Starting a Club - Issues
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Starting a Club - Issues We have had trouble recruiting new members over the
years. We know the really small town thing is a deficit but I still think
we are missing interested people.
When I first started, and people have told me that
they too, feel so inadequate when the experienced members start talking the
lingo, we are left out due to inexperience. I try really hard when a new
member shows up to keep them on track but it is distracting from a discussion
point of view. They end up feelng left out and "stupid".
I remember when we made our first purchase, I was
really scared that we weren't educated enough to even have a clue. Luckily
I have gotten over that and I think at least some of the new members have, too;
but we have a really big turn over in members.
I also find that in many cases it is a difficult
sell to use the SSG to the new members. They would rather just purchase
something they know.
We have done training on the SSG so they should
know what they are looking for and why. However, I am the one who has
invested in the on-line version so they just hand me the Value line and I
do the input. So they still do not have a clue what is happening with
it. they just want to buy whatever is familiar.
That is one place our club could certainly use help
solving.
Any other suggestions would also be
appreciated.
I hope this helps us both. Thanks for
asking.
Connie Humble
Women Investing Now
Newell, SD
Hi all, We have some ideas about obstacles and issues that might keep people from starting clubs. We'd like to do whatever we can to lessen their impact. But we'd like more input to make sure we are addressing those that can use the most attention.As you of course know, we at bivio believe joining an investment club is a great way to learn about investing. We'd like to encourage people to start or join an investment club and we are wondering if you can help us out. Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe My best advice would be to ask plenty of questions here on Club Cafe. When I started our investment club it seemed that no one outside of the Bivio community understood what an investment club was. My city wanted me to get a business license and told me that I needed to get a broker license. My broker didn't even have all of the correct answers. If it wasn't for the Club Cafe I probably would of just stopped trying to form the club. Another issue was the confusion of the different requirements for each state regarding filing for taxes, out of state members, etc. John Rice ABODI Investment Club From: Laurie Frederiksen <laurie@bivio.biz> To: The Club Cafe <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 8:24 AM Subject: [club_cafe] Starting a Club - Issues Hi all, We have some ideas about obstacles and issues that might keep people from starting clubs. We'd like to do whatever we can to lessen their impact. But we'd like more input to make sure we are addressing those that can use the most attention.As you of course know, we at bivio believe joining an investment club is a great way to learn about investing. We'd like to encourage people to start or join an investment club and we are wondering if you can help us out. Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! http://www.bivio.com/ Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe One of the hardest lessons to understand is the commitment necessary to keep the club going. And the roles that you think have commitment are probably different from those that need commitment. Here's how I would rank the level of commitment needed by club members 1. Regular club members - yes you need commitment to the club, the learning process and each other. There's a lot to learn about the stocks, a lot of confusion about what is "right" and a lot of disagreement. Participation is the key to growing the club so don't be intimidated if members have different views or think they know more. The market makes us all humble some days. Just keep digging for new stocks and participate. 2. VP of Education - Talk about a thankless job! When starting from scratch everyone has a view and the group is still feeling its way around. A good solid education program will go a long way to creating the group dynamic that will make your club grow membership for a long time. 3. President and Secretary - Keeping everyone focused on learning and finding stocks while you want to learn and find stocks will challenge anyone. Facilitating rather than leading does wonders for keeping the flow going. Minutes need to reflect what was important, not the verbatim conversation. Simplicity works for everyone. 4. Treasurer - With bivio and the Club Cafe, you have more resources than many small companies. Follow the bivio accounting process, stick to the rules in your partnership agreement and ask Club Cafe when you have an issue and you will never have a problem. Mark Eckman On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Laurie Frederiksen <laurie@bivio.biz> wrote:
I think one of the first things a club needs to agree on are the investment goals and philosophy that will be used by the club. I live in an over 55 community and when I first moved here and joined the club, there were no specific investment goals or philosophy. Some members wanted to invest in stocks, others in mutual funds and ETFs. Some favored long term investing. Others preferred short term trading. Some even suggested gold and penny stocks. Needless to say, this resulted in much debate and arguing at the club's monthly meetings.
Most investment clubs that I'm familiar with practice long term investing in individual stocks as taught by Better Investing. Many members of our original club questioned why that was a good idea. Many members took the "long term investing" term literally (they felt it was unreasonable to wait 5 years for gains - we're seniors and want profits now).
Investing means different things to different people. I think one thing that might be helpful for clubs to get started is to provide some good information with demonstrated results as to why long term investing in individual stocks is a good idea. Hopefully, this information could then be used by clubs to establish an agreed to set of goals for the club.
A second stumbling block for our club was that members did not understand the basic concepts and requirements of being organized as a partnership. Some members felt there was no need to file tax returns (our returns are so small). Others felt that everyone's stake in the club needed to be "equal". So I think some information about how investment club partnerships work as well as the benefits and requirements of a partnership organization would be helpful. To assist new members with this, my current club has prepared a "Newcomer's Guide" to assist new members with the basics of how our club operates without all the necessary details that are contained in the Partnership Agreement and By-Laws. Len Delmolino Oak Point Investment Club Middleboro, MA From: "Laurie Frederiksen" <laurie@bivio.biz> To: "The Club Cafe" <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 11:24:54 AM Subject: [club_cafe] Starting a Club - Issues Hi all, We have some ideas about obstacles and issues that might keep people from starting clubs. We'd like to do whatever we can to lessen their impact. But we'd like more input to make sure we are addressing those that can use the most attention.As you of course know, we at bivio believe joining an investment club is a great way to learn about investing. We'd like to encourage people to start or join an investment club and we are wondering if you can help us out. Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe These are excellent comments. Thank you for the input so far. Do you think it might help if people thought of the investment club as an educational opportunity first? Do you think this would help them to focus in a positive manner on what they were getting into, what their expectations should be and the commitment that would be required?Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe Len, Those were excellent comments, and it would great if you would make your information available to others. The Crow River Investment Club has been very gracious in making its documents available (thanks Lynn), and it would be wonderful if your Club would share. Knowing what's is realistically expected certainly will help get clubs going while distributing the workload. Roy Chastain From: Laurie Frederiksen <laurie@bivio.biz> To: The Club Cafe <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 4:22 PM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Starting a Club - Issues These are excellent comments. Thank you for the input so far. Do you think it might help if people thought of the investment club as an educational opportunity first? Do you think this would help them to focus in a
positive manner on what they were getting into, what their expectations should be and the commitment that would be required?Our club has met for more than fifty years and apparently never missed a meeting. The Club was founded on a close and enduring bond of professional activity that spanned the globe. Our three founding principles are financial education, value/growth investing and continued social bonds that have shaped our careers and indeed our lives.
That said, we face challenges. Our gene pool is aging and new members are hard to reach. Moreover, our average investment is about $20,000 and new members can find that amount daunting, especially in this difficult financial climate and as we all age ( or not!).
For a new group, I would encourage culture or values over strategy. I would also keep our vision of one member, one vote and essentially equal investments by all. Moreover, I would keep the average investment to a range well-within the comfort zone of existing and new members. Certainly emphasize education and sustained values and culture and your club might also enjoy an extraordinary run.
Good investing! On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Laurie Frederiksen <laurie@bivio.biz> wrote:
The educational component is an important consideration and it probably needs more emphasis when clubs are being formed. Not sure that education should be the primary focus but certainly should be emphasized as an important benefit of being a member of a club. Our Newcomer's Guide is a relatively new initiative and we will likely consider revisions as we get feedback from current club members and prospective members. But we'd be glad to share it with others as well as get feedback and suggestions for improvement. What's the best way to share it with the Bivio community? Len Delmolino Oak Point Investment Club Middleboro, MA From: "Laurie Frederiksen" <laurie@bivio.biz> To: "The Club Cafe" <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 7:22:45 PM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Starting a Club - Issues These are excellent comments. Thank you for the input so far. Do you think it might help if people thought of the investment club as an educational opportunity first? Do you think this would help them to focus in a positive manner on what they were getting into, what their expectations should be and the commitment that would be required?Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe Hi Len, Feel free to send it as an attachment to an email to this list. Or send it to me directly and I'll post it where we can provided a link to it.Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Len Delmolino <> wrote:
Attached as requested is our club's Newcomer's Guide. Its purpose is to provide prospective club members with a quick snapshot of what our investment club is all about. Its a new initiative for our club that I expect will change over time as we get feedback. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Len Delmolino Oak Point Investment Club Middleboro, MA From: "Laurie Frederiksen" <laurie@bivio.biz> To: "The Club Cafe" <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 9:50:59 AM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Starting a Club - Issues Hi Len, Feel free to send it as an attachment to an email to this list. Or send it to me directly and I'll post it where we can provided a link to it.Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Len Delmolino <> wrote:
Thank you Len. This is excellent. One place where beginning clubs often get bogged down is trying to dive immediately into partnership agreements and operating procedures. This gives enough valuable information for someone to get started without overwhelming them with too many fine points. Thank you for sharing it.Laurie Frederiksen
Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com Become our Facebook friend! www.facebook.com/bivio Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bivio Follow Us on Google+ Click here to Subscribe to the Club Cafe email list. Click here to Unsubscribe On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Len Delmolino <> wrote:
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