Investors’ Club is looking for speakers from the financial world!
Intro about John Oliver Investor’s Club
The John Oliver Investor’s Club is a major club at John Oliver centered around personal finance, business and investing in the market.
In 2022, the Investor’s Club has over 70 registered members, over 60 members participating in the simulation of the stock market, and has about 40 members attend each week. They meet Wednesdays after school, from 3:15-4:15, in room 207, 209 or the auditorium. The club sponsor is Mr. Deep Thind and they can be found on instagram @jo.investorsclub for information about meeting locations, and more.
Financial education for students of different ages – The Elementary School Tour
The Investor’s Club places a special focus on volunteerism, and their flagship event is called the Elementary School Tour.
The Tour began in November 2021 and is intended to continue after Spring Break 2022. During the tour, the team from JO partners with Elementary Schools across Metro-Vancouver to deliver a workshop to students in grade 6, 7 and 8. They have already visited schools in Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster and they hope to expand to Richmond and Surrey in the near future.
What exactly do they do?
Students go to these elementary schools, deliver a 45 minute workshop about the basics of investing in the market and compounding interest, and then they allow the kids in the audience to participate in a simplified simulation of real-life stock markets intended for a beginner audience. The game runs until May and there are real prizes for students with the top 3 most valuable portfolios.
Real-life challenges for the Secondary students:
The club also runs its own much more robust simulation of the stock market using a website called Investopedia.
Here, students can invest in any security listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Toronto Stock Exchange, short stocks, invest in options and more. Students participate in this simulation from September through June, and invest $100,000 US in these stocks. Every single security follows the exact trends of the market in real life, so it’s a great opportunity for students to get their feet wet while seeing how investments play out in real life. We have prizes for winners, and we discuss markets every week. It’s free to join, and one of the highlights of our club!
Guest speakers add value to the club members’ experience
The club has guest speakers visit to share their knowledge of finance, business and more. This is a great opportunity for students interested in careers in the financial or business worlds to learn about opportunities, and also a great way for students to be exposed to new ideas. There are always Q&A sessions where many students get the opportunity to learn valuable lessons from people who have already done what they might want to do in the future.
The club is thankful to the 6 guest speakers who participated until now during the 2021-2022 school year, and would highly appreciate other participations!
A practical approach of tomorrow’s financial tasks
Students in the club get the chance to learn basics of the finance world too. There are very short lessons on basic topics, such as taxes, RRSPs and TFSAs, stocks, mutual funds, and bonds, cryptocurrencies, compounding interest, quantitative analysis, inflation, and more. Lots of these topics aren’t covered in school appropriately and this club allows students to gain the tools to build their financial future as they head off into the world. They can play a lot of games, and there are always prizes, including Investor’s Club branded T-Shirts as well as chocolate! (Lots of chocolate…)
Last but not least…
Lots of volunteering opportunities, chances to learn and chances to make new friends! The Investor’s Club is supported by a team of 7 directors who are selected in September to help run and organize the club and club activities, but it’s the members of the club that make them who they are today. Anybody can join at any time just by attending a meeting. Why not go and check them out?
