Albin - 13. Chapter 13

Arriving home on Sunday in time to go to his grandparents with his mom, he smiled as he handed his mom 50 dollars. “I worked a party this weekend, and I got paid. Put this money in your bank account until I need it for school.” Marie was quite proud of Albin, giving him a hug.

At the grandparents on Sunday, Marie told her mom about Albin working. Of course, the others heard her as well. One of his cousins wanted to know what kind of party, he may want to work there. Now Albin had to be careful. “It was a dinner party. I’m not sure if I’ll be needed again or not. It was a one-time affair and one of the boys from the University told me about it.” That seemed to work.

For the next several months, Albin worked the male parties with Cody. He was popular; tall blue-eyed blonds were not common. “Cody, I have this money, and I need to invest it. The bank pays only 3 percent interest. There has to be a better way.”

“There is. You can invest it and for that, you will need what is called a stockbroker.”

“What’s a stockbroker?”

“Professor Adams presented a lecture on investments last week. According to him, there are people who follow the stock market and can predict or tell what the price of a stock will do.”

“What is a stock?”

“Let’s say you start a company. You need cash to do that. Let’s say you need 100 dollars. You want people to give you the money but they don’t want to just hand you the money. They tell you they will give you the money for a piece of your company. So you agree and sell them a share of your company. Now your company is very successful and you make a lot of money. But remember you don’t own the company 100 percent. You sold a percentage of the company for your start-up. So the man who owns part of your company also shares in your profit. Now that man wants to sell his share. He goes to a person called a stock broker who evaluates his share and your business and that person tells him the percentage of the business he owns is worth a certain amount. The man agrees to sell, and the broker calls his clients and offers the stock. He gets a commission from the sale, and the man who invested his money gets the money from the sale of his stock. I think Professor Adams has a book on this. Check the library tomorrow.”

“Is that safer than the bank?”

“What does the bank give you? They give you a small percentage of your savings. The money you put into the bank is used to buy stock. It goes like this. You get 3 percent on your savings. The bank takes your money and invests it through a broker and makes 6 percent on the investment. What they make covers your 3 percent and the bank earns 3 percent. Now if you go to a broker instead of a bank, you get 6 percent and not 3 percent.”

“I need to think about it. You said he has a book on it in the library, I’ll look for it tomorrow.”

That evening Albin discusses what Cody told him about brokers with his mom. “What happens if the owner doesn’t make a profit and the man wants out.?

“I don’t know.”

“You need to read this man’s book and maybe have a discussion with him.”

Albin wasn’t sure if the investment route was best. There was no one he could talk to and then he thought about George. A long letter brought the response back he was looking for. George told him not to put all of his eggs in one basket. Keep his savings account at the bank but if he was thinking about investments through a broker, he should talk to one. “Just remember, they do that for a living so be very critical of what they tell you. Before you sign with a broker, give me a call. We can discuss it.”