mtg #5... 4-nov-2006 (woodbury)

hey, folks... what a great mix of diehards... new folks to the group and vets, the learning and learned, etc...

present (19):

logistics:
- started at 12:00, lots of people left at 2:30, everyone left by 3:30 (last breakout groups met on ETFs, small cap intl, and AA)
- throwbacks in woodbury
- see attached pic... 2 missing that had to leave early...

agenda:
0) noticed on the way in to the restaurant, there were 4 bald eagles flying and swooping around the restaurant... kind of cool. big birds
1) ENTIRE GROUP: “formal” introductions, e.g. your name, how you found diehard forum or this mtg group, where you live
2) asset allocation reviews by group (jim d, arleigh, paul s, phil, sandra, any others that volunteer... please bring 10 copies of your AAs [%s only])
3) pros / cons of investing in retirement accounts (401ks, roth IRAs, SEPs, etc) vs. taxable accounts
4) direction of market in 2007. (interest rates, inflation, economy, what congress changes may bring)
5) ENTIRE GROUP: investing changes each person is planning for 2006-07
5) open discussion / other issues people want to discuss
6) next meeting timing / location / format

note: for those diehards not present, don’t be fooled by the above rigid sounding agenda... these were just starting points / talking points. there were informal discussions of AA, changes, bonds / TIPs, int’l small caps, authors / books, etc

next meeting:
in 4-5 months, location to be determined, same (informal) agenda. any and all ideas for locations, dates, formats on the next meeting are more than welcome!
- phil suggested ensuring the next location has a wifi hot spot, so that we can be doing ‘instant x-ray’, and ticker lookups, etc. on laptops
- IPS... next meeting for anyone willing to share their Investment Policy Statement see http://news.morningstar.com/classroom2/course.asp?docId=4439&page=1&CN=COM for details on what an IPS is
- wes and diane volunteered to host another get together at wes’ place in chanhassen... altho very grateful for the invite, we don’t want to ‘use up our welcome’ too soon and make them work too much. so we’ll probably take them up on their offer for the late summer get together two meetings out. thanks, wes and diane! can’t wait to see what you cook for us (slow cooked ribs!?!)

personal thoughts
these meetings just keep getting better and better for me. having our own room (or place of business, ala wes’) really helps the meeting go well (instead of competing to talk in a loud restaurant. from here on out, we’ll try to always get a ‘back room’ or private meeting area. besides the ‘entire group discussions’, i don’t know the specifics of the other groups discussions. but on our end, it was a very good time. i was shocked to look at my cell and realize it was already 2:00... time flies when talking w/ diehards, i guess. looking forward to next one

best,
chuck d