On Saturday, May 5, 2018, more than 100 high school students, along with their families, advisors and mentors, traveled from around the world to Wharton’s Philadelphia campus to participate in the 2018 KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale.

They were all soon reminded of another journey, the one that brought them to that moment on the 8^th floor of Wharton’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall. Ten weeks of team trading, deliberating and strategizing, resulting in the submission of 300 final investment reports. Two regional finals in India and China, providing the top six teams from those countries the opportunity to travel to the Global Finale and compete against students from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Malaysia, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States — 18 top teams, all prepared on May 5 to give the 10-minute presentations of their lives. They would go in front of a panel of six industry experts, several representing the day’s sponsors – Aberdeen Standard Investments, Dechert LLP, Dilworth Paxson LLP, Finclusive Capital, Principle Quest Foundation and UBS — in hopes of winning the title as the competition’s most savvy, reliable and creative asset-management team. The full lineup of Saturday’s competitors included:

• All You Can Eat Buffett, Virginia, United States
• ALPHA, Sevenoaks School, Sevenoaks, Kent, United Kingdom
• Brazilian Bulls, Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
• Charlottesville High School Student Investment Group, Charlottesville High School, Virginia, United States
• Dollar Tiger$, Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, Pa., United States
• Longer-Term Capital Management, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, Calif., United States
• Maple Eagle, York Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Medici Capital, Lovejoy High School, Lucas, Texas, United States
• Oakridge Investment Enterprises, Oak Ridge High School, El Dorado, Calif., United States
• Pied Piper Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• Pine Stone Capital Management, Beijing RDFZ, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University, Beijing, China
• RDFZ ICC, Beijing RDFZ, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University, Beijing, China
• Saints Capital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• The Alchemy of Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• United World Capital, United World College RCN, Norway
• Vancity Capital Management, Canada
• War Wolves, Beijing Academy, Beijing, China

It was a journey with an inspirational destination. Following 18 thought-provoking team presentations, Saturday’s judging panel selected six top teams – three winners from the top 12 teams in Region 3 and three global winners from among the full scope of competitors. Regional winners received trophies and global winners received trophies and $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively for their schools from Dilworth Paxson law firm in Philadelphia. Here are the results:

• 1^st Place, Region 3: All You Can Eat Buffett
• 2^nd Place, Region 3: Medici Capital
• 3^rd Place, Region 3: ALPHA

• 1^st Place, Global: All You Can Eat Buffett
• 2^nd Place, Global: The Alchemy of Investments
• 3^rd Place, Global: Scion Capital

Algorithms, Analysis and Alchemy

Each PowerPoint or Prezi-supported presentation, delivered by four to nine students, communicated the group’s unique investment strategy, as well as summarizing its competition experience, takeaways and team dynamics. In the allotted time of 10 minutes to present and five minutes for questions from the judges, students articulated their tactics and tools, incorporating details about proprietary algorithms, top-down, bottom-up analyses, risk attenuation and yield capitalization, qualitative and quantitative approaches to stock selection, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT evaluations, and more — all guided by a long-term, client-focused mindset.

The day’s winners were especially strong on content and creativity, punctuated by strategy pitches that dazzled the judges on a professional level.

Take, for instance, All You Can Eat Buffett, whose unique team investment strategy included a self-created machine learning-based natural language processing algorithm that used news outlet information to predict stock market trends. The team’s multi-layered presentation incorporated humor and even the results of a direct outreach to competition client Jack Abraham. The Alchemy of Investments delivered a sharp, enthusiastic and engaging presentation articulating with color and confidence its ALCHEMACRO model that reviewed economies using macro-level factors. Alchemy advisor Manvir Singh Rana, who has guided many top teams in the competition, including this year’s Pied Piper Investments, said that he is more than a teacher to his students, he is “an awakener.” Scion Capital communicated a strong client-first philosophy and brought in its team leader, Mohammad Darvish, at the end via video conference for a compelling Q&A with judges. Darvish, an Iranian citizen, was unable to secure a visa to travel to the U.S. for the competition finals.

This competition has been a great learning experience, indeed a roller coaster ride, reflected Jahnvi Vig, student team leader and chief investment officer for India’s The Alchemy of Investments. “It was the first of November when our trading journey began and we started to explore the world of finance, until the fourth of May, when we got to meet brilliant brains from all around the world and learned the skill of negotiation [from Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer],” she explained. Vig was one of more than 100 students who also attended the KWHS Investment Competition Learning Day on Friday, May 4, for an afternoon of speakers sharing insights on business, University of Pennsylvania admissions, and careers in asset management. “We have come out to be a group of seven confident and engaging students who have the power to tackle all obstacles that come our way.”

While the teams’ exploration of new knowledge and financial concepts was, at times, challenging, it was nothing compared to the task laid out before the Global Finale judging panel – to select winners from among a passionate room filled with imposing young minds and hearts.

Following the presentations, the judges – including Saras Agarwal, chief journey owner at Vanguard; Iain Gillespie, corporate strategy manager for the Americas at Aberdeen Standard Investments; David Lawrence, founder of RANE and long-time managing director at Goldman Sachs; Mukund Rao, financial products architect at Wharton Research Data Services; John Squires, partner at Dilworth Paxson law firm; and Scott Stimpfel, a director at Citi who was instrumental in starting the KWHS Investment Competition in 2012 — offered a few thoughts on the day.

“In a world where divisiveness, tribalism and rancor seem to rule, today was very much a reminder of what holds us together, and that there is a common culture — a common desire for knowledge, information and teamwork,” said Lawrence, who urged students to always remain humble and to remember that there are no stop-gap measures in life, but only a genuine need to absorb the volatility in the stock market as well as in interpersonal relationships, and to learn from them both. “Each and every team that participated here in this room or remotely was exceptional. I can say that after being at Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years.”

Added Agarwal, a Wharton MBA: “I’m impressed by the thoughtfulness that you bring to what you’ve done here. Clearly there’s a lot of effort. As you think about your careers going forward, have the courage in your convictions. Be purposeful in what you’re doing and be confident as you make decisions.”

“Chris Demetriou, Aberdeen Standard Investments’ CEO who was speaking here this morning, came right over to me and assured me that my job was definitely under threat in the next year or two,” quipped Gillespie, alluding to the students’ talent and out-of-the-box thinking.

Tackling Financial Illiteracy

The importance of financial knowledge is a key message of the KWHS Investment Competition, as well as the broader Knowledge@Wharton High School initiative, which promotes business literacy and financial literacy globally among high school students and educators through content, competitions and seminars. Financial education and access emerged as a theme that shaped the tone of Saturday’s event.

Drawing comparisons to his firm’s work related to racial inequality and the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school segregation case, Squires suggested that financial illiteracy is the separate-but-not-equal and disparate impact that is befalling today’s global citizenry. “In the U.S. alone, 40 million people are underbanked or unbanked, and 2.5 to 3.5 billion people globally,” noted Squires, who began his career as chief IP counsel for Goldman Sachs and today is considered one of the world’s thought leaders in fintech, block chain, cybersecurity and risk. “As a firm and on behalf of one of our sponsors FinClusive, we are taking that to task, tackling financial illiteracy head-on and working with Knowledge@Wharton and KWHS to remove that as an issue. Financial access should be a basic human right. And with all the good works you’ve done here today, I think that you’ve experienced that. Be ambassadors for the knowledge that you’ve gained.”

Many investment competition teams have already started doing just that. Pied Piper Investments of Noida, India, for example, spreads financial literacy through its Piper Press newsletter, while neighboring team The Alchemy of Investments conducts community outreach on financial education through in-class visits and even a TED Talk on personal finance skills. Countless teams involved in the competition, both finalists and otherwise, have started investment clubs in their schools to develop their passion for investing and promote financial engagement and knowledge among their peers.

Sid Muralidhar, team leader of regional and global winning team All You Can Eat Buffett, counted a focus on financial literacy among his most valuable takeaways from his KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale experience. “We met and befriended some extremely talented students from across the world – from a team in our home state of Virginia, to a team in Norway, and teams in India and China – and were very proud to be amongst them as finalists,” noted Muralidhar, who is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Great Falls. “We learned a lot from these teams, not just about different financial techniques and concepts, but also about being active participants in our community to further the goal of financial literacy. Hopefully, these connections and friendships will lead to some form of collaboration in the future to ensure that individuals can save, achieve their goals, and retire safely. We will continue to share information gleaned through our own research and experiences to others. In fact, we have already offered to help Wharton’s alumni outreach in Brazil take our experience to help students from Brazil participate in this competition – hopefully, they become the agents for change in their country.”

Muralidhar added that the KWHS Investment Competition was instrumental in teaching him the power of teamwork in a secondary-education world that often advocates individual success. “Each member of our team was assigned a specific role, but more importantly, we had to find ways to support one another and compromise when we had disagreements. Each member brought a unique perspective and skill set to the table. Today, students are under pressure to outperform their peers to be admitted to college, but this competition taught us that everyone that is a team player, and shares and learns, is a winner.”

The Penn Wharton China Center (PWCC) inside the World Financial Center in Beijing was a flurry of activity at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 10. In keeping with the mission of the center, which was opened in 2015, it promised to be a day of collaboration, education and research with high school students and educators from all over China who had come to compete in the KWHS Investment Competition Region 1 Finale – the first ever to be held in Beijing.

The 11 finalist teams (Gold Standard from Hong Kong International School could not participate), including The Korean Bulls from South Korea, arrived excited and anxious to deliver their final team strategies to a panel of investment experts, which included Dr. Hua Fan, the head of the Asset Allocation Department at China Investment Corporation, the Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund; Eric Leng, a Wharton MBA and managing partner at Crescendi Capital Management, a hedge fund based in Beijing; and Yanbing Qiu, the chief investment officer and board secretary at Hetai Life, a Chinese insurance company established in February 2017, with Tencent as the strategic investor.

The KWHS Investment Competition Region 1 finalists were selected from a group of 68 high school teams from around the world that submitted final written investment policies in January. Those final policies were the culmination of 12 weeks of studying and learning investing concepts, developing strategies in teams of four to nine students, placing online trades through Wharton’s OTIS platform, and thinking critically and creatively. While Chinese teams have previously participated in the KWHS investment challenge, which launched in 2012, this was the first year that finalist teams had the opportunity to advance to a China-based regional event.

The student teams competing in Beijing hoped to win top honors and earn the chance to advance to the Global Finale at Wharton Philadelphia on May 4 and 5. For many, it was the culmination of an educational journey that was new in many ways. “When I first came into contact with the game, I knew very little about finance,” admitted Jiaxi “Jessie” Cai, leader of the War Wolves team from Beijing Academy. “But when I heard that each group could be responsible for $100,000 of virtual capital and have 10 weeks of practice on the simulated trading platform, I quickly formed a team. In order to accumulate investment knowledge, we often learned some business knowledge and investment ideas from Knowledge@Wharton High School and gradually, we formed our own investment themes and strategies. After completing the interim report, we realized that what the competition tested was the rationality and effectiveness of the investment strategy, rather than simply looked at the profit and loss of each team’s online operation.”

It was the development and uniqueness of those strategies that ultimately elevated the 12 Region 1 finalist teams and led them to create a compelling message for their big day at PWCC. Those who articulated their strategies and their overall competition experiences the best during their 10-minute team presentations, as well as responded with insight and ease to the judges’ five minutes of questions, emerged victorious.

While many teams impressed the crowd with their analysis and poise on March 10, the judging panel settled on three clear winners. The winning teams received top scores in all areas of judging, including strength and clarity of investment strategy, articulation of strategy and competition experience, understanding of investing concepts, presentation skills, team member participation and creativity.

Earning the first-place trophy was RDFZ ICC from Beijing RDFZ, The High School Affiliated to the Renmin University of China, with an investment approach that was 80% qualitative and 20% quantitative, combining both bottom-up and top-down analysis. They started by studying a company’s business model and competitive landscape and then used the team’s quantitative scoring system that rated stocks in four metrics: quality, value, growth and competitiveness. Judges were impressed by the content of the team’s analysis.

Second place went to Pine Stone Capital Management, also from Beijing RDFZ. The six-member team summarized its GREAT model of stock selection, involving Growth, Reasonable price, Events, Attitude and Theme. Pine Stone’s energetic presentation skills incorporated humor, deep analysis and an especially strong and thoughtful delivery. Team captain Taotao Wang was thrilled for the win: “The Region 1 Finale on March 10 was a great experience for us, for we learned so much from others and had fun during the process. We were glad to present our investment strategy to the wonderful audience and professional judges, who put forward so many thought-provoking questions during the competition.”

War Wolves accepted the third-place trophy for its unique China-only investment strategy, explaining: “The 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party recently proposed an all-round plan for China’s future development, and we anticipated that China will continue to maintain a stable and sustainable development for more than 30 years, and China will provide good investment opportunities to global investors. Our investment theme is to invest in China and utilize China’s development opportunities. Therefore, our investment target is set on Chinese companies.” Added team leader Cai following the event: “We have never really thought about entering the top three of this competition before. In fact, the goal of our attending this competition is to enjoy the course of acquiring knowledge, but not to win an award. During the four months of the ‘protracted war,’ we have grasped the company analysis method, the stock method, the correct concept of the value investment and the enhancement of the financial quotient. Without doubt, the teamwork has made undeniable contributions…We hope more and more students could join this competition.”

Other strategy standouts who did not win prizes included the Seoul Global High School’s Korean Bulls, who created an industry analysis format and a stock analysis format to determine the viability of industries and stocks; Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School’s Golden River Ventures, which compared investment choices to animals like the bull, elephant and leopard to show how they behaved; and BNDS Investment Group (BIG) from Beijing National Day School, which built a strategy that compared to The Art of War, with the right buying point, the right stock and the right portfolio.

As much as the Region 1 KWHS Investment Competition finale event was a day of performing and strategy pitching, it was also steeped in learning. Each judge offered a unique perspective on the day’s financial literacy and the teams’ takeaways. “There were no correct answers to a lot of our questions,” noted Fan, as she offered her congratulations to all the teams. “What we were looking for was your logic of thinking and especially we valued your independent opinion, and hopefully you can do even better in the next competition.”

Added Leng: “I’m a Wharton grad. About one-third of us become investors, either in investment banking or go to investors and present exactly what you did here today. When I got those job offers graduating from Wharton, I couldn’t have put together a presentation like all of you have put together – very, very impressive. I personally encourage you all to apply to Wharton. What you’ve learned gives you foundations for whatever career you choose. No matter what kind of career you choose, financial knowledge will be a very important part.”

Qiu made sure the students knew that when he was in high school he spoke poor English and knew nothing about finance. “Today’s experience was fantastic!” he said. Qiu asked students to consider his “ABCD” life lessons that he has found most valuable during his 16 years in business: “The four biggest words are ambition, big picture, curiosity and discipline – you learn very differently in school compared with what you learn in life. Keep trying to learn new things.”

Diana Drake, managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton High School, noted that it was encouraging to see all the hard work put forth by the Region 1 student teams, especially given the fact that Chinese schools don’t always provide business and finance education as part of the curriculum. The new China-based regional finals, she added, has been a necessary and successful addition to the competition’s global financial-literacy mission.

“It has been exciting to see the evolution of our investment competition, which began in early 2012 as a pilot project with a handful of Philadelphia teams, into a truly global experience,” said Drake, adding that KWHS started the challenge as an extension of its varied business and personal finance online content and experiences for high school students and educators. “The growth is so much more than the fact that we are now reaching thousands of students through the game,” Drake continued. “The inspiration comes in what students do with their new financial knowledge. For many, this is their first exposure to investing and the stock market. Ultimately, the deep learning they encounter both inside and outside the classroom helps to inform their investment strategies. We also witness such impressive teamwork and communication skills, and appreciate the students’ stories about the struggles and triumphs with these types of dynamics. From start to finish, this competition is a testament to the value of engaging, hands-on learning.”

Qui wrapped up the March 10 Region 1 event with these words of advice: “The finals will be very fierce. The teams from India and the U.S. and Europe are very strong in every aspect. You all still have lots of work to do to go to the final stage.” You can bet that the winning Region 1 teams are already preparing for the Global Finale. Pine Stone’s Taotao Wang, for one, has her eye on the prize: “We are all looking forward to going to Philadelphia in May and meeting stronger and more competitive teams around the world.” Stay tuned. #KWHSInvests

As the sun shone brightly over Bangalore, India at 9.00 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, a swarm of bees clustered high above the entrance to the N. Narayan Murthy building of the Infosys Limited corporate headquarters in Electronics City. The throng – clinging to the face of the building – gathered strength throughout the day, but it was nothing compared to the buzzing enthusiasm happening just inside in Infosys’s high-tech R. N. Tata Hall. The KWHS Investment Competition Region 2 Finale was underway – and the 12 finalist teams from India, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates were eager to deliver their 10-minute investment-strategy presentations to a panel of five expert judges in hopes of scoring the prize as top investment analysts.

They didn’t disappoint. Team after team, nine in person and three by video conference, stepped into the spotlight to present their strategies, case studies about key stocks in which they invested on the OTIS online trading platform, their team dynamic, and the finance lessons and personal-growth reflections that they would take with them through life. None of them used notes, a testament to their deep preparation and skilled presentation styles. Some of the competitors, like Team Green Black White from Singapore, were first-year economic students with no prior background in finance, making their debut in the regional finals that much sweeter.

Observers were nothing short of dazzled by the students’ performances. “When I first heard about the Knowledge@Wharton High School Investment Challenge, rightly to its name I thought this is about high school children working on a competition which in due course helps them enhance their financial literacy. After witnessing the event, I was happy to be proven wrong,” said Kisha Gupta, global head of academic relations at Infosys, which partnered with KWHS for the first time this year to sponsor the India-based Region 2 finals. “These students were a powerhouse,” continued Gupta. “Some of their analysis and conclusions surprised all of us, their business acumen and understanding of financial concepts was way beyond their age. These amazing students, who came from some of the best schools across Asia, their evolved ability to understand, react, and craft, reflects the tremendous potential we hold for our future. It is not surprising that the whole jury gave a standing ovation, filling the entire event hall at Infosys with applause and cheers, saluting the spirit and diligence of all the finalists of the KWHS Region 2 Challenge.”

Though all the teams brought their best games, ultimately the judges had to select the top three. The first-place winners of this year’s Region 2 KWHS Investment Competition were Pied Piper Investments from Amity International School, Noida, India, led by team leader and chief investment officer Naman Tekriwal and advisor Manvir Singh Rana; second place went to The Alchemy of Investments from Amity International School, Noida, India, led by team leader and chief investment officer Jahnvi Vig and advisor Manvir Singh Rana; and the third-place trophy went to Scion Capital from Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India, led by team leader Mohammad Darvish. All three teams will advance to the competition Global Finale at Wharton Philadelphia on May 4 and 5.

The winning teams received top scores in all areas of judging, including strength and clarity of investment strategy, articulation of strategy and competition experience, understanding of investing concepts, presentation skills, team member participation and creativity.

Pied Piper Investments impressed with its SMILE investment philosophy, encompassing Small sized big risks, Medium aggression, It’s not I, but only we, Large in aspiration, and Extra large in potential. The team articulated a comprehensive top-down strategy, punctuated by a recap of its visit to the head office and manufacturing operations of one of its main OTIS investments, Hero Motocorp, where they were surprised to learn that Hero produces a motorcycle every 18 seconds.

Using its unique model ALCHEMACRO, the Alchemy of Investments reviewed economies using certain macro-level factors that led the team to select India, the U.S. and the United Kingdom as investment destinations. The team also developed a Python model known as Alche.Py to create a possible set of portfolios and analyze their returns, volatility and Sharpe’s ratios. They too took their learning to new levels, delivering an actual TED talk to promote financial literacy.

Scion Capital filtered and funneled firms on the approved stock list into easily researchable chunks through its “reverse iceberg method,” and built a strategy guided by the core principles of clients first and no investment in companies in which they did not understand the business models. Of the KWHS Investment Competition, Scion Capital concluded: “We had all the right elements: passion, work ethic and a sense of camaraderie, that made the competition very fulfilling for all of us.”

Following the Region 2 Finale, the Pied Pipers said they were “left spellbound with some of the ideas of specific teams, with their innovative strategies and amazing answers to the questions of the judges.” Summing up the experience, team leader Tekriwal said, “Starting from October 30, one word to summarize this entire competition would be “more.” This competition had always more to offer, be it learning about financial concepts or learning how to work in a team. This competition has made us more aware about the world and it did not only teach us about the financial world, but about the world and how it is connected to the financial market.” He added: “Being the winners of Saturday, is definitely a wonderful feeling, and it feels like the hard work has paid off. The feeling is amazing but keeping our feet on the ground, we have to just perform and emerge victorious in the global round in Pennsylvania, too.”

The judging panel — Pankaj Dinodia of Dinodia Capital Advisors in New Delhi; Vivek Kulkarni, founder of Brickwork Ratings in Bangalore, also a sponsor of the Region 2 competition; Rajat Kumar, COO of ABP Capital in New Delhi; Sanjay Purohit, strategic advisor to EkStep Foundation in Bangalore; and Rajesh Sehgal, founder and managing partner of Equanimity Investments in Mumbai – expressed time and again how impressed they were with the quality of the student-team analysis and presentations, and the teams’ ability to apply all that they learned throughout the 10-week trading period and competition strategy development.

“It was indeed an amazing experience for me, like earlier years, to see these young teams competing fiercely and learning/imbibing things far beyond their curriculum,” noted Sehgal, who has judged the regional competition in India for the past three years. “Understanding basic economics and finance and then being able to articulate concepts like portfolio management and fundamental analysis, sprinkled with technical and statistical analysis is testimony that these teams are punching way above their weight. As the panel rightly felt and expressed – a bow to all the teams and students who have managed all this along with their grueling academic studies.”

“The bar just seems to get higher every year,” added Kumar, who is also a three-time judge. “And it’s great to see students being prepared not only with the presentations, but also being super ready with the answers to questions that the judges throw at them — that to my mind is a better reflection of the quality of preparation put in.”

Concluded Kulkarni: “It was a pleasure participating in an event with bubbling, enthusiastic, knowledgeable youngsters. They worked hard and were well prepared with good guidance from their advisors.” Kulkarni also appreciated the presence of 15 middle school students and their teacher in the audience from Sujana Convent in Bangalore, who looked “eager to learn” from the day’s competing teams.

Stockland Yard, a finalist team from Mumbai that won a special audience choice award at the regional finals, walked away richer from the competition experience. “The KWHS Investment Competition was an intellectually stimulating activity that our team was lucky enough to participate in,” said team leader Aryan Shah. “The competition, over the course of five months, taught us a lot more than we would have imagined. While we learned how to work better as a team, be more patient and resilient, there was one aspect that stood out for us: the deeper insight into the stock market. As the competition progressed, we realized that the stock market was not an isolated system, but could instead be used along with technology and mathematics that made it much more exciting and ignited our interest in this field.”

The KWHS team is now in Beijing, China preparing for the Region 1 Finale involving 10 teams from China and one from South Korea, to be held on Saturday, March 10. Stay tuned for the results, as a very exciting Global Finale begins to take shape for May. #KWHSInvests

On Saturday, May 5, 2018, more than 100 high school students, along with their families, advisors and mentors, traveled from around the world to Wharton’s Philadelphia campus to participate in the 2018 KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale.

They were all soon reminded of another journey, the one that brought them to that moment on the 8^th floor of Wharton’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall. Ten weeks of team trading, deliberating and strategizing, resulting in the submission of 300 final investment reports. Two regional finals in India and China, providing the top six teams from those countries the opportunity to travel to the Global Finale and compete against students from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Malaysia, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States — 18 top teams, all prepared on May 5 to give the 10-minute presentations of their lives. They would go in front of a panel of six industry experts, several representing the day’s sponsors – Aberdeen Standard Investments, Dechert LLP, Dilworth Paxson LLP, Finclusive Capital, Principle Quest Foundation and UBS — in hopes of winning the title as the competition’s most savvy, reliable and creative asset-management team. The full lineup of Saturday’s competitors included:

• All You Can Eat Buffett, Virginia, United States
• ALPHA, Sevenoaks School, Sevenoaks, Kent, United Kingdom
• Brazilian Bulls, Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
• Charlottesville High School Student Investment Group, Charlottesville High School, Virginia, United States
• Dollar Tiger$, Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, Pa., United States
• Longer-Term Capital Management, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, Calif., United States
• Maple Eagle, York Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Medici Capital, Lovejoy High School, Lucas, Texas, United States
• Oakridge Investment Enterprises, Oak Ridge High School, El Dorado, Calif., United States
• Pied Piper Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• Pine Stone Capital Management, Beijing RDFZ, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University, Beijing, China
• RDFZ ICC, Beijing RDFZ, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University, Beijing, China
• Saints Capital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• The Alchemy of Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• United World Capital, United World College RCN, Norway
• Vancity Capital Management, Canada
• War Wolves, Beijing Academy, Beijing, China

It was a journey with an inspirational destination. Following 18 thought-provoking team presentations, Saturday’s judging panel selected six top teams – three winners from the top 12 teams in Region 3 and three global winners from among the full scope of competitors. Regional winners received trophies and global winners received trophies and $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively for their schools from Dilworth Paxson law firm in Philadelphia. Here are the results:

• 1^st Place, Region 3: All You Can Eat Buffett
• 2^nd Place, Region 3: Medici Capital
• 3^rd Place, Region 3: ALPHA

• 1^st Place, Global: All You Can Eat Buffett
• 2^nd Place, Global: The Alchemy of Investments
• 3^rd Place, Global: Scion Capital

Algorithms, Analysis and Alchemy

Each PowerPoint or Prezi-supported presentation, delivered by four to nine students, communicated the group’s unique investment strategy, as well as summarizing its competition experience, takeaways and team dynamics. In the allotted time of 10 minutes to present and five minutes for questions from the judges, students articulated their tactics and tools, incorporating details about proprietary algorithms, top-down, bottom-up analyses, risk attenuation and yield capitalization, qualitative and quantitative approaches to stock selection, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT evaluations, and more — all guided by a long-term, client-focused mindset.

The day’s winners were especially strong on content and creativity, punctuated by strategy pitches that dazzled the judges on a professional level.

Take, for instance, All You Can Eat Buffett, whose unique team investment strategy included a self-created machine learning-based natural language processing algorithm that used news outlet information to predict stock market trends. The team’s multi-layered presentation incorporated humor and even the results of a direct outreach to competition client Jack Abraham. The Alchemy of Investments delivered a sharp, enthusiastic and engaging presentation articulating with color and confidence its ALCHEMACRO model that reviewed economies using macro-level factors. Alchemy advisor Manvir Singh Rana, who has guided many top teams in the competition, including this year’s Pied Piper Investments, said that he is more than a teacher to his students, he is “an awakener.” Scion Capital communicated a strong client-first philosophy and brought in its team leader, Mohammad Darvish, at the end via video conference for a compelling Q&A with judges. Darvish, an Iranian citizen, was unable to secure a visa to travel to the U.S. for the competition finals.

This competition has been a great learning experience, indeed a roller coaster ride, reflected Jahnvi Vig, student team leader and chief investment officer for India’s The Alchemy of Investments. “It was the first of November when our trading journey began and we started to explore the world of finance, until the fourth of May, when we got to meet brilliant brains from all around the world and learned the skill of negotiation [from Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer],” she explained. Vig was one of more than 100 students who also attended the KWHS Investment Competition Learning Day on Friday, May 4, for an afternoon of speakers sharing insights on business, University of Pennsylvania admissions, and careers in asset management. “We have come out to be a group of seven confident and engaging students who have the power to tackle all obstacles that come our way.”

While the teams’ exploration of new knowledge and financial concepts was, at times, challenging, it was nothing compared to the task laid out before the Global Finale judging panel – to select winners from among a passionate room filled with imposing young minds and hearts.

Following the presentations, the judges – including Saras Agarwal, chief journey owner at Vanguard; Iain Gillespie, corporate strategy manager for the Americas at Aberdeen Standard Investments; David Lawrence, founder of RANE and long-time managing director at Goldman Sachs; Mukund Rao, financial products architect at Wharton Research Data Services; John Squires, partner at Dilworth Paxson law firm; and Scott Stimpfel, a director at Citi who was instrumental in starting the KWHS Investment Competition in 2012 — offered a few thoughts on the day.

“In a world where divisiveness, tribalism and rancor seem to rule, today was very much a reminder of what holds us together, and that there is a common culture — a common desire for knowledge, information and teamwork,” said Lawrence, who urged students to always remain humble and to remember that there are no stop-gap measures in life, but only a genuine need to absorb the volatility in the stock market as well as in interpersonal relationships, and to learn from them both. “Each and every team that participated here in this room or remotely was exceptional. I can say that after being at Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years.”

Added Agarwal, a Wharton MBA: “I’m impressed by the thoughtfulness that you bring to what you’ve done here. Clearly there’s a lot of effort. As you think about your careers going forward, have the courage in your convictions. Be purposeful in what you’re doing and be confident as you make decisions.”

“Chris Demetriou, Aberdeen Standard Investments’ CEO who was speaking here this morning, came right over to me and assured me that my job was definitely under threat in the next year or two,” quipped Gillespie, alluding to the students’ talent and out-of-the-box thinking.

These past few weeks have been exciting for our KWHS team! While reviewing final team strategy papers for Region 1 of the KWHS Investment Competition has been a big task, it has also been deeply gratifying. It’s clear that many students spent the 10 weeks of strategy development, research, and trading on the Wharton OTIS platform fully engaged and open to new concepts and experiences. So many teams have improved their financial knowledge and enjoyed the challenge of the stock market and the dynamics of working in a small group. We couldn’t ask for more! It’s an excellent outcome for our first-ever Eastern and Central Asia regional finale, supported in part by our recruitment partner Diligence & Delight Learning Center (DDC) of Beijing. Here are a few reflections gleaned from this year’s Region 1 final team strategy papers:

“We determined that since Jack Abraham’s portfolio will continue to operate for decades, short-term fluctuations should not be overly preferred to long-term growth in companies.” Investment Before Financially Able, Diocesan Boys’ School, Hong Kong

“Our focus is on gaining an understanding of the main drivers of how a company makes and spends its money. Since the goal is to buy a company and hold it for the long term, we need to understand the company and its financials in a long-term context.” PH Rookie, Shanghai Pinghe School, China

“Our team attaches great importance to learning. Not only do we learn new knowledge, but also care about what is happening around us. In order to be a qualified investor, learning is the driving force.” Si Hai Yi Xin, Experimental Middle School Attached to Hebei Normal University, China

“A good company to us is one that is leading the industry to innovate and develop, has a creative and effective business strategy, and has a high potential of development.” Dauntless, YK Pao School, China

“It is crucial to look for the big picture and trust our instincts.” Infiltration, Shanghai American School, China

“Our dear client, Jack Abraham, we assure that you will earn positive returns as long as you believe us. This portfolio will be the best choice for you.” Korean Bulls, Seoul Global High School, South Korea

“We learned that there is no complete guarantee that any of our investments would experience growth. Even with our financial data and research, stocks would change in ways we did not expect.” Gold Standard, Hong Kong International School, China

“One of the most important characteristic that every member shares is that we listen to others opinions, and we take turns to share our opinions.” Group One Investments, Shen Wai International School, China

“Even if we were all under the pressure of heavy schoolwork, we kept discussing our investment strategies and changing our ideas during our spare time.” Dream High , Beijing No 12 High School, China

“Every day when we go to school, we find more and more cool cars of Tesla on the street.” Frozing Phoenix, RDFZ High School, China

“A passive investment needs patience; it is more of a test of the heart than the mind.” BNDS Investment Group, Beijing National Day School, China

We honor all the teams that took the time to participate in Region 1 of the KWHS Investment Competition. We know that many of you are new to investing and we hope you will join us again next year!

We selected 12 teams from the final group of 68. The finalist teams advancing to the Regional Finale at the Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing on March 10 are:

• BNDS Investment Group (BIG), Beijing National Day School, China
• Drift_Along, Beijing RDFZ High School, China
• FYL, Beijing RDFZ High School, China
• Gold Standard, Hong Kong International School, China
• Golden River Ventures, Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School, China
• Great Wall Capital, Liyang High School of Jiangsu Province, China
• Korean Bulls, Seoul Global High School, South Korea
• The Ladies of Wall Street, Beijing RDFZ High School, China
• Pine Stone Capital Management LP, Beijing RDFZ High School, China
• RDFZICC, Beijing RDFZ High School, China
• SHDT (Snowball) Investment, Shanghai Datong High School, China
• War Wolves, Beijing Academy, China

The top teams from the regional competition will advance to the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton Philadelphia on May 4 and 5, 2018. Good luck!

After reading 72 final policies for Region 2 of the KWHS Investment Competition, our reviewers are reminded of a quote from a Region 1 finalist team: “A passive investment needs patience; it is more of a test of the heart than the mind.” Not only are our hearts and minds full with the incredible time and effort demonstrated by this year’s Region 2 teams, we are also deeply impressed by the intellect and emotion that so many teams poured into this year’s investment competition. Your final policies reflected this hard work, as well as a robust concoction of new skills, insights and financial knowledge. And many of you also seemed to have fun! Here are a few reflections gleaned from this year’s Region 2 final team strategy papers:

“With risk taking and investing comes the emotional pressure and fear of our stocks losing value and money. This was exactly how we felt when our portfolio value was dwindling in mid December. However, we have learnt that investors must not rely on emotional temptations or urges but make decisions based only on our analysis.” Vaffles, Victoria Junior College, Singapore

“Effective team leaders share leadership by encouraging team members to take on leadership roles or by formally recognizing team members with special subject matter expertise.” The Stockers, Amity International School, Gurgaon, India

“Conflict, a difference of opinion, can be healthy and if carefully managed it can trigger useful debates. It can make people think differently, expanding knowledge and insight, and innovation can happen and results flourish. Different opinions are not a bad thing. It’s how we handle the conflict that makes a difference.” The Entrepreneurs, Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

“The group was quite chaotic in its approach to investments, without any proper research; rather it was an analysis of stock trends over a short period of time, as well as recent events that could influence the stock value in any way.” Trade Wolves, Dubai International Academy, United Arab Emirates

“The competition was more difficult than we imagined because finding companies of a foreign country which would give returns was not an easy job. This became more challenging as we had to follow the policy changes in that country, but it was really fun and interesting.” Investor Wolves, Christ Junior College, Bangalore, India

“Taking our client Jack Abraham’s profile into account, our team has developed a strategy that does not fear taking risks, yet aims to hold sustainable stocks in our client’s portfolio.” Cash Team, Inanc High School, Turkey

“It was soon clear that long-term investment is our goal, as our name signifies. So bottom up approach it was. This meant research and more research.” Horizon Capital, Hillspring International School, Mumbai, India

“The economic world is as old as humanity. We started trading food for protection, clothes for wood and similarly everything else of importance. This parallel to human evolution makes our emphasizing on humanity clear. This parallel indeed dictates that the world of stocks also needs to follow ethics because it is a part of evolution, growing stronger as we constantly move towards becoming a single unit.” Stock Knockers, The Emerald Heights International School, Mumbai, India

“We followed an EIC approach, where we went from choosing the growing economies and analyzing the market scenario to looking towards the flourishing sectors and the industries which control the progress.” The Bullish Obsidos, Amity International School, Saket, India

“New innovations such as artificial intelligence will play a big role in driving the world in the future. In addition, almost every sector relies heavily on technology in order to advance; thus, it’s not his risks of losing money that are increasing but rather his chances of obtaining future long-term rewards.” Team Rich Kid, Mahidol University International Demonstration School, Thailand 

“We had been investing in 2 major companies: Tesla and Apple. Those 2 companies had made up 60-70% of our portfolio. But towards the end it had dipped in prices, as does every market inevitably. The team had failed to pull out, most fearing that we may sell low and miss a large profit.” The Wolves of OTIS Street, Dubai International Academy, United Arab Emirates

“It’ll take us more than a lifetime to know all that we need to about investment,” said Amisha with her head in her hands. “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know and how vast is the ocean of investment opportunities, which we have decided to breach, in our attempt to ace investing.” Trading Aces, Amity International School, Gurugram, India

“We were very inefficient during that meeting, as every member was very tired and mentally drained. As such, we decided to go out to a restaurant to have steamboat buffet for dinner. During the meal, not only did we have a great time bonding over food, we also came up with a lot of ideas at an efficiency which none of us could have expected.” Marymount Holdings, Raffles Institution, Singapore

“This competition helped us grow by giving us an intellectual insight into the business and corporate world. With each iteration of buying and selling stocks, the team learned something new. We developed an inclination towards keeping in touch with the world around us, keeping an open eye towards all the possible developments changes and growths in the market.” Prophets, Amity International School, Section 43, Gurgaon, India

“It is presumed that always parents are capable of teaching their children, but after the completion of this competition our team is this much confident that we think that we can teach our parents how to invest in the stock market and how to manage their own portfolio.” Trade Trappers, Ahlcon International School, Delhi, India 

We honor all the teams that took the time to participate in Region 2 of the KWHS Investment Competition. We know that many of you are new to investing and we hope you will join us again next year.

We selected 12 teams from the final group of 72. The finalist teams advancing to the regional finals on March 3, 2018 at the Infosys headquarters campus in Bangalore, India are:

• The Alchemy of Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• Alpha Hawks, Amity International School 46, Gurugram, India
• Green White Black, Raffles Institution, Singapore
• Griffles Fund, Raffles Institution, Singapore
• Infinitum, Dubai International Academy, UAE
• Pied Piper Investments, Amity International School, Noida, India
• Plutus Investors, Fountainhead School, Surat, India
• The Rainmakers, Amity International School, Saket, India
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• The Stock Wizards, Amity International School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, India
• Stockland Yard, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, India
• Strong Hands, Amity International School, Mayur Vihar, India

The top teams from the regional competition will advance to the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton Philadelphia on May 4 and 5, 2018. Good luck!

We knew from the get-go that Region 3 of the KWHS Investment Competition was a pack of fierce competitors. We received hundreds of registrations from teams in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Then when the mid-project team reviews started streaming in – nearly 300 by the February 12 deadline – we were captivated by the collective wave of strategic thinking, deep analysis and tough team deliberations. No longer just high school students, these teams were transformed into novice investors on a mission to build potential client Jack Abraham’s wealth in cohesive, creative and SWOT-savvy ways.

By the time the 160 final team strategy reports arrived on March 25, we were expecting greatness – and Region 3 did not disappoint. The KWHS team eagerly delivered the papers to our expert review panel at Aberdeen Standard Investments in Philadelphia, which has been a partner and supporter of the KWHS Investment Competition since its inception in 2012.

Brianna Leporace, marketing research and intelligence analyst for the U.S. at Aberdeen Standard Investments, assembled a group of 13 other Aberdeen professionals to read and evaluate the Region 3 reports. “We were extremely impressed with the high caliber of the final investment policies submitted this year and applaud all teams for their efforts in the KWHS Investment Competition,” said Leporace, whose team of Aberdeen judges were from different areas of the company, including equity, fixed-income and alternative investing, as well as marketing and distribution. “The competition continues to get stronger and more competitive every year, so selecting the finalists to advance to the Global Finale was very difficult. The students demonstrated a solid understanding of investing concepts through the articulation of their investment strategies and analysis, and we enjoyed reading about their educational journey over the course of the competition.”

In the end, the results truly reflect the global evolution of the KWHS Investment Competition. The student teams advancing to the Region 3 regional and Global Finale on May 5, 2018 are:

• All You Can Eat Buffett, Virginia, United States
• ALPHA, Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
• Brazilian Bulls, Colégio Santa Cruz, Brazil
• Charlottesville High School Student Investment Group, Charlottesville High School, United States
• Dollar Tiger$, Germantown Friends School, United States
• Longer-Term Capital Management, Monta Vista High School, United States
• Maple Eagle, York Mills Collegiate Institute, Canada
• Medici Capital, Lovejoy High School, United States
• Oakridge Investment Enterprises, Oak Ridge High School, United States
• Saints Capital, St. George’s School, Canada
• United World Capital, United World College RCN, Norway
• Vancity Capital Management, Canada

The top 12 Region 3 teams will present their strategies to a panel of judges at the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale on May 5 at Wharton in Philadelphia, where they will go up against each other, as well as the top three teams from the Region 1 finals and the top three teams from the Region 2 finals. We anticipate an especially exciting Global Finale this year, with prizes awarded to the top teams in Region 3, as well as the top teams globally. Here is the full lineup of the 18 competing teams presenting at Wharton on May 5:

• All You Can Eat Buffett, Virginia, United States
• ALPHA, Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
• Brazilian Bulls, Colégio Santa Cruz, Brazil
• Charlottesville High School Student Investment Group, Charlottesville High School, United States
• Dollar Tiger$, Germantown Friends School, United States
• Longer-Term Capital Management, Monta Vista High School, United States
• Maple Eagle, York Mills Collegiate Institute, Canada
• Medici Capital, Lovejoy High School, United States
• Oakridge Investment Enterprises, Oak Ridge High School, United States
• Pied Piper Investments, Amity International School, India
• Pine Stone Capital Management, RDFZ, China
• RDFZ ICC, RDFZ, China
• Saints Capital, Canada
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• The Alchemy of Investments, Amity International School, India
• United World Capital, United World College RCN, Norway
• Vancity Capital Management, Canada
• War Wolves, Beijing Academy, China

In addition to our in-kind sponsor Aberdeen, we will also be welcoming aboard several new corporate sponsors, including Dechert LLP, Dilworth Paxson LLP, Finclusive Capital, Principle Quest Foundation and UBS. All of these companies embrace the underlying mission of the KWHS Investment Competition, which is to help high school students learn investing, communications, entrepreneurship and teamwork, and to become more financially literate.

While we could only select 12 top teams, we would like to pay tribute to some of this year’s other devoted Region 3 competitors by highlighting memorable moments from their final papers. So much analysis, critical thinking and insight. Great work, Region 3!

“Our team has decided that three factors are the most important to have exposure to: momentum, value and growth… consider that each company is a soccer team going to compete on Russia’s 2018 World Cup. Each of the different factors, with assumptions made, is relatable to the characteristics of each team. Momentum: the number of games the team has won in a row; Value: the defensive potential of the squad; Growth: the attacking potential of the squad.” Dangoor Investments, St. Paul’s School, São Paulo, Brazil

“A strong resource for Team Sona was Wharton Professor Adam Grant. He was a figure highly spoken about at last year’s KWHS Global Finale, and our team found his book Originals very applicable to a competition of this nature. If our team wanted to stand out to Jack Abraham as the best potential client, we knew that we had to think, visualize, and collaborate like “Originals.” After a careful read, analysis, and discussion about Grant’s ideas on Originality, we sought to implement it not only in our initial strategy, but also in more collaborative aspects such as unbiased team decision-making, ethical quandaries, skepticism and judgment, and elimination of conformity and emotion in the investment process. With Grant’s teachings and values, Team Sona was able to adopt a fantastic set of approaches that facilitated the way team members respected and interacted with each other.” Team Sona, Allen D. Nease High School, Florida, U.S.

“We recommend for KWAM is to invest in all of the sectors, taking care to invest equally in both the cyclical sectors and counter-cyclical sectors in order to reduce the risk of specific sectors losing value. Industry wise, the software industry is a safe investment choice, and the diversified consumer services, machinery, and equity real estate industries are also included in our recommendations. The particular stocks we recommend are Twitter, Adobe Systems, Spartan Motors, TAL Education Group, Southwest Airlines and Semiconductor, which all have had steady growth in recent times. We do not, however, recommend investing into metal industries—such as United States Steel—with the tariffs being placed on steel and aluminum.” NPCA Lions, Collegiate Academy, Pennsylvania, U.S.

“It is beyond doubt that the average investor is frequently portrayed as an evil, greedy and merciless person, and the examples are not few. From Gordon Gekko to Jordan Belfort, the general idea of evilness in the Financial Market is present in our society. Fortunately, this, in most of the cases, is an absolute misconception compared with the reality. The common investor, from home broker to Wall Street investment banker follows an ethical rule.” Monty Python and the Holy Stock, Colégio Bandeirantes, São Paulo, Brazil

“Our team loved this competition as it gave us an opportunity we could never find elsewhere, as none of us have $100k to invest. Working with thousands of dollars to make investment decisions, understanding the markets, and seeing the results have given us a highly educational and motivational experience. Our inspiration to seek professions in this field and invest our own money would never truly have arisen without the experiences we all had during this competition.” Rolling Stone, Downingtown STEM Academy, Pennsylvania, U.S.

“Qualitative judgments arguably played a bigger role than quantitative metrics in our decision-making process, although they work hand in hand. The industry the company operates in, the countries, the quality of the management team, the company’s vision, their target audience – these are all factors that cannot be assigned a value. Successfully recognizing the “soft” skills a company has marks the difference between a star active fund manager, and a passive index fund investor. Anyone can compare numbers on a spreadsheet but it is the reasons behind those numbers that matter. Succumbing to tunnel vision exposes you to making false conclusions based on numbers without context. It is very likely that you may then miss opportunities, or make grave mistakes.” Team Zurich, Zurich International School, Switzerland

“Many of our team members chose to take part in the KWHS competition because they had prior experience with stock market competitions. However, all of the previous competitions were focused on day trading and making as much money a s possible in a short time period. This was our first time participating in a competition that focused on long-term trading. Most of the team members had never considered the dividend yield when buying a stock, because we never participated a long-term investment competition. Participating in this competition helped us learn a lot more about finance and the different statistics to consider before buying a stock.” Taxmanian Devils, Troy High School, Michigan, U.S.

“The first step to forming our investment strategy was researching Jack Abraham: his age, his professional background, and his ideal risk balance. As a successful entrepreneur, Mr. Abraham fittingly welcomes risk for the potential of returns. However, despite his appeal to “very calculated risks”, his age of 32 years and our fundamental analysis pushed the ideal strategy for Mr. Abraham to balance innovation and market potential with value and long-term stability.” InvestorPrep Partners, Bellaire High School, Texas, U.S.

“Facebook is probably our favourite holding. Some of us are so convinced from this company that they even bought Facebook stocks in real life. What makes Facebook so special? Firstly, it has a deep moat created by the so called “network-effect,” which means that people won’t move away from Facebook as long as their friends only use Facebook (or other platforms from Facebook like Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger or Oculus). And even if there is another competitor, which threatens to steal market share from Facebook, they just can acquire the competitor or copy their business model very quickly, what they, by the way, have already successfully done in recent years (e.g. Snapchat Stories).” List Capital, Friedrich List High School, Karlsruhe, Germany

“The biggest challenge was definitely the uncertainty that comes with everyone’s – sometimes conflicting – opinions on stocks. We made decisions by informally discussing it: We brought up the stock’s name, everyone looked it up on their computer if it was an obscure company, and then we all pitched our opinions. We also informally assigned sectors to each member, which was just a way of separating it with ease; however, everyone ended up looking into every sector by the end…The most important skill coming from each member was definitely the different points of views to the same stocks/situations.” Prophets of Profit, Gulliver Prep, Florida, U.S.

“In our view, this is a crucial moment for the financial markets as there are almost 10 years since the Great Recession. The markets face right now multiple adversities like a trade war (USA vs Europe and China), the unknown Brexit dilemma, the growing of isolationism of big powers (USA, China, UK) as well as the relative unstable political situation around the globe (tensions: USA and UK vs Russia; also USA vs North Korea). Moreover, the increasing inflation due to tax cuts and raising US wages, followed by a rising interest rates environment will be in our view the biggest enemy on the economy. To stop the inflation, the Fed and the Central Banks around the world would need to find the right timing for monetary policy out of one trial. If they miss, the result will be an abrupt recession, and we need to be prepared. Therefore, we tried to create an all-weather portfolio in which sectors are interconnected.” AlphaStrike Capital, Avenor College, Romania

“This project served as a practice in keeping our composure during periods of losses. As a stock trader or manager, you will almost certainly have periods where the value of your portfolio decreases. For us, this happened during our three-month venture. Experiencing a loss, while not ideal for us, actually helped us better learn about investing. We realized that as long as you make smart and secure buys, your portfolio will be solid and grow in the long run. Participating in this competition further reaffirmed for us that the stock market goes through cycles, and a period of losses does not necessarily represent complete failure or a reason to panic.” The Oakland Traders, West Chester East High School, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The 8^th floor of Wharton’s Huntsman Hall was buzzing with energy on the morning of Saturday, May 6, 2017. Teams of eager high school students, led by expectant advisors and nervous parents, flooded off the elevator and into Robertson Hall for a quick bite of breakfast and a sip of coffee or juice. Many had touched down at Philadelphia International Airport only hours before. Some teams chatted in close circles, while others disappeared to the back hall for last-minute presentation practice. The mood was one of excitement, underscored by several students commenting on how awesome it was to have finally made it to the 2017 Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS) Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton. Fifteen top teams with unique investment strategies. More than 100 participants. Six judges. In a matter of hours, all this would result in three winning teams.

The finalists were selected from a group of some 225 high school teams from around the world that submitted final written investment policies in January and March. Those final policies were the culmination of 10 weeks of learning investing concepts, developing strategies in teams of four to nine students, placing online trades through Wharton’s OTIS platform, and thinking critically and creatively.

While all 15 teams delivered powerful presentations, only three could take home top honors. Silver Stone Partners, a team of four from The International School Bangalore, India, won the first-place trophy and coveted Wharton fleece pullovers with its savvy presentation over Skype and its clever Silver Score rating system of stock selection. The second-place trophy and leather Wharton journals went to One Up on Herd Street, a dynamic team of seven students from Amity International School, Noida, India, who delivered an especially passionate and solid presentation with deep analysis and unique team outreach through financial literacy promotion among other high school students. United World Capital, a team of four from United World College RCN in Norway, earned the third-place trophy and Wharton travel mugs for its thought-provoking and cohesive strategy that was strong on qualitative analysis, incorporated a “value filter,” and closely followed the team’s high ethical standards for investing.

Three teams also won honorable mentions from the judges. They were: The Rainmakers from Amity International School, Saket, India; the Terriers of University Road from Boston University Academy in Massachusetts, U.S.; and the Wizards from Virginia, U.S.

The remaining nine teams competing on Saturday were: Alpha Capital of Hopewell Valley Central High School in N.J., U.S.; Investor Troopers from Colégio Bandeirantes in São Paulo, Brazil; The Madison Money Makers from James Madison High School in N.Y., U.S.; Matador Investments from Monta Vista High School in Calif., U.S.; Pride of Lions from St. Paul’s School, São Paulo, Brazil; SPPS Seoul from St. Paul Preparatory School in Seoul, South Korea; Team Sona from Allen D. Nease High School in Florida, U.S.; Westview Wolverines from Westview High School, Calif., U.S.; and the Wolves of Wall Street from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, N.J., U.S.

The day’s six judges were candid about their difficult deliberations, noting that choosing the winners was an incredibly daunting task. Still, they found the experience inspiring and memorable. “The KWHS finale is a brilliant initiative to promote financial literacy among high school students,” said Aarti Jethwani, client partner and former head of global academic partnerships at Infosys in Plano, Texas, who served as a judge for Saturday’s event. “Witnessing the global scale of this competition, the amazing effort put in by the 15 finalist teams, the depth of their knowledge on finance, business, collaboration and leadership, was truly a wonderful and humbling experience. What amazed me the most was the students’ commitment to spread the exposure and financial literacy they gained across their schools and even communities through clubs, workshops and various initiatives that went beyond the scope of the competition.”

Added Mukund Rao, senior technologist at Wharton Research Data Services, which operates the competition’s OTIS online trading system, and also a 2017 finale judge: “To be in the presence of such brilliant young minds as they embarked on this incredible challenge was amazing. In both presentation and substance, the students showed outstanding professionalism, discipline, and depth of knowledge. There was no hiding the talent evident in each and every presentation. The young men and women were tasked with formulating and presenting successful investment theses, an endeavor that continually challenges the best investment professionals in the world. And they did so with results that were truly world class.”

Joining Jethwani and Rao at the judging table were Saras Agarwal, a Wharton alumnus and financial literacy expert; Andrew Hill, economic education advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia; Suzanne McHenry, corporate responsibility senior manager with PwC in Philadelphia; and Fionna Ross, senior analyst with Aberdeen Asset Management in Philadelphia, specializing in responsible investing and equities.

Perhaps the most powerful takeaway from the 2017 KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale was its impact on high school students around the world. Aneesh Shinkre of Florida’s Team Sona described it as a “truly unforgettable experience,” adding, “We definitely feel inspired to grow our stock market/investment club initiative to connect with our community and, ultimately, the world.” Mehak Mathur from One Up on Herd Street said, “This competition is not just about competing with a team; it’s all about the learning. I’m in Grade 11, and I can tell my parents how to invest!”

For more information on the KWHS Investment Competition, please visit the KWHS Competitions page or email us at KWHSCompetition@wharton.upenn.edu. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @WhartonHS and check out our KWHS Facebook page for many more photos and student reflections from this year’s 2017 KWHS Investment Competition Finale.

How do you measure the success of financial education for high school students? Get some 80 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors from around the world into a high-tech conference room atop Wharton’s Huntsman Hall, and let their financial knowledge and conviction lead the way.

Knowledge@Wharton High School and Aberdeen Asset Management, a global asset management company with U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, did just that on Saturday, April 30 – also the final day of Financial Literacy Month in the U.S. — during our fourth-annual Investment Competition Wharton Day Finale.

We welcomed more than 130 invited high school students, educators, parents and financial professionals to participate in the presentation, observation and evaluation of the 16 finalist teams from this year’s 2015-2016 KWHS Investment Competition, sponsored by Aberdeen. Fifteen student teams competed the day of the Wharton Finale event (and one via conference call during the prior week) by presenting their final investment strategies to a panel of four Aberdeen judges. A total of 13 teams traveled to Wharton to present live, while two teams presented remotely via Skype. Among the live presenters were the top three Indian teams from the KWHS South Asia and Middle East regional competition.

The finalists were selected from a group of more than 200 teams that submitted investment policies in January and March. Those final written policies were the culmination of 10 weeks of learning investing concepts, developing strategies in teams of four to nine students, placing online trades through Wharton’s OTIS platform, and thinking critically and creatively.

And without further ado…the results. Defending champs Western Trade, a team of seven students from West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch, Calif., won Aberdeen’s first-place prize of $1,500. OMG Capital, a team of four students from Moanalua High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, won the second-place prize of $1,000, and The Wolves of D-Street, a team of seven students from Amity International School in Noida, India, won the third-place prize of $500. The Erudite Wits, a team of four students from Amity International School-Pushp Vihar in India, and the Charlottesville Student Investment Group, a group of nine from Charlottesville High School in Virginia, received honorable mentions.

The remaining 11 finalists and presenters were: Fantastic Four from John L. Miller Great Neck High School in Great Neck, N.Y,; Guilderland Hedge Fund from Guilderland High School in Guilderland, N.Y.; Methacton Investments from Methacton High School in Methacton, Pa.; Moorestown Marketology Investment Group from Moorestown High School in Moorestown, N.J.; On Our Way to Wall Street from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro, N.J.; Quants from John P. Stevens High School in Edison, N.J.; The Rainmakers from Amity International School-Saket in Saket, India; Stella Rosea Holdings from Dulwich College in Beijing, China; SWOT Team from Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia, Pa.; Troy Colts from Troy High School in Troy, Mich.; and Wolverines of Wall Street from Westview High School in San Diego, Calif.

“It has been exciting to see the evolution of this competition, which began in early 2012 as a pilot project with a handful of Philadelphia teams, into a truly global experience,” says Diana Drake, managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton High School. KWHS started the challenge as an extension of its business and personal finance resources for high school students and educators. “The growth is so much more than the fact that we are now reaching thousands of students through the game,” added Drake. “The inspiration comes in what students do with their new financial knowledge. For many, this is their first exposure to investing and the stock market. Ultimately, the deep learning they encounter both inside and outside the classroom helps to inform their investment strategies. We also witness such impressive teamwork and communication skills, and so appreciate the students’ stories about the struggles and triumphs with these types of dynamics. From start to finish, this competition is a testament to the value of engaging, hands-on learning – often with high school business and finance teachers guiding the process.”

Finalists’ investment decisions seldom start and end with only stock prices. Strategy development extends far beyond the numbers game. Take, for example, first-place team Western Trade. In order to better understand their investment in Amgen, a leading biotech company based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Western Trade students visited the company’s headquarters for a tour and information session. Similarly, they met with stock and financial analysts and conducted further primary research through a team-designed survey. Second-place team OMG Capital developed its own IMUA strategy for portfolio development – Investment Model for Uncertain Atmospheres – a word that also means “go forward” in Hawaiian. The team’s presentation involved clever humor, including a nod to Federal Reserve interest rates with an image of a Fed chairman Janet “Yellen Yoda.” Third-place winners The Wolves of D-Street created The D-Street Chronicle, a monthly newsletter with a mission of spreading financial literacy to their peers and the community.

As has been the trend, KWHS is expecting a bigger and better investment competition in 2017, registration for which will begin at the end of this year. Stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for more details, or email kwhscompetition(at)wharton.upenn.edu to participate.

Though they hailed from different schools and cities, even different countries, the high school students participating in the KWHS South Asia & Middle East Investment Competition finale on February 11 shared essential emotions and convictions: they were excited, a bit nervous, and prepared to present with a passion worthy of even the most seasoned asset management team.

They did not disappoint, often wielding ratios, SWOT analyses and strategy development tools like stock market pros. “These teams were incredibly impressive on many levels, from content and preparation to strong delivery,” said Dominic Johnson, director of business operations for Knowledge@Wharton and a judge for the competition finale, which was held for the second straight year during the One Globe Conference at The Imperial Hotel in New Delhi, India.

The finale was run in partnership with BrainGain Magazine, a study abroad magazine for students, their parents and mid-career professionals in South Asia, and sponsored for the first time by FLAME University, an institution based in Pune, India, that is revolutionizing higher education in the country with its liberal education approach. FLAME Investment Lab works to deliver concepts and decipher the art of value investing for students. Concluded Johnson: “Selecting the top three teams at this year’s regional finale was a daunting task.”

And now, for this year’s regional champs. Teams taking home trophies were first-place winners One Up on Herd Street from Amity International School, Noida, led by 11th grader Simariot Kaur Bhatia and advisor Manvir Singh Rana; second-place winners The Rainmakers from Amity International School, Saket, led by 11th grader Rhea Gupta and advisor Monica Thareja; and third-place winners Silver Stone Partners from The International School, Bangalore, led by 11th grader Pranav Prabhas and advisor Naveen Tom.

The finale event featured 12 finalist student teams presenting their investment strategies to a prestigious panel of judges from finance and academia. The jury included Rajesh Sehgal, senior executive director of the emerging markets group at Franklin Templeton Investments; Rajat Kumar, vice president of transaction monetization for SnapDeal, one of India’s top e-commerce firms; and Johnson of Knowledge@Wharton.

Both Sehgal and Kumar returned this year after also judging the regional finale in 2016. “The KWHS Investment Competition has been an eye opener,” noted Sehgal. “The breadth and depth of talent among students and their deep desire to understand complex financials and make sense of business models is breathtaking. We encourage participation from all schools as this experience goes a long way in exposing students to yet another new dimension aiding their overall well-rounded growth.”

Added Kumar: “It is great to see the natural curiosity of students, allowing them to link various complicated concepts together amazingly well.”

In addition to the big winners, the following teams were among the top 12 selected to compete in last Saturday’s finale: The Alchemists from Inventure Academy in Bangalore; Alpha Infinitum from Amity International School, Sector 43, Gurgaon; the Corporate Pirates from Amity International School, Pushp Vihar; Gamma Papa Investments from Neerja Modi School in Rajasthan; Inception of Sri Kumaran Children’s Home in Bangalore; the Marxist Moneymakers from Bhavan Vidyalaya, Chandigarh; Solito Negotium of Canadian International School in Singapore; Stock Mubarak from Amity International School, Mayur Vihar; and The Wolves of Dalal Street of NSS Hill Spring International School in Mumbai.

The KWHS Investment Competition encourages students to think more broadly about the world of investing and the related decision-making processes, a goal that is aligned with sponsor FLAME University’s mission. “We are honored to be the academic partner of Knowledge Wharton’s Investment Competition in India,” said Dr. Devi Singh, vice chancellor of FLAME University. “Investment education is a focus area for FLAME, the pioneers of liberal education in India. Investing as a discipline is inter-disciplinary in nature. Making good investment decisions requires one to make connections between various seemingly disparate disciplines. Partnering with Knowledge@Wharton’s Investment Competition is a natural fit.”

This year’s regional finale in India was infused with a spirit of critical thinking and knowledge-sharing as the judges challenged team members to think on their feet about investment concepts and defend specific aspects of their strategies. For example, they asked questions like: “Why might investing in a company with many subsidiaries be risky?” If team members struggled to answer, the judges posed the same questions to the audience, inviting students to volunteer their best guesses and guiding them toward answers with still more thought-provoking questions.

“This exchange was really rewarding,” noted Diana Drake, managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton High School. “KWHS greatly values the learning aspect of the investment competition as a financial literacy tool, and the judges’ engagement with the students at this year’s finale took this effort to an even deeper level. It was inspiring for all of us to experience the students’ earnest responses.”

The winning teams distinguished themselves by delivering enthusiastic and well-rehearsed presentations that were strong on fundamentals, but yet not too laden with excessive content and analysis, which puts teams at a risk of losing their audience. The winning teams also demonstrated equal team member participation and articulated unique aspects of strategy development.

In addition to its interesting discussion of the team’s stock selection, portfolio construction and risk management, One Up on Herd Street, for example, described its community-based High School Investors program to “provide financial literacy among high school students” in India. The Rainmakers, one of only a few woman-led teams, impressed with a strong understanding of how the political and economic landscapes in both the U.S. and India influenced the markets and ultimately their investment decisions. Silver Stone Partners invented the Silver Score, a framework calculating the relative value of companies and factoring in their prices to determine a score that guided their stock selections. Despite a barrage of questions from the judges, team members successfully defended their unique approaches. In the end, the winning teams provided dynamic presentations, sound analyses and creative ideas that set their strategies apart.

The annual One Globe Conference, hosted by Salwan Media Ventures, brings together global thought leaders to discuss how to build a 21st century knowledge economy in India and South Asia. Both Salwan Media Ventures as well as its affiliate BrainGain Magazine, have hosted our KWHS South Asia & Middle East Investment Competition Finale for the past two years.

Following this year’s competition, Harjiv Singh, founder & CEO of Salwan Media Ventures, said, “I would like to congratulate the winners of the KWHS Investment Competition! The presentations showed the kind of effort made by such young high school students, and it was very commendable. The investment competition provides students a platform to showcase their potential in investing wherein they develop and manage their portfolios and work as a team. I’m glad that BrainGain Magazine has collaborated with KWHS to run the regional investment competition for the last two years.”

The KWHS Investment Competition is a free, online investment game run by Knowledge@Wharton High School, that encourages high school students to learn and practice investment concepts, while also building a portfolio of stocks using Wharton’s OTIS investment simulator. Students, competing in teams of four to nine, are ultimately judged on how well they develop and articulate their investment strategies. Hundreds of teams and thousands of students participate in both the South Asia & Middle East Regional competition, as well as the Global Regions competition, which is currently underway and concludes in March 2017.

One Up on Herd Street, The Rainmakers and Silver Stone Partners have been invited to participate in the grand finale of the Global Regions competition on May 5 and 6, 2017 at Wharton in Philadelphia. Please send any questions or ideas to KWHScompetition@wharton.upenn.edu.

 

About Knowledge@Wharton High School

Knowledge@Wharton High School – KWHS for short — is on a mission to provide high school students and educators around the world with a deeper understanding of business, entrepreneurship, leadership and personal finance and to equip them with the skills to excel in the global marketplace. We do this largely through free content and competitions. KWHS is part of Knowledge@Wharton, the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

About the Wharton School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has more than 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 92,000 graduates.