Scared to go it all alone? Join the club
JUST like with a book club, the 13 members of Roger Taylor’s social group meet regularly, have a natter and share ideas. But rather than discussing Jane Austen, Roger and his friends are talking stocks and shares.
His Monny & Cher group in Sheffield is one of hundreds of investment clubs in the UK. Some are simply a handful of friends who discuss what moves they are making and how it is going. But there are also more formal arrangements — like retired teacher Roger’s club — which allow members to pool money, vote how it is invested, and share the winnings (and losses).
Share Centre, one of the biggest providers of investment club accounts, has more than 1,400 currently active. Interactive Investor, which bought Share Centre in July, has around 500 member accounts.
Monny & Cher, whose newest member is Roger’s daughter Caroline, 41, was formed in 2001. They like to buy shares in companies and they buy into funds with exposure to international firms they favour.
Choosing ethical firms is important to the club and they love supporting local companies. They look for companies with a strong track record that are going through a ‘temporary glitch’ but are likely to do well again in the future. The decision to buy is put to the group and a majority vote wins.
Roger, 73, who is married to Jenny, 67, says: ‘We used to have shares in William Hill and one member raised a discussion about whether we should be supporting gambling, and we decided we shouldn’t.’
Their biggest success story to date is Sheffield-based company ITM Power. Roger says: ‘We spent around £800 buying the shares and they are now worth more than £ 7,000.’ The club’s biggest disappointment was a £2,000 loss after investing in Sirius Minerals, a potash mine in North Yorkshire which ran out of money and was bought out this year. They paid 20p a share and sold for 5.5p. Roger says: ‘If you nominate a turkey you expect to take some flak, but in nearly 20 years we have never had any animosity.’