Club of the Month: December 2000

Zodiac Futures

BACK: Connie (AquariCon), Cathy (CapriCat), Annette (LeoNett),
Martha (LibraMart), Roni (RonitheRam), Kelly (KelLibra)
FRONT: Linda (Crablin), Peggy (PegStar), Jan (JanScor)

We asked Martha ("LibraMart") to tell us about the Zodiac Futures Club. Here's what she had to say...

CHICKS: What prompted you to start your club?

LibraMart: I got bitten by the Investment Club bug when Chick Jana and I had offices next to each other at the fine software company that still employs me today. Jana shared the club concept, stories of the Chicks' meetings and their message board. Her excitement was contagious. What a great idea! Learn and have fun with a group of women. No intimidation. A sisterhood! I loved it! Jana encouraged me to contact Chick Karin. After Karin shared several chapters of her book with me, I really had the itch!

How many members are in your club?
Without going through every email and phone call, I quickly located 10 women who were interested. Sadly, it turned out that 3 reconsidered their decision and backed out. Hmmm… down to 7. Lucky for us, two of our shining stars came to the rescue and made suggestions for two alternates. These two accepted the invitation to join us!

How did you all meet?
I knew everyone except Jan through jobs, my son, other friends and my ex-husband (ugh!). Oh, yeah, and through "blood" ( as in "relative"). Linda recruited Jan, her neighbor.

Would you accept any new members?
Not right now.

So, where are you located and how long have you been together?
We're from the greater Atlanta area and held our first meeting on April 8, 2000.

Do you meet online or face-to-face?
Face-to-face, baby!

And how did you come up with that name?
Well, we're all interested in astrology and are building for our futures. Et, voila! Zodiac Futures.

Tell us about your portfolio.
We own stock in Cisco and Pfizer. We're right there, struggling with the rest of the market. But since this is long term, we're okay with that.

What is the greatest benefit you've received since joining your club?
Feeling a little more confident reading financials!

What has been your greatest problem?
Staying focused amid hectic lives.

Tell us your club's funniest story.
It's one of those situations where you kinda had to be there! There was a big discussion about having an "s" at the end of Futures (in our name "Zodiac Futures"). One of the stars who will remain un-named felt that Futures implied commodity futures. So, we kind of went off from there -- dropping the "s" out of other words. "She" became "He," etc. Our secretary calls herself the "Ecretary". Like I said, ya kinda had to be there...

What advice do you have for other clubs either starting out or that have been around awhile?
Go slow and keep your expectations within reason. As long as
everyone is moving in the same direction, you're ok.