Found Money
Yesterday I checked my Datek (now Ameritrade) account for the first time in 3 1/2 years and found that I had 60 shares of Microsoft that I had semi-forgotten about. And 1000 shares of a stock that is now defunct. I think I had gotten bummed when everything was crashing and stopped checking. But it was cool to find money that I'd forgotten about. Granted, the account is now worth less than half of what I put in, but at least it's extra money for a rainy day.
My coworker is trying to convince me to buy a couple thousand shares of DESC. Here's the company summary:
Distributed Energy Systems Corp Formerly known as Proton Energy Systems, Inc.. The Group's principal activities are to design, develop and manufacture proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrochemical products for commercial applications. The PEM technology is incorporated in two families of products namely, hydrogen generators and regenerative fuel cell systems. The hydrogen generators convert water and electricity into high purity, pressurized hydrogen gas using PEM electrolysis. The regenerative fuel cell systems integrates PEM hydrogen generation technology with PEM fuel cell technology to create a power quality device that produces hydrogen from water and electricity, stores the hydrogen, and uses the hydrogen as fuel for the production of electricity. The products of the Group function as power generating and energy storage devices.The registered trademarks include Proton(R), Hogen(R), Unigen(R), Fuelgen(TM), Hipress(TM) and Transforming Energy(TM). On 10-Dec-2003, the Group acquired Northern Power Systems Inc.
I've been burned by the stock market before but maybe it's worth a try. But for the same amount of money I could probably buy a house somewhere on the outskirts of LA. My other coworker put $6,000 down and bought a condo which he's renting out, and is looking for another one. It never occurred to me to look into these things but I guess the way people make money in this world isn't about how much salary they make, but how they invest that money. I have a strong aversion to financial matters and paperwork. But for once in my life, I'm motivated to learn. I'm also going to draw up a will and living trust so that if anything ever happens to me, 1. The government can't freeze my funds or take half of it; and 2. My brother is taken care of.
