A little over 10 years, I received a large stock inheritance from my father. (I've been waiting to cash it in, but now I'm in bad financial shape and need the money now).
What I have is a stack of physical stock certificates. They are for General Motors stock that was issued in 1989. In total, I have 13,500 shares.
I've never had stocks before, so I don't know exactly how they work. Therefore I have a few questions.
To determine the total value, I'm assuming I just take the price on Google Finance (listed at 37.80) and multiple by number of GM shares (13,500) which means the current total is $548,100. Is that correct? (That would make sense since my father told me it was worth about $400k before he had passed away).
What do I do with these certificates? Can I bring them to my bank, or do I need to open an account with a stock company like Fidelity?
I read somewhere that I only have to pay taxes when I cash out these stocks. But are these rules any different because I inherited the stocks?