By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

It’s never too early to learn about managing money.

Juniors Breanna Mallory and Jayda Hayes recently won a stock market game they played in Megan Thomas’s investing class at Marion High School.

The 10 students were divided into pairs and each pair was given a fictional $100,000 to manage. They were required to invest at least $50,000.

The contest ran from January through April. Breanna and Jayda were risk-takers and used a time-tested investment strategy. They bought low and sold high.

“We never lost money,” Jayda said. “We slowly went up, and we won by $6,000.”

They researched stocks and started by buying shares in smaller companies such as Niki.

“When we realized our money was growing, we started to invest in bigger companies like Google and Amazon,” Breanna said. “We looked for everyday-use kind of companies.”

One of their first investments was in Southwest Airlines. They purchased 200 shares for $46 each. At the end of the game, the shares were bringing $62.90 each.

When they invested in Google, stocks were at $2,000 each. They decided to buy 10 stocks. At the end of the game, the stocks were worth $2,802.

The girls hung onto $50,000 as reserve capital in case of losses.

Both girls said the experience would be beneficial in real life.

“It’s going to help me when I get to college,” Breanna said. “If you know what you are doing, it will help you manage debt and investments.”

“It’s opened my eyes and helped me plan a better future,” Jayda said. “I love stocks, and I’m going to be a big risk-taker.”

They have learned how to do tax returns and now are learning how to prepare for retirement.

“It’s a good class,” Breanna said.