Creative Ways to Set Up Your First Stock Trader Club Meeting -
Part 1
Congratulations! You`ve decided to start your own stock trader
club. But, one person alone is not enough to be a club, so the
first thing you`ll need to find some more like-minded people.
There are a few ways you can accomplish this.
If you have friends who have expressed an interest in the stock
market, or in investing, you can approach them about joining
your club. You can also place advertisements in newspapers or on
community, bulletin boards letting people know that a new stock
trader club is forming. However, once the club has formed you
will need to be cautious about placing advertisements again. In
the United States, those can be seen as solicitations and are
illegal.
The important thing to remember is that you want to attract
people who have an interest in learning about the stock market
while they invest small amounts of money. Don`t be concerned if
the majority of the people who have expressed an interest in
joining your club are new to the stock market. It can be a good
thing that your club is composed novices, since people who have
prior experience with the stock market may quickly become
frustrated dealing with others who are amateurs. There are also
many resources available to help you, and your club members,
learn about investing and the stock market.
Before you set your first meeting, you should give your members
some information about the club, explaining its investment
goals, how it will be run (one member, one vote, or proportional
voting), how often it will meet, etc. Many of these aspects will
be fine-tuned in the first meeting.
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. + An agreement should also be reached on
how much money each member is going to contribute each month.
Keep in mind that you can make changes to the minimum amount
policy at a later date. Many clubs start out with small
contributions of anywhere from $25 to $60 dollars. This money is
used for the club`s administrative fees as well as a
contribution into the investment fund.
There are several other administrative issues that you`ll want
to discuss at your first meeting such as: + Meeting times. All
members should agree on (1) the days and time that you`re going
to meet (most stock trader clubs meet once each month), (2) the
place that you`re going to meet, (3) the length of the meetings
(most meetings last about two to three hours), (4) the
organizational format that each meeting is going to take. +
Number of members. Studies show that a good size for a stock
trader club is approximately 12 to 15 members. When you limit
the size of the club to this many members you`re still small
enough to hold meetings in member`s homes. + Meeting place. You
might want to come up with a few meeting places, such as a local
library or caf