What is an Investment Club?

An investment club is a small group of individual investors who come together to learn and build confidence to make
educated investment decisions. At group meetings—usually held monthly—members deposit their investments (typically
$25 to $100 each), review studies of stocks presented by other club members, and select one or more stocks in which to
invest.  

The journey toward financial success begins as soon as you understand and employ the four basic principles that are
central to the BetterInvesting philosophy.

The Philosophy of Four Principles

• Invest regularly—success is based on a long-term outlook
  

• Reinvest all your earnings—its like turbocharging your investment
  

• Invest in quality growth companies—Once you know what to look for, they're easy to spot
  

• Diversify to reduce risk—They can't all be winners (need to put a positive spin on this), so protect yourself with
  diversification
  

New Horizon Investment Club

New Horizon Investment Club was founded on May 21st, 2000 by ten Hondurans with the objective of pooling their financial
resources to learn how to invest in the stock market and subsequently become active participants in the economic
development of the Honduran Community Residing in New York City,  Over the past five years, our membership has reached
100.

Investing in Real Estate

Due to the uncertainty of the stock market since September 11th, 2001, the majority of the Club's capital had been held in
money market accounts, this capital reached over $100,000. In November 2002, the members made a decision to diversify
the investment portfolio by investing in real estate.  On June 30th, 2004, we purchased our first real estate investment, a
five apartment building the borough of the Bronx, New York.  

Remittances and Development
Over the past two years, we have expanded our objectives to establish or strengthen pilot mechanisms in Honduras’ North
Coast  for channeling remittances to productive use with the participation of local government, local private Honduran
migrants abroad.  

In his research study, Remittances and Development: Lessons from the Garífuna Transnational Community, the author
made the following statement:  

“Business institutions in the Honduran community are few and far between, but may hold great promise within the
communities.  The individuals that lead them tend to be entrepreneurs interested in improving the community while
making a profit.  Therefore, they are prone to spending time and resources to educate and train others.  The leader of New
Horizon Investment Club, Jose Francisco Avila, believes that once he has success, other groups will follow, and envisions a
Honduran community full of entrepreneurs.  He hopes “Central America will be the next India,” which requires better
exploitation of its human capital and natural resources.  While groups like Avila’s offer a wide membership across
communities, that membership depends on the capacity to invest, so benefits may not accrue to the entire society.  
However, such initiatives can set a strong example for a ‘productive’ use of remittances.”

Our innovative approach has caught the attention of the development organizations in Washington D.C., particularly the
Inter-American Dialogue, the premier center for policy analysis, exchange, and communication on issues in Western
Hemisphere affairs. The Dialogue engages public and private leaders from across the Americas in efforts to develop and
mobilize support for cooperative responses to key hemispheric problems and opportunities. As a result of the is relationship,
I was invited by The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to speak in the
session “Promoting Economic Linkages with Migrant Diaspora” on June 30th in the context of the International Forum on
Remittances 2005 which was  held at IDB’s Headquarters in Washington DC.

More recently, I was invited to be  a member of the special task force on remittances and development the Inter-American
Dialogue organized with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank. The first meeting of the taskforce was on  
September 20th in Washington, D.C. and the plans are to schedule two other meetings next year. The Task Force will
create an informed report to help shape the policy agenda on remittances for the governments of Latin America and the
United States, international organizations and private and non profit institutions.

Investing in Honduran Tourism
A member of he recently signed Central America- Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), has made
tourism a priority, believing that the industry will not only benefit the country by creating new jobs and bringing in foreign
currency, but also by strengthening its national identity, increasing development and competitively, and giving Hondurans
a higher standard of living.

Investing in Honduras means investing in the future. The key elements that signal a market's impending emergence -  
political change, economic deregulation, financial liberalization and industrialization-are evident and New Horizon has
established strategic alliances with Honduran entrepreneurs involved in the tourism industry and is currently negotiating
investments in some of these enterprises.

Services