I was having lunch the other day with a friend of mine who wants me to get into a "Fractional Christmas Club" with him. he has been in it for about 5 months and thinks it is "THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD". Keep in mind, he doesn't have much of a life. I wonder if anyone has heard of these.

Okay, the gist of it is, The club has 24 members, each member pays $50.00 monthly dues. Every month, one of the members gets the pot of $1,200. so, once every two years, you get a check for $1,200. Sort of like a savings account, you make a deposit every month and within two years, you get to "win" the pot.

It sounded fishy to me but he said he is got his pot this month (apparently it's a random drawing) The only hitch is, to insure you don't drop out the month after you get chosen, you have to commit for a minimum of 2 years.

It sounds kind of crazy, but also kind of interesting. They call it a Christmas club because for one member, they get an extra Christmas.

N.B. I am not going to join it, I struggle each month with my own commitments, I just wondered if anyone else has heard of one of these or has done one.

Oh this sounds like something a friend of mine at work was doing with church/family group... I don't think they had any name for it..

I think it is more of less for those that can't save any money on their own. A forced savings sot of thing.

Seems you would really have to trust anyone that is in the group with you...

I would think they should go by first to join = 1st to get the money
unless they toss out the winners names from the pot until each person has had a turn to win....

no interest is being made - better to pay yourself the 50 a month and then invest it in a CD or something when you had enough to do that..

I think it is more of a social get together sort of thing and they do this money thing for fun more than anything..

I've heard of it. But, I'd never do it. It's sort of like overpaying your payroll taxes each month so you'll get a big refund in April. You're letting Uncle Sam have an interest free loan. I never could afford to do that. If you've got $50 a month you don't know what to do with put it in an interest bearing savings account. At least if there's an emergency or something you can access it.

Unless it was an exceptionally close, trusted friend handling the "jackpot" (and even then it'd be "iffy") I wouldn't trust anyone with that amount of money. But that's just me............

It's a pyramid scheme probably similar to a small scale Ponzi Scheme. Same thing that got Bernie Madoff sent to the clink (only his investors didn't know they were participating). The risk is if it falls apart before your turn to receive the payment.

That's what I think.

In this bad economy people are looking for any way to make money....even if it means scamming friends.

I'd run to the nearest exit!!

I'd run like the dickens.

I agree, grab that 50 or 20 a month, and plop it into a savings account. When you reach 500 grab a CD, when you reach 1000 buy a bond. This way you are not worried about the person who is in charge of where all of those 50 dollar deposits sleep, running off with it. How would you feel after 2 years of $50 per month donations, you are one away from being picked, and blamo! bank guy is no where to be found.

I wondered as well about the random pickings. You said its random who gets picked each month. That means person A can get picked 2 or 3 times? or do they remove that persons name from the pile once they are picked?

I dunno, I am not trusting enough of letting others hold my money to play that game. I would worry , and worry, and worry. too much stress for me.

I won't even drop a quarter in a slot machine, muss less allow someone else to be in charge of MY money!

My DIL was in a diet competition at work. Not sure how much a week/month they contributed, but the winner was supposed to get $500-$600. Well, wouldn't you know it, the money was "stolen"!

The insurance replaced it, then someone decided (towards the end of the competition) that there needed to be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, instead of "winner takes all." My DIl had lost 35 pounds through diet and exercise and was pretty upset they pulled the rug out from under her.

Just another example of people stepping on others to come out on top. Earl, you are wise not to get involved with this scheme.

LOL..I read this quick & thought it said "I'd run like the chickens" . I'm going for the eye drops now..