Local Investing Resources

What to Expect Long-Term

Direct local investing is a slow and engaging, yet rewarding process. Local investors must have the passion, time, and energy to find and evaluate local investment opportunities, and for getting to know the people who offer these opportunities. Get-rich-quick...

Basic Rules of Due Diligence

Good investment decision-making begins with knowing and following a few basic principles: Define your financial needs, goals, and risk tolerance, and only make investments that are a good match for you. We explore how to do this in greater depth in the next section,...

Liquidity Issues

Coming Soon...SUBSCRIBEto our e-newsletterSUPPORT this community resourceLOCATE local networks & CDFIs

How Much Should I Invest?

Before talking to your first investment prospect, evaluate your personal financial situation and set guidelines for the types of investments that will help you meet your needs and goals, and honor your values, while staying within your tolerance for risk. Financial...

Tracking Results

Once your investment is made, you should begin monitoring its results. There are a variety of reasons for this: If you maintain a good relationship with the investee, you can get updates on how things are going with the business. You can share in the successes of the...

How to find Investment Opportunities

There are many businesses who are crowdfunding and actively looking for investors of all kinds. No matter your background, you can consider investing in your own community! [video width="1920" height="1080"...

Evaluating Local Investments

The Due Diligence Process Now that you have assessed your financial situation and written down your investing rules, you are ready to start evaluating investments to learn if they are a good fit for you. That process begins with gathering information on a potential...

Resources

Modules in our Local Investors resource area: Getting Started Making Investments Managing Your Portfolio Find a local investing group near you: Local Investing Group Directory Due Diligence Tutorials: Due Diligence for Local Investors Video Series 6 short videos...

What Is Local Investing?

INTRODUCTION Local small businesses help create the color, culture, and uniqueness in our communities and neighborhoods. They’re owned, managed, and staffed by our friends and neighbors. In what’s called the “local multiplier effect,” the money we spend and invest...

Is It Safe?

No one knows for sure how likely it is that a company will succeed or fail. Even the best research cannot accurately predict the future. For the purposes of this website, a local investor is considered someone with financial resources that they can afford to part with...

How to Get Started

Review your financial situation Do you have money to invest that you can afford to lose? Have you paid off any high interest credit card debt? Are your non-invested savings sufficient to cover emergencies, and are they working for you at a locally-focused bank or...

Joining an Investment Club/Group

We highly recommend that local investors work together, not alone, in order to help each other out. Sharing expertise and insight helps everyone find better investing opportunities and make better investing decisions by drawing on the diversity of backgrounds and...

What to Expect

Direct local investing is a slow and engaging, yet rewarding process. Local investors must have the passion, time, and energy to find and evaluate local investing opportunities, and for getting to know the people who offer these opportunities. Get-rich-quick...

Using Retirement Accounts to Invest

About 83% of U.S. savings are in retirement accounts. Learn how to use retirement funds to support your community: This clip is from the...

A Quick Recap

To help you get started, here’s a quick recap of the process: Look at your big picture financial situation and make a list of your Investing rules, which tell you what kinds of local investments you should be looking for. Be patient while looking for investing...

ARE YOU A LOCAL INVESTOR?