Around the room the pens are poised as bespectacled faces bow over notebooks that are all turned to a fresh page.
The discussion is focused on the latest news in the financial world — interest rates, bond issues, unemployment statistics, all with the intent of helping those present understand what’s going on in the world’s markets and where they might be going.
This is a stock market club that meets every Thursday at the St. Albert Legion. The participants of the informal, drop-in group are mostly middle-aged or older. For some, stocks are something they dabble in as an enjoyable hobby. For others, the market is a primary tool in how they manage their investments.
It takes more than a little stock market volatility to scare this bunch off investing.
“I don’t like mutual funds. They make money even when they’re losing yours,” said Edmonton resident Donna Watson, who manages her own portfolio of individual stocks.
“I found that I can do better on my own,” she said.
Watson has been part of this club for about seven years. Earlier in her life she ran her own stock market club for 26 years.
With computers and the Internet, it’s easier than ever for her to monitor her portfolio and other stocks she’s watching. It’s an area that’s always interested her.
“If you’re going to be an investor, you need to pay attention and spend some time with it,” she said.
Joe Bouvier, 81, doesn’t do much trading himself, but being a member of the club has given him a comfort with financial terminology that he didn’t have before.
“It was totally foreign. It was something I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole because I knew nothing about it,” he said.
The club helps LeRoy Larson make sense of the market.
“I’m not investing with every last penny I’ve got. It’s a hobby but it can be a very rewarding hobby. Or not,” he said.
Loren Bourget, an accountant who teaches for Athabasca University, started attending a year-and-a-half ago. At the time he was just looking for more financial advice. But last year he was confident enough to take over his own investments.
“I’m showing better results than if I had my money in regular mutual funds,” he said.
Some people view the stock market like a form of gambling but club members view stocks as financial products that, while having an element of risk, can be analyzed for value.
Bourget tries to identify stocks from companies that are likely to lead their industries and grow their dividends.
“I don’t view it as gambling,” Bourget said. “You’ve got to look at the long run picture.”
Financial advisor Darryl MacLeod has hosted the club meetings for the last 13 years.
While the discussion often focuses on stocks, MacLeod advises that investors should consider a range of financial products, including mutual funds. His main goal is to help investors make logical decisions and not emotional ones.
“It’s educating people that it isn’t a crapshoot. It isn’t gambling or speculating particularly if you’re focused on good quality, core, blue chip companies,” MacLeod said.
He talks to people about identifying companies that have a history of increasing their dividend payments to shareholders.
“If someone says it’s to be avoided I daresay they aren’t very familiar with how the markets work.”
