‘Ladies’ Give Solid Money Advice

If you want to find a stock-market whiz and best-selling financial author, you visit Wall Street, of course. And on Beardstown’s Wall Street, tucked between a trailer and a gravel parking lot, sits the Countryside Florist and Gift Shop.

The shop’s plump, fiftyish owner, Margaret Houchins, belongs to a unique investment club of grandmothers, businesswomen and retirees. She’s one of 15 “Beardstown Ladies” whose financial track record beats that of most experts on the other Wall Street.

The group is also on the best-seller list. “The Beardstown Ladies’ Common-Sense Investment Guide: How We Beat the Stock Market--and How You Can, Too,” has sold more than 200,000 copies since it came out about two months ago.

“I think it gives them (readers) the feeling that ‘If they can do it, I can do it,’ ” said Houchins, a member of the club for four years.

Formally known as the Beardstown Business and Professional Women’s Investment Club, the group has averaged a 23% annual return on investments since it formed in 1983. Most money managers can only dream of such results, which are about twice the growth rate of the Standard & Poor’s 500, often used as a gauge of investment performance.

The book stresses the Beardstown Ladies’ folksy demeanor, noting their ages--the average is around 63--and backgrounds as homemakers, secretaries, farmers and shopkeepers.