Withdrawal (From the Bank)

2000

We managed to get out of the house by 11:02AM on Saturday (the day the Internet access was down). (Late for April 15th!)
We drove to the post office and mailed his returns. No return receipt. The lines were already past endurance. (He gets $101 back from the Fed and $1.00 from the state. And we have the copies.) He drops them in a box. It cost me $63 for his taxes to be done by my CPA - who is still fussing with my return.)
Did I mention, in my heightened state, that I couldn't find my stamps for 30 minutes? Caused more of my screaming and cursing since I had now had it with things being misplaced or malfunctioning.
We drive to the bank. (First, I have to make a wrong turn - in my own neighborhood no less!)
My son, bright child that he is, has left his wallet at home.
And we need to deposit his paychecks (which are aging, having hung on the kitchen cabinet for weeks) to my account (because we are closing his).
The bank clerk freaks.
The manager looks at him (unshaven, big (6'3"), frumpy, half-awake (even now) with hair that he has decided not to cut (thick and curly and very unruly) and at me (dressed in black with about $300 worth of Joan Rivers gold-toned and new jewelry and full makeup, hair neatly pulled back) and decides "OK".
Actually, I look like a skinned cat.
They let us close his checking account (they were charging him $8/month for NOTHING). And his joint savings account (a minor's account with my name as custodian) and put the money (just under $10,000) into my checking account.
I am surprised at the bank - I had expected to have to drive back to the house. That's a lot of money. A lot. It took me 18 years to save that up for him. It's his college fund.
I think because the big account had my name on it they figured OK.
This is OK by me since I just bought him $10,000 worth of Cisco stock in return.
Fair trade. Now I have to send a check to my broker to repay my CMA account.
This is called money management.
After the blood-bath on the stock market Friday - it was time. Cisco closed at $57.
BUY THEM. (Sell your shoes but buy them!)
My mind went off. My stock broker agreed. (He told me not to buy anymore myself since I have a lot of tech stocks. I need to stay balanced. Diversified. I am old and want to retire.)
My son will now have a CMA account and I can transfer money to it for college later on. Better than the bank. Costs $5.00 a month and it earns interest on cash in hand.
My son figures that when he gets to his junior year and transfers to college (out of community college), he will have at least doubled his college fund. (Probably quadrupled.)
I trust his instincts.
He made a phantom $10,000 purchase (paper only) in high school after studying stocks. I had offered at that time to give him real money and to actually buy the stocks.
He should taken me up on my offer.
(He would have had $160,000 in 8 months.)
He has a knack.
I wish I had it!
Then we go home, to see if the Internet is up.