Personal Finance Workgroup

Comment

Comment by Judith Culver on September 1, 2010 at 6:13pm

Greetings! Again, we had a wide-ranging discussion and I have posted the notes at the discussion "Workgroup Meeting 8/29/10".

If you are interested in local investing as an investor or potential business owner, please let Laura, David Marshak, or me know. We need your energy, ideas and experience for our local investing efforts. Other communities have exciting opportunities and we will too. Don't miss the Yes! article here: Home-Grown Businesses: The Role of Grassroots Financing How businesses are turning to their neighbors for funding. http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/bypass-the-bank-local-invest...

Also check out info about forming a state bank at the new discussion "State Bank for Washington" from new member Diana McGinness.

Comment by Judith Culver on August 4, 2010 at 11:51am

The steering committee for the Keizer Meats investment opportunity has solicited information about potential investors. The letter is on their website here: http://keizercoop.blogspot.com/p/potential-investors.html

They have a short questionnaire for potential investors, including a question about how much you think you would invest. This is without a commitment and without seeing the information about the investment. This reminds me of the discussion we had at our last meeting about how we could determine the amount of money that might be available for a Transition Whatcom fund. Which comes first the fund or the investors?

Also they need money for "due diligence" expenses and are asking for a $50 tax deductible donation. It is interesting to watch their process. Check out their website to see how they are going about this.

Comment by Judith Culver on July 21, 2010 at 4:33pm

Laura, thanks for the event posting for our workgroup meeting this Sunday. Everybody, here’s the link to the event. Hope to see you there.

http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/events/personal-finance-workgroup...

Also a Steering Committee has been formed to explore the formation of a co-op or LLC to purchase Keizer Meats. “As the only Whatcom County USDA inspected meat slaughter and processing facility in Whatcom county, it's with good reason that local Whatcom farm and agriculture enthusiasts have come together with a unified vision. To form a co-op to evaluate the opportunity and possibility of purchasing Keizer Meats. Current owners, George and Sherry Keizer, are looking to pass ownership of Keizer Meats to a group of investors that will keep the operation running and growing as they originally dreamed, but are unable to fulfill, due to unfortunate health issues.”

Follow news, events and updates on their blog at http://keizercoop.blogspot.com/

Comment by Judith Culver on July 2, 2010 at 10:09pm

Today Laura and I posted Notes from the Work Group meeting last Sunday and the Local Investing Meeting at Sustainable Connections. You'll see they are lengthy because we are covering lots of ground each time we meet. If you see a project you want to work on, let us know. The next Work Group meeting is Sunday, July 25 1-3 at the downtown Co-op Connections Building. See you there!

Comment by David MacLeod on June 15, 2010 at 9:04pm

From Rob Hopkins' latest blog post about the recent Transition Network conference:
"Another highlight (if that’s the right word) was the talk by Stoneleigh, called ” Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in the Era of Peak Oil”, which you can hear in full here. Stoneleigh is one of two editors of the ‘Automatic Earth’ blog, and her talk was stark, stunning and very much strengthened the case that economics needs to become a third ‘leg’ of Transition alongside peak oil and climate change. Her talk affected people deeply, and people’s reaction to it went on to become one of the things that defined the rest of the conference. Her prognosis was that the world is on the cusp of an economic collapse on the scale of the Great Depression as the debt bubble bursts. Not much that would have been new to Transitioners, but the way she built her argument was very compelling. You can read Shaun Chamberlin’s reflections on her talk here, along with some insightful comments from other people."

Comment by Laura J Sellens on June 8, 2010 at 12:56pm

Yesterday I called Tim Crosby, Derek Long, Vicki Robin and Beverly Rose about meeting for the investment fund (well, Vicki and Beverly about the local loans, but I thought they may be interested in the investment fund as well). Tim got back to me (voicemail) and said he is already in cahoots with Derek, and is in Bellingham somewhat often and for me to get back him with possible meeting times. I will see what Derek says and then make a Doodle. Anyone else we want to invite to this meeting? Amy Maclavane, and...?

Comment by Heather K on June 8, 2010 at 10:47am

Re: Comparative local investment/loan/credit options. I think its also worth researching credit unions to the north with our canadian neighbors. Many duel citizenship couples already use accounts in both countries. Aldergrove which is just north of Lynden, 30" from B'ham has a credit union.
Would someone be willing to forward to me the draft of questions you created to access their investment & lending policies?

I hope lots of notice of date/time can be given when Tim from 'Slow Money' comes up to talk, or other visiting speakers.
Also, Sustainable Connections should have some contacts with individuals working for alternative lend/loan instituditon.

Thanks for posting the meeting notes Judith! Most times I'll miss meetings when they are on being Sunday afternoons if they're in the urban zone (though my schedule varies)...they we could try to learn to Skype into meetings.

Comment by Judith Culver on May 16, 2010 at 9:26am

David and I planning to go to the event Heather posted below. I encourage you to follow her link. There's lots of info at the event posting.

Comment by Heather K on May 15, 2010 at 11:10pm

What's the Economy for, Anyway? with filmmaker John de Graaf
Monday, May 17th - RE Sources' Sustainable Living Center-7:00 p.m.Free
Meredith has posted this event on TW. Details at:
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/events/film-wfilmmaker-on-economy-at

Comment by Judith Culver on May 13, 2010 at 9:57am

David, Welcome! I'm glad to see your smiling face in our group. Do you have an interest in a particular area of local finance?

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