How to Cash in a Stock Certificate

Many people invest in stock with the intention of keeping the stock long-term. The stock market can fluctuate widely, making it necessary to buy and sell different stocks from time to time. Learn how to cash in your stock certificate for whatever purpose you desire.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stock certificate

1. Buy stock of your choice. You need a financial planner or stock broker to do this. Charles Schwab offers brokerage services to both buy stock and to cash in a stock certificate.

2. Sell the stock you bought when the time is right. Call your broker and advise you want to sell. You must tell him the exact number of shares.

3. Look at your stock certificate. There is a place on the form for your signature. Sign your name on the certificate exactly as it appears.

4. Mail your stock certificate to your broker. When he receives it, he then finishes the transaction and sends you a check or deposit the proceeds into your bank account, according to what you set up with him.

5. Wait patiently for the transaction to finish. According to law, the broker has so many days to do this transaction and credit your account, so know that you cannot receive the cash for seven to ten business days.

Tips & Warnings

• Let your broker keep your stock certificates on hand. This saves you having to locate the certificates, sign them and mail them in. When your broker has the stock certificates, all you have to do is call and say sell.

Resources

• Cash in your stock certificate at Charles Schwab.

[oldstocks]

on 3/6/2008 To research an old or found stock certificate for value, check out OldStocks.com They provide links to free and paid services to investigate for investment value. The company also provides free collectible appraisals of paper certificates (if they have no investment value).

www.OldStocks.com

[dsarokin]

on 1/19/2008 If you have an old stock certificate, and you're not sure if the company still exists, there's a good article at Google Answers that shows how to check if a certificate has any value:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=219637
Old Stock Certificates

Worth a look.