How To Start An Investment Club

By: Deborah Taylor

Break Studios Contributing Writer

If you are a novice at investing or would just like to learn investing with minimum risk, you can learn how to start an investment club. It is a great way to begin investing and it is also a great learning experience for a novice or beginner. Investment clubs are generally groups of people dedicated to investing either long term or short term with a specific set of goals in mind.

Get an interested group together. Perhaps you know of neighbors or friends who have similar interests in investing. Get a good group of at most 10 to 15 people together to form the club. Experience can be mixed, but do not be alarmed if you come up with a group of novices. You can all learn together. Groups of no more than 10 or 15 people can easily meet together in a living room to save money.
Come up with a set of goals. Some members may be looking to make money investing for a year and leave. Others may be looking for a long term investment group. Come to a consensus on the goals of the investment club. Determine a common strategy all members should agree to and make these initial goals known to all members.
Formalize the investment club. Come up with a name for the investment club. Create a mission statement. Create officers such as President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Assign roles to these positions and determine how they are to be filled in the future. Also determine the minimum required payment of dues each member must make.
Have your first meeting. Meet together with all the new members to discuss the club in complete detail. Determine how much should be paid in dues by each member and discuss the final consensus of how the investment club should operate and what the long term goals are.
Find a Broker. Based on what is agreed on by the members of the club, you may find either a full or part time broker. A full time broker may go ahead and buy requested stocks and investments whereas a part time broker may give suggestions but leave the investing to the club. Get a broker based on the clubs preferences.
Set and abide by a meeting schedule. Continue to meet together with club members and officers of the club. Discuss investment strategies and results and continue to abide by this schedule on a regular basis.