Anyone want some company stock?

[redtail]

After the Enron debacle does company stock still have any appeal? Under what conditions would you take stock instead of pay?

UAL and NWA traded stock for pay concessions during the early 1990’s that had restrictions on when it could be traded. Does anyone think this will ever occur again, after Enron?

Do you think company executives should be required to notify employees two weeks before they intend to sell their shares?

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

I'm part of the HBOS 3 year sharesave scheme (Halifax/Bank of Scotland). I pay £40 a month for the next three years , get a few months bonus and the option to buy the stock at £5.86 ( current price around £7 and hopefully rising over the next 3 years). If not then I get the money ( includes around 4% pa interest)

I think the main key is diversification. In the UK the company pension funds tend to be more diversified than in the US ( the fund owns stock in a lot more companies and generally has a small percentage of funds in its own company) unlike Enron and a lot of other companies ( I think McDonalds etc- there was a graph in a recent issue of the Economist- I will try to dig it out)

TBS

[polzin]

Warren Buffet and Sir John Templeton think we have 6 to 10 years of tough time ahead of us. I would personaly like the money rather than stock if we are talking airline here. Its a cyclical business. Now options if you are in management are a totally different subject. WE are in a BEAR market. Suggest you find a book about that subject. You may have to go back a few years since we have people writing books who dont Have a clue what BEAR means.

[polzin]

Readytail..... second thoughts, suggest checking out dowtheoryletters.com sounds expensive but could be the cheapest thing you ever did buy... In addition I suggest a FREE sight......hussman.net next to bottom on left says I think , commentary , then go to weekly comment. Weekly at least but often 2 or 3 a week. ok to contact any problems contact me at [email protected]

[Cyclic Hotline]

Stock in good companies should always be appealing; especially if it is provided at a discounted rate, and provided the limitations on trading it are not too onerous.

The potential for an Enron type meltdown can never be removed. The reasons for the problems Enron suffered will become apparent in the future, but much of it appears to originate in various (illegal?) activites within the company. Companies fold, just like Enron, for a variety of reasons, every day. The reason Enron is so damaging is the pre-failure size of the business, and the scale of the calamitous collapse of the share price. Unfortunately it will never be possible to remove the risk of stock ownership, and there have been some significant stock devaluations (Lucent for one example).

Your goal should be to diversify your investments, no matter what stock you are getting from the company. Some Companies have limitations on stock sales, or 401k distribution and investment. It is important to not let your entire retirement and investment portfolio become to focused in one stock, or one area (including company stock). Your greatest investment will be in time to educate yourself fully on the capability and control of YOUR money.

Managing money is well within the capability of the average person, and you need to find reliable resources for investment advice, analysis and research. Don't look to get rich quick, plan and play for the long term, the results of long term investment are astounding!

With the advent of the Internet, the ability to research real time information and analysis, is unmatched. Best thing is its free, or most of it anyway. <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> One of the very best free resources for financial planning and advice is the Bob Brinker show on the radio every Saturday and Sunday. Bob was the ONLY commentator in the U.S. who called the collapse of the market last year. He advised his listeners to get out of equities, and those who followed his advice capitalised on the great gains of the previous years. If you do absolutely nothing else, listen to Bob religiously - some of the best advice I have ever recieved came from this one source! Best still he's completely independent! You can also listen to the highlights of the show, directly from the website. <a href="http://www.bobbrinker.com/" target="_blank">Bob Brinker website.</a>

Additional resources include your local library, the financial press (WSJ, Barrons, etc.), be careful to the TV coverage, as the analysts are as keen to make you sell as buy, as they work for the big trading houses and will make money whichever way the market moves!

The <a href="http://www.fool.com/" target="_blank">Motley Fool</a> is a great (free) resource.

The rest comes from either Yahoo, MSN, or whoever you choose for Internet information. I'm a Yahoo user, so here's the link for Northwest for Yahoo.

<a href="http://yahoo.marketguide.com/MGI/busisumm.asp?target=%2Fstocks%2Fcompanyinformation%2Fbusisum m&Ticker=NWAC" target="_blank">NorthWest research</a>

<a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/t/n/nwac.html" target="_blank">Yahoo finance link</a>

I worked for a publicly traded company that filed Chapter 11 and only then did the scope of the financial mismanagement come to light. Many of my colleagues not only lost their 401k investments (all in company stock), but many of them had been persuaded to buy additional stock with their existing savings. They all got hosed. Thankfully, I had not one cent invested in the programme, but it doesn't make you feel any better when the company goes broke and the only people who made any money were the accounting companies - sound familiar?