Hi Dwayne,

This may not be the best board to get the information you seek. Most of the clubs in our "hub" here at bivio are serious long-term fundamental investors who shy away from penny stocks, day trading, and other venues that promote gambling.

I don't know where you are getting your information, but an EIN number is the equivalent of a social security number for a business. Every business must report taxes, just as every individual must. Most of our investment clubs are organized as general partnerships where the income and expenses flow through to our partners' individual tax returns in proportion to our ownership in the club. But the club still must have an EIN number and report to the IRS as a business, even though it doesn't actually pay taxes.

I have had several brokerage accounts and they do not require everyone to have an EIN. But they do require everyone's social security number. You will not get around this issue, just as you will never get hired without a social security number.

You may wish to rethink the structure of your "investment club." There are plenty of great books on the subject. My all time favorite is The Investment Club Book by John Wasik. It's no longer in print, but it's available at most libraries, or used at amazon.com. It covers all things "legal" as well as how to setup monthly operations and how to study stocks. Even if you are not interested in a fundamental approach, per se, it may still benefit your group to understand how to structure the club. You won't get a broker account otherwise.

Good luck to you,

Lynn Ostrem

Crow River Investment Club

Lynn Thanks for the responds. I do agree with you we do have a EIN for our club and we have all members ss# filed.

I was looking at scottrade and they wanted ss# plus EIN for all members. SS# is understandable.

as far as penny stocks go.. we all have our investments but this club is for fun to play around sorry if I have offended you.

we take it serious also but we like to have fun too! we don't day trade.

 

thanks again

Dwayne


-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn Ostrem <garbagecop@gmail.com>
To: The Club Cafe <club_cafe@bivio.com>
Sent: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 10:50 am
Subject: Re: club_cafe: What Brokerage does your club use?

Hey Dwayne,

No offense taken! I think Scottrade is asking for your club's EIN, "plus" all social security numbers. That's normal. Scotttrade is a good deep-discount broker. So is Firstrade.com. This is my personal and club broker. I like them because they are club friendly, and their customer service handles issues with ONE phone call.

Come back if you have questions.

Lynn Ostrem

Crow River Investment Club

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 2:24 PM, <cradiationman1@aol.com> wrote:

Lynn Thanks for the responds. I do agree with you we do have a EIN for our club and we have all members ss# filed.

I was looking at scottrade and they wanted ss# plus EIN for all members. SS# is understandable.

as far as penny stocks go.. we all have our investments but this club is for fun to play around sorry if I have offended you.

we take it serious also but we like to have fun too! we don't day trade.

thanks again

Dwayne

-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn Ostrem <garbagecop@gmail.com>
To: The Club Cafe <club_cafe@bivio.com>
Sent: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 10:50 am
Subject: Re: club_cafe: What Brokerage does your club use?

Hi Dwayne,

This may not be the best board to get the information you seek. Most of the clubs in our "hub" here at bivio are serious long-term fundamental investors who shy away from penny stocks, day trading, and other venues that promote gambling.

I don't know where you are getting your information, but an EIN number is the equivalent of a social security number for a business. Every business must report taxes, just as every individual must. Most of our investment clubs are organized as general partnerships where the income and expenses flow through to our partners' individual tax returns in proportion to our ownership in the club. But the club still must have an EIN number and report to the IRS as a business, even though it doesn't actually pay taxes.

I have had several brokerage accounts and they do not require everyone to have an EIN. But they do require everyone's social security number. You will not get around this issue, just as you will never get hired without a social security number.

You may wish to rethink the structure of your "investment club." There are plenty of great books on the subject. My all time favorite is The Investment Club Book by John Wasik. It's no longer in print, but it's available at most libraries, or used at amazon.com. It covers all things "legal" as well as how to setup monthly operations and how to study stocks. Even if you are not interested in a fundamental approach, per se, it may still benefit your group to understand how to structure the club. You won't get a broker account otherwise.

Good luck to you,

Lynn Ostrem

garbagecop@gmail.com

Crow River Investment Club

www.bivio.com/crowriver