I am curious to know what the SEC said.
They told her exactly what I told her. That general information related to the activity of a company (are they busy or not) is not necessarily "insider". They are more interested in specific, event related, illegal trading, such as a upcoming merger, acquisition, major contract, or earnings report... etc.
This discussion about what constitutes insider information provoked several days of intense "debate" between the Mrs and myself, if I may be allowed to understate the situation.
All I had were several pieces of information, most of which were widely know if you followed the Y2K issue and its impacts on the financial sector. The comments that an employee of a particular company were now very busy after several years of relative hard times, and his general comments that someone he had spoken to (I didn't know his source) FELT that the stock had potential to $100-150 by the end of the year.
Seemed a no-brainer to me. And apparently by the way the stock took off after Feb 29th, others felt the same way.
Those who know me also know that I like to get close to the companies that I take serious positions in. For the most part, I'm not seeking inside information (and if I receive it by accident I don't short term trade on it). I am merely trying to quantify the companies technology/product, business plan, as well as management's competence in executing that plan.
It has gotten to the point where I just don't tell my wife anything. Especially after she sold off 25,000 shares of a stock I had gotten her into at under $1/share on a certain stock. She laid down the law and told me she didn't feel comfortable with my speaking with major shareholders of the company trying to gain "background" and general sentiment about their perspective (call it following the smart money and trying to understand how they are viewing the situation and their time frame).
Anyway, she told me not to talk to these people anymore or she would sell the stock. So what did I do? I stopped talking to them, of course. It wasn't worth it for the general info I was receiving. But that didn't stop her from selling the position off at the end of December (in the midst of tax loss selling) for $2 1/2, one half the price that they stock was 3 weeks into January.
But the greater pain was inflicted by her taking the proceeds and profit from that sale and chasing some of these high flying tech stocks close to their price highs (which are trending down to their lows... :0(
Now that p*ssed me off. But alas, I guess she won't learn unless I let her make her own mistakes.... <sigh>.
Regards,
Ron |
