The annual competition is run by financial education body the London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) and encourages students to learn about the economy and how the stock market works.
More than 33,500 students took part this year and the winning team was a group of four year 13 students – Harry, James, Alex and James – from Tadcaster Grammar School, an 11 to 18 mixed comprehensive based in North Yorkshire.
The competition challenges teams to invest two virtual portfolios of £100,000 over a four-month period in a virtual trading game which replicates the real market.
In this first stage, the Tadcaster team returned an incredible £119,734 in their portfolio, significantly outperforming the markets.
The best 500 teams qualified for the semi-finals, where they had to predict the rise and fall in value of certain asset classes in the market. Eight teams made it to the final when they had to compete in three live trading simulations and deliver a presentation giving investment advice for a personal case study.
The winners have scooped an all-expenses-paid trip to New York where they will visit the New York Stock exchange, Wall Street and other sites.
The LIBF’s Alison Pask said: “This competition is a powerful way of engaging young people with how the finance sector works and relating it to everyday life.
“The movement of stocks and shares, currency fluctuations and central bank activities can feel quite remote and difficult to get to grips with. By bringing it to life through a trading game, young people have proved they can grasp how economies work and the basics of investment.”
- For more information on the education work of the LIBF, visit www.libf.ac.uk
- For more on the Student Investor Challenge, go to www.studentinvestor.org