Joliet investment club gave members a chance to learn while they earned

JOLIET – In 1981, JoAnn Drake of Lockport liked peeking at the stock market and buying small amounts of stock here and there.

Then Drake was invited to study the market with other professional women and learn to make smart investment decisions. Drake, who served 20 years as treasurer for what became the Decamicus investment club, is glad she joined.

“We did well,” Drake said of the club, which recently liquidated. “There were times that the market went down and we did not have the profit we would have liked, but we stuck with it. We dumped stock that we felt was not going to grow and invested in stock we felt was going to grow. I met wonderful people and made lifelong friends.”

Ann Bates of Joliet said she began the club. A teacher who had just finished her master’s degree, Bates said she was seeking a new project. Her husband, John Bates, belonged to an investment club and Bates decided she would like a similar group.

So she called four friends and asked if they might be interested. Bates asked them to each invite a friend, and she did likewise. Before becoming an official group, the women studied investment clubs and invited someone from John’s group to discuss their ventures.

In May 1981, the women officially became Decamicus, which means “10 friends” in Latin, Bates said. They joined the National Association of Investment Clubs and began learning about what constituted good stocks, Bates said.

Each month, each member contributed $10. At the end of the year, they bought several shares of one stock, Schlitz Brewery, Bates said.

Through the years, each member gradually upped her monthly allotment by $10 increments until it reached an average of $50 a person, although the actual amounts varied among members.

“We learned to watch the stock market pretty much daily,” Bates said.

The group had a stock study report that members calculated by hand until the advent of computers, Bates said, which simplified the calculations. They learned about earnings per share and watched their earning go up and down, depending on the market.

“We learned how to do stock studies to analyze our choices and every member had one or more stocks to follow and report on and make recommendations,” Bates said. “We were beginning to earn while we learned.”

As technology changed, Bates said they learned about new companies: Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. Members held an annual business meeting each May.

“We weren’t looking to make a gazillion dollars,” Bates said. “We were looking for a nice profit and many of our stocks made nice profits.”

Decamicus also suffered periodic downfalls, such as when the stock market crashed in 2008, Bates said. But Decamicus stood its ground and – occasionally – cashed in. The club mantra, Bates added, was, “We’re earning while we’re learning.”

“One lady in our group was a nurse that took care of a man who was an investor and he taught her how to do trading,” Bates said. “She always had the ‘golden touch’ as far as investing went.”

Arlene Plese of Joliet, who joined in 2000 and was Decamicus’ president when the club liquidated, said she was eager to learn. Plese said her husband would tease her that she didn’t understand the stock market, although she had majored in economics.

Plese said reporting on a different stock at the monthly meetings increased her knowledge. Over time, the women had certain favorites. For Plese, it was Procter & Gamble because of the sheer amount of products the company produced.

Despite Plese’s current preference for mutual funds, she has mixed emotions about the club’s disbanding, similar to how one feels when retiring from working, she said.

“We won’t be having monthly meetings, but we do intend to stay in touch,” Plese said, “maybe have some lunches now and then.”

Margaret Cockbill of Joliet said she had investment experience when she joined Decamicus in 1981 and joined because she thought she would gain both knowledge and experience, which Cockbill said she did.

She advised beginners to learn as much as possible and to – perhaps – take an investment course at a community college.

Cockbill is still investing.

“Since I’m 91, I’m not investing anymore in things that are not pretty sure,” Cockbill said. “I used to take a lot of chances in the stock market, but it’s still a gamble.”

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Members of Decamicus at the time of liquidation:

• Ann Bates, founder – retired teacher/administrator, Troy Community Consolidated School District 30-C

• Margaret Cockbill, original member – retired teacher, Joliet Junior College

• JoAnn Drake, original member – retired teacher, Milne-Kelvin Grove District 91 in Lockport

• Rita Sova, original member – retired nurse and nurse educator, Joliet Junior College

• Josephine Connor, joined 1995 – retired teacher, Joliet Public Schools District 86

• Patricia Sterr, joined 1995 – retired teacher, Joliet Junior College - came into group 1995

• Arlene Plese, joined 2000 – retired teacher, Joliet Public Schools District 86

Former original members included Lou Ruettiger, retired nurse; Marlys Prior, retired from Social Security Administration; Lois Draznik (deceased), retired teacher, Troy District 30-C; and Joan Ramuta, retired teacher, University of St. Francis in Joliet.