When my husband died a few years ago, I became sole owner of his brokerage account. He was pretty casual about his stocks and didn't have the date of acquisition for many of them. He was a "buy and hold" guy, or "inherit and hold." Upon my death, the account will go to a charity that was important to my husband. We were each other's second spouse. He had no children.
I transfer regular earnings to my account and use the money for whatever I want -- living expenses, house repairs, investment. Occasionally, however, one of his stocks will disappear and leave a pile of money in the sweep account. (Yes, the company is acquired by another entity or whatever.) I take that money and invest in other stocks for his account, using my own research and recommendations from the brokerkage.
Here's my question: Should I do some research to find out when he acquired the stocks for which I have no date of acquisition? If so, how would I do that? I know that he acquired some of the stocks in the Seventies, and some he probably had had since he was a child, so they are almost certainly considered long-term investments.
Thanks very much for your help. I frequent some other Reddit boards but had not thought to come here until I happened upon this board today.