TL;DR:

• Investment clubs serve as groups of like-minded investors looking to build their knowledge on investing and bounce their investment ideas around with others
• They can be a great way to learn and make friends with similar hobbies, but its important to make sure youre joining the right club for you
• Schools are a great place to find local investing clubs, and users on Public can also meet with fellow investors on the platform, and create group chats – kind of like one big investing club!

Investing in the market can be very daunting, especially for the new investor. Even once someone has built up some experience in stocks, it can still be very difficult to find long-term, relatively consistent success in making investment decisions. Just like in any other difficult field, it can be of great benefit and enjoyment for a newbie to spend time around those with more experience and knowledge in the field. When it comes to the stock market, these opportunities are often found in investing clubs.

Whats an investing club?

An investing club is most generally defined as an organization made up of individuals interested in investing and seeking to learn from others in their field.

However, not all investing clubs are created the same. These groups feature members of varying ages, backgrounds, experience, asset class, and reasons for investing. They serve various purposes with a spectrum of expected member involvement – most meet weekly or monthly to discuss investment ideas and whats been going on in the markets lately, while others act as full-blown mini investment funds with detailed, rigorous active management. In a similar way, investment clubs often differ on the typical experience level of members within the club. This works out great for everyone, as you can typically find a club near you that fits your background.

Simply, an investing club can serve as a valuable place for you to beef up your investing knowledge and, hopefully, have some fun with like-minded people along the way!

Why should you join an investing club?

Investing clubs arent for everyone – some like to take the lone wolf route and blaze their own path, educating themselves using their own methods. Others prefer to lean on classmates or coworkers for ideas. However, if the idea of being around a group of like-minded individuals all eager to learn more about investing excites you, then joining an investing club might be a good choice for you.

By joining an investing club, youll gain immediate access to an array of resources – not only will you be able to learn from others in the club, but youll have already strengthened your network of fellow investors and made it easier to get in touch with even more investors. If youre looking to delve deeper into a more complex asset such as real estate or derivatives, then having that immediate network of investors active in the market makes it easier to get you in touch with the right people, whether if youre looking to buy or just learn more.

Though its not true for all clubs, some organizations also give their members access to various educational resources paid for by the club, such as books, online courses, and other guides. You could even gain access to events and seminars that you wouldnt have been able to attend as an individual.

What should you look for in an investing club?

When trying to find out what to look for in an investing club, its smart to get a ballpark idea of your investing experience and what youre looking to get out of your investing club. If youre a seasoned investor looking to develop new market theses and work with fellow experienced investors, perhaps a more involved club with characteristics like an internal pooled investment fund with expected capital contributions (members in clubs like these are expected to pay in capital to be invested by the group as a whole, serving as a means to 1. Enable larger investments and 2. Ensure members are bought-in and committed to the group). If youre more of a beginner, you might like more of a discussion-based, relaxed club that has a stronger focus on education rather than pure execution and profit.

In general, it would be a good idea to look for a group that you feel you can associate with and learn alongside. An absolute must is making sure that youre interested in what the club focuses on – you likely wont get too much out of joining a real estate investing club if youre only interested in stocks. As for experience, it may sound great as a beginner to be around investors who have each been in the market for 20+ years, but you might have trouble understanding their ideas and/or reasoning, limiting what you can really get out of being in the group. On the flip side, an experienced investor likely wont add much to their investing acumen by being in a club whose members are in the very early days of their investing journeys.

How do you join an investing club?

Once youve determined what youre looking for and now want to seek out local groups, then a good place to start would be your local universities. If youre in high school or currently an undergraduate, many undergraduate programs have some form of an investing club that you can look into. These can usually be found in the recreational/club/student organization section of the school website. This applies as well to graduate programs, though you might have better luck in general looking through the business schools website rather than, say, the medical school or theology school.

Unique to Public is the ability to interact with fellow investors on the platform and even create private group chats that can act as virtual investing clubs. Becoming more involved on the platform and getting in touch with your fellow investors in the app would be another great way to start bouncing ideas with others.

Lastly, another good resource for finding an investing club near you is BetterInvesting, a national association dedicated to providing resources for investing clubs. Heres a link for finding a local investing club near you.

Bottom line

Investing clubs can be a great way to expand your horizons and make some friends while furthering your knowledge of investing. Make sure you find an investing club thats the right fit for you so that you can enjoy your time in the club. If you get the right fit, youll get to expose yourself to interesting new ideas, test your own investing ideas, and create some positive memorable experiences as an investor.