Converting Converted Values to proper numbers

I used the text to columns feature https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...rs=en-us&ad=us Instead of leaping straight to "Apply" at step 3, work through the text to columns wizard and make sure to use appropriate delimiters (probably need to make sure comma is not used as a field delimiter in step 1). I also stopped at step 3 and pulled up the "advanced" options where I could specify using comma as decimal separator and dot as thousands separator and make sure "trailing minus" is checked. Once I was satisfied that all of the settings were correct, I finished the text import wizard and the numbers seemed to convert to real numbers just fine.

Select the column
Use Find and replace.
Find - Replace By nothing
Find , Replace By nothing