Keep my A shares or transfer to B ?

obama

Well-Known Member
Other than the # of votes each type of share represents, and the additional incentive received if you are still an active MIP participant, are there any other reasons for not transferring my A shares into B, and moving them to an existing brokerage account? I am retiring in April and was wondering what others thought.

thanks !
 

1989

Well-Known Member
Other than the # of votes each type of share represents, and the additional incentive received if you are still an active MIP participant, are there any other reasons for not transferring my A shares into B, and moving them to an existing brokerage account? I am retiring in April and was wondering what others thought.

thanks !

the problem I had in 2000 was when you convert them, they send you the stock certificates. You then have to send those certificates to your broker. Much easier, faster, and cheaper to just sell them, then put the cash in your brokerage account. Buy the shares back if you want.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
the problem I had in 2000 was when you convert them, they send you the stock certificates. You then have to send those certificates to your broker. Much easier, faster, and cheaper to just sell them, then put the cash in your brokerage account. Buy the shares back if you want.
Don't forget the tax ramification of selling.......don't want any surprises come April.
 

obama

Well-Known Member
there's a process whereby you can convert (using UPS form 2011) , then instruct Mellon to transfer your new "B" shares to your brokerage---or---you convert to B and inform your brokerage to 'pull' the shares from Mellon. Either way, there's no need to sell...
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
If you do plan to sell, Mellon will charge you $10 regardless of the number of shares.

Brokerage house will charge you more.

Mellon does not support anything other than market price on the day of the sell.
It is typically one of the lowest prices the stock sold during the day.

I transferred mine out and then sold using a stop sell once it fell below a price.
In my case it was 2006 with a stop sell at 82 and it sold at 81.91 but the price was above $85 2 months later. Oh well.
 

Benben

Working on a new degree, Masters in BS Detecting!
Please keep us informed if you do this. I am thinking about doing the same thing, converting to B's then transfering to a Merrill Edge account. There should not be any tax issues as long as I do not "sell" correct? The $10 fee to Mellon I was aware of but did not think there would be a fee charged by Merrill Lynch.

My reason for doing this is when the ME account gets to $25K I no longer get hit with the $6.95 per trade cost.
 

obama

Well-Known Member
TDAmeritrade also charges $10 per transaction. My thinking is exactly what Hoax said, I will be able to get out at a certain price. I was also thinking of getting out via Options. And Hoax: you just can't win sometimes...I sold some at $78 thinking it was a good time...:sad-little:
 

obama

Well-Known Member
and there is no "sell" if you do it this way...you are simply transferring from one brokerage account to another...
 

1989

Well-Known Member
TDAmeritrade also charges $10 per transaction. My thinking is exactly what Hoax said, I will be able to get out at a certain price. I was also thinking of getting out via Options. And Hoax: you just can't win sometimes...I sold some at $78 thinking it was a good time...:sad-little:

What price do you want? The Mellon site tells you how they figure the sale price. My point is, you could have already gotten your cash by today or tomorrow.
 

obama

Well-Known Member
Mellon price is an average of prior day's close, open for the day, and high for the day (or something similar)..not a true reflection of the price at the time I want to sell. Also, you can't do Options when stock is under Mellon control. I know a few recent retirees that have already done what I am planning to do. I am not saying to do this if you are still receiving MIP, though you could have reasons to do so. Once you stop getting MIP and additional incentive, I don't see any reason to keep the stock as A shares any longer. You have much more control of it as B shares in a low cost brokerage company that only charges you $10 per trade.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I visited my advisor yesterday, I was thinking about selling all of my UPS stock. He told me to keep it, he is expecting another correction soon. Nothing to do with A or B Shares, I was just surprised he told me to keep it.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
I visited my advisor yesterday, I was thinking about selling all of my UPS stock. He told me to keep it, he is expecting another correction soon. Nothing to do with A or B Shares, I was just surprised he told me to keep it.
We'd have lost over & over again if we had listened to our broker.......that's why they are called broker!!! We have most of our UPS shares since 2000.
 

brown bomber

brown bomber
sold 99% of my A shares a few yrs. ago.......couldn't sell the rest due to a "2 yr. hold", they were reinvested shares...I quit reinvesting, took the dividend in cash over the past few yrs., recently converted my remaining A shares to B shares, and sold them ........just wanted to let anyone know, the conversion process involves entering every stock transaction that you wish to convert.....I wouldn't hesitate to sell at the current price with tax consequences, you've got practically 9 months to make adjustments.....or else you could sit on the stock and allow it to dump.....what's the point of purchasing stock if you don't profit from the investment......eventually the stock will sell at a profit or loss, I prefer a profit
 

brown bomber

brown bomber
sold 99% of my A shares a few yrs. ago.......couldn't sell the rest due to a "2 yr. hold", they were reinvested shares...I quit reinvesting, took the dividend in cash over the past few yrs., recently converted my remaining A shares to B shares, and sold them ........just wanted to let anyone know, the conversion process involves entering every stock transaction that you wish to convert.....I wouldn't hesitate to sell at the current price with tax consequences, you've got practically 9 months to make adjustments.....or else you could sit on the stock and allow it to dump.....what's the point of purchasing stock if you don't profit from the investment......eventually the stock will sell at a profit or loss, I prefer a profit
 

tarbar66

Well-Known Member
If you decide to sell make sure you only sell small blocks at a time. I sold 90% of mine to diversify after I retired in blocks of 1,000. My finance guy said not to dump it all at once for some reason I don't remember now but it made sense then.
 

co-chair

Active Member
Yes A shares have 10 votes per share B SHARES HAVE ONE VOTE PER SHARE YOU WILL MAKE WALL ST HAPPY TO CONVERT TO BSHARES BECAUSE THAT WILL GIVE THEM MORE VOTING SHARES. uNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO SELL KEEP THEM AS A SHARES .IF YOU YOU WANT TO SELL ONLY CONVERT TO B SHARES THE AMOUNT YOU WANT TO SELL . KEEP THE REST A SHARES
 

obama

Well-Known Member
took less than 2 weeks and shares were converted to B and moved to my brokerage company...the biggest pain was having to fill in all the receipt #s on about 10 forms.
 
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