What are the objectives of the CIC?

[garindan]

I was wondering the thoughts of those interested in joining the Cashback Investment Club (CIC for shortness) were on what the objectives of the club were. Clearly making money is one of them. However with the discussion of minimum contributions, maximum amount of members and so forth I was thinking whether there were other things that could involved to make it more interesting.....all of which depend on the costs of doing so and whether there were sufficient members interested.

Firstly I was wondering if the club would be the only club? If, like some have suggested, clubs of 30 or less were easy to run would it not be interesting to have multiple clubs, which invest in individual portfolios?

Secondly would a club start with a standard initial investment and then only allow the £10 per quarter 'top-up' from each member or would each member be allowed to invest further money in the club?

Thirdly if there were multiple clubs and fixed standard initial investments and fixed quarterly top-ups for each could it not then be run like an informal competition to see who is doing best on a month by month basis, with published starting value and end value. Perhaps the portfolios could be published to illustrate this too. This way every club member is an equal and clubs can be competitive on equal terms, even if one starts 6 months after another, using a portfolio growth calculation rather than holding value.

I just wondered what people thought and which of the ideas above are feasible to implement or indeed sound like a good idea (or not!).

As I don't imagine any member is looking to invest £1m in a club I'd suggest having something that has a fun or mildly competitive nature about it could prove interesting and be cause for some good discussion and hopefully something that novice share investors would find very useful to be part of.

Thoughts?

Andrew

[kevinchess1]

Firstly
I not sure that there are 30 people interested so the question is mute
Secondly
My personal opinion is that i'd like to see everybody invest at the same pace or the people with bigger purses will hav more influence.
Thirdly
see point one

[richard@imutual]

My personal opinion is that i'd like to see everybody invest at the same pace or the people with bigger purses will hav more influence.

I suggest is we use this thread for the specific discussion of minimum investment (and the related matter of voting rights)

Some good points raised here Andrew. A couple of observations...

We can certainly start multiple clubs once we've got the first one established. Each club might have a different philosophy in terms of risk and type of investment

In terms of the competition element, I do think it's important to recognise that some members will prove better than others at choosing the right investments and we should identify them because it's in all our interests to do so. For example, the club considers three investments A, B and C and each member votes. Regardless of which investment the club ultimately goes for, we should record the performance of each share and produce per-member performance stats. So then when we're considering later decisions we'll be in a position to say "Jim is recommending Company X. If we look at how Jim has voted in the past, we can see that the shares he's voted for have risen by 30% on average versus a club average of 10%. There Jim's view is especially worth taking note of"

[garindan]

Firstly
I not sure that there are 30 people interested so the question is mute

Maybe not initially but perhaps a longer term goal is to have three or more clubs and have a 'fun' element? You can have a competition with any number of clubs, so long as there are more than one

Personally I think it is important to consider what the longer term idea is. Perhaps just going with Richard's idea can result in a bit of competition but I can see competition being blinded by one or two people who suggested good investments initially, which could then result in people constantly voting for their investments! That could turn into a yawnfest.

My theory is that serious investors can invest anywhere and that the club here has an opportunity to have 'something a bit different' from basically what other share trading opportunities are out there.

Andrew

[Beachboy]

Hi

There are a few motivating factors that make me interested in joining the club. These include the ability to share ideas, expertise and spread risk across a range of investments. I have dabbled in a minor way with the odd investment in shares in the past but am keen to learn from those more experienced than me. However I am also happy to do my fair share of research and report back to the other club members and see what they think of my ideas.

I would be keen to be part of 'active' club where different ideas and comments are forthcoming, so with that in mind if several clubs were to be set up I would want to be part of the 'A' club rather than say the 'E' club. This is because (although I might be totally wrong!) I am assuming those that have already shown an initial interest (and in many cases been members of share clubs before) will bring much needed experience and/or enthusiasm.

Another motivating factor is that I hope it will be fun and the possibly of a 'club success' should some investments go really well would be a good reason for a group 'pat on the back' (and maybe the odd beer or two ).

Anyway just my thoughts.

[superman]

could I opt out of certain investments that I don't agree with- eg. poor animal welfare companies etc?

[kevinchess1]

could I opt out of certain investments that I don't agree with- eg. poor animal welfare companies etc?

I'm GUESSIN that we will take a vote
But i don't see how you could opt out of certain investment
but i suspect enough people would agree with your comment on 'Poor animal welfare'
Unless there's a profit of course

[garindan]

'Poor animal welfare'
Unless there's a profit of course

Does it mean we can invest in rich animal welfare though - that is the question......