Ask Paul: How do I sell my old cannabis shares?

Bought shares years ago and forgotten about them? Kirsten wants to know the easiest way to sell a handful of old cannabis shares that are now worth very little.

Reader question

Hi Paul, I'm a 58-year-old woman based in Brisbane.

Some time ago I thought I'd get some shares in medical marijuana companies.

About a decade later my accountant who does my tax returns suggested selling them, but I need a broker for that right?

I'm obviously not financially savvy or invested enough to do what needs to be done with shares, so how do I divest myself of these piddling little shares that aren't worth a broker's time and fee?

Some are through Commonwealth Direct Investment Account (CDIA) and others elsewhere. - Kirsten

Paul's response

You have given me a good chuckle, Kirsten.

I think we all do this from time to time.

I was sick and tired of some equally 'piddling' individual share investments that seemed a good idea at the time, but are really just an administrative pest.

I went to the share registry for these shares, fortunately they were mainly with the same registry and pressed the sell button.

Pretty poor form, I know, but I barely looked at the cost. It was a big registry, so a fair fee.

A cheaper way would to have been pop them on my banks share trading site and I reckon I could have saved about $60 across my little holding, but given the time involved, I figured it just best to hit 'sell'.

In particular with the new CGT coming in June 30 next year, I can tell you one thing for sure.

I'll be holding shares in low-cost ETFs where I have one price for future CGT calculations.

So check out the share registry for your shares, the companies themselves may offer an 'unmarketable parcel' no-cost buyback, or a low-cost service such as your banks or one of the many external providers.

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