Marlborough families who participated in Future FX’s $10k sharemarket challenge say the experience has improved their learnings and confidence around financial literacy.
The challenge gave over 100 teams a virtual $10,000 portfolio to invest in the sharemarket, allowing them to buy and sell shares using real market data without risking their own savings.
The idea came from the results of a regional financial literacy survey carried out by Future FX and the University of Canterbury during Term 2. It showed that 68 percent of parents and whānau and 84 percent of teachers wanted more support teaching financial skills.
Throughout the challenge, teams learnt how investing works, followed the performance of their portfolio and discovered how different decisions can influence long-term outcomes.
The Highest Portfolio Value award went to Alastair Harper from Richmond View School for achieving the highest verified virtual portfolio value at the official closing time.
Alistair grew his $10,000 to $12,550 over the two-month competition period, producing a 25% return.
Future FX’s Kelvin Watts says it is an impressive result for a young solo competitor.
Alistair was awarded $500, alongside the winners of four other categories including ‘What our team learned’, ‘Our money conversations’ and ‘Our investment plan.’
Donna Nepia and children Kàmehameha and Hawaiki, also known as ‘The Dominators’ won the investment plan award for ‘their clear and sensible plan, thoughtful choices and decisions made together.’
Donna says “there were heaps and heaps of learnings. It’s really cool seeing the kids just absorb it all really easily. I think it’s good to get them started at having these conversations at a young age.
“We knew nothing to begin with,” she laughs.
For Kelvin, the willingness of teams to learn and embrace the challenge was the most inspiring aspect of the competiton.
“The most important outcome was never just who made the most money. It was seeing young people and adults researching, asking questions, making decisions together and talking about why they were making them.”
Following the success of the inaugural challenge and Marlborough families’ enthusiasm for financial learning, Kelvin says the challenge will return next year, potentially across a longer timeframe.
