Club of the Month: March 2002

BLUE ROW: Chick Judy (Chicken Feeder), Chick Kristin  (Egg Carton), Chick Melissa (Second Chick-in-Charge), & Chick Rebecca (Chick Outfitter). WHITE ROW: Chick Beth (Chicken Feeder), Chick Tracey (Cyber "T&A" Chick), Chick Stacy (Chick Outfitter). RED ROW: Chick Rachel (Chicken Scratcher), Chick Wendy (Coop Flyer), Chick Tracy (Chick-in Charge).

CHICKS: When did you meet and how long have you been together?
CHICKS JUST WANNA HAVE FUNDS: (Hmmm… Is there a short way to say this?) Chicks Tracy & Stacy are sisters. Their mom is Chick Wendy. Chicks Tracey, Rebecca, Rachel and Kristin are all their friends since forever ago. Chick Judy is Rebecca's mom, Chick Beth is Tracey's neighbor, and Chick Melissa is Tracy's neighbor. (I guess not.) As a club, we've been together since September 2001.

What prompted you to start a club?
Chick Tracy picked the book up one day and read it four months later. Then she rounded up the best Chicks she could find. The rest is history!

Where are you all located?
We are all Southern California Chicks. But our Chick Kristin is currently
(and hopefully temporarily) stuck in Indy. (That's Indianapolis.)

How do you meet? Online, or face to face?
We do both! We meet face-to-face every quarter when we purchase a company (except Chick Kristin, who is via web cam). All other meetings are on-line, once a month.

How did you come up with your name?
Okay, okay… so we ripped it off! But isn't imitation the best form of flattery? We just LOVED the Girls Just Wanna Have Funds name, and wondered why no one else had thought of adding "Chicks" to that. Sooo... that's that. Plus, the bible, I mean the book, suggested we add "Chicks" to our name and, being the unoriginal Chicks that we are, we followed the suggestion. Our full name is Chicks Just Wanna Have Funds Investment Coop. Now that's original, baby!

How has your portfolio done?
Portfolio? What portfolio? OH, you mean the stocks we own. Well, we had our first "buy" meeting just this past January, and voted to buy Pfizer. (Our motto is "Just Say 'YES!') By the time you post this, we will be Pfizer owners. Woohoo! They're holding their own right now, and seem to be a safe, conservative choice for our first buy.

What has been the greatest benefit of being together as a club?
We are all learning so much about the stock market and investing for our future. It's in our hands, and that feels powerful! We are reading books, doing research, watching CSPN, etc. We love how smart we're getting! (Oh… and we think we're so cool when we mention our "investment club" to other people.)

What has been your club's greatest challenge? What have you done about it?
Our greatest challenge has been getting some of our Chicks on-line. (We'll mention no names here). They have done an awesome job of becoming computer-literate in a very short amount of time. (So what if they ask what it means to "scroll," and suggest that we call them because it takes too long to type email? Back off! They're getting it!)

Any good club stories to tell?
Well… during one of our on-line meetings, Chick Rachel was wondering whether or not the chat room would automatically scramble cuss words (which, according to Chick Rachel, some sites do). One would think (or rather, HOPE) that she would test this theory with a semi-cuss word. But no, she types the big one… the doozy… the mother of all cuss words…(Need I say more?) FYI: the chat room does not scramble cuss words.

We also thought it was pretty funny that our own Chick Melissa gave birth to her second-born (William Thomas) on the very day of our first buy meeting. While she was in labor, she got in touch with Chick Tracy to be sure that she still had a vote for the meeting. (She voted for Pfizer… a double-lucky day for her! AND for us!)

What advice would you give new clubs?
First of all, we are a new club, so it feels a bit awkward to be offering advice. That being said, here is our best new club to new club advice: find FUN people who show A LOT of interest in the club; be serious enough to keep it going, and lighthearted enough to have fun doing it; don't be afraid to jump right in! Oh, and have lots of drinks at your F2F's (investment club lingo for "face-to-face's).