Online Investment Club Operations
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Online Investment Club Operations Our club is considering changing from a conventional meeting system to handling business online. We feel through the use of Bivio, and perhaps Yahoo Club sites we would be able to present stock ideas, discuss stock investing as well as conduct purchases through voting systems. However we know there may be other clubs doing business online so we wanted to reach out and get any ideas that we may benefit from from other clubs. Steve Hannemann In today's world, we move at such a fast pace. It hardly seems like there's time anymore to just fiddle. Cutting out the meeting will save at least 3 hours a month for most (2 hour meeting; 30 minute drive time each way). But what will you do with that time? Relax? Watch TV? Play with the kids? Sounds good to me!
I've met hundreds of clubs in 17 years of clubbing. Online clubs were a much smaller percentage. None of the ones I met are still in business. The problem is that, without that face to face contact; without the peer pressure of showing up with prepared work in hand; people could get away with coming to the cyber meeting unprepared. And they did. The "convenience" of meeting from your home computer becomes inconvenient when something in your own space is calling out for your attention. At least that's what the bulk of them shared with me.
This seems to go for study groups, as well. I know of at least a hafl dozen clubs that disolved and chose to stay together as a study group, rather than pool money. Each would bring their best ideas and share. But none of them could keep the interest going.
I don't know what it is that keeps face to face clubs together for so long. Maybe it's the commaradrie, or the feeling of fullfillment one leaves with every month. When you talk to online clubs, if you can find them (!), be sure to dig into what makes them tick - not just the mechanics of running the club. And best of luck to you. I hope it works out.
Lynn Ostrem Crow River Investment Club
On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 3:33 PM, Steve Hannemann <steveah10@gmail.com> wrote: Our club is considering changing from a conventional meeting -- Lynn Ostrem Resource Management Group, Inc. 4439 McAllister Av NE St.Michael, MN 55376 Office: 763/497-5153 Fax: 763/497-5838 Cell: 612/750-4943 garbagecop@gmail.com Hi Steve,
I am the Treasurer of an online club. We have been together since 2008. If it is necessary to go online then do it otherwise your club could easily suffer in the future. Since you are already a club you should be fine for the first year or two but then the involvement will drop off. We have 11 people in our club but only a few regulars. We can get up to 5 people in our discussions each month but sometimes it is just me. The rest never votes or just votes with no discussion. The regulars have been putting up with it because the "dead" members payments allow us to buy higher price stocks. The other reason is that we are using the Motley Fool Stock Advisor and according to the Quest for Relative Returns we have been doing much better than the average club and actually had the highest & near highest return for many months. The funny thing is that
we have actually started meeting in person quarterly for those who are local but those meetings net about the same amount of people attending. We are actively seeking new members and once we get more active members we will then start booting out the non-active members. Feel free to contact me directly at rice.j1969@att.net if you want any specific info.
John Rice
ABODI Investment Club
From: Lynn Ostrem <garbagecop@gmail.com> To: club_cafe@bivio.com Sent: Mon, October 17, 2011 3:18:53 PM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Online Investment Club Operations In today's world, we move at such a fast pace. It hardly seems like there's time anymore to just fiddle. Cutting out the meeting will save at least 3 hours a month for most (2 hour meeting; 30 minute drive time each way). But what will you do with that time? Relax? Watch TV? Play with the kids? Sounds good to me!
I've met hundreds of clubs in 17 years of clubbing. Online clubs were a much smaller percentage. None of the ones I met are still in business. The problem is that, without that face to face contact; without the peer pressure of showing up with prepared work in hand; people could get away with coming to the cyber meeting unprepared. And they did. The "convenience" of meeting from your home computer becomes inconvenient when something in your own space is calling out for your attention. At least that's what the bulk of them shared with me.
This seems to go for study groups, as well. I know of at least a hafl dozen clubs that disolved and chose to stay together as a study group, rather than pool money. Each would bring their best ideas and share. But none of them could keep the interest going.
I don't know what it is that keeps face to face clubs together for so long. Maybe it's the commaradrie, or the feeling of fullfillment one leaves with every month.
When you talk to online clubs, if you can find them (!), be sure to dig into what makes them tick - not just the mechanics of running the club. And best of luck to you. I hope it works out.
Lynn Ostrem
Crow River Investment Club
On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 3:33 PM, Steve Hannemann <steveah10@gmail.com> wrote: Our club is considering changing from a conventional meeting -- Lynn Ostrem Resource Management Group, Inc. 4439 McAllister Av NE St.Michael, MN 55376 Office: 763/497-5153 Fax: 763/497-5838 Cell: 612/750-4943 garbagecop@gmail.com Yes Roy, I tried the online version. What I remember about that club is how LOOONNNGGG it took to have a conversation. It's not the quick give-and-take that occurs in person. We got very little accomplished during the meetings. It was boring. And being the multi-tasker that I am (!) I would work on other things on my desk and quit paying attention.
There's A LOT you can do inbetween the meetings, even for a face to face club. But just as John mentioned, getting them to actually log on, participate in a discussion and VOTE on something in cyberspace is like pulling teeth! Ugh.
I agree that, if you have motivated and dedicated people, you'll do well. But look around your current club. Got any slackers? I promise they will be WORSE online! Be well,
Lynn O.
Interesting responses to the original question. I wonder if the problem is more how to keep club members engaged than whether you meet online or not. I now meet online with my original club. After 13 years, I'm still engaged because the members are all my friends, the amount of my money in the club is significant enough that I want a say in how it's managed, and my club meetings are a place where I can have insightful investment discussions with people whose opinions I respect. I also belong to a newer club where one member meets with us regularly online and other members attend online if the weather is bad or business or traveling means they can't meet in person. We still have good discussions and active participation by everyone. Investing is a long term commitment. Like other long term commitments, it requires repeated injections of motivating thoughts and actions. Perhaps putting some energy into assessing online meeting possibilities can be a "new adventure" that will work for certain clubs. I wouldn't totally dismiss the idea. -- 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 |
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