Whether it’s stocks, bonds, or even cryptocurrency, Investment Club is ready to teach those who are interested how to make smart investments.
Leaders of Investment Club use presentations and economic simulations to develop club members’ financial management skills. This subject, in particular, motivates Club President Thaddeus Duffy to present such topics at club meetings, which are held on the first and third Thursdays of the month at lunch in E1.
“Financial management is one of the core things you need to know as an adult. It’s making your money work for you,” Duffy said.
Financial illiteracy is an issue that continues to grow as more people plummet into debt due to bad spending and saving habits, as well as dreadful investments. An answer to this epidemic lies in education and learning healthy financial habits; people can become more financially literate by budgeting and investing.
Jarrod Harrison, the club’s adviser, provides the room and resources for the club to teach real-world skills about how different investments work. Harrison also has some tips that young people should understand before their adulthood.
“They should understand compound interest, and they should start investing as soon as possible if they are thinking about building up for retirement,” Harrison said.
Duffy also suggests that one should invest early. Furthermore, he recommends that one diversifies their investments because investing a lot of money in one place is risky. That one investment could do poorly, and the net result would be a loss.
Club members say that they learned many essential skills from Investment Club. After coming to a few club meetings, Bryce Lyford concluded that he enjoyed the content of the presentations and continues to go to each session. Lyford learned, from Investment Club, to beware of scammers who will try to make people lose money.
“You always have to very careful and know how to get your advice. There are a lot of shady people trying to take advantage of you, so you can’t just go and look online for the best advice,” Lyford said.
In addition to the teaching financial competency tips, Investment Club holds competitions among members. They use the Market Watch website to play a no stake investing game, according to Duffy.
The game is an economic simulation where each person has an amount of money to spend and must try to make the most net profits in a few months. Players must consider where to invest, how to diversify their investments, and whether to take out loans to make the most money and win.
Club membership and participation are some of the club’s highlights as well as the critical topics they discuss to improve the financial literacy of students, and give them the tools to succeed financially after they graduate.
“Financial competency in our modern age is something we don’t learn in high school. Most of us are going to be on our own in a few years, and there won’t be anyone to manage our money except for ourselves,” Duffy said.
