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September 10, 2004 -
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ICLUB Insider September 10, 2004
THE LATEST NEWS ON NAIC SOFTWARE BUILT BY ICLUBCENTRAL INC.

Summary


NAIC Classic Plus Can Get Your Club on Track
by Douglas Gerlach
VP of NAIC Products, ICLUBcentral Inc.

As I travel to NAIC Chapters across the country, teaching about NAIC principles and how to put the power of your personal computer to work to help build a successful portfolio, I'm always delighted when I can help individuals and clubs "see the light" and understand that software is key to the process of investing.

At one Investor's Fair last year, I met members of one newly-formed club whose members attended en masse, eager to soak up the knowledge that comes from the educational classes that are often part of these events. They each scribbled notes as rapidly as I spoke (or at least they made a valiant attempt at keeping up, considering how quickly I can talk, particularly when I'm enthusiastic about the subject matter!). During my presentation, I ran through the usual benefits of using NAIC Software, and how these programs can be used to harness the often-confusing (to newbies) Stock Selection Guide. As usual, I described the features of each program, and the type of investor for which each SSG software is best suited.

After my presentations, I packed up my laptop and headed out to the lobby where the chapter had a table set up to handle registrations and sales of NAIC Software. The volunteer behind the table greeted me with the question, "Exactly what did you talk about in your class, Doug? We're completely sold out of NAIC Classic Plus!"

It seems that after my talk, members of a single club had all made a beeline for the sales table and each one of them had bought a copy of NAIC Classic Plus, completely depleting the inventory on hand! The members of this club, after seeing Classic Plus in action, had decided that this was the software for them. The lightbulbs went off over their heads and they saw that Classic Plus would not only get them up to speed on the SSG, but would also serve them well in the future as they became more experienced with NAIC-style stock analysis and delved into portfolio management. Plus, as they all learned the software and the SSG together, they could support each other in the effort, and share their completed stock studies by e-mail.

Upon reflection, it's not hard to understand NAIC Classic Plus's appeal. After all, here's a program that covers the basics of the Stock Selection Guide, has copious amounts of interactive help, features a step-by-step learning mode that assumes that you don't know anything about the SSG -- and then lets you switch to experienced mode once you've got the basics under your belt. And the price -- just $79 for NAIC members -- won't break your bank, especially when you consider that it only takes one good stock pick made using the program to make back your investment in the software. (I won't go into how many cappuccinos you could give up, or how long it might take to collect enough loose change from your pockets at the end of a typical day in order to save $79, but feel free to do the calculations on your own.)

The late NAIC volunteer Dick Kenfield (for whom the NAIC Computer Group's Kenfield-Burris Award is co-named) used to remind investors to "keep it simple" when it came to the SSG. While there will always be investors who enjoy digging deep into every aspect of a company's operations, the SSG itself is the key that unlocks much of the mystery about a stock.

If your club is struggling with the SSG, don't you owe it to yourselves to make the move to NAIC's official SSG learning software? Keep it simple, keep it real, and in no time at all you'll be investing like a pro.

To order your copy of NAIC Classic Plus, or get more information, please visit http://www.iclub.com/classic/.


The Investor Advisory Service Has a New Online Home

The Investor Advisory Service (IAS) web site has moved from its old home on the NAIC site (www.better-investing.org), to our ICLUBcentral site at http://www.iclub.com/investing/ias.

This move will enable us to provide our users with easier navigation, clearer renewal notices and a simplified subscription renewal process. Down the road, we'll also be able to offer enhanced search capabilities and other online features.

We encourage all IAS users to explore the new web site as we get it up and running in advance of the publication of the October issue later this month. The NAIC site will stop hosting IAS starting with the next (October) issue.

Please go to the new site and take note of the following items:

  • If you have an NAIC Online Club Accounting (NOCA) username and password, you may use your NOCA login information to access online IAS.
  • If you do not currently have a NOCA login, you will need to set a new username and password for IAS by using the email address we have on file that is connected to your IAS subscription.
  • Make sure you update any IAS bookmarks that previously directed you to the NAIC's IAS site.

If you are having problems with our new IAS site, please don't hesitate to contact IAS Customer Support at (617) 661-2582, ias@iclub.com, or visit our support resources on the web at http://www.iclub.com/support.

If you would like to log in to the online version of IAS, but you are not currently subscribed, you can subscribe or get more information by visiting http://www.iclub.com/ias.


Backup Your Club Accounting Data
by ICLUBcentral Customer Support

Besides entering monthly deposits and transactions, the most important duty a treasurer can complete is backing up your club's data. Our support department often encounters users who lose their hard drive only then to discover that their club accounting data is forever lost because an export was never done.

While the software will remember your data input every time you launch the program, that is not enough. We recommend that every month you do an export to a floppy disk to ensure you always have a copy of your club's information. This will also ensure you can easily transfer your club's data to another computer or a new treasurer. You can also use this feature to act as a reference point to go back to when dealing with complicated transactions.

Simply go to ACCOUNTING > UTILITY SECTION > EXPORT > EXPORT TO A FLOPPY.

If you do not have a floppy disk, you can always select "Custom location," and have the file saved to a place on your hard drive of your choice. (Though remember that this won't help you if your hard drive crashes!)

That's it! Now your club's information is saved to a disk for safe keeping. It stores the data in a file called NCADATA located in a folder with the CLUBNAME under the BACKUP folder. You can then load this backup when needed by selecting the IMPORT feature.

For help with NAIC Club Accounting or any other ICLUBcentral software program, please visit http://www.iclub.com/support/.


Everyone Can Invest: Keep Some of Your Dollars
by Brett Davidson, Blue Collar Investment Advisors
ICLUB Insider Guest Contributor

I recently spoke with a friend who I had been urging to begin investing. I tried to impress upon him the great benefits he could accrue and how time would be his biggest ally. He read an article I wrote on the effects of compounding and was really receptive to the idea of starting investing. He is a younger guy in his mid-twenties with a wife and a child, a house and a couple of cars; and he is still a long way off from retirement.

Investing is laying out money now to get more back in the future. It sounds easy and it truly is. With every dollar you earn you get a choice. You can do one of two things with it. These two choices and in what proportion you choose, will have a profound effect on your wealth. You can either keep your dollar or spend it. This simple concept has proven very illusive for many in our society. If you spend that dollar it is gone forever. You will never get it back. If you choose to keep your dollar you can keep it for as long as you like. There is no rule for how long you can keep what you earn; you can keep it and make it labor for you for as long as you live if you like. This is where the story starts to get good.

A dollar can be used to purchase any of the goods and services available in society. You will be encouraged to purchase many of both with great frequency and many do. It is quite difficult to invest when you are spending more than you make. If this describes you, you are not keeping enough of your dollars. More than a few of my friends and neighbors have healthy upper middle class incomes. Many also live paycheck to paycheck. I have other friends who do not make nearly as much and save over 10% of their income. They have made a conscious choice to keep many of the dollars they earn. They also have enslaved these dollars for their own benefit.

When you spend less than you make you have money left to invest. As I implored my friend, I will implore you to begin investing if you do not already and congratulate you if you do. For me investing implicitly means the stock market. This is my method of choice for having my money toil for me. No matter what you choose you will experience the joys of growing your wealth through compounding.

To continue reading more on "Everyone Can Invest: Keep Some of Your Dollars," please visit http://www.ebcia.com/content.htm.


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