Club Investment

A Final Word (Investment Club)

djenyns — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:00:15 +0000

Investing in the Stock Market is a challenging and rewarding way to manage your financial resources, but it can be an intimidating experience. An investment club is the perfect way to reap the rewards of investing, without any of the difficulties that solitary investors often run into.

In a club, you will be pooling your financial resources and knowledge with others who have the same goals as you do. As group you will learn more about the Stock Market, and earn greater profits than you ever could by yourself.

As you can see from this ebook, there is some work involved with setting up an investment club, but it s not difficult and the entire process is enjoyable if it is approached with energy and enthusiasm. This holds true for investing as well, when it is approached with the same kind of energy and enthusiasm, you can earn much higher profits. Investment Club - Read More.

Tools for (Investment Club) Your Investment Club

djenyns — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:00:15 +0000

As with all aspects of investing there are a number of tools, such as software programs, and other pieces of information that can make running your investment club smoother. Consider having several of the members of your investment club try different types of software on their computers so that the club can make an informed decision about where it wants to invest.

Some of the software available includes:

Stock analyzers: There are different types of software available that will help you analyze the stocks that you re interested in and keeping an eye on.

Available from Kingsoft: http://www.kinginet.com/

Available from NAIC:

http://www.better-investing.org/about/software/nsa.html

Accounting software: You ll want to have software for accounting purposes so that you can keep track of all your finances and generate reports for members of the club to have for their records.

NAIC Club Accounting Software: The NAIC produces accounting software that is tailored to investment club needs.

http://www.better-investing.org/about/software/nca.html Investment Club - Read More.

Internet Resources (Investment Club)

djenyns — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 15:00:07 +0000

National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC)

This site has a wealth of information about investing in general and about investment clubs. It s a good site to start with.

http://www.better-investing.org/

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

This website has good basic information about investment club regulations.

Securities and Exchange Commission

Office of Investor Education and Assistance 450 Fifth Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20549-0213

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/invclub.htm

Bivio

This is a good online source of useful information for investment clubs. Specific clubs have websites through Bivio, which often post their own education programs, and other insights they have into running an investment club.

http://www.bivio.com/index.html

The Motley Fool

This site has a wide variety of investment information, including a section on investment clubs. http://www.fool.com/InvestmentClub/InvestmentClubIntroduction.htm

Investopedia.com

Another education site covering all aspects investing.

http://www.investopedia.com/

Investment Calculators

These tools can help you calculate a variety of information that includes the future value and present value of stocks.

http://www.investopedia.com/calculator/

These are only a few of the many information resources available online to your investment club. They are a great way to kick start your education program, to find ideas for topics to study, and to find answers to any investing questions your club members might have. Investment Club - Read More.

Education and Your (Investment Club) Investment Club

djenyns — Wed, 31 May 2006 17:00:11 +0000

With a Broker lined up for the club to work with, the club can now purchase its first stock. But which stock should that be? Fortunately, investment clubs are as much about learning about the ins and outs of investing as they are about delivering profits. Yet without a clear education program in place, a club can find itself dabbling in various areas of the Stock Market without ever creating a real sense of understanding of it with your members.

This is an easy result to understand. There is simply so much to learn about investing, from the different markets, to the regulations, to how to use NAIC’s Stock Selection Guide.

When your investment club is just starting out you ll want to have educational material that is going to give all the members an overview of how investing works. As members become more experienced and knowledgeable about investing, you ll want your educational program to become more focused.

That focus should be determined by the clubs Education officer, or Vice-President, with the input of the club members. Find out what people are interested in learning about, and where they feel they need to know more. No matter where you are in the level of education material that you re looking at you ll want to have a definite plan about what you want to learn. Investment Club - Read More.

Investment Club - Considering a Discount Broker

djenyns — Sun, 28 May 2006 23:02:13 +0000

There are a few things that you should keep in mind when you re looking for a discount broker, such as what sort of customer service the broker offers, what fees they charge, and whether they offer any other incentives to hire them. You ll be able to see many discount brokers offering you their services both locally and on the Internet.

In general, the fees charged by the broker should be quite low. However, keep in mind that choosing the broker with the lowest fee can mean you will end up receiving a fairly low level of customer service. The club will need to decide what aspect of the brokerage is more important to it.

If you re thinking about hiring your discount broker from the Internet there are some things that you should keep in mind. Online brokers generally fall into one of three groups:

Very inexpensive: If your investment group is planning on doing a lot of buying and selling in the stock market you ll want to think about using a very inexpensive broker for your transactions. Most of these inexpensive brokers charge anywhere from $4 to $12 per trade.

Moderately priced: The mid range price that these brokers charge is anywhere from $12 to $20 per trade. Investment Club - Read More.

Investment Club - Finding a Broker

djenyns — Thu, 25 May 2006 23:01:17 +0000

After these business details are settled, your club can consider its next major decision. Finding a Broker. Every investment club needs to work with a broker. No one member of the club is going to be able to provide the constant watch on the markets that is necessary to provide up-to-date information on the stocks that your club may be considering. However, it s a good idea to investigate several brokers, of different types and have the club meet to discuss the various options before making any decisions. While many investment clubs will use a full-time broker who guides them and offers advice at the occasional meeting, others prefer to use a discount broker.

A discount broker will give the club some detailed information about stocks but won t give any advice about what to sell or buy. Using a discount broker is generally a more popular choice since the purpose of most investment club is to make their own decisions about what stocks they want to be dealing with. In addition, a discount broker does not charge the same commission as a full time broker.

The club may also want to consider using the services of an online broker. Online discount brokers will have low commissions that can be a financial benefit to your club. On average an online broker will charge $8 or less per transaction. Investment Club - Read More.

Investment Club - Mission Statement

djenyns — Tue, 23 May 2006 05:00:15 +0000

You ll also want to come up with an appropriate mission statement for your investment club.

This isn t something that you need to do right away, but within a few months of your start up the club should have one in place.

Your mission statement should state, in two or three sentences, the reason your club was formed and what it hopes to accomplish. For example, your mission statement could be: to improve members’ understanding of investment management; to help members develop practical investment skills and test them in the markets; and to double their investment within five years.

You ll want to write down your mission statement and make sure that each member of the club, and any future members, has a copy of the mission statement. Your mission statement will keep your club focused on the goals it has set and keep it moving towards them. Investment Club - Read More.

Investment Club - Organizational Details of Your Club

djenyns — Sun, 21 May 2006 00:00:12 +0000

With your officers in place club members may feel that they are ready to start their investment journey, but there are a few legal and financial details that need to be settled before they can purchase their first stock. First off, your investment club will need to decide what type of business entity it is. Clubs can be corporations, general partnerships, or limited liability partnerships. Each of these business models has their own advantages and disadvantages.

Corporation: Most investment clubs avoid becoming a corporation. This is because corporations are taxable business entities that require a great deal of accounting knowledge to be run smoothly in accordance with government regulations.

General partnership: This type of business model requires less paperwork and knowledge about taxes and other financial issues. Most investment clubs choose a general partnership as their choice of a business entity. With this model, general taxes are passed on to each partner s tax returns. This type of business model will let you accomplish what you need to do to run your investment club with the least amount of tax issues.

Limited liability corporations: This type of a business model is much like the general partnership but it gives individual members of your investment group a bit more liability protection. Keep in mind that this type of business entity can be expensive and will need more paperwork. Investment Club - Read More.

The Second Meeting (Investment Club)

djenyns — Thu, 18 May 2006 10:01:08 +0000

You ve met once, determined how often the club is going to meet, how many members there are, and even thought about a name. But your new investment club isn t quite ready to make its first stock purchase yet. There are few things that have to happen, including the election of club officers, before you can settle down with a list of interesting stocks to study.

Let s start by considering those club officers. While all members of the investment club will have duties and responsibilities they need to fulfill to be members, the officers, or executive, of the club will have greater responsibilities. Yet, without these positions filled, the club won t be able to function. Here are some of the positions that most investment clubs have:

President: The president can also be known as the presiding partner. The president decides when the next meeting is going to take place (usually done with a mutual vote but made official by the president), presides over the meetings, and plans activities (usually done with a mutual decision by other members).

Vice president: The vice president can also be known as the assistant presiding partner. The vice president is the member that stands in when the president is absent or needs help with presidential duties. The vice president often plans the educational section of club meetings.

Treasurer: The treasurer is also known as the financial partner. The treasurer deals with the brokerage firm and does the buying and selling of stock. The treasurer is also responsible for keeping accurate records of the financial holdings of the club, the financial contributions of each of the members, and any other records that concern themselves with money matters. Investment Club - Read More.

The First Meeting (Investment Club)

djenyns — Mon, 15 May 2006 15:00:10 +0000

When you meet for the first time there are several things that you ll need to discuss. Make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the meeting so that all opinions are taken into account. The following general principles should all be covered in the first meeting:

Discuss the exact details of how the club is going to be run. At this time you can talk about the goals of your club administration and how you plan to achieve this organization.

Make all members aware of the commitment level that is required to participate in an investing club. This will give anyone who has second thoughts a chance to decline being a member, and will reaffirm the commitment of other members.

An agreement should be reached about the investing style your club is going to focus on. Take a vote if the group is divided about any investing issues. Since this is the first meeting any member that is in serious disagreement about the decisions made can to decline being a member. Members should agree that this is long term commitment, not an opportunity to get rich in a year or two and then leave the club. Investment Club - Read More.