Investment club unveils index

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. has teamed with BetterInvesting, a nonprofit investment education organization, to launch the BetterInvesting 100 Index, a listing of the top growth companies that the group's 13,127 investment clubs and 131,556 individual members hold. The index, which began trading today with a benchmark value of 150.00, is based on portfolios of members, with the top 100 companies outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 14% since March 2003, according to BetterInvesting. The BetterInvesting 100 Index is an equal-dollar weighted index, which relies on long-term investing methodology and the group's stock selection guide to pick stocks.Two versions of the index are calculated — a price return index and a total return index. The price return index, or BIXX, is calculated without accounting for cash dividends, while the total return index, or BIXR, reinvests cash dividends. Each March, when BetterInvesting clubs report their top holdings, Nasdaq will adjust the BetterInvesting 100 Index to reflect current information. "This represents what real people are investing in and is a purely blended portfolio of what we believe is a highly educated investor base," said Peter Breen, who serves as chief strategist for BetterInvesting and is managing partner at The Vokser Group of New York. The organization intends to create an exchange traded fund, an open-ended fund and other derivatives from the index, Mr. Breen said. BetterInvesting is based in Madison Heights, Mich.