South Wilts girls reach regional final of investment contest (From Salisbury Journal)

South Wilts girls reach regional final of investment contest

8:56am Friday 22nd February 2013 in Education By Elizabeth Kemble

FOUR students from South Wilts School have reached the regional final in a national investment competition.

The team, who were competing against more than 40,000 other students across the UK, in the ifs Student Investor Challenge, made £22,000 trading in virtual shares in just three months of trading, outperforming the FTSE 100 share index in the process.

They will now represent their school at the South West England and South Wales regional final, to be held in Bristol on March 12.

If successful they will then have the chance of making it through to the national final in April where an all expenses paid educational trip to New York and £2,000 for their school are up for grabs.

The free to enter competition, run by ifs School of Finance and supported by Bloomberg, provides teams with £100,000 of virtual money to buy and sell shares in FTSE 100 companies.

The competition gives teams of four students aged between 14 and 19 years old the opportunity to experience the dynamic world of share dealing and investing in the stock market. Now in its 20th year, the competition is the largest of its kind in the UK and is also open to international students.

Rod McKee, vice principal of the ifs said: “This competition gives students the opportunity to gain firsthand experience of making investment decisions, which will benefit them throughout their lives when making financial choices. It also introduces them to core concepts such as risk, reward and diversification.

“This is a real achievement and many congratulations go to the team from South Wilts.”

The ifs School of Finance is a leader in financial education and a registered educational charity incorporated by Royal Charter.