Creating an investment discussion group
Wanting an investment discussion club and not being willing to travel an hour or more doesn’t mean you can’t be part of one.
When I created my club, there was a talk at my local library on the stock market. I contacted the speaker in advance and discussed my intentions. He was totally supportive. The night of his talk I made a short announcement and handed out my business card to anyone who wanted it and waited for the phone to ring or an email to arrive. Two weeks later, three of us met,in a local food court and we began; a fourth wasn’t available, he came once and decided it wasn’t a fit for him. There was now two of us who proceeded to advertise the group, via various free online event boards, and posters in the community. We started to meet every 2-3 weeks and eventually formalized to a preset time twice a month.
With each meeting held we had one new face at the table. Four months was all it took to reach a sizeable group with a range of diversity and competency levels.
At that point we stopped advertising. Our group was at a size that we could manage. There was enough people for discussion. We took turns presenting information that we knew. Be it a book review, a stock report or some other concept of the markets, or tax process. The requirements are only a willingness to learn and a willingness to share what you have learnt. Anyone can organize a group with a few basic administrative skills. Our only cost to put the group together was from the output of our personal printers, a few thumbtacks and a bit of scotch tape on the public message boards.
In hindsight, the group grew at a good pace. With three people at the first two meetings, 4 at the next two, and it seemed with each subsequent meeting we had one or two new faces. Growing at this pace allowed for some familiarity with those that had attended before, who were ready with content for the meeting, while also providing enough growth for the first few to stay inspired, as they too could see the group progressing.
One of the other things that I did was I reached out to some of the other clubs. They had ideas and suggestions for both marketing and running the group. Through word of mouth we seem to replace the members that drop off. Three years later we have 18 members. We charge