Investment Clubs
An important part of Venture Factory's business model is building money investment skills within our community. We do this through our acquisition programs, investment pools, and investment clubs. Investment clubs are an important vehicle to introduce financial skills and develop relationships with like-minded individuals. The heart of a successful joint venture is working with leaders that have similar long-term objectives and tolerances to risk - financial and operational. Discussions at investment clubs provide a learning environment for developing analytical skills and assessing operational strengths of companies before direct-investments in an enterprise.
Mutual Consent Investment Club
Founded in 1996, the Mutual Consent Investment Club (MCIC) was created to increase the awareness of investment best practices and to create dialogue between a group of like-minded investors. Members contribute $50/month to the club's investment portfolio and collaborate to define investment/risk policies and in buy/sell decisions. The current value of its stock portfolio is approximately $100k. MCIC currently has 11 members; membership is limited to 20.
Our Approach
We have a process that includes only investing in stocks that have a combination of favourable outlooks and attractive valuations. We have the discipline to only buy and hold companies that meet those criteria, and we have the willingness and discipline to hold cash when those opportunities are hard to find (and the higher the markets rose, the harder it was to identify new opportunities). While larger institutions may understand what we do, most labor under an organizational focus on short term returns versus long term returns, and in an effort to keep up with the herd, they become a part of it.
It doesn’t take genius. Investing in stocks to successfully grow your wealth requires a certain level of skill and knowledge; it requires an effective process and the discipline to stick with it. It also requires the ability to ignore the herd and stick to one’s discipline even when the herd is stampeding out of control.
Governing Structures
MCIC is supported by formal bylaws, officer roles, and accounting policies. Venture Factory, through the leadership of Patrick Binns, has supported MCIC since 2013. MCIC has been used as a model to develop business requirements for the PortFO investment project. These include : portfolio management, investment performance, trigger management, contribution tracking, tax reporting (dividends and capital gains).