STOCKS CREATE SPECIAL BOND FOR WIVES

When the housewives started meeting 30 years ago, there were 23 of them, with husbands at work and children at home.

They met to talk about money and the stock market.

And over the years, they learned about Mobil Oil, ITT, Purex, Greyhound, Franzia wines. They had more children, raised them and sent them off to college, became grandmothers. Some of the women moved on when their husbands' company shut down; some got jobs; some lost interest in the market or had no time; some died. But seven women in their 60s, 70s and 80s still gather every month in Great Falls, Mont., to discuss their stock holdings and decide what to invest in next. Two of them are original members of the Learn and Earn Investment Club; one is my mother. It wasn't until the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 that I realized how serious she was about investing. The day the news broke about a radiation leak at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, my mom called me at work. She was upset about the spill. She also was upset because she'd just inherited GPU stock. "GPU, Peggy," she reminded me, "that's the company that owns that plant." Today I'm not surprised when her phone rings first thing in the morning and it's one of her friends in the investment club, saying that Pepsi just split. Today it would cost you $23,000 to buy into her club and even if you had the money, you would need unanimous approval from the members. The unanimity is more important than the money. Unlike the Beardstown Ladies, who became a national phenomenon when a book about their investments hit the best-seller list, fame and riches are not the message from this group of Montana investors. Success means the value of trust, friendship and working together on a mutual project. Every member today gives the same reasons for the long life of the group. They are intimate friends by now but when they meet, the social chatting is minimal. The agenda is business. Unless they're out of town or there's an emergency, members attend every meeting. Each pays a $50 monthly fee on time. Each is expected to follow certain companies the club has invested in, and do research about stocks of interest to present to the group. From this seriousness arises magic. Over the decades, the women have disagreed about some stocks but there's never been real dissension. When an investment decision turns sour, my mother says, "No one's ever said, `I told you so.' " How can that be? "It's because we're all old enough and wise enough to know that's not helpful," says another member, Joan Bennett, who's now the mayor of Great Falls. Club members like the fact that no one dominates. The women have a president and officers because they have to as an official investment club. They intentionally keep the group small. They cautiously admit that their club is different because it's been all women all these years. "A man possibly might be more controlling," explains Pat Clark, who convinced members to invest in McDonald's because that's where her 23 grandkids always want to eat. Some of these women have husbands with their own investment clubs. The men are much more social, "having parties all the time," says the mayor. The husbands have teased their successful wives that they should cash out some of those investments and take the men to Mexico on vacation. The women's response? Maybe they'll spring for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Or maybe they'll put on a potluck dinner. They laugh and call themselves "stingy ladies." They remember the day a broker jealously asked, "Where did you find out about this stock?" They like it when the market goes down and they're buying low. Still, they don't know whether they've done better over the years than the market. What they really love is that they keep learning. "The initial excitement is gone," Bennett says. "In its place, we've developed a sense about what's going to work." "I've learned how to do research, where to go to get information," says my mother. "I learned how to make my own decisions." I've learned that these wise women won't give me tips about the market, but they do share lessons about life.

Copyright 1998 Cowles Publishing Company
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