Hello! We are pleased to see you reading our blog. Our group; Amaka, Alina, Sandra, Liz and Halima studied the very broad topic of “Finance” and we have had the wonderful opportunity to learn so much about the “science of money”. Not only did we learn about finance, but we also gained much knowledge about the famous mathematician Cathy O’Neil. Finally, we were opportuned with hearing from various women (and men) in STEM.
We have all heard of the word finance, but many of us do not even know what it entails. Finance is more than just the management of money; it also involves careful planning, close proximation and predictive forecasting. Did you know that a person who bought a Microsoft stock worth $25 in the 1990s, you would have over $300,000 today? This is because when you buy a stock or a share you are investing in a company and putting a part of your money into the company so that when (or if) the company flourishes later on, you will get all your money back with a much greater interest percent. Through the material we also learned about companies, assets and different kinds of taxes.
During our first days, we were a bit confused and overwhelmed with the packet labeled “Finance”; there was a lot in it and it appeared to be very complex. But, as the days went by we were able to understand it, discuss the material effectively and learn a whole bunch of new facts. During the first week, we were able to start our presentation and progress through the material very quickly and smoothly. We also recorded a podcast about our famous Mathematician, Cathy O’Neil, which was very interesting and also really cool.
It may look like we only did work, but we had lots of fun too. In our Finance packets, there was a page with an online game called “Howthemarketworks”. While playing this game we were able to stimulate buying real stocks, and feel what it is like to watch a company's stock market crash, go down a little, or go up a ton. We were each given 100,000. We all bought stocks from different companies, but some of the popular companies we bought from included Disney, Amazon, Costco and even Walmart. Everyday we would log in to the game and see how our stocks were doing; we felt like real Wall Street stockbrokers. Buying stocks and shares is a good way to save money for the future and even a better way to make extra cash.
Finance is an important part in all our lives and we all need to make sure we are saving up money for our future in order to live comfortably and peacefully when we retire.
Acknowledgements: Thank you Sarah, Cara, Sarthak, Sabrina, and all the other wonderful volunteers who truly made these two weeks a wonderful and enlightening experience for all.