REPLY Investing in the field (SD6368)

[SDMAIL Sean Morgan]

Posted by  Sean Morgan <Morgan at JantzMorgan.com>

Hi Folks,

I would like to add one more point to the comments on the Society's 
financial resources.

For the Society to flourish it needs to be self sustaining.  Currently 
it lives hand to mouth, for while $400,000 may seem like a lot of money, 
it is in fact not nearly enough to generate a reasonable flow of operating 
funds.  Assume for example that the Society's investments earn a long-term 
average of 7% annually (one could estimate higher or lower depending upon 
how conservatively the portfolio is managed, but this is probably in the 
ballpark for a 50/50 mix of stocks and bonds).  At that rate, the $400,000 
only generates $28,000 for the Society, which might cover postage, office 
supples, and the phone bill.  However, were the principle $5 million, that 
same 7% return would generate $350,000 -- a number that would probably meet 
the Society's basic needs.

Our goal should be to build the Society's financial resources to a point 
where it can be truly self sufficient ($5 million would be a good place to 
start).  At that point, it would have the financial strength to do many of 
the exciting things that we all feel are important.  But for that to happen, 
we first need to arrange to keep the lights on.

-- Sean
Posted by  Sean Morgan <Morgan at JantzMorgan.com>
posting date  Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:33:15 -0400