Investment club's planning, strategy delivers high profits. (University Club's Investment Group)(Quarterly Banking & Finance Report)

The biggest challenge in organizing a new investment club is not finding a group of intelligent people, but getting them to work together as an effective decision-making body.

That was my biggest challenge when I was asked in late 1994 to start the University Club's Investment Group.

In the beginning, all of the members had different levels of investment experience. We also had different expectations as to what we wanted the club to accomplish. Some members wanted the club to be a sounding board for their personal investment decisions. Others wanted the Club to be more like an investment class:

And, of course, everyone wanted to make money.

The club's members found that in order to attain their objective of working well together, they had to develop goals, establish bylaws and implement membership policies and procedures.

SETTING GOALS

By developing goals for the club, the members pursued a path of working together as an investment team. These goals included: 1) developing the investment expertise of the members; 2) achieving a competitive investment return; and 3) making new friends. …