I got rich
once. Almost. I joined a company a few years before they were due to go public. As a mid level manager, I was entitled to 7,500 shares on starting. 2 years later I had 24,000 pre launch. The due diligence had been done, the launch (on NASDAQ ooh swanky) was prepared, the flights booked for the directors to spend the morning at the stock exchange on Wall St etc, all looking good. Opening price expected to be around $22, everyone working how much they would get if they sold immediately (as I was planning), I had opened a Wachovia Bank account in the US, done my capital gains calculations, booked a visit to a porsche garage, the lot.

About a week before, the whole office was asked to gather in one of the conference rooms.

We were told about something called Stock splits and were all excited because this could mean even more money. Then they told us, in slightly less revere tones about the term reverse stock splits which didnt sound quite as good. The tension changed in the room a little. As they explained what a ratio of 1:7 meant. I had done the calculations already. 24,000 divided by 7 is roughly 3 and a half thousand, the 'new' stock price was expected to be around the $7 mark. That means my shares are worth about $7K. Or at the time, about £4K. Factor in broker fees, taxes, capital gains, some other american taxes, bank charges, transfer fees and my overall profit had just dropped from about £100K, to a rather unbelievable £900.

The $7 wasnt enough to meet the NASDAQ minimum, the deal collapsed overnight, and the company got threatened with a visit from those nice people at the Monopolies commission because of a little deal we had going.

The next week my gearbox in my rusting Alfa died (yeah yeah alfas..) and I spent £1400 getting various repairs done.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Fri 1 Aug 2008, 11:28, 2 replies)

Argh
That must have felt crappy.

Mind you, at least you had the pleasure of seriously believing you'd be 'wealthy' for a little while. Thats more than most people get.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 1 Aug 2008, 12:57, closed)

Alfalfa
Ive had 2 alfa's, a 147, 1.9 turbo diesel and a 2.0 jts 156. Both excellent cars, with never even so much as a bust winscreen wiper.

Lovely.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 1 Aug 2008, 14:28, closed)