North Surrey Secondary student wins national & provincial investment awards
Grade 10 North Surrey Secondary student Peter Nguyen with his JABC investment award. (Image: JABC LinkedIn)
A Grade 10 North Surrey Secondary student has won both a national and provincial investment award after turning $100K of virtual money into $493K during a stock market simulation challenge.
Peter Nguyen, a Grade 10 Business Education student, was recently named the BC and Canadian winner of the Quad 2 Investment Strategies Stock Market Challenge, outperforming 2,100 other competitors to become the top student investor in Canada.
The Investment Strategies Program, run by Junior Achievement of Canada and Junior Achievement British Columbia (JABC), is held four times a year. Nguyen was part of the ‘Quad 2’ fall/winter intake.
During the sessions, students learn about the pros and cons of different investments such as registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), exchange-traded funds and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs). The program culminates in a stock market challenge that tasks students with making the most money on the stock market within a single month.
With the goal being to have the largest amount of gains in that one-month period, Nguyen decided early to buck the traditional method of diversifying a portfolio in favour of putting all of his eggs into one basket.
“If I did what everyone else would be doing, I thought I’d just get similar results, where my money would just increase a little bit over the long-term,” he said. “So instead, I looked at this one stock I’d been watching, I saw that it had gone down a little bit recently and I figured I might invest in that and see what happened.”
He wasn’t disappointed.
After moving all of his money into Jin Medical International Ltd. (ZJYL), a Chinese company that designs and manufactures wheelchairs, Nguyen’s initial $100K investment took off as the stock shot up more than 900% within a matter of weeks. Finishing with a total equity of $493,474, Nguyen ended the four-week challenge far and above the rest of the competition, coming in $260,000 ahead of the runner-up.
His business teacher Jennifer Schutz said while students are taught that the typical strategy for long-term investment is to diversify your portfolio, Nguyen opted for a riskier strategy, aware it would be high-risk but high-reward.
“Knowing that, he was able to make the decision to opt for a riskier move and it worked out really well for him,” she said. “But the program teaches the students the differences and risks between long-term and short-term investments, giving them the context and education to make those decisions.”
For Schutz, Nguyen’s win is a testament to the work North Surrey Secondary has been doing to instill financial literacy in as many students as possible.
“We’d heard from past graduates that financial literacy was one of the key things they wished they’d learned in school,” she explained. “
From there, the school built out its Business Education department, offering courses focusing on finances, investments, taxes and other financial skills and education that would be helpful for students in the future. Part of the courses include taking part in initiatives like the JABC Investment Strategies program.
“I love working with Junior Achievement, they're a fantastic company and a great help in teaching students how to manage their money,” said Schutz. “We’re able to teach students about the different types of investment accounts, what options are available to them and how to make and adhere to a budget.
“It been wonderful seeing more and more students interested in taking control of their finances and starting to think about that at such an early age.”
Congratulations on your win, Peter!
