I too agree with the preceding statements on club membership. Sierra Inv Club will be reviewing the mandatory membership in BI this year. My concern is that a few will bear the financial burden of obtaining data for club research. BTW that will not go over well with me.

I have never received more than one issue of Barrons since that benefit was started.

Hi Lynn, the only thing BI has for use in research is the data feed. About half of my club's members took advantage of the SC beta period so we don't need BI service. One member has a father who subscribes to VL and we get that for now, along with the SC data that I use, plus Yahoo, and Reuters. I would like to see the club collectively use the same data source.

I have remained a volunteer contact for the NNV area so my membership is mandatory...for now.   The data service alone is not a reason to remain a BI member.

SC is $39 per year, Manifest is $89 per year. Discounts may apply for SC members I'm not sure. BI membership is $25 for exisiting members  plus $25 for the data service. New rates are $79 for new/ incoming members which is inclusive of data.

The benefits to me are another set of eyes looking at what I am researching from people who use the same fundamental style of investing. SC is a more active forum for investing as is Manifest. If it weren't for local volunteers contributions BI would not be a viable source for my use.

Say Danny,

I thought NAIC was going to charge $79 for new members and raise the ($25 membership + $25 for datafiles =) $50 to $59 for current members.

StockCentral is $39.99 for education, great forums, data files and online programming.

And Manifest Investing is $79 with your StockCentral discount...OR...if 3 or more people join together as a group, you can get it for $64/each.

I use that "other" accounting software which is $99/year, total.

So our individual members all own either Toolkit 5 or Stock Analyst, both of which are IClub Central software packages.  Then, we all have subscriptions to StockCentral, and about 2/3 of our members also belong to Manifest.  That $39.99 + $64.00 = $103.99/year.  It's higher than it was when we belonged to NAIC, but the benefits are SO MUCH BETTER!

Lynn O.

Lynn I have the updated notice here and it says BI members prior to 2/1/07 are $25 membership = $25 for SDS/OPS.

After 2/1/07 it is $6.95 per month ($79), or $84 for paying by check with annual renewal.

I saw where SC was $39 in a previous post so you just saved .99 cents!!!  Yes I agree the SC & MI package are a great combo. I will have to arm twist a couple of others to get that $64 discount. We too use Bivio and like the features it offers. The $99 includes taxes prep software.

Dave are you saying that some members would be riding the backs of a few who chose to subscribe? Not a good team concept IMO. $39 a year works out to $3.25 a month for SC. If you use CAO and have 10 members that works out to $118/10members = 11.80/12months which comes to .98 cents a month per member. Bivio would be $99/10 members = 9.90/12 and comes to .825 cents a month per member.

Total cost to a member is either $4.23 a month or with Bivio $4.075 per month.

Per day  a member is shelling out .141 cents per year. I would have those members suggesting that savings put that energy into finding good stocks and the thought of saving .14 cents aday will be a non issue. Good luck!

Hi Dave,

OK, so as you can see (!) sharing subscriptions (or even a vague hint of it) gets the juices going here!

Let me tackle this from a different angle.  I have been in 3 clubs, and I teach investment club education for one of the NAIC chapters (soon to be leaving, thank God!), as well as being a psudo-expert on club conflict resolution.  It's been my experience that club members who have access to the same tools are much more successful, and have fewer problems over the long term, than club members who are left to their own devices. 

It's true!  I've done at least 100 club visits over the years and I've discovered that members who must conform to certain criteria--study tools, buy and sell criteria, etc.-- have better meetings and better returns.  No one has an excuse for not pulling their own weight.  I've had the opportunity to see the other side, too, where 1 or 2 people are doing all the work because no one wants to "waste" the money on all that crap!

Add to that, as the only member of the club with access to the data files, your club treasurer would be worked to death by the members for data files, as well as having to handle the books.  That's not fair to IClub who has made these data files very affordable for us.  And it's not fair to the treasurer to place that much work on his shoulders.

Now the bottom line is this:  Your members could survive quite well without belonging to any organization.  All they have to do is hit the library 1 or 2 times a month to pick up copies of Value Line, which they can use in the tools (unless of course, this group didn't want to pay for those either!).  The 2 things that NAIC, StockCentral, or Manifest bring to your club are tools to keep you focused on your goals and education classes (be it online or in person) to further educate your members. 

And since education is the main purpose of a club, it's only fitting that you they should invest in their own education.  If all they can afford is one subscription and none of the expensive software, then StockCentral is the best place to be.  You've got it all right here--for $39/year. 

Lynn O.