it was, about the grandchildren who would be spending part of their Summer there.

I’ve written about all the meeting I had to attend outside the confines of the bank. The big one was the one that had me going into the city once a month as a member of the State banking association committee on personnel. I rather enjoyed it as it gave me the opportunity to hear the operational problems from banks of similar size but in a different part of the state. Then, there was the regional one with the ten banks that rimmed the big city banks. Interesting, but it was more social than productive. And, as I was about to find out, there was a new one that was for the four like banks within the county. I’ve written how there had been legislation preventing the big city bank form opening branches in the county up until one of the county banks opened the first branch. That happened back at the end of June when we did. It was expected that there would be a ‘wave’ of branch applications following that but there had only been a few and they weren’t from the city. The presidents of the four county banks had agreed to form a coalition where they would share information on the branch plans for each so as not to cannibalize depositors from our already established geographic areas. With our having put an offer to purchase land for a second branch Bert felt it only fair to meet with the other banks. However, the big snow storm had caused the meeting to be postponed. The bank where I’d started my career had agreed to host it but found the federal auditors at their door. For reasons unknown to me, the smallest bank of the four then agreed to host it. My knowledge of the whole thing was from overhearing Hobie while on the phone with Bert, the president. It didn’t really concern me so didn’t dwell on it… until Hobie told me I’d be representing the bank. Hobie was the next in line but I didn’t feel it appropriate to ask why he wouldn’t be attending. In a way I was flattered but, at the same time, woefully unprepared. You’ve seen my writings on how little input I’d had in our branch planning and, if it hadn’t been for Morris, our branch consultant giving me a personal call, wouldn’t know anything about the current plans. Thankfully, the meeting wasn’t until the following week.

I won’t go into the ’nitty gritty’ of how representation at the meeting worked it’s way down to me. What I will say was that I was thankful that it had. I learned more about the whole process in three days than I’d learned in the eighteen or so months since the Board had decided to go with a branch. What I found to be really interesting was that the host bank for the meeting was located the furthest from the city and considered themselves to be “insulated’ from city bank competition. I spent about three hours with both Hobie and Bert being prepped for what I could and couldn’t reveal about our plans. By the time they were done with me I was ‘swimming’ with information. I'd decided to 'raid' our savings account to come up with the difference ($600) I needed for the stock purchase and delivered it to Lynda before heading for the meeting. She asked why I was in such a rush and, quite casually, mentioned that I'd be going to a meeting and would be going past where she lived. He eyes lighted up and wanted more details. When I finished she asked if I'd stop by her house. I begged off but she wouldn't relent. Not knowing how late I'd be I told her that if it wasn't too late I'd call. While on my way to the meeting I wondered why I'd let myself get talked into that.

To be continued...