If you do own stocks and the certificates are not in your possession, this interview will enlighten you concerning changes in the law that may affect your status of ownership if there is a credit crisis.
The recently enacted laws do not favor you and me.
Even though my wife and I don’t have a lot of stocks, we did go through the process of getting physical certificates which has no intermediary claims.
Step 1: Notify your stock broker who has your stocks in the “street name” to transfer them to Direct Registration at Computershare. They will likely charge a fee for this.
Step 2: Once you have an account at Computershare, you can select the option for issuing physical shares sent to your home address.
If you decide to sell your shares, you can go to your stockbroker and reintroduce them to your account. Once posted, you can then sell them.
If you have physical certificates, the Stock Transfer Agent who is retained by the public corporation will have record of your ownership. There are no intermediary claims that can be used to tie up your asset.
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 10:
16 Now, remember, it is I who sends you out, even though you feel vulnerable as lambs going into a pack of wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes yet as harmless as doves.”
Let us not be caught unaware of what the snakes are attempting to do!