Students from Harvard-Westlake in Beverly Hills are off to a fast start as they got right down to business.
RTSWS volunteers, all female financial professionals from TD Ameritrade, began with a discussion on what it means to be “in the market”, why the market “closes” and covered the basics about the Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P indices. Students downloaded a stock market app to their phones and added four securities (FB, AMZN, SBUX and AAPL). The students are looking at the app each day and calculating the current value of this portfolio assuming they owned 100 shares of each. Each week, they are discussing their findings with the TD Ameritrade pros. This includes what happens in the broader markets, how political landscapes affect global markets, what causes price fluctuations of each stock and the current return on “paper” investments.
The girls are engaged and have many good questions about the stock market such as:
“How many shares of Amazon are out in the market?”
“Is there always someone on the other side of a trade to buy/sell a stock?”
“How does bad news affect a stock price?”
The students, role playing as a financial advisor, were then introduced to “Jane”, their 28-year-old client. They reviewed a copy of her pay stub, current expenses, savings goals and wish list. The students then split into teams to begin research on local cost of living expenses, interest rates and market returns. They brainstormed as small groups throughout this session and will do so next session to create a budget for Jane given her $68,000 annual starting salary.
Welcome ladies to the value of knowing how to do financial math in the real world and learning how to SAVE AND INVEST!
Among women, financial illiteracy cuts across all socioeconomic classes.
When two out three women state they know little to nothing about finance, this is a cause for concern.
When 80% of teachers self-report that they do not feel qualified to teach financial literacy, this is a cause for concern.
When the number of women leading the financial services sector and S&P 500 companies drops to 4.6% after a 40 year high of 5%, this is a cause for concern.
For International Women’s Day we are all being challenged to #BeBoldForChange and for us that is continuing to pledge to helping spark the interest of high school girls into careers in finance and teach financial literacy.
Here is where we stand:
We will be bold and forge women’s advancement.
Rock The Street, Wall Street encourages girls to explore a career in finance by acquainting them with leading women in the financial services industry. By reaching out to girls while in high school, we’ll commission them to take charge of their finances at an early age. We illuminate the relevance of finance in everyday life and encourage girls to study math and finance, and seek a profession in the financial industry, where women are vastly under-represented and comprise a small percentage of the industry leaders.
Our students are being educated beyond their core components of classroom curriculum. They are being engaged in higher thinking, the big picture, and the ability to envision their financial futures for themselves, their families and their communities.
Phoenix Club of Nashville joins forces with RTSWS and MNPS Overton High School to empower girls with the M in STEM.
Last year The Phoenix Club of Nashville (PCON) awarded Rock The Street Wall Street (RTSWS) $12,500 to co-sponsor our program at Metro Nashville Public School, Overton High School. Using their Venture Philanthropy (VP) process, PCON partnered with us–creating a relationship of mutual respect and passion for change.
You might think RTSWS which caters to females ONLY, would NOT have much of a champion in a men’s ONLY organization. However, we have met our match with PCON and are very alike in what we are trying to achieve:
PCON’s mission is to benefit under-served youth in Middle Tennessee AND to develop its members into leaders who will address diversity and inclusion issues in their community and in their business.
Want to hear more about how that aligns with RTSWS? We asked 2018 PCON President Dave Hanson “the hard questions.” See below for his answers.
Q:Why did your club want to sponsor the RTSWS program at Overton High School?
A: There are many reasons, but some of the most meaningful are that RTSWS: 1) Clearly articulates the problem they are trying to solve
2) Has a passionate and capable management team and organizational structure
3) Tracks the outcomes of how girls in the program progress in business and finance
4) Mission aligns with the background/experiences of many PCON members, many of whom are finance professionals
The opportunity to co-invest with the HCA Foundation at Overton High School was one that made a lot of sense for the Phoenix Club. Our corporate development team, led by Roscoe High & JC Darby, is constantly looking for collaborative partnerships with business leaders in Middle TN, and the co-investment at Overton fit squarely into what we are looking to achieve. The Phoenix Club sees dozens of non-profit programs per year, and we hope to build on this model as we work with other corporations / foundations to help them achieve their philanthropic goals.
Q: Why does a club for men think it’s important for high school girls to know how to budget, save and invest?
A:PCON and RTSWS both look to provide equality of opportunity and access to valuable skills and programs that can dramatically change family trajectories in one generation. RTSWS’ program has served as a reminder that things don’t just change on their own—people have to create the world they want to see. Economic empowerment carries lasting impact. Understanding the core components of finance can provide a sense of security, and the ability to go out and take a risk and make better decisions for yourself and your family. No one should be limited by a social stereotype or historical gender role, and sometimes it just takes a nudge to remind people.
RTSWS is providing valuable skills and new economic opportunities for girls in Middle Tennessee. These opportunities are creating a brighter future for girls in Middle Tennessee and has a “compounding interest” effect as more and more girls follow in their footsteps.
PCON you’re a spark plug for good!
Thanks for igniting something amazing at MNPS Overton High School!
WHO: CORPORATE PARTNERS – LPL Financial and MFS Investment Management
AND WHO ELSE: HIGH SCHOOL PARTNER- South Mecklenburg HS
WHAT: MOST SUCCESSFUL RTSWS INAUGURAL LAUNCH AT A NEW SCHOOL!
WHERE: CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
WHEN: FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS, 2017/2018
# OF FALL STUDENTS – 55 STUDENTS – OUR MOST EVER AT ONE SCHOOL!
# OF SPRING PROTEGES – 41 STUDENTS – OUR MOST EVER AT ONE SCHOOL!
# OF VOLS – 41 LPL VOLUNTEER MENTORS – OUR MOST EVER AT ONE CORPORATION!
Changing the Perception of Finance
Students from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, NC rocketed over to the East Coast corporate offices of LPL Financial – the largest independent Broker-Dealer in the US – for their RTSWS field trip and met more women of LPL. The field trip capped off five weeks of financial “hands on” projects led by LPL female fiancial professionals. During the field trip, the pros spoke of their own college and career trajectories and about getting on the right pathway early in life with their personal finances.
Cheryl L. Vanosdall, Teacher and Math Academic Facilitator at South Mecklenburg said, “The girls talked about the field trip the entire way back to school on the bus and then to their teachers once they returned. I had a teacher stop by my office at the end of the day and asked me how the field trip went. As I was telling her all about it, she said, “I know. A couple of the girls came back to my class when you returned and told me everything with such enthusiasm and excitement.”
#FinanceRocks!
RTSWS provides access to valuable skills and programs that dramatically change family trajectories in one generation.
That’s the POWER of being financially literate.
Charged. Inspired. Grateful.
That’s how your generosity makes our students feel.
Just a few blocks from the “Charging Bull” and “Fearless Girl” installations in the Wall Street district, NYC Baruch College High School girls came face-to-face with their financial future during their RTSWS field trip to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) offices.
Kay, a RTSWS student from Baruch, best states what the RTSWS financial projects she worked on during the semester means to her and her classmates in the video above:
“Math, and science and finance (aren’t) really just some school subjects that I have to sit though. (They are) things I am going to need in the real world.I’m so lucky to be learning about it now, because so many young women, and youth in general, don’t get the opportunity. It made me more aware of how much privilege I have to get educated on these topics… My entire group (of classmates), realized that it isn’t just this fictional person named Jane – that it’s going to be us when we graduate in two years and when we’re in college…and then (when we’re) independent…”
If they can see it, they can be it.
During the Manhattan field trip, these RTSWS students:
Met Melanie Mortimer, President SIFMA Foundation
Participated in a Q&A panel with top female Broadridge Solutions and SIFMA executives
Learned about the college and career paths of these women
Learned too, about the gender pay gap and how to negotiate a raise
Were introduced to the SIFMA Stock Market Game
Broadridge Solutions, sponsor of the RTSWS program at Baruch College HS, is a provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds and corporate issuers. The Broadridge women were classroom financial project instructors and guest panelists. They have meaningfully impacted these students’ lives, many of whom had never before been in an office environment, met women executives nor heard about the trajectories of women in finance.
More from Kay about the Broadridge financial volunteers who guided her and her team through the classroom financial projects:
“They (Broadridge volunteers) are just so inviting and empowering and encouraging. They are not the typical—when I think of business and finance I think of some old guy sitting in a cubicle staring at a white wall or ceiling. But they are completely different from that which is why I think they have the program in the first place. They are so warm and you can tell that they really care about us and it’s they are not in it just for them. They recognize that we are youth and that we have power.”
Thank you for your time, talent and funding, Broadridge.
You make finance fun!
