It’s summer time and ITS is on a break from official business, but not from having fun. We had a joint picnic with BIG last Saturday and it was a blast. It was good old fashioned fun with a barbecue and pool. When the temperature is 100 degrees, that’s all you really need. Especially when the barbecue is catered and no work is involved. Thanks to all that made it possible and I hope it becomes an annual event.
It seems that our recent success with reality TV and talk radio has given the group the motivation that we’ve been lacking. It’s been two years and we’ve been encountering apathy among many members. I’ve heard excuses such as “I’m too busy in my real life to do ITS work.” I’ve also heard the contradictory “we aren’t making progress fast enough.” But we all know that if we want things to happen in this world, we have to make them happen. This was one of our founding principals and we must remember it when the road is rough. I think we were true to our original goal by finally coming to the realization that we do not have sufficient funds for investment in real estate right now. We were stretched thin for a small down payment and would not be able to cover closing costs, maintenance or even be able to think about an emergency fund. Despite this grim report from our real estate commitee, our president still rallied for a real estate investment insisting that this was a prime time for investors to enter that market. That remains true, but we simply can’t afford it. However, I think we triumphed by establishing a separate real estate fund that members must contribute to on a monthly basis to prepare ourselves for a jump into real estate in about a year when the right opportunity presents itself. A glimpse into the glamorous life was the catalyst. We just have to make sure that we keep up the momentum.
Is this a good time to purchase stock in BP? The well cap in the Gulf to stop the gusher that has become the Deepwater Horizon has been installed but is still in the testing phase. Years of environmental cleanup remain to completely remedy the situation. However, BP is a corporate giant worth billions. Aren’t they likely to remain standing in the end? An argument in defense of the purchase is support of the cleanup which will total billions. Also, any holder of BP stock is in a position to pressure BP to become the good corporate citizen that it has not been in the past. BP stock traded at a high of $62.68, a low of $26.75 and is now trading at $38.92. Based on the numbers is this the optimal time to invest?
We didn’t realize that our next opportunity to let the world know who we are would come so soon. We were interviewed by Dr. Boyce Watkins on his AOL Black Voices online radio show 2 days after we participated in the reality show. We met Dr. Boyce at the reality show taping and he graciously invited us to come on his radio show. We thank him for the opportunity and hope that he continues to help our community learn how to build wealth. It is very important work. The radio show was an awesome experience! We enjoyed our interview, which was more like a great conversation amongst friends, and we hope that our experience can help others create their own investment groups. ITS members know the importance of our investment group in our own lives. But we were taken aback by the interest and love that we felt this week. It has made us realize that the sky is the limit for ITS and that we have to step up our game to reach those heights. Stay tuned (we’ll let you know when both shows air) for what’s to come.
Wow! We just participated in a reality TV show and it was amazing. We are a group of professional women with non-financial backgrounds who have been able to teach ourselves the fundamentals of investing. The show recognized this and called us in to share our experience with a woman they called a novice investor. That was the only area in which she is a novice and I know that she will do great, especially with Dr. Boyce Watkins as her financial coach. This would never have happened without our alliance with Girls Just to have Funds and we thank Ginger for the opportunity. Our members who were present represented the group well as we highlighted our diversity and dynamic nature. Now we have the reality TV bug, I hope the next opportunity comes soon.
So May will mark our 2 year anniversary as an investment group and we are having growing pains. 14 strong willed intelligent women sometimes disagree. LOL! Our last few monthly meetings since December 2009 have had tense moments of yelling, venting, and general unhappiness. Despite this, we get together every following month based on our solid foundation of friendship and sisterhood. However, we have realized that we are long overdue for a girls night out, which were our main meetings pre investment group. We’re going to make it happen in the near future, if nothing for our sanity! The following highlights some of our “issues”.
It seems that we don’t have enough capital to move in the direction that we really want to, real estate investment. However, after much heated discussion over a period of months, we have voted on starting a real estate fund that each member must contribute to monthly in addition to our regular monthly dues. That money is earmarked for a real estate investment in hopefully 1 year when we have amassed some money and hopefully find the right opportunity. I know the bargains are out there now in this “buyer’s market”, however, we are buyers with no money, so those deals don’t apply to us.
And then there’s our dinner dance, or maybe luncheon. After months of MORE heated discussion on this topic, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot put on an evening event that would generate a profit and allow a donation to charity. We’re back at the drawing board and now looking into an afternoon event. More to come….
But the bright spot has been our investment in stocks. We have made gains and learned that we could have made even greater gains with more initial investment. The learning curve for us is to be be less risk averse in order to reap the profits. Can we do it?
The membership of ITS is made up of a group of first and second generation West Indian women and we are proud to include 10 members of Haitian descent. Those members or our parents came here to make sure that we would have a better life. They left the land that they loved and came to the the land of opportunity (America). They left the warmth of the Caribben sun, the comfort of family and came to New York, in many cases. In some cases, they left a good life back home, but knew that they had to escape the political instability of the country for their own sake, but especially for the sake of their children. In America, they took jobs to support their families, learned a new language, and nurtured those families always stressing the importance of education. All members of ITS have that in common, the fact that education has been the key to success in our lives. We will highlight this fact in a series of upcoming posts.
Another thing that my parents personally instilled in me is love for Haiti. I was born in New York, but love the country of my parents because it made them who they are and thereby formed me as well. It was the land that we were no longer able to live in because the opportunities for advancement were not there. But it was the land they remembered fondly because it held a promise of greatness due to its history as the only slave nation to win independence from colonial rule. My parents conveyed to me what the country had the potential to be. As the child of Haitian immigrants, I have developed a love of democracy because that is the Haitian dream deferred.
I now grieve for Haiti, but I cannot let that grief stop me from fighting for the future of Haiti. It is imperative that we give NOW to organizations such as the American Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and Yele Haiti, as ITS is doing. But we must also never forget Haiti and become vested in the long term recovery of the country. It is now our responsibility to achieve the dream of the Haitian revolution.
We have entered the brave and not so new world of blogging! The learning curve has been steep. It took two weeks to make Google Adsense work and that was with a lot of help (Thanks Keida!). However, I think every minute of frustration will be worth it in the end for the growth and benefit of ITS. Now on to the next big thing – Real Estate! We just have to figure out how to get it done…
Congratulations Ladies!! I am sure you will all agree …the hardest thing is getting started , purchasing stock was a great entre into investing.What is better is that we have made some good picks and been able to see an increase in our portfolio. We are poised to make a move in the real estate market once our ducks are are lined up and the right opportunity and the right price presents itself.