Pittsburgh Chapter Newsletter CONTENTS President's Message 2015 Chapter accomplishments 2016 Activities and Plans Investment Club Tax Returns Free Value Line access Investment terms A message from the BetterInvesting Pittsburgh Chapter President It has been my privilege to serve as President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of BetterInvesting for the past year. Our Chapter is fortunate to be comprised of some of the most experienced, knowledgeable and helpful volunteers that BetterInvesting has to offer. These committed volunteers can play a vital role in your development as an informed, confident and capable investor. Access to our volunteers and the programs and events that we conduct can be an extremely important benefit to your BetterInvesting membership. What does the BetterInvesting Pittsburgh Chapter do? Our accomplishments from the past year: We conducted a full-day investor education event in April, 2015. This event featured national guest speakers as well as instructors from the Pittsburgh Chapter. It included topics of interest to beginning, intermediate, and experienced investors, and a panel discussion of our favorite stocks. Almost 50 people attended this event. Based on survey results and comments by attendees, this event was a resounding success. GoToMeeting provides our Chapter with the capability to deliver
training remotely. Our Chapter members are in the process of learning the capabilities of this important delivery mechanism to augment our face-to-face educational programs. Watch for announcements of events that will be delivered via GoToMeeting. We revamped our MEETUP page and added information about both of our model clubs. MEETUP is a social media website that we are using to encourage investors to attend our various programs and events. The increase in our MEETUP membership has been very encouraging, and now includes approximately 300 people. http://www.meetup.com/western-pa-stock-investing-education- Investment-Clubs/ Our monthly Chapter meetings begin with a brief educational segment. Two of our Chapter Directors attended a Regional Conference in October. This conference included Directors from BetterInvesting Chapters in Ohio, Indiana, to share their experiences with Chapter educational programs. Several of these programs will be implemented in our Chapter this year. Two successful Model Clubs. Perhaps the most important contribution made by our Chapter is the operation of our two Model Clubs. They are fully operational investment clubs that are open to the public, either to visit or to join. They provide a terrific opportunity for investors to observe BetterInvesting methods being used in a functioning club. Whether you are new to BetterInvesting, an individual investor or currently a member of an investment club, you can benefit by attending one or more of these meetings. Possible benefits include: potential investment ideas, observation of experienced investors applying BetterInvesting tools, and an opportunity to meet and converse with Pittsburgh Chapter Directors. Our plans for 2016 include: See our Chapter website for details on these activities: www.betterinvesting.org/pgh Another full-day education event on April 30, 2016. This event will be held in Penn Hills at the Comfort Inn Conference Center. We plan to provide classes for beginning, intermediate and experienced investors. In addition, we expect to feature a national keynote speaker. Please mark your calendar. An on-line presentation for inexperienced and intermediate investors to be delivered via GoToMeeting. It will acquaint attendees with BetterInvesting methods, techniques, and software tools. Specifically, it will introduce the capabilities of Better Investing s on-line SSG software. We expect to present it in February 2016. Periodic sessions of "Let's Talk Stocks". This is a fun yet very educational program in which attendees can present a brief (approximately 3 to 5 minutes) review of one of their favorite stocks. It is an opportunity for participants to get potential
investment ideas as well as see how others conduct their analysis and arrive at their judgements. These sessions will be available via GoToMeeting. We may also conduct them in a face-to-face venue. Our two very successful model investment clubs will continue, and always welcome visitors. With occasional exceptions, each club meets monthly. Conduct an education segment at each of our monthly Chapter meetings. Communicate on a more timely basis with our growing population of MEETUP members. We recognize that these members have indicated a desire to learn more about investing and will make every effort to encourage them to participate in our educational programs and events. Implement BetterInvesting's new "Visit-A-Club" program to connect clubs and potential members. Begin an annual portfolio contest. Details will be announced on our website as soon as they are available. So, as you can see, the Pittsburgh Chapter is active and thriving. We take seriously our commitment to deliver high-quality education programs and events and hope that you are taking full advantage of these opportunities. Please let me or one of our Chapter Directors know if there is anything that we can do to improve our contribution to your investing success. And finally, we can always use the time, skill and talent of additional volunteers. Any skill or time that you could contribute would be appreciated. It has been my experience that the time I spend in volunteering for BetterInvesting Chapter activities has been one of the best investments that I have ever made. It has afforded me the opportunity to associate with some of the most experienced, talented, and helpful investors in all of Western Pennsylvania. In addition, the reward of helping others learn to become successful long-term investors is priceless. Please consider volunteering to help us in our quest to deliver quality investment programs and events to Western Pennsylvania. You can do so by contacting me or any of our Chapter Directors. Gary Tipton gtipton@zbzoom.net President, Pittsburgh Chapter of BetterInvesting The Pittsburgh Chapter website is at: www.betterinvesting.org/pgh The Taxman Cometh It is time for clubs to begin planning for this year's tax season. As a passthrough partnership, the club pays no taxes, but must file IRS 1065 and PA PA-65 tax returns and give each partner the information needed to report his/her share of the club's gains. The club must also provide each member with the IRS K-1 and PA RK-1 to prepare their personal returns.
Club Accounting software companies offer tax preparation software that makes the job relatively easy for the treasurer. They also offer a discount if pre-ordered before their deadline. Some clubs pay substantial fees to have an accountant prepare the club's taxes. That is not necessary. The combination of club accounting and the matching tax preparation software do the job almost painlessly, and at a much more reasonable cost. Here are a few important tips to consider: 1. Make sure all transactions are recorded. 2. Confirm that the club's annual totals agree with the year-end statements you receive. 3. The Treasurer must run a valuation dated 12/31 before preparing the Distribution of Earnings Report. 4. It's a good idea to do the annual audit before preparing the tax return. 5. Don't prepare your tax return until after you have all year-end statements from broker, bank, Dividend Reinvestment Plans, etc. 6. Limited partnerships, REITs, etc, are never recommended for a club because of the additional tax complexity. But if your club does invest in them, the Treasurer has additional work to do. Each "dividend" received during the year must be edited and divided by percentage into the components (capital gains, return of capital, dividends, etc.) shown on the year-end statement. 7. Prepare the club's returns as soon as possible after receiving all yearend statements. Remember that your members need time to prepare their personal returns after you give them their K-1s. 8. Follow all filing instructions, and file your club's IRS and PA returns on time. 9. Send your returns by Certified Mail/Return Receipt so you have proof that you have filed. Free Value Line Access If you are a resident of Pennsylvania, you are eligible for free access to the Value Line online investment research. All you need is a library card for the Free Library of Philadelphia Go to the library Website: https://know.freelibrary.org/myresearch/register You can register online or through the mail. Once you receive your library card number, log in at: https://research.valueline.com/secure/research/home#sec=library. On the upper left under Find, click on the link to databases. Under the Business heading, there is a link that takes you to the Value Line online site. Be sure you save the Value Line page as a bookmark.
Useful Financial Terms GARP. BetterInvesting uses the philosophy of GARP (growth at a reasonable price). This method looks for companies that are selling for less than their intrinsic value and have good growth potential. Intrinsic Value. In finance, intrinsic value refers to the value of a company stock determined through fundamental analysis without reference to its market value. Spring 2016 Education Event April 30, 2016 at Penn Hills Comfort Inn Stay tuned for more details!