Students in Okinawa high school get to buy stocks with school’s money
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Members of the Sendai Ikuei Gakuen Okinawa High School’s “investment club” meet weekly to discuss their stock portfolio.
PHOTO: SENDAI IKUEI GAKUEN OKINAWA HIGH SCHOOL/TWITTER
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How old were you when you started dabbling in stocks?
For students in Sendai Ikuei Gakuen Okinawa High School, learning to trade starts early thanks to the school’s “investment club”. Senior high school students in Japan are usually aged from 15 to 18.
Launched in July 2023 as an extracurricular activity, the club members gather once a week to discuss the global economy, as well as the fluctuations of their real-life stock portfolio, NHK News reported.
Prior to the launch, club members were required to attend a remote course on investing conducted by a securities company, the school’s website stated.
It covered topics such as stock prices and dividends paid to shareholders.
The club has an investment fund of 1 million yen (S$8,650), provided by the school, reported NHK News.
The club also appeared to have raised 97,000 yen in seed money through the website Yellz, which describes itself as an online community where people can express support for schools and students.
According to the report, they can buy stocks only with the approval of the majority. Once decided, the students inform a teacher, who tells a brokerage firm to make the purchase.
The club’s page on Sendai Ikuei Gakuen’s website states that profits made from the club’s activities will be used to contribute to the local community.
NHK News quoted school officials as saying they believe the club will help students become financially independent.
Students learned the importance of making informed decisions by always checking the news, it added.
Second-year students were asked to reflect on the performance of their portfolio, traded from July 2023 to February 2024.
More than half of the stocks the club bought in the fiscal year 2023 were up, but their portfolio is about 10,000 yen in the red.
“I need to look closely at social conditions, and I’ve become more conscious about what’s going on in the news,” one student was quoted as saying.
Another student said: “I realise that industries are changing because of the events happening around me. I now feel more of a connection to events in faraway places around the world.”
