The Voluntary Exchange, L.L.C.

In September 2013, I posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in joining an investment group. My goal to starting an investment group was to provide each member education and support while they also pursued personal investment opportunities. Whether they wanted to open their own brokerage account, help with financially managing their own companies or if they wanted just to understand the annual prospectus they received from a company 401k they signed up for, I wanted to help them make educated financial decisions.

To my surprise, I got a good response. Once I got into explaining the requirements for membership, dues and other monthly duties required to be members, that number was pruned to be a solid 10 person group (as of November 2015). We are a voluntary effort, but we do expect that each of our members participate in research and discussions on the type of investments we make as a group.

We pool our money on a monthly basis to take advantage of a larger buying power, compound interest rates and growth in rates of return on our investments. Since money is at the center of what we do in this group, it is important that we build and maintain a sense of trust for each other. As a state registered L.L.C., each member is obligated to sign and abide by the Partnership Agreement and Bylaws. We are also affiliated with the National Association of Investment Clubs (NAIC), which is a non-profit organization that develops tools platform our group utilizes. In the January/February 2016 Better Investing magazine, we were spotlighted as a new group and having been able to sustain operations through the tough economic climate of the late summer in 2015.

In addition to our group financial endeavors, we are also an organization with strong connections to the Charlotte community. We have been participants in the Charlotte AIDS Walk in May 2015, painted a local women's shelter, packaged hygiene and food packages for the homeless here in Charlotte and plan to continue our dedication to the Greater Charlotte Community in the future.

Lastly, all work and no play makes a group dull right? Well we are far from dull and thats to say the least! We constantly communicate with each other on a personal basis, promote each other's business and celebrate victories with each other. We are really like a little family. We have an annual tailgate for the Carolina Panthers, family fun night at Dave and Busters, Carowinds or even catch a Knights game and enjoy the summer heat.

I am so thankful for this group of people pushing me to start this blog and for letting me lead them down a path to greater understanding of the financial opportunities that are available to them. For information about the group, please find more information about us here.