In God we trust.

Church-based clubs faithfully invest in the stock market

In keeping with the tradition of empowerment and enlightenment, many churches are now on a mission to teach their congregations about wealth accumulation. Part of that financial education is through investment dubs. In between Sunday services at the Big Miller Grove Church in Lithonia, Georgia, members of the Christian Fellowship Investment Club (CFIC) gather to build their stock portfolios.

"Money management is key to successful living and CFIC has been able to instill its importance into the hearts of our church members and individuals in the community? says the church's pastor and founding club member, Bishop Miles E. Fowler.

The club was formed nine years ago with 15 members as a limited partnership. Initially, the monthly ante for members was $25, now they pay $150 every quarter, which averages out to $50 a month. Five of CFIC's founding members have since quit the club to pursue business opportunities.

The group represents a variety of professional backgrounds from entrepreneurs to educators. While the club sometimes uses the services of Robert Bernadin, vice president of investments at Salomon Smith Barney, it relies mostly on the stock picking skills of its members. Individuals are assigned stocks to research within various industries, including high-tech, utilities, banking, food, and financial services. Formal reports and recommendations are made at the club's quarterly meetings. Practicing socially responsible investing, the group abstains from buying stock in companies who manufacturer items such as tobacco and alcohol, which conflicts with it's religious beliefs.

"We do not invest in anything that we do not understand," adds Dennis Riley, the club's president. "Ninety percent of our portfolio is fairly conservative; we seek long-term growth. The remaining 10% is invested in more aggressive and somewhat risky stocks," including IPOs and dotcoms.

Two years ago, the club decided to invest in stocks that could quickly grow its assets with the goal of buying real estate property in the future and turning it into an assisted-living facility for the elderly.

"We are trying to take advantage of hot issues," says Riley. "We have done a lot of buying and selling in that area because we know that new issues fizzle out very quickly over a short period of time. Once [certain stocks] hit our target price, we sell them and take the proceeds and reinvest that money in our more conservative holdings."

As of December, the club's portfolio was valued at $150,000, with holdings in 17 companies, including AFLAC (NYSE: AFL), AT&T (NYSE: T), Bank One (NYSE: ONE), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). Since its inception, CFIC has had on average a 22% rate of return.

Another aspect of CFIC's mission is to spread the "gospel" about investing to others in the community. The group has inspired the formation of several new investment clubs in surrounding areas and regularly sponsors community seminars on investment clubs, credit management, and investing. Moreover, the club has offered free income tax preparation to the general public.

CFIC's TOP FIVE HOLDINGS

Company             Exchange/Symbol    Portfolio Weighting

General Electric    (NYSE: GE)                22.0%
Home Depot          (NYSE: HD)                11.6%
AFLAC               (NYSE: AFL)                9.3%
Merck               (Nasdaq: MRK)              9.1%
Citigroup           (NYSE: C)                  6.9%