A recent piece of research by Saga has revealed that almost a quarter of a million over 50s have found share certificates when sorting through a relative or friend's house after they passed away.
A poll of more than 9,000 over 50s suggests that not everyone would know what to do if they found share certificates. While 48% of people would sell them and 14% would keep them, 37% say they don’t know what they would do with them. Interestingly 1% say they would give the paper certificates away.
Saga estimates that 1.6 million over 50s have inherited shares and around one in three of these people have been left certificates. While the majority of people were gifted share certificates in a loved one’s will (74%), one in eight say their friend or relative gave them the paper certificates before they passed away.
Saga’s analysis found that the average value of paper share certificates is around £3,500.
When it comes to inheriting shares, whether that’s electronic shares or paper certificates, women over 50 are apparently twice as likely to inherit them than men (women 20% vs men 10%).
Furthermore, people in Scotland, London, South East and the South West are the most likely to inherit shares (15%), whereas those in the North West are the least likely to have shares passed down to them (10%).
“Finding share certificates after a loved one has passed away is not as uncommon as you might think,” commented Joanna Fowler, head of share dealing, Saga Personal Finance. “We’ve heard stories of people finding certificates in lofts, kitchen cupboards and even garden sheds and garages. And a lot of the time they didn’t even know their relative had shares stashed away.”
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