These kids' parents shouldn't be too surprised if they start getting investment tips from their offspring.
Almost unbelievably, Grade 10 Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School students Ryan Tom, Carter Benson, Gabriel Daoust and Chris De Luisa placed first, second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 2019 Nipissing University Stock Market Simulation competition.
Students in Lo-Ellen teacher Paul Hatzis' Grade 10 business class also took 15 of the top 30 spots in the competition.
That's out of a field of about 4,000 students across Canada. For their efforts, Ryan, Carter and Gabriel received scholarships of $2,000, $1,000 and $500, respectively.
The competition's concept is pretty simple — the students are given an imaginary $500,000, and asked to invest it. They're only allowed to invest a maximum of 10 per cent of their funds in one company.
The student who sees the most return on their investment wins.
Ryan, who won the competition, increased his investment tenfold to $5 million. Carter ended up with $4.5 million, Gabriel with $1.3 million and Chris with $1.1 million.
“To have first, second, third and fourth, it's a rarity,” said Hatzis. “I am very proud of what they've done and accomplished.
“What I like most about this particular game is that you can't just throw all your money into one high-risk investment. There's limitations. They don't let you invest more than 10 per cent of your portfolio (in one company).
“For someone like Ryan to win this, changing $500,000 into $5 million in six weeks, he's only allowed to put in the most 10 per cent in any one investment. He had to do a lot of work to make all of that happen.
“Same with the rest as well. They really got into it. They came up with their own strategies and their own plans.”
The boys who placed in the competition said they regularly talked over their investment strategies with each other, especially in their shared morning English class.
Ryan ended up coming from behind to leave his classmates in the dust when it came to returns on his hypothetical investments.
“I did a lot of research,” he said. “I researched a lot of different stocks, different options, different mutual funds. In the end, I wasn't too surprised (when I won), but I was happy.”
He said he's saved up $2,500, and plans to look into making some real investments with his money over the summer.
Hatzis said Lo-Ellen has been offering more business courses as it looks into setting up a specialist high skills major in the topic.
Apparently the classes are a hit with students.
“There was a long list of people waiting to get into the class that didn't actually get in,” said Chris, adding that some students actually decide they want to go into business thanks to the class.
“It's really cool to see Lo-Ellen really embrace business.”
And the students are also learning essential skills they'll need as adults. “I feel like this is a great head start for our future,” said Tom.
