Oops. Where's my stock? Check brokerage statement
— -- Q: The 100 shares of Anheuser-Busch I owned have vanished from my brokerage statement. What happened?
A: Anheuser-Busch is no longer a stand-alone stock.
Last year, the beer maker was bought by Belgian brewer InBev for $70 a share. You should log into your brokerage account and confirm that there's an additional $7,000 in your account. If so, that's a result of the sale. You can learn more here about the buyout of Anheuser-Busch.
You bring up a good, question, though. Too many investors don't take the time to audit their brokerage statements. It's critical that every month you at least look over your statements and compare them with the previous month. You should make sure the cash levels are correct and the number of shares match what you think you own.
Depending on the complexity of your portfolio, it's not a bad idea to "balance" your monthly brokerage statements. There are several software programs to help you do this, including Microsoft's Money and Intuit's Quicken.
In addition to checking your brokerage statements, it's important to keep your records in a safe place. If you get paper statements, put them in a folder in a secure place. It's not a bad idea to use a computer scanner to keep a digital copy as well. And if you get electronic brokerage statements, be sure to keep a copy on your hard drive and back those up.
If there's ever a problem with your brokerage firm, it's going to be up to you to have excellent records. Make sure you do.
Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY and author of Investing Online for Dummies. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Click here to see previous Ask Matt columns.
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