Club of the Month: February 2001

Canadian Money Honeys

Chicks: Where are you located?

Honey Money's: City of the 1988 Winter Olympics, Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, Oil Capital of Canada, Jewel of the Canadian Rockies, Home of Unrivalled Beef, Always-Sunny… Calgary, Alberta Canada!

How did you meet?

Some of us have known each other for many years but no one Honey knew everyone else. Six of us are employees at a private school in Calgary. We invited four of our very dear friends to join us.

School-Bee Honeys: Bee-Mer , BS Bee, Sil-Bee, Honey-Bee, Bee +, Bee-Sharp (Translation: Celeste Campbell, Sharon Ishmael, Silvia Rudmik, Marion Butler, Susan Malkinson, Linda Dyck)
Friends of School-Bee Honeys: Killer-Bee, Bee-Me, Hope-Bee and Travel-Bee (Translation: Cheryl Johnson, Karen Johnson, Hope Fleming, Penny Kaduhr)

How did you come up with your name?

We engaged in insults, put-downs, shouting, foaming-at-the-mouth, flat-out spitting and arm-wrestling contests, to no avail. Then we tried a totally different approach. We posted our ideas online, and convened an online meeting. We were deadlocked, it was getting late, and we were growing sillier and sillier. Out of nowhere someone (and we're not sure who) chirped up, "Where's the money, Honey?" And as they say… the rest is history!

How many members?

There are 10 Honeys in our Swarm. This number has been voted on and has been made a matter of policy in our Buzz-iness Handbook.

Do you meet on line or face-to-face?

We enjoy getting together. Our group has a keen sense of humor. We have the uncanny ability to laugh at much and at little! Mixing business and pleasure (more specifically "food") is becoming a well-honed skill. So far some of our meetings have been convened over candlelight, various beverages, gourmet desserts, breakfast goodies like sausages, eggs, waffles, fruit topped with whipping cream, and our Christmas meal highlight - steaks, pasta, seafood & prime rib… are we seeing a pattern here? Those are our face-to-face meetings of course. Even at our online meetings, Bee-Sharp offers unlimited amounts of ice cold Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. Seems hard to believe that we've only been meeting for a mere seven months!

What stocks do you own?

Our complete portfolio (Honey Pot) consists of two secondary Honey Pots:
   Long-Term-Low-Risk (LTLR) Honey Pot
   Short-Term-High-Risk (STHR) Honey Pot

In our LTLR Honey Pot we have: Oracle, Search Energy Corp., West Jet

In our STHR Honey Pot we have: Medmira Inc., Book For Travel Com. Inc., Global Consumer Technologies Inc.

What is your club's favorite investment resource?

For our stock "tips" we rely on our daily life experiences, friends, significant others, and basically any friendly face that claims fiscal insights. We rely on MSN, TSE, CDNX and NASDAQ to validate our hunches before embarking on "Stings".

What is the greatest benefit of the club?

• Sheer enjoyment! It is amazing that an investment club could have so much fun!
• The ongoing learning is beyond our wildest expectations.
• Each of us feels unexpectedly empowered to explore the mysterious world of "high finance"!
• Nurturing, support, and friendship are in abundance.
• We are too young a club (and the market is less than kind right now) to proclaim "financial gains" as a benefit. However, we are very optimistic about this inevitable prospect. After all, we can't go wrong! We're using the Chicks Dozen and our own ever-improving research skills for our "Stings".

How addicted are you to your message board?

Issues and projects drive our message board activity. If there pressing issues, message board activity is high. We would love to spend more time message-boarding, but the otherwise "buzy" life of a Honey makes this activity sometimes prohibitive.

What advice do you have for other clubs?

• Before starting a club, know the other prospective club members.
• Before starting a club, engage in full and open discussions with potential members. Brainstorm possible ridiculous situations. (They might be ridiculous but they might prove to be very possible.)
• Proceed as a group only if there is a clear meeting of the minds.
• Be sure all expectations and rules are documented. That's the only recourse in the event of challenges.
• Once the club exists, a prospective member should be known well to some or many members of the club, before membership could even be considered.
• For the Honeys having fun is a serious criterion, so much so that it is included in our Buzz-iness Handbook.

Money Honey's Glossary of Terms