2014 SIFMA Foundation Tribute Dinner

Generous donations from the financial industry help millions of students, teachers, schools and communities across the country to participate in the SIFMA Foundation's financial education programs: The Stock Market Game™, Capitol Hill Challenge™, InvestWrite® and Invest It Forward™.

Nurturing financially literate and capable children will enable them to make smart financial decisions throughout their lives, and provide a foundation for them to be the vital contributors to our society and economy of tomorrow.

Since 1977, the SIFMA Foundation's financial education programs have enabled more than 15 million students to better understand the capital markets, improve their saving and investing habits, and increase their academic engagement, better preparing them for college and career success. 

To learn more about this year's Tribute Dinner, visit http://www.sifma.org/tributedinner2014/

2014 PNC Christmas Price Index SIFMA Foundation Stock Market Game Challenge

For just over 30 years the PNC Christmas Price Index has been delighting classrooms across the country with its entertaining use of the classic holiday carol, “Twelve Days of Christmas,” as an informative measure of the rate of inflation.

In 2010, PNC and the SIFMA Foundation came together to launch the first PNC Christmas Price Index – SIFMA Foundation Stock Market Game Challenge, a competition where students estimated the current PNC Christmas Price Index values for an opportunity to win cash prizes. This year the SIFMA Foundation invites middle school and high school Stock Market Game teams in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, and Wisconsin to participate in the PNC Christmas Price Index – SIFMA Foundation Stock Market Game Challenge.

Please join us Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 4PM-5PM ET, for a special webinar introducing teachers to the PNC Christmas Price Index and its associated competition: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/295502152

America's Foreign Language: Finance

ICYMI - John Taft, CEO at RBC Wealth Management, writes about the necessity of financial literacy programs like the ones provided by the SIFMA Foundation. Reacting to an article in The New Yorker that compared the religious elite in ancient Egypt to today's financial elite, John examines the financial industry's role in combating financial illiteracy through programs like the SIFMA Foundation's Stock Market Game program.

Read his piece in its entirety: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140929145358-229992090-america-s-foreign-language-finance?trk=mp-reader-card

SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation Congratulate the 11th Annual Stock Market Game -Capitol Hill Challenge Participants

The Capitol Hill Challenge recently concluded its 11th successful edition. Approximately 3,500 national teams were matched with their Members of Congress. Please view the full press release here: http://www.sifma.org/newsroom/2014/sifma_and_the_sifma_foundation_congratulate_the_11th_annual_stock_market_game%E2%84%A2-capitol_hill_challenge_participants/

A High-School Freshman’s Investing Lesson: Time Horizons Matter

Jonah Jakab, a 15-year-old high school freshman, writes candidly about his experience with the Stock Market Game in the Wall Street Journal. Please view the full article here: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/04/25/a-high-school-freshmans-investing-lesson-time-horizons-matter/.

Congresswoman Annie Kuster Discusses Financial Literacy with Concord, NH Students Competing in Capitol Hill Challenge

Congresswoman Kuster visited Shaker Road school in Concord, NH to meet with students participating in the 2014 Capitol Hill Challenge. Please view the full article here: http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congresswoman-annie-kuster-discusses-financial-literacy-with-concord.

National Winner of InvestWrite Competition - Elementary School Division

• Katherine Smirnov of Fry Elementary, Naperville, IL wins national distinction in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial.

• InvestWrite, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th graders to analyze investments and recommend portfolio allocations targeting financial goals.

• Katherine Smirnov is among 20,000 students nationwide who take the InvestWrite challenge each year, developing the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions.

• Smirnov and teacher Sharon Phares will be recognized at an event at Fry Elementary in Naperville, IL on February 20, 2014. The event will be attended by students, faculty, parents, community members, competition judges and representatives of EconIllinois and the SIFMA Foundation.

Naperville, IL, February 20, 2014 – It takes years to build up the financial savvy to navigate the markets. But Katherine Smirnov is decades ahead of the game. She just won distinction as the first place national winner in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial. Smirnov, a fifth grader at Fry Elementary, Naperville, IL claims this recognition in the elementary school division in the Fall 2013 competition.

The SIFMA Foundation's InvestWrite competition, launched in 2004 is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year. The program, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th grade students to analyze an investment scenario and recommend portfolio allocations targeting short- and long-term financial goals. The competition serves as a culminating activity for nearly 600,000 students nationwide who compete in The Stock Market Game™ program each year.

InvestWrite invites students to develop the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions with confidence and a deeper understanding of opportunities, consequences, and benefits. Students consider real-world economic events and trends, conduct research online, develop investment recommendations and, in the process, gain the skills to prepare for their own financial future. They work in groups during the Stock Market Game program but then write essays individually about their experience. Smirnov is one of 20,000 students across the nation who take the InvestWrite challenge each year.

In her essay, Smirnov imagined she was making a presentation about investing. She describes the research and analysis she used to help her make the decision to purchase Boeing and Microsoft. She employed several research tools including online and written publications. Yahoo Finance is her website of choice as it gave her charts, trends and real time news. “The first company that is an attractive investment to me is Boeing (ticker symbol BA). One reason to invest in Boeing is because it is a stable company that has been in business for almost one hundred years. They have always paid dividends to investors. Also, Boeing makes a lot of profit and their stock price went up for the last five years. When the charts and graphs show the stock price dropping, it steadily creates a new 52 week range.”

The Fall 2013 winning InvestWrite essay composed by Smirnov was chosen through rigorous judging by thousands of teachers and industry professionals who evaluate students’ understanding of asset allocation, the stock market, and factors that drive investments as well as their expression of investment ideas in essay form.

"Teaching students at a very young age the basics of finance and the stock market is essential to their broad education and to being well-informed investors later in life,” said Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of McGraw Hill Financial.  “As financial markets become more complex and more global, investors of all ages can benefit from learning how to save, spend and earn money wisely—what we call ‘financial essentials.’ We are delighted to support the SIFMA Foundation and congratulate Katherine on this achievement.”

 “SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game and InvestWrite are transformative programs that prepare students like Katherine for college, career and life,” said Melanie Mortimer, Executive Director of the SIFMA Foundation. “Our students do measurably better on math, economics and personal finance tests. They also learn to work in teams, manage change, monitor and analyze the impact of global business and economic activity, and become smart consumers. We are proud to partner with McGraw Hill Financial and applaud their longstanding commitment to providing young people a better understanding of the capital markets and a better future.”

The SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite competition bridges classroom learning in mathematics, social studies, language arts, business and economics with the practical research and knowledge required for long-term personal financial planning. Students are, in fact, building on what they have learned through their participation in the Stock Market Game, which has reached more than 15 million students since its inception in 1977.

An independent study by Learning Point Associates found that students who participated in the Stock Market Game scored significantly higher on mathematics and financial literacy tests than their peers who did not participate. They also found that teachers who taught the Stock Market Game reported that the program motivated them to better plan for their own financial futures. The Stock Market Game has been named the only program that successfully increased scores on the Jumpstart Coalition’s test of high school students’ financial literacy. The Spring 2014 InvestWrite program is open to teachers and students registered in the Stock Market Game. The session is currently underway and runs through April 23, 2014. Teachers can find the essay questions and information they need to participate at www.investwrite.org.

The SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game and InvestWrite programs are delivered in Illinois by EconIllinois. Smirnov competes in ballet, contemporary, lyrical and jazz styles of dance. She plays viola in the school orchestra and loves to ski. She is quite an entrepreneur and has mini-businesses that she runs. She makes and sells wallets from duct tape and ribbon bracelets. She has her own business cards and maintains an income statement for each of her businesses.  Phares has taught for 31 years. She was awarded the "Star in the Classroom" award in 2009 by 3M and recognized with the EconIllinois "Outstanding Economic Educator" award in 2010. She has participated in the Stock Market Game programs since early 2000. Sharon is an outstanding educator that challenges her students’ critical thinking skills every day.

Smirnov and Phares will be recognized at an event at Fry Elementary on Thursday, February 20 at 2:00 PM CT. The event will be attended by students, faculty, parents, community members, competition judges and representatives of EconIllinois and the SIFMA Foundation.

Text of Katherine Smirnov Winning Essay:  Flying Toward the Future

Hi. This is Financial Joe from the show “Good Morning, Investors,” on this wonderful Monday morning! Today, we will be talking about what we should invest in and what companies to invest in for the long term – let’s say for the next 10 years. People may have different reasons to save for the future. Personally, I’d like to save some initial capital to open up my own company. The reason why I made such choice is because I enjoy doing things I like and making my own decisions. A newly opened company needs an initial investment because it will have start-up costs, such as renovation of the building, advertising, salary expenses and cost of supplies. I estimate that I would need about $100,000 to start up my own business. I would invest my savings in individual stocks.

The first company that is an attractive investment to me is Boeing (ticker symbol BA). One reason to invest in Boeing is because it is a stable company that has been in business for almost one hundred years. They have always paid dividends to investors. Also, Boeing makes a lot of profit and their stock price went up for the last five years. When the charts and graphs show the stock price dropping, it steadily creates a new 52 week range. Recently, the stock price got a boost when the company received large orders for the new Boeing 777X airplane at the Dubai Air Show. This news increased the stock price because Boeing will make more profit from those sales. The reason the stock price could drop is because Boeing might have a problem with a part on their airplanes. If this happens, many people might sue Boeing or try to sell the stock at the same time. For example, when Boeing’s 777 crashed in San Francisco about 6 months ago the stock price dropped 4.69%, but after only one week it went up and above the previous high.

Another company I‘d like to invest in is Microsoft (MSFT). A reason why I picked it is because Microsoft is a different industry from Boeing, which would add to a diversified investment portfolio. This helps to reduce risk because if Microsoft stock does well or poorly, it won’t affect Boeing’s stock since they are not competitors. Also, Microsoft has a monopoly on computer operating systems. Microsoft has a strong Balance Sheet - they have a lot of cash and little debt. Another reason why I would recommend Microsoft is because they recently bought a phone company, Nokia. Microsoft can make many improvements to Nokia phones and it will create a potential for the future stock growth.

I used several resources for my research. The most helpful resource that I used was the Yahoo Finance website. It provides a lot of great information about publicly traded companies. I used Yahoo Finance to find out current stock prices, to see if the stock prices are rising or dropping, and to look at the historical charts. I also researched financial statements and read news about my companies using this resource. Another great resource that I used was a book called The Totally Awesome Money Book for Kids. It helped me get ideas for what I should save for, like retirement and college expenses, and all available options, such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds, to achieve the long term investment goals.

It’s been great talking to you guys, but unfortunately, that will be all for now. If you can’t join us tomorrow, be sure to check back in with me, Financial Joe, in about 10 years to see how my new start up business is going! We’ll see you next time on “Good Morning, Investors” talking about what the world would be like if there wasn’t a stock market.

National Winner of InvestWrite Competition - Middle School Division

• Olivia Dampier of Summit Ridge Middle School, Littleton, CO wins national distinction in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial.

• InvestWrite, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th graders to analyze investments and recommend portfolio allocations targeting financial goals.

• Olivia Dampier is among 20,000 students nationwide who take the InvestWrite challenge each year, developing the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions.

Littleton, CO, February 19, 2014 – It takes years to build up the financial savvy to navigate the markets. But Olivia Dampier is decades ahead of the game. She just won distinction as the 1^st place national winner in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial. Dampier, a seventh grader at Summit Ridge Middle School, Littleton, CO claims this recognition in the middle school division in the Fall 2013 competition.
The SIFMA Foundation's InvestWrite competition, launched in 2004 is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year. The program, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th grade students to analyze an investment scenario and recommend portfolio allocations targeting short- and long-term financial goals. The competition serves as a culminating activity for nearly 600,000 students nationwide who compete in The Stock Market Game™ program each year.


InvestWrite invites students to develop the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions with confidence and a deeper understanding of opportunities, consequences, and benefits. Students consider real-world economic events and trends, conduct research online, develop investment recommendations and, in the process, gain the skills to prepare for their own financial future. They work in groups during the Stock Market Game program but then write essays individually about their experience. Dampier is one of 20,000 students across the nation who take the InvestWrite challenge each year.
In her essay, Dampier explains why she chose to invest in a combination of solid stocks and safe and risky mutual funds as the basis for her 10-year graduate school savings plan. Olivia chooses to invest in companies that she is not only familiar with, but that provide the public with services and products that are essential to everyday life. She demonstrates this exceptionally when explaining why she decided to invest in Walmart. “I chose Walmart Stores Incorporated because I believed in it and it is one of the most popular and well known stores…I am pretty confident that more and more people will shop there…because Walmart has great savings and they have almost everything.“ Through this sort of advanced reasoning, combined with in-depth research, Dampier conveniently finds that the companies she invested in are not only popular, but that they were all also performing impressively in the market: “On Wall St. Cheat Sheet I found that their year to date return is 18.36%. They also say that they are looking for Walmart to continue to OUTPERFORM.”


The Fall 2013 winning InvestWrite essay composed by Dampier was chosen through rigorous judging by thousands of teachers and industry professionals who evaluate students’ understanding of asset allocation, the stock market, and factors that drive investments as well as their expression of investment ideas in essay form. Dampier and her teacher, Kim Walter, will both be invited to New York City for a “Wall Street Experience” that includes tours of financial landmarks and a chance to visit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
"Teaching students at a very young age the basics of finance and the stock market is essential to their broad education and to being well-informed investors later in life,” said Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of McGraw Hill Financial.  “As financial markets become more complex and more global, investors of all ages can benefit from learning how to save, spend and earn money wisely—what we call ‘financial essentials.’ We are delighted to support the SIFMA Foundation and congratulate Olivia on this achievement.”


 “SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game and InvestWrite are transformative programs that prepare students like Olivia for college, career and life,” said Melanie Mortimer, Executive Director of the SIFMA Foundation. “Our students do measurably better on math, economics and personal finance tests. They also learn to work in teams, manage change, monitor and analyze the impact of global business and economic activity, and become smart consumers. We are proud to partner with McGraw Hill Financial and applaud their longstanding commitment to providing young people a better understanding of the capital markets and a better future.”


The SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite competition bridges classroom learning in mathematics, social studies, language arts, business and economics with the practical research and knowledge required for long-term personal financial planning. Students are, in fact, building on what they have learned through their participation in the Stock Market Game, which has reached more than 15 million students since its inception in 1977.
An independent study by Learning Point Associates found that students who participated in the Stock Market Game scored significantly higher on mathematics and financial literacy tests than their peers who did not participate. They also found that teachers who taught the Stock Market Game reported that the program motivated them to better plan for their own financial futures. The Stock Market Game has been named the only program that successfully increased scores on the Jumpstart Coalition’s test of high school students’ financial literacy. The Spring 2014 InvestWrite program is open to teachers and students registered in the Stock Market Game. The session is currently underway and runs through April 23, 2014. Teachers can find the essay questions and information they need to participate at www.investwrite.org.


Dampier, who has been playing softball since she was five, continues to play the sport competitively and has a genuine passion for sports. Therefore it is no surprise that besides Social studies, Gym is Olivia's favorite school subject! She aspires to attend college in Oregon, California or Washington and play softball at the collegiate level.


Walter has been an educator for 19 years. For the past 12 years she has taught at Summit Ridge Middle School, where she has taught art, technology, GT and yearbook. Holding a PhD in Educational Leadership and Innovation from UC Denver, and having taught technology and art in Australia and English in Taiwan, Walter's background is nothing short of impressive. When she is not teaching and raising her two little girls, Walter enjoys snowboarding and traveling.


Dampier and Walter will be recognized at an event at event at Summit Ridge Middle School on February 19, 2014 at 2:00 PM CT. It will be attended by students, faculty and representatives of McGraw Hill Financial and the SIFMA Foundation.


Text of Olivia Dampier’s Winning Essay:  My 10-Year Savings Plan


I am starting a 10-year savings plan in order to have money for graduate school.


I have chosen to invest in stocks and mutual funds to help me reach my goals. I chose stocks and mutual funds instead of cash and bonds because I feel that I can make more money in 10 years with this plan. Most of my money will be invested in solid stocks and mutual funds but I will invest a little bit into a riskier mutual fund that could return more money.


When I decided to invest in stocks I wanted to choose the best stocks. I found the top 10 stocks list from experts on MSN Money. From their top 10 stocks, I chose the ones that I knew and believed in. I narrowed the top 10 down to three. The three I chose were Comcast Corporation (CMCSA), The Home Depot Incorporated (HD), and Walmart Stores Incorporated (WMT).


I first chose Comcast Corporation because I have it as my cable and internet company and I like Comcast. I also chose Comcast because most people want and need internet and cable. After that I went to Wall St. Cheat Sheet and found that the experts say that they look for Comcast to OUTPERFORM. This means that they expect the stock to do better than average and they think that it is a smart buy. Then I went to Yahoo Finance and saw that their N.A.V was $48.72 and their one year target estimate was $53.71. I also saw that their year to date return was 7.01%. In five years the NAV has increased by over 200%, which is amazing.


I chose Walmart Stores Incorporated because I believed in it and it is one of the most popular and well known stores. I also chose Walmart because everyone goes shopping and I am pretty confident that more and more people will shop there. Most if not all people will shop there because Walmart has great savings and they have almost everything. On Yahoo Finance Walmart’s NAV is $80.94 and their one year target estimate is $83.77. Walmart’s NAV has increased by 39.51% in the last five years. On Wall St. Cheat Sheet I found that their year to date return is 18.36%. They also say that they are looking for Walmart to continue to OUTPERFORM.


I chose The Home Depot Incorporated because I believed in them and as the economy gets better more people will start making home renovations and they will feel more comfortable doing it as well. I also chose Home Depot because they can help you with building sheds, playhouses, treehouses, and more. On Yahoo Finance I saw that Home Depot’s NAV was $78.76 and that their one year target estimate was $87.23. Home Depot’s NAV has increased by an amazing amount of 222.58% in the last five years. On Wall St. Cheat Sheet I found that its year to date return is 31.09% and that they expect Home Depot to OUTPERFORM.


I decided to also invest in mutual funds which invest in a lot of different stocks and bonds. I wanted to choose a safer mutual fund and put a little money in a riskier mutual fund because it could return more money over time. For the safer mutual fund I chose Janus Global Allocation Fund-Conservative (JCAAX) which invests in different companies throughout the world. According to the Janus website the fund has a four star rating from Morningstar which is very good and a year to date return of 9.4%, a three year return of 8.05% and a five year return of 11.9%. Also U.S News rated this fund 30 out of 129 World Allocation Funds. For the riskier mutual fund I chose Oppenheimer Global Value Fund (GLVAX) which invests in U.S and foreign companies. According to the Oppenheimer website the fund has a five star rating from Morningstar which is the best rating that you can get and a one year return of 34.98% and a five year return of 26.27%. U.S News rated this fund 8 out of 297 World Stock Funds.


I believe that a 10-year savings plan with stocks and mutual funds is going to end up benefitting me at the end of ten years because they will most likely have made me a lot of money with a good 10-year return. I also believe that I have chosen good and strong money making stocks and mutual funds for my 10-year plan. I hope that at the end of my savings plan I will have enough money for graduate school.

National Winner of InvestWrite Competition - High School Division

• Hannah Brawley of Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills, AL wins national distinction in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial.

• InvestWrite, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th graders to analyze investments and recommend portfolio allocations targeting financial goals.

• Hannah Brawley is among 20,000 students nationwide who take the InvestWrite challenge each year, developing the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions.

• Brawley and teacher Jane Schaefer will be recognized at an event at Vestavia Hills High School on February 18, 2014. It will be attended by students, faculty and representatives of the SIFMA Foundation and the Alabama Council on Economic Education.

Vestavia Hills, AL, February 18, 2014 – It takes years to build up the financial savvy to navigate the markets. But Hannah Brawley is decades ahead of the game. She just won distinction as the first place national winner in the SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite® essay competition with McGraw Hill Financial. Brawley, a senior at Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills, AL claims this recognition in the high school division in the Fall 2013 competition.

The SIFMA Foundation's InvestWrite competition, launched in 2004 is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year. The program, made possible in 2013 and 2014 by McGraw Hill Financial, challenges 4th - 12th grade students to analyze an investment scenario and recommend portfolio allocations targeting short- and long-term financial goals. The competition serves as a culminating activity for nearly 600,000 students nationwide who compete in The Stock Market Game™ program each year.

InvestWrite invites students to develop the personal financial savvy needed to make real-world financial decisions with confidence and a deeper understanding of opportunities, consequences, and benefits. Students consider real-world economic events and trends, conduct research online, develop investment recommendations and, in the process, gain the skills to prepare for their own financial future. They work in groups during the Stock Market Game program but then write essays individually about their experience. Brawley is one of 20,000 students across the nation who take the InvestWrite challenge each year.

In her essay, Brawley described the extensive research she did to develop a 10 year plan and to set goals to save and invest to purchase her first home. She discussed risk and return and incorporated a discussion about choosing investments with an eye toward minimizing the personal time it would require to manage her portfolio effectively. Brawley researched index funds and also became interested in socially responsible funds. “To combine social responsibility with index investing, I chose the Vanguard FTSE Social Index VFTSX mutual fund based on research from the website Morningstar.com. Vanguard FTSE Social Index VFTSX tracks the FTSE4Good U.S. Select Index, which excludes firms with unfair or unsafe labor practices, poor environmental records, or firms that produce alcoholic-beverages and tobacco products. The Morningstar website also shows that year-to-date the fund has outperformed the S&P 500 Index with a return of 33.64%. The fund's five-year rate of return is 20.08%.”

The Fall 2013 winning InvestWrite essay composed by Brawley was chosen through rigorous judging by thousands of teachers and industry professionals who evaluate students’ understanding of asset allocation, the stock market, and factors that drive investments as well as their expression of investment ideas in essay form. Brawley and her teacher, Jane Schaefer, will both be invited to New York City for a “Wall Street Experience” that includes tours of financial landmarks and a chance to visit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

"Teaching students at a very young age the basics of finance and the stock market is essential to their broad education and to being well-informed investors later in life,” said Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of McGraw Hill Financial.  “As financial markets become more complex and more global, investors of all ages can benefit from learning how to save, spend and earn money wisely—what we call ‘financial essentials.’ We are delighted to support the SIFMA Foundation and congratulate Hannah on this achievement.”
 
“SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game and InvestWrite are transformative programs that prepare students like Hannah for college, career and life,” said Melanie Mortimer, Executive Director of the SIFMA Foundation. “Our students do measurably better on math, economics and personal finance tests. They also learn to work in teams, manage change, monitor and analyze the impact of global business and economic activity, and become smart consumers. We are proud to partner with McGraw Hill Financial and applaud their longstanding commitment to providing young people a better understanding of the capital markets and a better future.”

The SIFMA Foundation’s InvestWrite competition bridges classroom learning in mathematics, social studies, language arts, business and economics with the practical research and knowledge required for long-term personal financial planning. Students are, in fact, building on what they have learned through their participation in the Stock Market Game, which has reached more than 15 million students since its inception in 1977.

An independent study by Learning Point Associates found that students who participated in the Stock Market Game scored significantly higher on mathematics and financial literacy tests than their peers who did not participate. They also found that teachers who taught the Stock Market Game reported that the program motivated them to better plan for their own financial futures. The Stock Market Game has been named the only program that successfully increased scores on the Jumpstart Coalition’s test of high school students’ financial literacy. The Spring 2014 InvestWrite program is open to teachers and students registered in the Stock Market Game. The session is currently underway and runs through April 23, 2014. Teachers can find the essay questions and information they need to participate at www.investwrite.org.

The SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game and InvestWrite programs are delivered in Alabama by the Alabama Council on Economic Education.  Brawley is currently president of the Spanish Club at Vestavia Hills High School and her hobby is photography.  Schaefer teaches AP Economics and Government and Politics. She has been teaching the Stock Market Game in her classrooms for many years and participated in InvestWrite for the past six years.

Brawley and Schaefer, along with three other nationally ranked InvestWrite students, will be recognized at an event at Vestavia Hills High School on Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at 10:15 AM CT.

Text of Hannah Brawley’s Winning Essay:  10-Year Investment Plan
I established an investment goal of $20,000 in 10 years to fund the down-payment for my first house. I chose this as my primary investment goal because it is something I know I want to do, and I am more likely to achieve this goal if I start planning now. As an investment novice, I first researched the basics of investing to achieve my goal. I did the initial research using Yahoo Finance. This gave me a basic understanding of investment options and strategies. The first thing I learned was investments that offer the highest potential return also generally have the highest risk; therefore, my first decision was to determine my tolerance for risk. Because I am young and have time to recover from investment losses, I am willing to accept a higher risk now than if I was someone close to retirement. I decided that stocks offered the best return for the level of risk that I am willing to accept.

The next decision that I needed to make was how much time I am willing to devote to managing investments. Since I am not a professional investor and expect to have other educational and career demands on my time, I wanted to minimize my direct involvement in picking individual stocks. Mutual funds allow me to invest in stocks without researching individual companies. I could restrict my research to the initial choice of one or more mutual funds and then periodically review their actual performance. I learned that various mutual funds offer a range of risk allowing me to pick one that meets my own level of tolerance.

Although I wanted to minimize the need to research every stock in my portfolio, I still wanted the ability to choose a few individual stocks. I also recognized that I might need the ability to use my invested money in the event of an emergency; therefore, I chose the following mixture for my investments. I would allocate 70% of my invested money to mutual funds, 20%  to individual stocks, and 10 % to a money market account for emergencies.

The article “How to Choose Mutual Funds Like a Professional” on the Yahoo Finance website helped me learn more about finding the right mutual funds. The article raised an important consideration for me – socially responsible investing. I realized that I wanted to be sure that the mutual funds that I chose did not invest in companies that damaged the environment or victimized workers. Because the process of choosing a mutual fund is complex and time-consuming, I decided to start with a single fund until I have more experience. In the article “How to Choose a Mutual Fund” on the The Motley Fool website, Bill Barker makes a strong case for choosing an index fund over an actively managed fund. Another article on The Motley Fool website states that “most actively managed stock mutual funds have underperformed the S&P 500 Index, the most popular and prominent benchmark for index funds.” The Forbes online article “Lies About Index Funds” by Rick Ferri makes a similar case for the wisdom of index funds. I was persuaded by these articles to avoid the higher fees associated with actively managed funds by choosing an index stock mutual fund.

To combine social responsibility with index investing, I chose the Vanguard FTSE Social Index VFTSX mutual fund based on research from the website Morningstar.com. Vanguard FTSE Social Index VFTSX tracks the FTSE4Good U.S. Select Index, which excludes firms with unfair or unsafe labor practices, poor environmental records, or firms that produce alcoholic-beverages and tobacco products. The Morningstar website also shows that year-to-date the fund has outperformed the S&P 500 Index with a return of 33.64%. The fund's five-year rate of return is 20.08%.

After significant research, I decided to initially include only one stock in my portfolio of personally managed stocks with the plan to add more as both my experience and my invested funds increase. My initial choice, UPS, was based on research and personal knowledge. Yahoo Finance lists UPS trading at 102.38 per share - up from 72.71 per share one year ago. UPS has outperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date and has a P/E of 67.00 and EPS of 1.53. 7 The CNN website projects UPS will have 5-year earnings growth of 11%. 8 Rich Smith reports in “5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About UPS” 9 on The Motley Fool website that in addition to delivering more than 4 billion packages a year, UPS is engaged in green initiatives and pays the highest wages in its industry. This supports my goal of socially responsible investing.

In addition to independent research, I also based my decision to make UPS my sole initial choice for my self-managed portfolio on knowledge learned from my father's employment with the company. I know that almost all managers at UPS own UPS stock. I believe this gives them motivation to manage the company well.

I used research from many sources including Yahoo Finance, The Motley Fool, Forbes, Morning Star, and CNN to plan a portfolio with seventy percent of the funds invested in the Vanguard FTSE Social Index VFTSX mutual fund, 20% percent invested in UPS stock, and the remaining 10% in a money market account. I believe this portfolio will allow me to ethically achieve my goal of $20,000 in 10 years while maintaining an acceptable level of risk.