Students’ Investing Prowess Earns $10,000 for Truman

Four students earned $10,000 for Truman thanks to their skills in trading market securities.

Bulldog Student Investment Fund students Anthony Hill, Shane Legatzke, Michael Poindexter and Spencer Wilson participated in the thinkorswim Challenge sponsored by TD Ameritrade from Oct. 10 through Nov. 4. Competing as BSIF Elite, the team started with $500,000 in virtual money to invest in real time using TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim platform.

Prizes were awarded to the top three teams with the highest overall percentage gain in their portfolios at the close of the competition and to their respective schools. There were also prizes awarded to teams whose portfolios had the highest percentage gains in aggregate value at the end of each trading week.

BSIF Elite ended up with a 90 percent gain and a portfolio value of $950,568, which was good enough to earn third place in a field that featured 726 teams from 233 schools. The team won $10,000 for Truman, and each team member won $1,000 for placing third overall and $500 for winning week four of the competition.

The thinkorswim Challenge is offered every year through TD Ameritrade U, an educational program for professors and college-run organizations that provides free access to virtual trading through its thinkorswim trading platform. The goal of the program is to help students prepare for the real world of personal finance by giving them the ability to put classroom theory into real-life investing strategies.

The $10,000 has been invested with the Truman State University Foundation in funds that support BSIF.