Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Net Worth Exercise - how much power is there sitting at you meeting?

[Craig Ragland (craigragland]

Chris,

I think this is great advice.

Our forming group recently did something similar and it totally changed the
conversation. We now know that the financial resources that we collectively
control are sufficient to do almost anything we might want.

Now our challenge is deciding how to use our resources, not deal with
whether there is enough.

A variant on your suggestion (that most groups should probably not explore)
- is to be totally transparent about the personal finances with all members.
In our case, we are an older, fairly mature group that has already spent
considerable time developing higher levels of intimacy than most cohousing
groups. We recently, for example, completed a 10-week study, Aging in Place
Successfully, a derivative of Study Group 1 described by Chuck Durrett in
Senior Cohousing, that another member and I were trained to facilitate this
past fall. During this class, we explored what we wanted for our deaths, our
spirituality, philosophy, and world views, etc - in other words, we got
"intimate" about stuff that matters far more to us than how much money we
have in the various "buckets" of retirement, property and liquid
investments.

I'm not recommending that more conventional Forming Group be as transparent
as us - some groups may even wish to truly use a trusted 3rd party (perhaps
an accountant that can help some members better understand their money?) to
"hold the numbers," which ultimately may be necessary to disclose to achieve
external financing anyway.

I do recommend considering this idea - it is empowering to discover your
collective financial power (using this measure).
Craig

BTW, it is also my experience that "real financial power" is more about
whether financially competent people are willing to use what value they do
control, rather than their net worth. That is to say, that as long as you
have "enough" - it is more about whether you are truly willing risk it to
support your words and professed values. For example, when some families
living at Songaia decided to buy an adjoining property last year, the
families participated tapped a variety of financial resources to raise the
price, this included their property value, liquid investments, and personal
debt to raise the required money - and it was not just those with the
highest net worth - it was those willing to use their money to "walk their
talk" down that particular pathway.
On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 6:45 AM, Chris ScottHanson <cscotthanson [at] mac.com>
wrote:

>
> Mina,
>
> Your group may want to try this simple exercise.  It requires some
> trust, and it helps to have a "neutral third party" do the tallies -
> anonymously.
>
> At a general meeting, first have all members and associates write down
> as a household, all their current assets. (Nearest $10,000 is OK.
> You're not looking for accuracy here.)  The full value of their home,
> their car(s) and all their retirement funds and saving, or personal
> property that has any significant value.  No deduct for mortgages or
> loans in this first step.
>
> Next, have everyone write down their outstanding debt (liabilities) -
> including mortgages, credit cards, car loans, furniture loans -
> everything.
>
> And finally, have everyone subtract their debt from their assets,
> giving them a number called their Net Worth.
>
> Now, to complete the process, have everyone write these three numbers
> on a slip of paper, anonymously, underlining the net worth.  Fold the
> slips, and hand them to the "neutral third party."  (Sometimes the
> oldest and wisest person in the group can do the honors here.)
>
> When this person adds up the net worth of the households who have just
> participated in this exercise, the sum is announced to the whole group
> (and all the slips are shredded or otherwise destroyed.)  Likely, you
> will be amazed at the result.  Your group's financial POWER is
> significant.
>
> You need to look and feel powerful to be successful in this world of
> development.  And you especially need to look and feel powerful if you
> want to partner with a developer.  They must see you as a strong and
> capable partner - and not as potential buyers who simply may not
> perform when you can't get a mortgage at the end.
>
>
> Chris ScottHanson
>
> Cohousing Resources LLC
> Ecovillages, Cohousing & Sustainable Communities
> Development and Consulting for a Sustainable Future
>    based on the Natural Power of Community
>
> www.cohousingresources.com
>
> (360) 321-7850 office
> (206) 260-2800 eFAX
> (617) 894-7661 cell
>
>
>
> On Feb 27, 2008, at 6:33 PM, Mina Baisch wrote:
> > Our group has been very active in the last year or so, and has
> > identified a very promising piece of property. We don't have members
> > with "deep pockets", so the group has decided to look for developer
> > financing. We are open to working with someone who doesn't know a lot
> > about cohousing, but if we do so we'd like to be able to introduce
> > them to the idea of cohousing with several examples of developer-
> > financed cohousing that was successful from the developer's point of
> > view (as well as the community's). Can anyone help me to identify: 1)
> > the names of such cohousing communities 2) a contact person that might
> > be willing to give our group info via e-mail or a brief phone call?
> >
> > Thanks, Mina
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
>


-- 
Craig Ragland

Coho/US executive director
http://www.cohousing.org
craig [at] cohousing.org

New Earth Song project manager
http://www.NewEarthSong.com
craig [at] newearthsong.com

Songaia Cohousing member
http://www.Songaia.com
craig [at] songaia.com

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