When Dan Wallach ’04 was a junior in high school, he traded in his Playstation penny stocks, a type of cheap and highly volatile stock. Lucky for him, the year was 1999 and the stock market was booming. He made $22,000 on that investment alone.
This decision prompted Wallach to become an Economics major at Wesleyan. Now, along with four other students, he runs the Wesleyan Investment Group.
The group, headed by fellow seniors Aaron Janus, Dave Newman, Anthony Attiogbe, Andrew Levison and Wallach, conducted a workshop on Sun. night for Wesleyan’s investment illiterate.
“I know almost nothing about how to manage money,” said Amy Gomberg ’04, “but I plan to learn.”
Education is very much a goal of the Investment Group, as is demonstrated by other workshops of the kind offered throughout the semester. The panel of seniors, all Economics majors, discussed the group’s investment strategy as well as tips for personal investing.
The five-man team actively manages a portfolio funded by Oaks Associates using primarily fundamental analysis.
The group also emphasizes current events in their stock analysis.
“We begin each meeting by discussing several news stories which may have effected the market that week,” Attiogbe said.
These articles serve to guide stock decisions as well as promoting socially responsible investing.
“On a campus as socially aware as Wesleyan, investing responsibly is always a big issue,” Wallach said of the group’s strategy.
Of course, the discussion moves beyond current events into the important issue of financial planning. Most Wesleyan students have loans to pay off and the reality of independent living after graduation.
“We’re expected to leave here with an understanding of the world and capitalis—this workshop helps us to be able to speak intelligently about investment issues, while making smart decisions,” said Chapin Kelly ’04.
To aid in this education the Investment Group discusses options for personal investment such as diversifying, mutual funds, bonds, CD’s, currencies, retirement accounts, and most importantly making goals.
The group has been expanding its repertoire by developing stock picks, and a financial analyst from Lessard will be coming to help them with further development.
Though all of the five members are Economics majors, they claim they are stereotyped because they are in the investment group.
“When I was asked at age five what I wanted to do with my life, yes, I said I wanted to get rich,” Levinson said. “But that is not my sole motivation for investing; it’s a challenge that takes skill and knowledge in addition to luck.”
The five members of the group all have plans for after graduation, some in real estate, others as financial or management consultants.
Right now, though, the plan is to bring Wesleyan into the investment “know”.
“As I have found out, you can’t learn investing by reading about it, you have to do it,” Wallach said. “That is what we try to do for people that come to our meetings.”
The group has an established website and holds meetings every Sunday night at 7:00 pm in PAC 422. Many come to learn their fundamentals to get them through the post-college financial blues, while others have grander goals.
“It will help me buy into the system, enabling me to manage my millions later on,” said Aaron Welo ’04.
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