Assessable Stocks, a look into the past

Assessable stocks used to be common before the 20th century. They were similar to stocks that you could buy today, but with one big catch.

The companies who issued these stocks would be able to call on to their shareholders to give the company money to finance new projects.

For instance if a company was building a railroad and needed extra cash to complete it they might force their share holders to help finance the company. They might require you to send say $5 per stock you own to the company.

To encourage people to actually buy these stocks some companies would sell their shares for a discount. For instance the company’s stock would be trading at $40 but they would sell it at $30 meaning you already had some equity in the position.

Naturally this wasn’t too popular with investors and was later replaced by the common stock that we know today, but it is an interesting part of history.

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