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INVESTMENT CLUB RESOURCES

How To Start An What To Do At Your First Investment Club Meetings

You might think that cutting through the red tape to
INVESTMENT CLUB actually form your investment club is the hardest part,
but that’s only the beginning. Once the club is approved
and operational, now you’re suddenly responsible for
in High School running it.

At your first meeting or two, the focus should be on
introductions and team-building. Make sure that your
Courtesy of Kate Sundquist, CollegeVine
club members are growing as a team and bonding
together. Ensure that everyone knows everyone else’s
Why Start An Investment Club? names and a little about each other.
An investment club is a great way to gain insight and
experience into the world of finance. You will learn Once that’s happened, your focus can move on to
about investing money, playing the stock market, and electing or appointing club leadership. After you have a
pursuing careers in finance. You might also even gain solid leadership team in place, you’ll no longer be the
some experience with trading, whether through sole person responsible for planning every club
simulations or, in rare cases, the investment of real meeting.
money.
Club Activities - Build Common Knowledge
Starting your own investment club is a great idea if you Most likely, your club will need to begin with some
have an interest in finance but no club at your school background information to ensure that all members of
available to develop these interests. In an investment the club are fluent in certain content-specific
club you can expect to learn more about making smart vocabulary and are familiar with the most basic
financial choices from like-minded peers, mentors, and elements of investing.
guest speakers.
Towards the beginning of the official club meetings, be
Furthermore, starting your own club reflects well on sure to give a broad overview of the field of investment.
your college applications by showing your ability to Then, move on to the specific vocabulary and concepts
take initiative and lead effectively. that every member of the group needs to know in order
to be able to participate. You should assume no
How to Start a Club common knowledge to start with if you want all
Starting a new high school club isn’t always easy. members of the club to be on even footing.
Generally, you will have to follow your school’s
prescribed path to find a faculty adviser, apply for club The introductory concepts that you cover should at
status, and outline a budget and operations plan. least include: what the stock market is, what a stock
represents, equity, ways to trade, strategies, indicators,
You’ll also need to recruit club members. In the case of and reputable places to do research on stocks.
an investment club, you will probably find club
members if you advertise your club heavily through You should also consider watching some informational
math, econ, and other quantitative classes. You can videos about investments and smart financial decision-
also recruit members by pointing out the positives of making. The Bill Ackman video is straightforward and
careers in finance, namely that you can rise quickly up gets good reviews for approaching the topic of finances
the pay scale after only four years of undergrad from a beginner’s perspective. At around an hour long,
studies. it’s probably the right length to spend an entire meeting
watching and discussing. Another good place to start is
For more information about forming your own club in the shorter video from Warren Buffet.
high school, read College Vine’s How To Start a Club in
High School.

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