Ambivalence

I have once experienced true ambivalence.  You'd think I'd choose to focus on the positive emotion, but instead I saw it as a very funny and perplexing situation...

Once upon a time I worked for a large multi-national that offered salary sacrificed stock purchases at an attractive rate.  Being in control of my spending habits meant I could take advantage and soon filled in the paperwork to participate.  About 6 months later my team was retrenched and I departed the company with what seemed a generous severance package.  It was shortly after this time that the Global Financial Crisis wiped a good chunk of the value off that company's stock, evoking a certain amount of 'you win some you lose some' feelings about the investment.  Luckily I was already safely re-employed.

About 4 years later I decided to simplify my financials and sought to sell the stock and reinvest elsewhere.  Upon inquiring about how to sell the stock I was informed I did not and had never owned any shares.  And that all of my contributions would have been refunded as part of the severance agreement.  This left me feeling a little suspicious but I figured it would be a little too extreme for them to steal former employee's shares.

Now here is the puzzle:  Should I be disappointed or glad?  On one hand I don't have any stock to sell and felt out-of-pocket.  But on the other hand, I had been refunded the money some time ago at the original investment price, which meant I hadn't lost money during the stock price plunge.  As mentioned, I choose to be amused and not confused.

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