President's Message
The history page of this website shows that the Rochester Chapter of AAII was founded in 1986. One of the greatest bull markets of the world was about five-years old at that point. Many other Local Chapters were formed in upstate New York during this period, but none of them survived the bear markets of the first decade of the 21st Century.
The primary reason for the success of the AAII Rochester Chapter is that a dedicated team of unpaid board members was and is willing and able to provide timely and entertaining financial information to the active participants of the local chapter.
During the last decade of the Twentieth Century, aka the American Century, almost everyone believed investing was easy: Ten percent returns were "guaranteed", and if you were willing to take some chances, then much more was easily imaginable. The first decade of the 21st Century has disabused all of us of that absurd notion.
The American Association of Individual Investors was founded in Chicago during 1978. From the beginning, AAII claimed to give investors unbiased facts and effective knowledge about investing. That may be true, but unbiased facts are not necessarily useful, and there is absolutely no valid evidence that unbiased facts lead to investment returns that are consistently higher than those of the stock market.
The objective of the Rochester, NY Chapter of AAII is to give investors honest and meaningful facts in a social environment. That knowledge will ultimately enable investors to achieve risk adjusted returns that are greater than the returns reported by professional investors. Attend our Rochester, NY Chapter meetings and our Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings to learn more.
Henry Wirth
(585) 381-6539
June 2011