I am trying to calculate the cost basis for a mutual fund held for 55 years by my wife and her ex-husband and nobody knows the amount of the original investment. Advice?

[rarich96]

I received all the annual reports for the fund investment back to 1972. However, the original investment was in 1969, made by my wife's ex-husband who is now deceased. Nobody knows the amount of the original investment. Neither the mutual fund company, Invesco, nor my wife's deceased husband or my wife has a record. The Invesco rep left a message on my phone with his best guess, so all I have is a voice mail. 

[bwa]

Try a Google search on the funds name. For example, a Google search on "General Electric stock prices" brings up the following page:  https://www.google.com/search?q=General+Electric+Stock+Price&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:...

Clicking on the yahoo stock prices (the second item) brings up this:  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=GE

Changing the start and stop dates to 12/21/2002 tells me the stock price on that date was a high of $26.00/share and a low of $25.95/per share.

[maglib]

often the mutual fund can help you.... I had a mutual fund send me 20 years of data that I had to go through once.

[Al in Cal]

RARICH,,,

I am in a similar situation.  Several funds now delisted ... no symbol to search firm changes/exchanges...  Contacted different companies, Nobody has records for 1996 values.  DID you sort out what IRS will except for cost basis?  Appreciate any guidance.  Hope your situation worked out.

[AmyC]

The University of MN has some links for stock research. If you are unable to provide a basis, the IRS considers that you have no basis. Therefore, anything you can find to help substantiate your claim is great.

@Al in Cal