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Its for stuff like this when its nice to have 5 brokerage accounts. I bought 500 in each account sold them the other day on the run up and bought back today. Kind of like looking for quarters in the sofa, but it brings me great satisfaction. Now wait and see if anything happens with the date.

 

I agree, although I would contest that $1500 isn't like finding quarters in the sofa.  What you made in one day is roughly the same as what most Americans make for working two weeks.

 

I realized for a lot of the rich people on this board $300/500/1500 is an almost tiny and forgettable amount of money, yet the money is real, and in absolute dollar terms it's a lot.  You can buy a lot of things for $1500.

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Would you mind sharing which ones? As a Dutch resident I find that most brokers are either expensive, crap or they don't accept foreigners. IB is by far the best. I also have two European brokerage accounts. But usually a lot goes wrong (I still assume it is neglicence :) ) with going-private transactions, odd lot treatment, taxes on foreign tender offers and other exotic stuff for which I opened the accounts in the first place. Given the hassle and the extra fees, I feel it is sometimes hardly worthwile for the small stuff.

 

I've been looking at a few US brokers but they're either a bit shady (MB trading, just2trade, eoption, firstrade, sogotrade) or expensive (like Schwab, I believe) so I still have no other US accounts besides IB. I'm even contemplating starting my own range of companies (I believe it would be something like an LLC in the US) to open additional IB accounts. If you have once or twice a year an opportunity like Norilsk Nickel or PPG industries it could be quite worthwile.

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Its for stuff like this when its nice to have 5 brokerage accounts. I bought 500 in each account sold them the other day on the run up and bought back today. Kind of like looking for quarters in the sofa, but it brings me great satisfaction. Now wait and see if anything happens with the date.

 

I agree, although I would contest that $1500 isn't like finding quarters in the sofa.  What you made in one day is roughly the same as what most Americans make for working two weeks.

 

I realized for a lot of the rich people on this board $300/500/1500 is an almost tiny and forgettable amount of money, yet the money is real, and in absolute dollar terms it's a lot.  You can buy a lot of things for $1500.

 

Agreed and I apologize if the tone of that came off wrong, text is always a horrible medium for tone :). Part of the analogy in my thinking is that sometimes you go digging through the couch cushions for change and you end up with much more than you expected which is very gratifying at least for me.

 

As a high school dropout who has worked the gambit of jobs from being a dishwasher, a retail sales person, commercial fisherman and software developer/tech guy. I can assure you I think of $300-$1500 as real money :) But that did not come across in my previous post.

 

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Would you mind sharing which ones? As a Dutch resident I find that most brokers are either expensive, crap or they don't accept foreigners. IB is by far the best. I also have two European brokerage accounts. But usually a lot goes wrong (I still assume it is neglicence :) ) with going-private transactions, odd lot treatment, taxes on foreign tender offers and other exotic stuff for which I opened the accounts in the first place. Given the hassle and the extra fees, I feel it is sometimes hardly worthwile for the small stuff.

 

I've been looking at a few US brokers but they're either a bit shady (MB trading, just2trade, eoption, firstrade, sogotrade) or expensive (like Schwab, I believe) so I still have no other US accounts besides IB. I'm even contemplating starting my own range of companies (I believe it would be something like an LLC in the US) to open additional IB accounts. If you have once or twice a year an opportunity like Norilsk Nickel or PPG industries it could be quite worthwile.

 

Sure, I have accounts with the following:

 

Etrade: taxable, SEP IRA, Roth IRA

 

Fidelity: Traditional IRA (rollover from a 401k)

 

IB: Taxable

 

TD Ameritrade: Linked to my HSA account so I can invest my employers HSA contribution

 

Capitol One/Sharebuilder: Taxable, started when it was ING because they offered a credit for starting a new account and had cheap commissions if you did regular scheduled investments and offered drip services.

 

IB is by far the cheapest. The others are pretty standard commission schedules. Fidelity and Capitol One/Sharebuilder tend to add on a charge for illiquid issues.

 

For example with FFI the sharebuilder base commission is 6.95 plus the charge per share for it being illiquid brought it to $10.45 total per buy and sell. But even then for the lot my cost was $130 including commission/fees and net proceeds of 339 after commission. Even if my taxable accounts it was great percentage wise gain after taxes. Does add additional paperwork though. In situations where spread is not so great I usually just do it in the tax deferred accounts. But in this case it seemed decent enough to warrant doing it in the taxable account. Also got really lucky on this one because of the run up above the expected sale price.

 

I personally would not avoid trying to flip $100 into $250 because of the $20 total commission. It is frustrating to pay out that large of a percentage but I don't let it stop me.

 

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Its for stuff like this when its nice to have 5 brokerage accounts. I bought 500 in each account sold them the other day on the run up and bought back today. Kind of like looking for quarters in the sofa, but it brings me great satisfaction. Now wait and see if anything happens with the date.

 

I agree, although I would contest that $1500 isn't like finding quarters in the sofa.  What you made in one day is roughly the same as what most Americans make for working two weeks.

 

I realized for a lot of the rich people on this board $300/500/1500 is an almost tiny and forgettable amount of money, yet the money is real, and in absolute dollar terms it's a lot.  You can buy a lot of things for $1500.

 

Agreed and I apologize if the tone of that came off wrong, text is always a horrible medium for tone :). Part of the analogy in my thinking is that sometimes you go digging through the couch cushions for change and you end up with much more than you expected which is very gratifying at least for me.

 

As a high school dropout who has worked the gambit of jobs from being a dishwasher, a retail sales person, commercial fisherman and software developer/tech guy. I can assure you I think of $300-$1500 as real money :) But that did not come across in my previous post.

 

No worries, I understand what you mean about text, there are a lot of shortcomings.  I did the same merry-go-round of jobs, grocery store bagger, house painter, factory grunt, programmer/developer, project manager.  I'm about as far from Wall Street as anyone can get, I grew up in a faded blue collar town (Cleveland, Ohio) in a family where anyone related to me was in a union at some point, myself included.

 

My grandfather had the investing bug, he ran a small business and invested on the side.  He made far more money from investing than he ever did from his business.  I guess I got the gene from him, my aunt (his daughter) is a fairly savvy investor, but most everyone else in the family could care less about money.

 

For whatever reason I connect with middle and lower class people a lot better than I do wealthier people.  I can strike up a conversation with a janitor no problem, yet when talking to fairly successful people conversation just peters out, I don't ever feel like I can relate to them.  Some of the things I really enjoy, like camping, hiking are "low class" type activities.  I ski which is high-end, but I'm a tightwad skier.  I'll stay at the cheap motel outside of town and take public transit to the hill.

 

I didn't mean to offend, but I know most on this board are wealthier than anyone could ever possibly imagine, or desire, and I feel that often there's this disconnect with the real world.  I save and invest like everyone here, yet I also recognize that what I make puts me in the top 10% worldwide in terms of wealth, and considering there are 6 billion people plus, that's a sobering thought.

 

Maybe my posts are a response to the threads where people are making (or trying to make) millions or tens of millions on crazy option trades.  I try to stay grounded thinking about the fact that $150 would be a lifesaver to most people worldwide.

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I didn't mean to offend, but I know most on this board are wealthier than anyone could ever possibly imagine, or desire, and I feel that often there's this disconnect with the real world.  I save and invest like everyone here, yet I also recognize that what I make puts me in the top 10% worldwide in terms of wealth, and considering there are 6 billion people plus, that's a sobering thought.

 

Maybe my posts are a response to the threads where people are making (or trying to make) millions or tens of millions on crazy option trades.  I try to stay grounded thinking about the fact that $150 would be a lifesaver to most people worldwide.

 

I thought this was a great post.  There really is a disconnect sometimes with the real world as it relates to money.  I can't imagine anyone who posts on this board knows any real hardship or financial worry. 

 

I've known people with little money and people with more money than could be spent in 10 lifetimes.  The hardworking people with little money complain so much less than the people with lots of money (who also are hardworking in many cases).  I remember one situation where in the span of about 20 minutes I overheard a secretary who I knew lived in a not so great part of town and had financial issues telling a friend how there was some problems with her house and they would have to struggle to get it taken care of, but everything would be ok.  Then I get on the phone and got an earful from a guy who was bitching how he had to go out to his house in the Hamptons that weekend because there was some damage to the roof and he hoped the Ferrari he kept in the garage was ok.  He went on and on about what a hassle it was to go because he had intended to go to his Vail house that weekend instead.  I am not sure how many places he had, but there was at least one other with his place in the city.

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Its for stuff like this when its nice to have 5 brokerage accounts. I bought 500 in each account sold them the other day on the run up and bought back today. Kind of like looking for quarters in the sofa, but it brings me great satisfaction. Now wait and see if anything happens with the date.

 

I agree, although I would contest that $1500 isn't like finding quarters in the sofa.  What you made in one day is roughly the same as what most Americans make for working two weeks.

 

I realized for a lot of the rich people on this board $300/500/1500 is an almost tiny and forgettable amount of money, yet the money is real, and in absolute dollar terms it's a lot.  You can buy a lot of things for $1500.

 

Agreed and I apologize if the tone of that came off wrong, text is always a horrible medium for tone :). Part of the analogy in my thinking is that sometimes you go digging through the couch cushions for change and you end up with much more than you expected which is very gratifying at least for me.

 

As a high school dropout who has worked the gambit of jobs from being a dishwasher, a retail sales person, commercial fisherman and software developer/tech guy. I can assure you I think of $300-$1500 as real money :) But that did not come across in my previous post.

 

No worries, I understand what you mean about text, there are a lot of shortcomings.  I did the same merry-go-round of jobs, grocery store bagger, house painter, factory grunt, programmer/developer, project manager.  I'm about as far from Wall Street as anyone can get, I grew up in a faded blue collar town (Cleveland, Ohio) in a family where anyone related to me was in a union at some point, myself included.

 

My grandfather had the investing bug, he ran a small business and invested on the side.  He made far more money from investing than he ever did from his business.  I guess I got the gene from him, my aunt (his daughter) is a fairly savvy investor, but most everyone else in the family could care less about money.

 

Similar boat here. My Grandfather left school in the eighth grade to work on the farm and started investing around 1930. The bug got passed onto my dad to I basically ignored stocks all together until 2008, then I got very interested.

 

For whatever reason I connect with middle and lower class people a lot better than I do wealthier people.  I can strike up a conversation with a janitor no problem, yet when talking to fairly successful people conversation just peters out, I don't ever feel like I can relate to them.  Some of the things I really enjoy, like camping, hiking are "low class" type activities.  I ski which is high-end, but I'm a tightwad skier.  I'll stay at the cheap motel outside of town and take public transit to the hill.

 

I didn't mean to offend, but I know most on this board are wealthier than anyone could ever possibly imagine, or desire, and I feel that often there's this disconnect with the real world.  I save and invest like everyone here, yet I also recognize that what I make puts me in the top 10% worldwide in terms of wealth, and considering there are 6 billion people plus, that's a sobering thought.

 

Yes its quite a reality check to think about these things, appreciate the conversation.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Definitely seems like they don't Hielko. Management is truly stealing this one (pfff... they even make it sound like they are doing current stockholders a favor  >:( ). I read both of yesterday's fillings, on page 50 of the definitive proxy it reads:

 

"As to (1) each Holder of Company Common Stock that is not a record or beneficial holder on the date of the Merger Agreement and until immediately prior to the Effective Time and as to (2) each Large Block Holder, each such holder’s shares issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall continue to be issued and outstanding shares of the Company, which will be the Surviving Corporation of the merger."

 

The date of the "Merger Agreement" is still listed as March 26, 2012. I'm guessing the CEO and CFO are betting it will be enough to take out those small holders as of record prior to that date for them to have less than 300 shareholders so they can take this unfortunate lady private.

 

And since they are epically diluting those who remain as common stockholders, there's not much of a solid proposition for a long term holding. :(

 

Should we report this to SEC like Nate did? Thoughts?

 

 

PS: I don't post much (I think this is my 2nd post, hehe), mostly lurk this awesome board, but thought I contribute with some work on this one. By the way, I fortunately never pulled the unfortunate plug on this idea, was waiting for yesterday's proxy  :) .

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Im stuck with 500 shares of this POS.  Didn't get the small block buyout and now the stock isn't even publicly traded.

 

What should I do?

 

I googled and found some people getting paid yesterday, I still dont see any payment in my account. Anyone on this board got their payment at .61 cents?

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Anyone still hold this thing?  I'm following up a story on this, looks like management screwed shareholders by potentially illegally withholding a materially higher bid (two actually) and then deceiving the Board into signing on management's offer.

 

There seems to be evidence for a class action lawsuit here from shareholders.  I'm working on verifying details, getting copies of the actual offer and details of what went on first hand etc.

 

No need to take any action right now, I'm still hunting this down, this is just a message fishing for general interest.

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My post detailing the tip of the iceberg is up: http://www.oddballstocks.com/2013/08/somethings-rotten-at-fortune-industries.html

 

I am still trying to digest all I heard in my phone call this afternoon, truly mind blowing stuff.  If anyone is/was a shareholder during this transaction get in contact with me, there is a very strong case for a lawsuit that could reverse this deal.

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