Since the first half of last century, many who were new to fundamental investing but who wanted to explore its benefits found it helpful to form an investment club. While it would seem a good idea to consider joining an existing club so that you might have someone with more experience available to learn from, I would suggest that it will work even better to form one of your own and start with everyone having the same experience level. That way, you can learn together and no one will feel left out or, worse yet, impatient with you while you’re learning. Some of the benefits of an investment club include:

• It brings people together with common interests and experience levels.
• It provides discipline that is sometimes difficult to come up with when you’re “flyin’ solo.”
• Learning together is always more productive than going it alone.
• Good practices are easier to master and follow with support from fellow club members.
• Pooling money and sharing expenses makes for more efficient investing.
• It gives you the education you need to confidently pick, purchase, and manage your own, individual portfolio.
• Some resources not available to individuals are available to clubs.

The two organizations I mentioned in my last post, NAIC/Better Investing, and StockCentral, both have all the information and guidance you might need to form your club: sample bylaws, best procedures, discussions about the best form for it to take, etc..And both have ongoing support for clubs as well as the software required to do the necessary bookkeeping/accounting for your club.

So, why don’t you gather a few friends together, have fun picking an appropriate name, and then start together on your journey to investing like—actually, better than—the pros.

And, let us know here how you’re doing.

Ellis Fundamental Investment Views, Investment Concepts, NAIC Veterans' Lounge, Successful Investing benefits of, investing, investment club, networking, support