A group of six students are deciding how to invest a million dollar endowment from Bethany College alum, Bob McCann.
Senior Randy Stuckwish of Pittsburgh is a member of the new student investment club.
“It is terrifying to know that you are working with his money and the money that hopefully you will earn from the fund will benefit the school that you love, so I mean it is very terrifying,” said Stuckwish.
So far, Bethany students have invested $50,000 in five different stocks including Exxon Mobile and McDonalds. Kelly Sofca of Wheeling said the real life experience is challenging.
“We have a positive return right now one of our stocks we were up 20 percent on it and then lost it all in one day and like I said it is a learning experience and that is one of the things you learn in investing.”
Sofca added, “It has been a challenge just looking at all the factors to consider when analyzing a stock and it has been a challenge in gathering all of the information and coming to an informed decision on your own, not just looking at Morning Star saying buy, sell, but coming to your own conclusion and being able to defend that decision based on the research that you have done.”
The Bethany investment club began in the Summer thanks to a million dollar endowment from Bob McCann and his wife Cindy. McCann, a graduate of Bethany College is a successful Wall Street investor.
He currently is CEO of UBS Wealth Management Americas in New York and serves as Vice Chairman on Bethany College’s Board of Trustees.
He received his MBA from Texas Christian University where he has also contributed money to a similar investment program.
“I thought it was the best learning experience that I ever had in preparing me to come to Wall Street and it has been a dream of mine to start a similar fund at Bethany and that is what started the McCann fund at Bethany, but the important thing is that the students at Bethany College are going to get this unique learning experience and they are going to be the ones making these investment decisions,” said McCann
After the students select their stocks, they have to present their investment strategies to an advisory committee of Bethany professors, board members and financial experts.
Stuckwish said like most of his friends in the group, he plans to use his investment experience to help him land a job on Wall Street someday.
“It is a good field for me to go into and a lot of people would disagree and say you aren’t doing anything good by going into private investments, but you are helping somebody’s parents pay for their kids education, you are helping people retire and be able to live a good life after that so there is a personal benefit in going in to that type of career.”
Half of the student’s profits will be re-invested, while the other half will be used to help support the McCann Learning Center at the college.