By Wiley Adams ’19
Need some financial advice? Got some money saved up but don’t know what to do with it? Need a new hobby? Come to the investment club!
The club meets on red Thursdays during lunch. Members of the club invest in the stock market with real equities, but fake money. Students learn to recognize good times to sell and buy stock. In a typical club meeting they analyze stocks, determine which are good ones to get into and which are not, look at who is making money and who is losing money, and talk about why those who are winning are doing so well.
The club moderator is Mr. Paul Malsam. Mr. Malsam first became familiar with the art of investment a few years after he was married. He and his wife had about $2,000 to invest. He did not know much about investment. He decided he wanted to learn more about it, and began doing research at the library.
“I like to see the light come on in students when the realize they can make their money work for them.” says Mr. Malsam. He hopes the students can use the skills they learn to manage their money well in the future. He wants them to make wise decisions but also take risks.
Junior Lee Allen, says his favorite thing about being a member of the club is the connection it allows him to make with has dad who has a masters degree in economics. “He and I are always talking about it. He’s always teaching me about the stock market and how it works,” says Allen. He is thankful for the opportunity to learn more about something he is passionate about.
According to junior Jair Ocampo, the best part of the club is learning skills that will help him in the future. “I really like learning about how to manage my money because I know it will be helpful to me later on in life” says Ocampo.
Every year, the club takes part in the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge, hosted by the University of Denver, where 1,500 students from 38 schools compete to see who can make the most money.
This year, a team from Regis took first place at the competition. Members of the winning team are juniors Lee Allen, Brody Elliot, Trevor Wild, and seniors Adrian Chan, and Hayes Ward.
When Lee Allen was asked about the events of the day he said, “They had a simulated stock market, and you basically do what you would on Wall Street. You’re yelling at the trader to make your trades, you’re buying and selling, you’re determining what’s going up and what’s going down, you’re tracking everything. It’s really high paced, and it’s really a lot of fun.”
The team was in fifth place until the end when they jumped into the lead. “What we did to win, we know from past years there is always one stock that stays consistent the whole time, and then at the very end it sky rockets. We were tracking all of our trades, and all our stocks, and we recognized which stock was going to be going up, so we decided to take a risk, and we went all in. It ended up paying off for us.” Says Allen when asked about his team’s strategy that got them the first place trophy.
Doing well at competitions is nothing new to the club. They normally place in the top three. This was their first first-place finish. Mr. Malsam was very proud of the students. “It was the most excited I have seen the guys. They were jumping up and down and high-fiving each other. It was really interested how they came from behind.” Mr Malsam says.