Chapter 2

Back in his condo, Craig was having considerable thoughts about the two nights he spent with Lori. It was too bad that it had to end as she was one exciting woman but she was right in calling a halt to the affair. She knew what she wanted and went for it when the time was right and knew when the time wasn’t right. He was happy to have gone along for the ride she gave him and hoped there would be more times he would be able to bed her.

There were two things she said that he that had him thinking however. The first one had to do with her friend who had red hair and who hadn’t been laid in a year. He wondered what she looked like and what the problem about her not having some intimate moments with a man in a year. Maybe her looks were such that they couldn’t compensate enough for her being the nice person Lori had described. He would see if he could find out what she looked like before he made any commitment to get involved with her.

The second and probably the more important item was when Lori talked about how they had diversified their investment portfolio. They sold most of their computer company stock so as not to have all their eggs in one basket. Craig knew that he was in a similar situation right now. Besides his 401K which was invested in an S and P index fund, he still had all of the shares of bank stock he inherited and purchased. These shares were now being converted into the stock of the larger bank that bought his bank. He was quite familiar and felt good about the future prospects of the bank he worked for but he wasn’t as comfortable with the prospects of the larger bank since he wasn’t familiar with their operation and management. The shares of stock that he had did pay a three percent annual dividend. There were other investments that paid similar or higher dividends and it was now time to diversify and sell a large amount his stock in the bank and move those funds into other investments. He knew he had been silly to wait this long to do that.

While Craig had some ideas on what he wanted to invest in but he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to get some professional advice. He went to a file drawer and pulled out a folder that he kept on his brokerage firm. There was a letter in it that he had received about a month ago. The letter was signed by a Monica Jeffries. She introduced herself in the letter and said that his account was assigned to her and he should not hesitate in contacting her if she could ever do anything for him. Her title was a Vice-President but he wasn’t overly impressed with her title as he thought most investment advisors had such titles.

Craig phoned his brokerage firm and asked to speak to her.

“Monica Jeffries, how may I help you?”

“This is Craig Jacobs and I received a letter from you a while ago indicating you were assigned to my account. Your letter said that I should contact you if I needed anything.”

“Yes Mr. Jacobs, what can I do for you?”

“First of all please call me Craig, my father is ‘Mr. Jacobs’.”

“Okay Craig, what can I do for you?”

“Are you familiar with my account?”

“Not really, the letter went out to all the accounts that were assigned to me. I just transferred into this office from downtown Chicago.”

“Let me give you my account number and you can take a quick look to see how I’m currently invested.”

He gave her the account number and after about a minute heard, “I see that you just have one investment which is a considerable number of shares of a bank stock. There is a pending transfer of your 401K into a rollover IRA, but we haven’t received that investment yet.”

“That investment will be an S and P index fund which is worth about $500k. The bank shares are a problem.”

“Based on the number of shares in the account I wish I had a problem like that.”

“What I want to do is to sell most of the bank shares and reinvest the funds in different areas. I need to diversify my investments and I’d like for you to give me some recommendations as to how and what I should invest in.”

“Can you give me an idea of what you want and what you are looking for?”

“Well, I am single, fifty three years of age, have no dependents, and am now unemployed. I do get a small pension that I do need to supplement with income from this account. I was thinking something like a sixty/forty split between stocks and bonds that would generate and enable me to draw out about $150k a year between interest and dividends. If I don’t need all those funds I can reinvest what isn’t needed.”

“It would seem that off the top of my head based on the present value of your account it’s easily doable. I’ll need a few days to put something together.”

“Okay, but don’t make all your recommendations in mutual funds. Some of these funds can be in funds that focus on high yield bonds and floating loans, but for a number of reasons I think that individual stocks and bonds are better investments in the long run.”

“I see where you’re going and what you want. I should have something ready for you by this Friday. Can you come into the office at say two o’clock?”

He ended the call after agreeing to be there. Now that he had partially solved one concern he thought again about this lady with the flaming red hair. Craig needed to see what she looked like. Maybe he could see her in the exercise room or at the pool.

He thought that no one would be injured if a bomb went off in here when he walked into the exercise room a little after noon. There wasn’t a soul there. He tried some of the machines that were there and liked the soreness that they gave him.

There were a few people lying around on lounges at the pool but none of the ladies had red hair nor were there any ladies that interested him no matter what their hair color was.

Craig went back to his condo and after checking out a number of investments on the internet, he reduced how he thought his brokerage account should be invested to writing. He cringed at what the capital gains taxes were going to be on his bank shares but he didn’t foresee that tax rate being any lower in the future. It would probably be considerably higher due to the ‘revenue enhancement ideas’ Congress was talking about.

He told the receptionist at his brokerage office who he was and who he was there to see at the agreed time on Friday. She asked him to take a seat.

An attractive woman with a confident walk in a tailor grey suit came up to him about a minute later and introduced herself as Monica Jeffries. She asked him to follow her to her office. He did and he glanced at her backside and tapered calves and thin ankles as he followed her. She was about five foot ten in her high heel shoes, about one hundred and thirty pounds, a slim figure, and was somewhere in her late thirties or early forties. Her short brown hair complemented an attractive face.

Monica opened a folder and taking some papers from it gave them to Craig and said; “Here are my recommendations. It was a little bit of a challenge to come up with this list but I tried to work within the guidelines you gave me.”

Craig opened a folder he had brought with him and handed Monica some papers saying, “Here are some investments ideas I was thinking about.”

They both took time to study the other’s recommendations and found a few recommendations they agreed upon. They discussed the allocations and why each of them was recommending a particular investment. This went on for quite a while which caused the time to fly by. They finally came to an agreement on the individual investments to be made and their amounts which Monica said she would do on Monday since the markets were now closed for the day. Her brokerage fee would be heavily discounted to what Craig would pay if he made the trades on line.

Craig looked at his watch and saw it was already ten after six.

“I’m sorry that it took so long to do this. I hope I didn’t keep you from anything.”

“No you didn’t, I don’t have any plans for tonight and my one daughter is away at college. I’ve been divorced for a few years so there is no husband to go home to.”

“Let me make this up to you. I noticed a pizza place three businesses over. Would you care to split a pizza with me?”

“That’s the best offer I have had all day. The pizza there is pretty good and yes I would. Let’s go split one but I suspect it will be half and half.”

After placing the order at the restaurant, Craig had a chance to talk to Monica and came to know her better. She started in the investment business right after college. She took five years off until her daughter was old enough for school and she has been divorced for five years. Her ex-husband, who was quite successful in chemical sales, just couldn’t learn to keep it in his pants and fooled around quite a bit. Monica filed for divorce when the husband of one of the ladies her ex was messing around with gave Monica some proof of the affair. She did quite well financially in the divorce settlement. The ex-husband hasn’t been heard from since and his disappearance does bother her daughter Kelly quite a bit.

Monica was curious as to how Craig had amassed so many shares in the one bank and he told her about his aunt, stock options, and his stock purchases.

Craig had a nice time with Monica and thought he would like to get to know her better. She told him that she would contact him as to the status of his account next week.

Back at his condo, Craig met Lori while waiting for the elevator on the first floor. They were the only two people there.

“Have you given any thought to meeting Brea, my redheaded friend?”

“I have to be honest with you. I would like to see what she looks like before I make any commitment to take her out. I don’t doubt what you say about her looks but I’d like to confirm it before I ask for a date. I don’t mean to sound chauvinistic but it just wouldn’t be fun for me to be going out with someone who is unappealing. Another thing is that if I call her out of the blue and ask her out, she’s probably going to think I’m calling her to get into her panties.”

“And when she accepts your invitation to go out with you, it will because she wants you to get into her panties.” Lori laughed at her comment but she continued. “Monday is bingo night at the clubhouse. Brea plays bingo with John and me. Why don’t you come over there and you can meet her?

“I am not a fan or great supporter of bingo.”

“Just come over there at seven thirty. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

“I am not saying I will come there but I will think about it.”

With nothing better to do Monday night Craig found himself standing at the entrance to the large clubhouse hall waiting to purchase his bingo cards. Lori saw him purchasing his cards and stood up to wave her arm. John, Lori, and a nice looking lady with red hair, who seemed to be a little younger than Lori’s age were sitting at a table. Lori introduced Craig and Brea to each other.

Brea’s hair wasn’t flaming red but it was a deep red thought Craig. He learned in a short time that Brea was a schoolteacher with three weeks more to go in the school year. She was presently single, had a few freckles on her face and seemed like a nice person. Brea was originally from southern Indiana and enjoyed teaching.

Brea heard the specifics about Craig and she must have heard Lori mention that Craig was single three or four times.

Lori asked John to come with her to help her purchase some sodas when there was a break in the bingo action. She wanted to give Craig and Brea some time together.

Craig said, “I hope Lori’s playing matchmaker is not embarrassing you.”

“No, I’ve been through this with her before. She does have a good heart but I would hope that she gives it a rest. It seems that her mission in life is to fix me up with a man.”

“You are an attractive woman Brea. I don’t know why she thinks you need help in getting fixed up.”

“I don’t actually, it’s just that I just don’t have the opportunity to meet many single men because of my job. As the saying goes, ‘What will be, will be.”

Lori and John returned with the sodas just in time to play the last two bingo games. Craig excused himself and left when games were over.

Craig was in the laundry room putting his wash into the dryer on Thursday when Lori walked in.

“I’m dying to ask you how it went with Brea.”

“She seems like a nice person.”

“Are you going to take her out? She thought you were nice looking and I’m sure she would go out with you.”

“I’m not going to give you status reports on my love life Lori. In fact, if you keep trying to fix me up with Brea and continuously ask me questions, I am going to bend you over the washer, pull your panties down, and have my wicked ways with you even if John is in town.”

Lori thought Craig was kidding with that remark but she wasn’t quite sure. She quietly walked to the door and standing in the open doorway said, “You wouldn’t dare,” quickly closed the door and left.

Laughing to himself at her reaction at what he said he wouldn’t do what he said but he enjoyed teasing her and thought that she enjoyed his teasing as well.

Friday was an interesting day. It started off with Craig’s phone ringing. He thought it was another telemarketer violating the ‘do-not-call list’ as he went to answer the phone.

He answered the phone and heard, “Is this Craig Jacobs who ran the mortgage department” and mentioned his former employer.

“Yes it is, what can I do for you?”

“Craig, my name is Phil Campbell and I am the President of Albany State Savings and Loan in Aurora. A good friend of mine who works at the bank that bought your bank told me that you turned down their employment offer.”

“The idea of moving to Detroit didn’t appeal to me.”

“I can understand that. My friend said he was impressed by how efficient and well managed your department was and they were sorry to have you turn down their offer.”

“You should know that coming down to being second or third fiddle after you’ve been the number one fiddle also didn’t appeal to me.”

“How would you like to be number one fiddle again?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ed Troy, who ran our mortgage department recently passed away. I’m not that familiar with that end of the business and my friend said that I couldn’t go wrong if I was able to hire you to run that department.”