Investing: Growth over time

When I first heard about investing, I thought, “this is so complicated, I’m probably not going to understand this for several more years.”  Since then, I learned a lot about researching companies, mutual funds, diversification, timelines, and volatility.  After several weeks of learning about investing, I would like more time to learn, and to develop my portfolio at home. Learning about investing now can help me use these skills in the future. 
My favorite stock is Apple, and its ticker symbol is AAPL.  President Trump’s tariffs significantly affected this company in the late spring, but since then the company’s value has been going back up. Apple’s products are famous throughout the nation, and it’s rare for someone to not own an Apple iphone. Apple is also coming out with Nascent Robotics, which could make the company a lot of money. Considering the success of their electronics, I think that they will do well with this new technology. My least favorite company is Oracle. The company is on a risky line; they have been spending lots of money on AI, which has led them into very large amounts of debt (CNBC). Oracle is very reliant on AI, which could fail them in the long run, leading to significant consequences. Oracle is also currently losing over 6% of value, which is tilting their reputation even further into doubt. 
To me, diversification teaches the lesson of why one should diversify their portfolio, and decrease the chance of greater loss in one investment, because one’s money is spread out among different companies, when diversifying. Diversifying can benefit those with shorter and longer time horizons, as well. It allows one to have a higher risk tolerance, but to also not lose a lot of money overnight. Diversifying is a good idea for a strong investment plan, and is friendly to those with different levels of risk tolerance and time horizon. Long-term investments can lead one to success because they give companies more time to gain money back from when their value in the market drops. Holding onto those investments for a long time can increase the chance of one making money, because overall the chance of companies gaining money over a longer stretch of time is greater than that of over a shorter amount of time. By holding onto investments, one is giving those companies more time, or a chance to grow. Beginning to invest at a young age gives a longer time horizon, or a longer time for those investments to grow. 
From my time during InvestEd, I learned that there are multiple parts to investing. Before one starts investing, one should know why they are willing to take the risk of losing their money in the market. I think that the next step to investing is considering one’s time horizon. Time horizon is the length of time one will keep their money in the stock market to grow until they use it. Time horizon can help one determine the level of risk tolerance in the companies. Risk tolerance is the level of risk in a company’s value. A company with high risk tolerance is a company that is very risky in value, or the chance of a company’s value decreasing and increasing, is greater than the average, that the beta measures. When finding companies that one would like to invest in, it is important to be sure that certain companies exist. Brands such as Athleta belong to their parent companies, in this case, Gap. One may want to invest in Athleta, only to find out that one is actually investing in its parent company that the subsidiary, (Athleta) belongs to. When researching companies, I recommend looking at the YTD symbol above the chart; it shows how the company has been doing since the beginning of that year, until the present. I would also check the company’s beta, which measures the company’s volatility level, or its risk tolerance level. Volatility measures how much a company’s value has been increasing or decreasing over time. In general, I would hold onto my investments even though they are decreasing, unless they are decreasing so much that it would make a very significant difference in the company’s growth level. I think of long-term investments like parties. They have their ups and downs, but overall, they’re fun and worth the time, effort, and money. In the stock market, companies’ volatility over longer amounts of time typically gains the holder money. Remarkable events in the news can affect companies, as well. Physical trends can affect companies that sell consumer goods, since there is such high demand for those singular products. However, most of these trends are only temporary. The government can affect the stock market, also. When President Trump raised taxes on imports coming in from outside of the country, companies selling consumer goods lost value and money since no one wanted to buy anything that expensive. The world can significantly affect the stock market, similar to how one species can affect a whole food web. 
In conclusion, investing is a risky and interesting way to gain money over time. If one makes the right decisions along the way, the benefits can be huge. I am glad to have participated in InvestEd. Since last year, when I first heard about investing, I learned a lot, but I would always like to learn more.

Financial Literacy

I walked into this class thinking, “What is investing?” A year ago. Thinking It would be just another normal day I sat down and started to learn, I soon realized it wasn’t. This class taught me how to save for now, and later on. It really opened my eyes about investing and the Stock Market Game. I learned what a portfolio was, even though I hadn’t known it was a word until that day, it was all of your investments together in one place, and I also learned how to diversify my portfolio as well! Once we started getting into the P.E ratio and beta, I thought I wasn’t going to remember all of it, but I still do, and probably will when I need it most. This second year really helped me become better and better, until I fully understood how it worked, remembering back when I just wanted to win. This year, I just want to try to create a good portfolio, and understand what it means to invest.
My best investment that my team and I made in my opinion, was in Eli Lily. It was right after we had a bad return on one of the stocks my team and I had bought. I wanted to buy it because Eli Lily makes life-saving medicine for kids, and I want to support that, because saving the life of someone is beyond important, it needs to happen. The other reason we had bought it, was to diversify our portfolio as well. It had been having amazing returns, and my team and I really needed that.  Eli Lily has a Beta of 0.39 which is less than 1 and that’s good because it’s less volatile and that means that it won’t go up and down as much. It has made us $5,820 so far. That’s really great for us because that means we’re getting better returns that’s more money than we invested in to buy it.
My least favorite investment was in a food company called Yum. I wish my team and I had researched more about this company before we bought it, because we completely bought it out of nowhere, ignoring the risk and volatility. That led to a big drop in return, but we did not realize until it was too late. I had thought it was a good stock to invest in, since everyone buys food right? Well, the stock took a big dive down, and that taught me to research a stock before my team and I buy it, and it also taught me that even if a stock is going up, it doesn’t mean it will stay like that forever, and even the best stocks can take a dive. Compared to other stocks we bought, like Costco and Netflix, Morgan Stanley, and Eli Lily, we had to sell it, because it was losing us more and more money every second, so that was really one of my least favorites.
This year, I learned about long-term investing, and why it was so important. Long-term investing is where you keep the stocks you buy, and do not sell fast, like holding onto your investments to give them a chance to grow for a long period of time. It’s important to think about diversification if you are going to invest long-term because just having all your money in one company or stock is like having all your eggs in one basket. My team and I learned that the hard way, as we only invested in one company, because we didn’t know about diversifying. That was one thing I wish my team and I could have done differently on our portfolio.
My experience in the Stock Market Game really surprised me, as I learned that stocks and company prices don’t work for you, so you have to find what you can make work. Our first investments as a team taught us so much, that we have a great portfolio. When we were picking stocks and mutual funds for long-term investing, it made me realize that you have to find good stocks and mutual funds and bonds to create a good portfolio and try to diversify as much as possible in the Stock Market Game and the real world. 
If I could create a successful and stable portfolio for me and my family, that would be amazing, because my family and I live in a small house, so that could help us a lot. The portfolio I would create would be my portfolio in the Stock Market Game, because it is stable and would probably have great returns. The portfolio I have was created with my team, and if we would have just invested in all the stocks we have right now instead of later in the game, I think we would have done great. Even though our portfolio didn’t help us climb to 1st place, I think it would be a great portfolio for my family. My brother sleeps on a pullout couch, so maybe he could get his own room if we had a successful investment plan like a great portfolio and money to invest with! I wish we had that, but maybe one day we will!
I cannot believe that I know this much about investing, but thanks to my great teacher, she taught me about all of this, even when it was hard to understand. I think my team’s portfolio was amazing, we just had invested too late, and ended up in around 58th place. Even though we didn’t get first place, our portfolio in my opinion was pretty solid. We had diversified our portfolio and made sure that we could have another stock to fall back on if one took a dive, sort of like a safety net. We were pretty conservative in our portfolio in the Stock Market Game, but we probably should have been more aggressive, even though we were doing very well, because even if there is a lot of risk, there will be a big return. All in all, our portfolio was very good, and I learned a lot from my teacher, so when I’m older, then I can save and maybe eventually invest, all thanks to this amazing financial literacy class, I can finally look into my future and plan how I can save, making me feel like I have control over my financial future because of all this, and all that my teacher and the Stock Market Game have taught me for two years.

The Stock Market Game

In my stock market game experience I learned all about diversification, stocks, portfolio, long and short term goals, bonds, risk, mutual funds, and more. My team and I bought several stocks and overall I would say that we are doing not too bad. I learned a lot about money and how to handle it.
After playing the Stock Market Game my team and I bought multiple stocks that were incredible, so it was hard to pick my favorite, but overall my favorite investment that my team invested in was Eli Lilly. At first we bought shares from this company because its portfolio was great and we had all agreed to buy shares from it. In my mind I thought that getting a company I never heard about would be a big risk, however this investment proved me wrong. Ever since we bought shares from Eli Lilly we have gained a lot of money and not to mention that Eli Lilly has great value. My team and I definitely made the right decision investing in it and I could not be happier.
My least favorite investment was Yum. This surprised me because Yum is a company that sells food through multiple restaurants such as KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and the Habit Burger Grill.  All of these fast food places are very popular so my team and I bought shares from them.  However, this investment was a complete downfall. I then got sad because our investment was losing us money instead of making us some.  Although I was sad I was also happy because now I know that even if it is popular or has some of my favorite places, it may not be the best financially.  
What I think is important when thinking about investing in the long term is knowing the importance of being patient.  The reason why I say this is because a long term goal is something you achieve in the future.  This means you will have to wait a while before you can get what you want.  For example, let’s say you want to buy a house.  To get a house, you will not have enough money in a week. This is why you will need to be patient.  A long term goal usually takes a year or more so being patient is one of the things that is important.  Another thing that is important when thinking about investing for the long term is diversifying.  Diversifying investments help long term investments become successful by giving you more chances.  The idiom “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is one of the best ways to describe diversifying. When you are diversifying you are putting shares into multiple companies.  This way if a company failed, you would still have the others to keep you financially stable. 
Playing the Stock Market Game has taught me many things about long term investing that can be applied to the real world.  I have learned the importance of diversifying, saving money, and using my money wisely.  When I was younger I would waste all my money on random things that I really didn’t need.  Now that I’m older, I save my money and try to grow it so I will have it for something more important down the line.  I am confident in my future after playing the stock market game because I will go into the adult world knowing how to budget my hard earned money.  
I love learning about investments and sharing it at home with my family.  My dad also plays the stock market, but in real life. I enjoy comparing all the things I’ve learned to what he is doing.  When I am older, I will definitely continue to make investments.  
I absolutely loved my time playing the Stock Market Game. This experience was amazing and I hope to continue learning about it. I now feel so confident when I think of money and know that I will not grow up clueless about handling it. I love the Stock Market Game.

InvestWrite Competition Essay

When I first started my Financial Literacy class, I have to admit, it was a little confusing. I didn’t know what a large cap company was, or what the PE ratio meant. I ended up learning a lot on how to be a smart investor and the meaning of a diverse portfolio. It was fun to work with my team and learn what it takes to be a good and smart investor. We made money, and lost money, but it taught us how to diversify in different industries.
I did have some stocks that made more money than others for many reasons. My favorite stock was Apple because it made the most money. We invested in it at the right time because they had just come out with the new iphone 17 and it was selling like crazy! I also knew that it was a great company to invest in because I always see teens and adults with iphones and Apple watches, so I know that they are great products.
However, with a great investment also comes an investment that did not do so good. These were our shares in Microsoft. We lost approximately $ 341.43 dollars just in shares of Microsoft. We knew right away that it was going to be a risky investment because of their AI. They made Open AI and ChatGPT, and a lot of people feel that AI is taking over the planet and they are not happy about it. This is also a factor of why the Microsoft shares were going down. I also learned on Yahoo Finance that they had spent way too much money on their AI apps.
It is very important to diversify when you are investing for a long term goal because companies change and that can make you money and lose you money. Since the Stock Market Game isn’t long term, my team and I probably didn’t diversify as much as we could have, which would have made us a lot of money if this was long term. We have mostly stocks in the tech industry, but we also have some in food and finance. If the tech industry had gone down, we would have lost a lot of money, but we would still be floating with our other investments that are not in the tech industry. So, it is important to not put all your eggs in one basket in case you lose money.
My experience with the Stock Market Game and investing was very useful to help me learn about investing and how to be a smart investor. I learned that it is great to diversify and I will use that knowledge when I grow up and am investing. Now that I know about diversifying, I will invest in all different industries. I know that long term investing is great for meeting your goals. I really want to go to a good art college and investing could help me and my family afford it. This is a good goal that could be accomplished by the help of the money I make from being a smart investor. To make this goal, I need to have a good diversified portfolio just in case one industry goes down, so I won’t lose all of the money I made.
My time during financial literacy really helped me gain the knowledge I need to be a smart investor. I learned what it means to have a good diversified portfolio and to invest in different industries. I also learned that I should research my stocks before investing in them. This is why my time in financial literacy was very helpful to me.