Ms Wong, (L - R) Dayne Takai, Ethan Figart, Jordan Kajiwara

Buy Amazon! Get Target! Sell Google!

These were the words bandied about Wanda Wong’s 2nd grade class from September 29th to December 4th, as her students participated in the Fall 2009 Hawaii Stock Market Simulation (SMS) – a statewide online simulation competition for students in grades 2 through 12.

At the end of the competition, Team ET-3 (Dayne Takai, Ethan Figart & Jordan Kajiwara) placed 1st in the Elementary/Middle School Division, beating 129 teams and more than 500 other students.

For 10 weeks, teams of Ms. Wong’s students invested $100,000 of virtual money into the stock market, with transactions processed in real time at real-world prices. At the end of the competition, Team ET-3’s winning portfolio was worth $113,484.70, a whopping 13.48 percent gain!

Click here to see pictures of all of Ms. Wong’s participating SMS teams.

In addition to helping her students prepare for Business Day next year, Ms. Wong hoped this experience would teach them “how to make good choices” and “the value of teamwork.” She noted that one team even delayed selling off a downward moving stock because an absent team member was not present to participate in the decision making process.

Ms. Wong’s students experienced both fun and learning during the competition. Jordan said, “It was an exciting experience, especially coming in first!” Dayne added, “We learned a lot about budgeting and how to choose stocks carefully.” When asked how they made their stock picks, Ethan replied, “We picked things we knew, things we liked. And we all had to agree on what we were buying.”

Here are a few free financial picks from these up-and-coming Wall Street advisors:

Dayne: Google & Fedex
Ethan: Amazon & Target
Jordan: Walmart & Costco

Click here to read more about their story in December 20th Honolulu Star-Bulletin article: ”Students get a head start in the market”.