Teenagers investment pays off to beat 30,000 competitors

The 2007 ifs Student Investor Challenge sponsored by Deutsche Bank and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust has been won by Metro, a team of four teenage boys from St. Pauls School in Barnes.

Approximately 30,000 teenagers from schools and colleges in the UK took part in the annual competition to win an all expenses paid trip to New York and a £2,000 cash prize for their school or college.

The free to enter competition was open to teams of 4 students aged between 14 and 19 and initially involves investing a fantasy £100,000 in the stock market over a three month period.

The 20 teams who achieved the greatest portfolio growth in each of four regions then progressed to a regional final, which involved a Business Quiz consisting of 70 finance related questions. The top 2 teams from each regional final went on to a national final in London to compete for the top prize.

The national final was in two parts - a business challenge in the morning and a presentation on how political risk affects investment in the afternoon. The Metro team narrowly defeated second placed Dividend Divas from Plymouth and third placed team Shares Unlimited from Lancashire.

Gary Millner, Director of Communications at the ifsSchool of Finance who organise the challenge, said, “The ifs Student Investor Challenge is a useful tool in educating about finance - giving students a practical insight into stock markets, savings and investments as well as improving general financial awareness. It is also good experience for students to work as part of a team in a competitive environment.

The team from St Pauls School have done incredibly well to beat off stiff competition from thousands of other teams and can take great pride in their achievement.”

Winning team member Oscar Schonfeld said, “The competition was really exciting, and the combination of the business challenge, which made us really think on our feet, and the presentation, which had dominated most of our preparation, worked really well. I hugely enjoyed the day and now I just can't wait until New York!”

Another of the Metro team members, Pierre Hotimsky, concluded; “The challenge was intellectually stimulating and certainly made me think about finance in depth….winning was very satisfying”

Each of the 4 boys will receive a cheque for £200 as well as an all expenses paid trip to New York where they will visit the Stock Exchange and Bloomberg as well as having a tour of Wall Street. Their school will also receive a cheque for £2,000. All prizes are courtesy of the ifs Challenge sponsors Deutsche Bank and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust.

Although Metro won the national competition there were words of comfort for the other finalists as Donald Brydon CBE, Chairman of the ifs School of Finance, said, "All of the teams I have seen in the final have great careers ahead of them, they have performed superbly."

The competition has also been praised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Clive Briault, Managing Director of Retail Markets at the FSA said, " ...it is important to engage young people in financial education early in life, and I welcome the part the ifsStudent Investor Challenge plays in this" .

Any school or college interested in taking part in next years challenge, which commences in September, can register their interest at studentinvestor.org