Stock Market Game

Grandma's tip helps kid stock pickers

Kayla Appleton

Fourteen-year-old Kayla Appleton got a hot stock tip from her grandmother. Her teammates chipped in with ideas to buy stocks of companies where they like to shop.

With only three stocks in their portfolio, the all-girl team from Green Park Lutheran School posted the second highest gain among Missouri K-12 schools in the fall Stock Market Game Program.

In just 10 weeks, the Green Park team's initial $100,000 investment rose to $128,341.23. Only a middle school from Smithton, Mo., in western Missouri posted a higher increase.

In the Stock Market Game, teams across Missouri start with an imaginary investment of $100,000. They "buy" stocks and then see what their investment value is 10 weeks later.

During the Oct. 3-Dec. 9, 2005, the Green Park team's portfolio had increased in value 28.3% increase. In the same time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose only 2.3%.

(If you'd like to know more about the Stock Market Game Program, visit www.umkc.edu/mcee. There's still time for your school to sign up for the spring game, which will run from Feb. 6 to April 13.)

Kayla said she asked her grandmother for investment advice because "she's big into stocks." Her suggestion was to buy stock in Amylin Pharmaceutical, which recently had come out with a new diabetes drug.

The Green Park 8th grader said her grandmother has diabetes. She was considering a real investment in that stock. She also asked her doctor about switching to that drug.

Kayla has a vested interest in her grandmother's investing. She added, "My grandma tells me I'm going to get all her stock when she dies."

Meghan Rezek

The other two stocks in the Green Park team's portfolio were Best Buy and Apple.

Thirteen-year-old Meghan Rezek said the team bought Best Buy stock "because it's one of the big electronics companies and everyone goes to their stores on the holidays."

Teammate Katie Hoy agreed with the Best Buy purchase. "I buy all my Nintendo stuff there," the 13-year-old she said.

Katie Hoy

Thirteen-year-old Allie Antle said she liked the Apple stock "because I like their products." The computer company recently also has brought out new products, including the popular IPod.

The team purchased only three stocks and kept them for the entire 10 weeks. Under game rules, teams can sell initial stocks and buy other ones during the game's 10-week cycle.

Allie Antle

Fourteen-year-old Christiana Zipay said the team almost reduced its stock holdings in Amylin about mid-way through the investment period. The stock price had dipped.

Christiana said, "We almost sold half of the drug stock and bought Coca-Cola. But, then the drug stock started to go up and we decided Coke's price was unstable."

She was the only one of the Green Park team members who had had actual experience in stock market investing.

Christiana Zipay

"I used to have shares in Walden Books, which was my favorite store. But, the company closed down. My stock went down a lot," she said.

Meghan Rezek said, "My mother would faint if she found out I had invested in stocks."

Christiana Zipay said she had taken part in stock market games previously.

Most of the girls said they had only a passing interest in the stock market before entering the Stock Market Game competition.

After their success, most said they now have a higher interest.

That even included Christiana. She said she wasn't discouraged by her Walden Books experience. "I really like stocks and I'd like to try again," she said.

The girls were only one of several Green Park teams entered in the fall contest.

Their sponsor was Wayne Hesse, the assistant principal and math teacher at Green Park.

(You might remember Mr. Hesse as Mr. Math Puzzler on Young Saint Louis.com. He created the monthly math competition for two years. He had to stop doing that because he was given assistant principal duties in addition to his math teaching.)

Allie Antle said, "We'd look at our stocks all the time." Then the team members held informal sessions between classes, at lunch or at recess to decide whether to make any changes.

In the end, standing pat and keeping their investment portfolio small turned out to be a good investment strategy.