Finding local investment clubs?

[dandan14]

Now that I am finally done with grad school, I thought it might be fun to find a local investment club. Does anyone know of a national investing group that has local chapers?
So far, I have found betterinvesting.org and aaii.org.


I'm definitely not looking for a group of Beardstown ladies or a group of "Carlton Sheets" groupies. I'm hoping just to find some folks like most of us who like to talk investing, strategies, making the first million, etc.

Anyone have ideas on how to find such a group?

 

[maddythebeagle]

BetterInvesting.org (NAIC) has info. on stock investing clubs. I am a member of NAIC for the other benefits. I have been to a couple of meetings of an investment club and found that it wasnt for me. NAIC Investment clubs pool money together to buy "growth stocks". It sounds as if you are looking for a "money club" (just get together and talk). I haven’t tried this but take a look http://www.moneyclubs.com/
I would actually like to start one of these in my area.

 

[wabmester]

Anyone have ideas on how to find such a group?

Do you really think you'll find a better group than you have here? Just post your investment ideas, and use the community as a sounding board.

 

[sgeeeee]

Do you really think you'll find a better group than you have here?   Just post your investment ideas, and use the community as a sounding board.

Hey, you could start a virtual investment group here. Let people propose purchases then use the poll function to vote the investment up or down. And get someone to use their Quicken or Money to track it.

You probably would need to set up a separate board.

Personally, it sounds like too much work for me to actually participate, but I would be interested in following the results if some smart guy like wab were to do it.

 

[yakers]

Well, its an investment club of sorts or maybe the ultimate anti investment club but you can connect with local meetings of Vanguard Diehards. I hosted a group this last weekend and attended one meeting previously. Some of the smartest "common" folks I have met. Sort of like this board. One guy knows more about 403bs than anyone I know or have ever heard of. Great exchanges of information and despite sharing favoring Vanguard/index funds there were lots of ways folks have achieved their economic freedom.

 

[dandan14]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I found out that there is a "Better Investing" club that meets here once a month. Their first meeting after the summer break happens to be this thursday. I'm going to go check it out.

And for the record, I think forums like FIRE are valuable investment groups in themselves.

 

[dandan14]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I found out that there is a "Better Investing" club that meets here once a month. Their first meeting after the summer break happens to be this thursday. I'm going to go check it out.

And for the record, I think forums like FIRE are valuable investment groups in themselves.

Thought I would post an update to this. I did go to the NAIC (a.k.a BetterInvesting) meeting last week. I have to say, I wasn't impressed. There were only about 6-7 people there, and two of those worked for (or volunteered with) Better Investing. They were basically pushing this software that showed you every fundamental under the sun. The problem is that the couple who I was sitting with kept asking "What's Price to Earnings?"
My point is that, without a background in finance, looking at all of the pretty charts aren't going to help you. The two biggest problems I had with them was that there was absolutely no attention paid to allocation or risk . (Which happen to be two of my hot buttons.)

So I guess I struck out on this one, but I'll keep looking. I would love to find a group (similar to this board) of financially educated folks looking to share knowledge, insights, and opinions.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Yes, I can understand your issues with NAIC. I have many, myself. They have made an issue with the software. You dont have to use it and do the stock guides on paper. Yes, they buy indivdual stocks and I know that many people find that foolish (at least since the enron and worlcom disasters and tech meltdown, many are more concerned with that). I think that I more concerned with the excessive selling that I saw during my visit with one club. Also, didnt care for looking at charts all meeting and not looking at the companies. :

 

[LOL!]

I'll chime in here although I am not in an investment club.  My spouse is in a NAIC-sanctioned investment club.  I think that each club is different.  There has to be something besides investments that hold the club together.  In the case of my spouse, it's a group of friends from college that started the club and have been in it a long time.  Each club can invest any which way they want.  The NAIC methods are not all about software (though it's a good tool to use) nor are they all about fundamentals either.  I have found their methods, as espoused in their magazine Better Investing, to be very useful. 

OTOH, NAIC clubs are looking for growth stocks at a good price.  They are not looking for value stocks; they are not looking for ETFs nor mutual funds.  The magazine does talk about diversification, estate planning, and many other personal finance topics.  However, it ain't The Four Pillars of Investing either.

Anyways, a club is just a learning and educational tool. It is not a way to make real money. Our investments have definitely benefited from my spouse being in a club. But we've also benefited from reading books from the library, too.

 

[wildcat]

dandan -

Make your investment club a hobby, especially if it is full of 25-30 yr old single ladies.  Read "Four Pillars" and develop an investment plan.  Post ideas and questions here.  I think you will find that there are quite a few bright people lurking among us.  I am not one of them.