Whenever money is HOT – the markets are through the stratosphere and everyone wants a piece of the action – the talk turns to investment clubs and how to start one. (Yes, I’ll tell you how, but another time.) But when money is COLD, we all just wants to bury our heads. Hmmm. Denial is so much a part of the human condition, dontcha think?

The current financial crisis is a great opportunity for people to come together and start talking about where they are now, where they want to be, and how they’re going to cross The Great Divide. If there’s one thing I’m really, really proud of it’s the fact that people who watch my show are becoming more willing to talk about their money. Seeing those brave souls fess up and make changes on TV has got people talking. And they’re not just talking about my couples on the show. They’re talking about themselves, their problems and what they need to do differently.

I hate secrets. I hate the fact that money is a huge mystery to most people. And I HATE people’s willingness to stay in the dark so they can protect their “dirty littles” from exposure. It’s time to step into the light. It’s time to use each other strengths to learn and grow. And it’s time to do it TOGETHER.

When I first proposed the idea, someone made the comment about the idea of a “Gail Club” being a little Oprah. Hmmm. I guess I’m having trouble coming up with a catchy name. It won’t be a Get Out of Debt Club, because not everyone who might want to participate is in debt. It won’t be a Frugal Spending Club, because I’m not exactly the poster girl for frugal. And it won’t be an Investment Club because it’s more holistic than that.

The idea of the Gail Club would be to figure out how to use your money to your advantage so you can have want you want and some money too. There… The Have What You Want and Some Money Too Club. How’s that workin’ for ya?

By bringing people together to share ideas, those more knowledgeable can share their expertise, while those who need to learn can feel supported. And since everyone is smart in her or his own way, more ideas for how to cope with a particular issue can only be a good thing.

Let’s say your group decides it’s going to focus on “picking the best savings account” this month. Someone in the group may already have done some research on which accounts pay the highest rates. Others may be willing to share experiences, good or bad, in working with a various financial institutions. Yet another person may have some great ideas about ways to find money to put into savings.

So You Want to Start a Gail Club…

It doesn’t much matter how many people you’re starting with, as long as everyone is comfortable in the group. Since you’ll be sharing personal information about your money, “comfortable” is important. The idea is to grow the group so that more people come together to share ideas. So it could be you, your dad, your SIL and her best friend. If each of you brings one new person into the group, you’ve gone from 4 to 8. A good group size is between 10 and 20 people. Once you get over 25, it may make sense to split the group.

Don’t expect everyone to be a high-discloser right off the bat. Some people take time to warm up and be willing to share. Some people like to observe. However, everyone should be contributing to the group in some way. So even if a body doesn’t want to pony up with how much debt he has, he can still do some research, host a meeting, or find a resource from whom the group can learn something new.

Don’t hold your meetings too often. Once a quarter may be as much as some people want to commit to the group. If you’re going to be using each other as a support group to keep on track with your goals, maybe once a month will work for you.

Speaking of goals, your group needs one, and each individual within your group should have at least one too. And those individual goals need to be shared, progress checked and attaboys or cheer-ups given. That’s why you exist as a group: to support and help each other achieve your goals.

Don’t go getting all officious in your attempt to keep the group focused. This is one reason I so seldom join groups. I can’t stand all the rules some people think need to be in place to have the group function.

Guidelines for Meetings

However, there are a few basic guidelines you should follow:

People should eat together… it doesn’t matter if it’s soup or sandwiches, a gourmet meal, or pizza. Eating together is a great bonder and helps solidify the group.

The group’s goal and the individuals’ goals should be reviewed at every meeting.

If people aren’t coming to meetings, don’t haunt their butts, just replace them with new people. Often people commit to making a change and then find they just can’t. They want to, but they don’t have the stamina. Don’t let individuals’ non-commitment winnow away your group. If Sally doesn’t show up for a few months, it may be that she just can’t right now. Recruit a new member and then welcome Sally back when she’s ready.

Have an agenda. Yup. This is one of the things you most definitely should have. When you send out your email confirming time and location of the next meeting, ask those attending if there’s anything they want put on the agenda. If you get loads of responses, just pick a couple and save the rest for another meeting. No responses? Well then you’ll have to come up with something to talk about on your own.

Someone has to take notes. When things get said at meetings, when ideas are expressed, when questions are asked, these need to be noted so they don’t just vanish into The Great Nothing. So someone has to be the meeting’s secretary. And within the week, that someone has to email the Meeting Notes out to everyone else. There’s always someone who wants this job. But it can be tedious if they have to do it for every meeting. So I suggest you rotate the job among three reliable members.

At the end of every meeting, while you’re all together, pick the location, date and time for the next meeting and ask for ideas about what will be covered. (That’ll be the basis for your next agenda.) If you wait until some time after the meeting to try and coordinate this, it won’t work. So do it while you’re together.

Your First Meeting

So what might a first meeting look like?

Well, you’d all put down your names and contact info so the Group Leader can set up a membership file for the group.

Then you’d probably want to say why you’re interested in being in the group and what you want to get out of the group.

You might then want to talk about what the Group Goal should be. Let’s say that y’all want to get with a working budget, your Group Goal might read:

“To establish working budgets for each member of the group and have those budgets balanced within three months.”

You could then use Gail’s Budget Worksheet, an excel spreadsheet, or some other form of budgeting that works for your group to build and balance a budget for each person. Since some people may have irregular incomes, while others bring home the same buck-fifty-two every week, you could invite someone with experience managing an irregular income to come and talk about what works for them. See, now you’re sharing ideas and building on strengths to create working plans that benefit each member of the group.

You can do the same thing for debt repayment, mortgage pay-downs, dealing with student loans or children’s education, establishing an emergency fund, teaching kids about money, mitigating risk (all kinds of insurance), estate planning, setting up a money curriculum at your school, getting married, getting divorced, dealing with aging parents… the list goes on for ever.

In the first meeting, someone should review what a goal is, and what makes a good one. And using that, people can focus on writing a goal (or three) for themselves. Here’s my take on Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Specific – You are much more likely to accomplish a specific goal than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

• Who is involved?
• What do I want to accomplish? ?
• Where will you do it?
• When will you do it?
• Why will you do it?

A general goal would be, “Pay off my debt.”

A specific goal would be, “I want to be debt free so I will pay off my debt, repaying my most expensive debt first, and having all my consumer debt paid off in three years or less.”

Measurable – Establishing concrete criteria for measuring your progress will help you to stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask: How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – If the goal is too big, frustration will get in the way. Planning to have a million dollars in savings when you make $10 an hour may be unattainable?

Realistic – You must be both willing and able to achieve the goal. You are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished.

Timely – A goal must be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame, there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set parameters within which you’re working.

Okay, now you have some ideas how to do this. Once you have your group established, if you want to make it an Open Group where other like-minded people in your area can join, set me an email through Questions and I’ll notify all that you’re up and running. I’ll also create a space somewhere on the site for a list of all the Gail Club Chapters.

Any questions?