How to Start an Investment Group

Like to talk about investments and money? Want to interact with others who have similar interests and work toward a common goal? An investment club/group is a great option for you. Here are some tips for getting started.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Interested people
• Solid plan
• Regular meeting times

1. Start by trying to find other people in your general vicinity who have the same passion for investments as you do. Just talk to people and get their feelings on these topics and then throw out the idea just to see how they react.

2. Have other friends recruit people as well so that there are multiple people recruiting. Make sure you get a good number of people in the group, but not too many. A typical investment club should have somewhere between 8 and 12 members on average, give or take a few. If you don't have enough it will be hard to pool your money, but too many can make agreeing on major decisions difficult.

3. At the first meeting talk about a common goal all of you have for your investments and why you wanted to be in this group in the first place. You should also agree on the monthly contribution each individual will make to the group's investment portfolio.

4. 
    
   Designate certain things to each person

   Designate different tasks to each person in the group. For example, someone could be in charge of researching current stocks in the portfolio, while another is in charge of doing stock screens based on agreed principles your investment club's portfolio should have.

5. Have a regular meeting time and place that everyone is well aware of. Thinking that you will be able to just set the meeting in the future and not have it already planned is dangerous and naive.

6. 
    
   It's fine if no one in the group has worked on Wall Street

   Be realistic in your expectations, but also have high expectations. Don't think that just because you aren't Wall Street bigwigs that you can't do well, you and your group certainly can.

7. 
    
   Put sufficient time into the project

   Be willing to put in the time to make it work. An investment group will only get out of it what each individual member puts in. If no one tends to put much time into anything, your returns will suffer. Make sure you take advantage of each other's strengths!

8. Need more help? Go to the National Association of Investment Clubs website for some more tips on how to get things started out the right way. Online investment clubs is also another option to keep in mind!

Tips & Warnings

• Come to each meeting with an open mind and listen to each person's thoughts carefully.
• Do not make anyone from the group feel any less important than anyone else. This group should work as one.

Resources

• http://www.betterinvesting.org/public/default.htm

[georgelarson]

on 12/5/2008 Good information. Thanks.

[ElizabethLeigh]

on 12/5/2008 Very informative article! Thanks!

[bar10dr98]

on 12/5/2008 Interesting, thanks for the great advice!

[Butterfli]

on 12/5/2008 Very interesting article! 5*

[TheGlamSquad]

on 12/5/2008 THIS WAS A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE AND WRITTEN VERY WELL. YOUR PICTURES WERE ALSO CATCHY AND KEPT THE READERS ATTENTION. THANKS FOR SHAING THE INFORMATION! 5*****