Recently I got a call from an old friend of mine. A few years ago he, another friend of mine, and I started an Investment Club. This was actually more than a few years ago as this took place my sophomore year in college, about 12 years ago. Like many college students we took interest and then quickly lost interest. However, my friend called me the other day about the matter as he moved back to his hometown and started reviewing the records. His parents have been receiving the records for the last few years. Our investments have done quite well, mostly because we purchased shares of Apple Computer back in 1996 at $30/share. AAPL has since split twice and is now worth about $130/per share. That’s what Peter Lynch would call a 15 bagger. Split adjusted, the cost of our shares is $7.5 a share. Not too bad for a couple of college kids. The only regret I have is we only put in $300 into AAPL. Still that’s $300 investment has turned into one worth over $5000.

When we originally founded the club, we drafted partnership agreements and got a tax id number. We wanted the club to be on the up and up as we hoped to pull in more investors. We founded the club in the summer, and once school rolled around we just didn’t have the time or inclination to make the club a success. Partially, we had difficulty attracting investors as all our friends were just poor college students, but mostly we weren’t willing to dedicate the time. While we never forgot about the club in the intervening year, it certainly wasn’t a high priority for any us. The partner who called pursued a medical degree, another went on to teach in Mississippi and then go on to Business school. I took the road less traveled. I stayed in Boston, and didn’t study anything. It seems clear in hindsight maybe I was the slacker in the group.

So now, 12 years later, we sit on decent amount of money, and have a bit of a decision to make. We can liquidate the club, and distribute the profits, or we take up the mantle once more and get the club going again. All of us are older and our investments outside the club would be more important and substantial than whatever we decided to contribute into the club, but I know I lean towards reviving the club. I’m mostly interested not so much for financial reasons as much personal ones. When my friend called, I hadn’t heard from him in over 6 years when he ran the Boston Marathon.  Amongst many guys this is not a uncommon thing - to be out of touch. In that time not only had he graduated medical school, finished his residency, but gotten married and had kid. I missed all of that. In college we ran in different friend circles, and I probably never did enough to strengthen the ties of friendship making it easy to lose touch.

Money can often push people apart, but this one instance when it can serve as an opportunity to bring people together. I’ll be doing some research on the best ways to reestablish the investment club. I’d like to update the original partnership agreements, and also make it easier for people to monitor everything. I might enlist a friend to help design an interactive website (I’m probably getting ahead of myself since there are only 3 members of the club). In any case I’m excited to have reconnected with a friend, and excited about reinvigorating the club. I also think from a practical standpoint having a group of smart people that to discuss stocks with will make me a better investor.