The South Dakota Stock Market Game program operated by the Black Hills State University Center for Economic Education announces that an essay by Noah Diamond from Rapid City Stevens High School won the state's InvestWrite writing competition.
InvestWrite adds a critical thinking component to the South Dakota Stock Market Game and helps reinforce financial literacy concepts learned in the classroom. Essays are submitted online and judged by a panel of volunteer financial professionals.
Diamond wrote the winning essay in Rapid City Stevens teacher Ruth Conway's Personal Finance class. Diamond's essay "American Gains" profiled a newly-developed board game for personal saving and investing. The object of the game is to finish with the highest investment portfolio and to reach the finish line also known as retirement.
Each player must select ten $1,000 investments in a combination of mutual funds, bonds and individual stocks. Players roll the dice and move around the board (similar to the Monopoly game). For example, if a player lands on a Stock Card space and the card reads "Nike and Apple shares rise 10 percent while Ford falls 3 three percent," players must update their investment portfolio based on the card and soon realize that bond investments are safer but provide a low return, mutual funds have moderate returns and individual stocks have the biggest chance for gains and losses.
Diamond's essay concluded that for the uneducated investor, the game emphasizes the three critical financial planning guidelines: portfolio diversification, portfolio allocation and reassessments and investment discipline. Quoting Benjamin Franklin, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest," Diamond stated that the game is meant for children ten years and older and would be a smart way for parents to introduce their children to the basics on savings and investing.
Diamond graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School in May and is now attending the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The South Dakota Stock Market Game is offered cooperatively by the South Dakota Council on Economic Education and the BHSU Center for Economic Education. The Game is an economic education program based on a real-life simulation of the stock markets.
Last year in South Dakota, over 1,000 students from 43 schools participated in the Stock Market Game. Nationwide, over 600,000 students from all 50 states participate annually.