investment club

[HOMER]

Got rained out so I was watching Oprah. Yes, Oprah.

They were talking about ordinary people with extrordinary wealth. Tips on how to save and where your extra monyey was going.

What caught my attention was there was a group of woman that started an investment club back in 89 and none of them had squat..............now they do.

With the members we have here now I wonder how feasible it would be to start a Lawnsite investment club. A group this large could generate some pretty big dollars even at 100.00 a month. Our own retirement account.

If even 1000 of us invested 100.00 a month that would be 120,000.00 a year without interest

I wouldn't know where to begin to get this going but I do know there is strength in numbers and we could all gain from something along these lines. We all need to retire one day and although we can do it alone little by little what would the long term outcome be with the larger dollars.

Just a thought to ponder...............seems like a lot of potential.

What are we waiting for?

[powerreel]

I'll be the accountant!

[Gruneich Lawn Care, Inc.]

This really caught my attention, I have been looking at investments to get me started. I figure that if I would start at a young age, I could have some serious money after awhile. I would be very interested in this, keep us posted on what going on!!

[AltaLawnCare]

My checks in the mail.......

wait, 120,000 div by 1,000 is only 120.00 ea member .......
:confused: :confused:

I gotta get to a calculator.

[CSRA Landscaping]

Good idea but keep in mind that there are thousands of people that would love to take advantage of a bunch of rubes. Do the research, don't fall for just anything, and keep checks and balances. But I would be open to the idea.

[LoneStarLawn]

1,000 members at 100 per member per month

1,000 X 100 = 100,000

per year (12 months)

12 X 100,000 = 1,200,000 (1.2 million)

I vote that <b>HOMER</b> is <b>NOT</b> the accountant...LOL:D

[jeffyr]

I'll hold the money in my Swiss bank account !
No charge !

jeffyr:D

[grassyfras]

My dad works for Edward Jones here an St. Louis at the main office. He wants brought somthing home that had calculations and stuff that said that at age 18 you invest $100 each month and get a %10 return when your 65 you'll have over a milliion. I would like to here more about this investmeant club.

[AltaLawnCare]

Originally posted by LoneStarLawn
1,000 members at 100 per member per month

1,000 X 100 = 100,000

per year (12 months)

12 X 100,000 = 1,200,000 (1.2 million)

I vote that <b>HOMER</b> is <b>NOT</b> the accountant...LOL:D

This is what I came up with.. by Homer's numbers we would only have 120.00 ea at the year-end. :p

Homer stay away from that Oprah !!

[yardboyltd]

Most investment clubs are ran by the group together. Most fo the time each member investor has to do research on a few companies than do give a report at the meeting and then the group chooses the ones they want to invest in. This means you still have to find time for research Is this something a bunch of lawn professionals are going to have time for? A few are ran buy a paid club manager(not cheap). I'd be all in a for club that only meets every month or biweekly to tell the club what they did with they're own personal investments and how it worked out and gives out advice; no pooled money involved.

It's a good idea, who doesn't want to be wealthy, but I think there are better and less consuming options out there. Theres stuff like this already out there for the independent invidual. Stuff like this is risky. You can get the same thing by buying mutual funds. It's exactly the same thing in sense, but more powerful. Large group of people buying a fund; the money goes to a fund manager, whose sole daily job is to research and manage the fund. He then buys stocks or other options with the groups money and the gain or loss from the investments are split proportionally to the fund's buyers by amount invested.

It sounds good, but might be just to good to be true. Stuff like that is not tax deductible, not FDIC insured (many funds aren't), and unstable if the person in charge has no idea what they're doing. Instead set up an IRA, I have. Although I'm 15 and you might think I don't know much , but I do a little investing and learned a thing or two. I invest $35 every week. With a 10% return on funds and the miracle of compounding, I'll have at least 1.7 mil.(Forgot the exact amount) when I retire

Then again it would be an investment club which would probablly include all sorts of things, but who's going to run it. I personally would think it would be more peace of mind to talk to a professional locally than just hand over 100 a month to some guy just hired to manage my money.

Search the internet, there's alot of info out there. www.fool.com is good. I think some sort of insurance pool wound be great(group discount), but then I don't know much about that (yet).

[grassyfras]

I forgot to mention in my post Get A ROTH IRA . YOu don't have to pay taxes on this stuff every year. Just invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Diversify.

[1MajorTom]

Quote: Got rained out so I was watching Oprah. Yes, Oprah.

They were talking about ordinary people with extrordinary wealth. Tips on how to save and where your extra monyey was going.


Aw man, I saw the preview on that show. I wanted to watch that one.:mad:
I need all the tips I can get.:)

[65hoss]

I did many employee meetings when I was a retirement plan consultant. The time value of money makes everyone sit up and take notice. Put in small amounts and make a decent interest rate and allow it to continue to grow and you can become a millionaire. The biggest factor in creating wealth is time. Market timing will kill you. Ride the ups and downs and over time you make more.

When I left my job in the spring of 2000 to take my business fulltime, I was managing over 100 million in 401(k) plans. I was making more $$ but I was constantly stress out. Now I manage only my portfolio and am happier. I guess everything up till now has helped. Financial experience to allow me to handle my own finances, and my accounting degree to help manage my company.

[sheppard]

Strongly recommend everyone hit www.richdad.com This site is made for people starting out in business. I ran several ideas by a number of people when I was considering buying an existing lawn business. Got some very good business advice.

Cordially,
Sheppard

[HOMER]

Sorry Lone Star, I never wanted to be the accountant.

But 1.2 mil sounds a lot better doesn't it?


Hey...............it was just an idea. If it won't work then it won't work.....................

Back to the grind.

[MJ]

Lawnboyltd and Grassyfras - congratulations to both of you. And any other young people wise enough to start saving regularly. Lawnboyltd - at 15 and saving $35/wk @ 10% and planning to retire with $1.7 million - you must be planning to retire at about 45.

[Fallguy]

but - i think its a thing that i would look into doing with some childhood friends as opposed to a couple thousand strangers. no offense people guess i been burned too many times to open up to the idea of that kind of trust.;)

[Chopper Lover]

I agree... I would be very cautious about investing with "strangers".

However, it may not be a bad idea to start an area on Lawnsite to trade "tips & ideas" about different stock between ourselves.

An example would be: "I just bought these new shoes, they are made by this new company called Nike. I think they are great and maybe we should invest in them since they are only $4/share."

Imagine where we would be now???

What do you guys & gals think?

Mark

[gogetter]

Instead set up an IRA, I have. Although I'm 15 and you might think I don't know much , but I do a little investing and learned a thing or two. I invest $35 every week. With a 10% return on funds and the miracle of compounding, I'll have at least 1.7 mil.(Forgot the exact amount) when I retire
[/B]


To think, that I have a 20 year old nephew living in my apartment who has worked about 1 month out of the last five months. He sits around watching MTV and talking on the phone day and night to his stupid girlfriend!! And here's a 15 year old that is planning his future/retirement and works on lawns too!
My nephew is on his way out! For sure!

[yardboyltd]

Homer:
Here is a link of the pitfalls of a investment club: http://www.fool.com/InvestmentClub/PotentialPitfalls.htm
At the bottom it talks about a group called the Beardstown ladies who claim to have a 20% return but that is incorrect. May have been the people you saw.

Gotgetter & MJ: Thanks. I owe it all to my parents. I have always wanted things in life. I know what I want out of it. Since I was a kid I've wanted stuff. My parents told me that was fine, but certain things they wern't going to give me, I was going to have to earn it, so my work ethic was born. That allowed my to buy my 69 Firebird I'm motivated daily to work hard. Just yesterday I received my Popular Mechanics. Had an article about Jay Lenos jet turbine motorcycle. I can only imagine the sound of a Learjet at a stoplight.

Again I think a no-money investment club would be GREAT. People give and get advice for free. Everyone could learn alot because most people here own their business. Look at this for more info on what I'm talking about. http://www.fool.com/investmentclub/moneyfreeclub.htm

[Island Lawn]

Investments?
Whas dat?
I've got more debt than anything!



65Hoss
From what I hear, you got out of managing those 401k's just in time.
I heard on the news recently where they are actually loosing $ now

[awm]

im interested and we already got a pro in 65 that probably knows the ins an outs. im headed out back to dig the jar up now.:D

[charlesw]

Sorry I didn't read all the post to this thread, but I had to give my 2 cents on this subject.

If you all join together and create an investment club you'll have a lot of problems and details to work out. Is it worth the hastle. I suggest you invest your own money how you want to.

I've been a member of an investment club for years. It is open to anyone who wants to join but there is a small yearly fee, but it's worth the price. Low priced stocks are pre-screened by its members, you invest your own money the way you want to. It's a one of a kind investment club.

Check out http://www.hh-stocks.com/


Email me at Wunder@vrtlweb.com if you would like more details.

[grassyfras]

Yeah I have been investing since around 11 or 12. And now most of the money I make in the biz,after expensises, I ussaly put it in the market.

[65hoss]

From what I hear, you got out of managing those 401k's just in time. I heard on the news recently where they are actually loosing $ now.

Yes and no. Yes it is much harder to explain to people what is happening to the market and their retirement money. Most people don't understand that you really shouldn't worry about whats happening today. The money is for the future. No. Downs like this are actually great. This is the times the rich get richer. They don't panic and see this as a buying time. Eventually the market goes back up. People always say, "if I would have only bought that stock back when the price was ___." Well, now they can. But the panic instead. Historically, there have been many of these types of ups and downs. But overall, the market has produced an average 12%.

AWM- dig it up, I can wait to plant it in my backyard with my jars. :p

[charlesw]

65 hoss

You've got it! :blob1: Everyone has to realize that you can't get rich quick. Stay away from day trading and go for long term.

Even though I'm down 50-60% on my investments in the last year (mostly teck stocks), I'm still up about 20% for the last three years. I've also been averaging down and I'll take my profit later.
The key is to know what your investing in, and average down on those good companies.

I average 30%-300% return on most of my investments within 6 months to 2 years. Now is the time to buy, but watch want your investing in. During times like this companies can go under.

[CMerLand]

Anyone who would get their investment advice off of lawn site (love it dont get me wrong) or any internet chat room for that matter will quickly prove the saying that a fool and their money are soon parted.

Alot of people have been arrested and charged with market tampering by buying a cheap stock of some company nobody's ever heard, gone online raving about it in ten different chat rooms, and dumped the stock as soon as it rose when all those fish took the bait. The SEC would not like the idea of that occuring and Im sure Chuck would prefer the SEC to not call him up.

Lets all stick with giving advice that we've all gained from actual experience in our businesses, and leave our investing to ourselves.

CMerLand

[charlesw]

I may be mistaken but I don't recall anybody trying to promote any stocks here. :D

If someone tries to tell you to buy any stock via a message board, don't do it! They are just trying to drive the price up of a stock that they own. Do your own research.

[HOMER]

Ain't it amazing how things get so darn twisted:confused:

I think folks start reading in the middle of a thread sometimes.

This was merely a suggestion.................if it's not a good one then leave it alone.

[kris]

it's got me curious homer... I liked the idea... just not sure how all the details would be worked out. Keep thinking about it.