LONGECITY

A while back I had started a discussion about creating a LE inspired credit union. As time went on, I realized we had tons of bankers here that want to do something related to life extension and I just wasn't reaching out to them. 

So from what I can tell, we'll need $200k to start a credit union along with the talent and software to run it. 

Who wants to get to work? I think we can definitely get the $200k together for something like this considering the money would generate good interest and we'd have lots of people wanting to invest. I don't think it would be a problem in this day and age to be an online only bank unless there is a specific requirement that we have a store somewhere. 

So before I put more effort into this, who is ready to make this happen and contribute to the wider LE community through banking?

Mmm I don't understand how this union will benefit LE. Will the money be used for research?

YOLF,

could you please be more specific?

1) who is going to benefit from this union?

2) how exactly is this going to happen?

3) what projects are going to be financed and on what terms?

4) since this is a 'credit' union, will borrowers be charged some interest rate?

1. The LE community account holders which would include labs and researchers etc and profits could be used to make grants for LE centric things as well as to increase the size of the business. We'd also be creating jobs within the LE community.
2. I'm not sure TBH, I've never started a credit union before. However, we'll make the wider community aware of our services and market to some extent.
3. I'd leave that to the risk analysis team, but anything that earns money and is a good risk whether it be LE'ist opening up lemonade stand or a researcher opening a new lab.
4. Yes, we'd aim to be on par with other US federal credit unions.

This requires further research but the concept is good.  A credit union is "owned" by its members (each member literally has a share) but its profits can be directed to any cause which can be LE research.

I'm a member of a credit union now, in fact.

What is the fundraising potential of this community? Are there any other Longecity ventures with similar scope and scale?

I only ask because this sounds like a super ambitious project. I can't pretend to even know how a credit union gets it's footing, but with any other large venture I'd begin by making connections and setting up lunches and coffee dates with mentors who have experience and start asking questions. My experience lies within tech startups but there shouldn't be any reason that the same rules shouldn't apply. There are a handful of startup incubators around San Diego with monthly quick pitch events. It could be a quick way to gin valuable feedback, and possibly acquire seed money in order to recruit a team that can take the idea to the next level.

Just thoughts.

Bryan, the last year FightAging campaign collected $170,000 in 3 months.

It seems to me that "matching donations" seems to work well.  I don't know where they got the $170,000 from.  I do know Fighting Aging! is quite well read - it's a LE resource site and blog.

Relevant IRS code: http://www.irs.gov/p...blink1000200390

LongeCity could seed fund a credit union, but could not run a credit union. The credit union would have to be a separate non-profit entity.

"just need the talent and software"...such a simple phrase. I guarantee it would take more to get it up and running securely, than the amount of the seed money. Not impossible, but out of our current reach.

Still, I think we could attract the team and talent for it. See some of my other recent ideas to attract new volunteers and promote LC. It may take us some time to get people involved, but we could be there within two years time I think. I didn't expect it to happen overnight, but I do like to be an optimist.

Right, you're completely correct Mind and I stand with YOLF in that we should get the ball rolling on any idea that will help.  Thus getting people together that understand the process and have interest will be key because it is in fact going to take time and knowledge that, without those people, we would not have.

I think a credit union would require you to provide deposit of insurance the same way that bank does and have a great deal of restriction requiring the funds to keep it from being insolvent. Maybe a mixture of a hands off hedge fund and venture capital would be a better vehicle.

I think a credit union would require you to provide deposit of insurance the same way that bank does and have a great deal of restriction requiring the funds to keep it from being insolvent. Maybe a mixture of a hands off hedge fund and venture capital would be a better vehicle.

These are all great things, but anytime we can start a business with the same goal of our community we're giving people the option of supporting our community with something they already do. We'll get the insurance and follow all the protocols. If these were so expensive, credit unions wouldn't exist or make money at all. People who want to live forever bank as does anyone else, why shouldn't their banking services be done by people who support what they support? Why shouldn't we create jobs for the people in our community? I suggest starting another topic for the hedge fund and venture capital. Either could be done, but we're missing something if we don't profit from all of the opportunities and don't have lots of chances to succeed. Part of the success of stuff like Berkshire Hathaway is their size of community and the diversity of the companies in their portfolio. Anyone owning one of those businesses can get virtually anything from someone who also benefits for BH's success. As a community, we need this as not everyone who wants to live forever is a scientist or a scientist who works for a company that is engaged in making that mission a reality. VC and Hedgefunds also carry greater risks of failure, and if they lose all that money, it will be more difficult to fundraise next time. The credit union on the other hand will have the benefit of being insured and much more likely to succede, regardless of how much or little it produces.

Need to start filing application forms and get sufficient capital in order to begin (usually in the millions). Anyone done that yet?

$200k is the minimum to start one and we'd need insurance and such. I was thinking we might be better off starting this under someone else's management umbrella if such a thing exists and then migrate our services when we've grown enough. Otherwise this is going to be pretty difficult if we don't have anyone who is already familiar with this industry.

I would like to learn more. Have we moved forward on this yet? If we can figure out how to raise the funds, I can help to set up the proper business structure and management team, as well as marketing and online presence. 

No movement on this as of yet, we'd need to get larger investors and then do a fundraiser and get enough money to pay for the insurance and other services that we need to operate. Other options are teaming up with other orgs like ours to share infrastructure.