Student investors at OHS
senior Dezmond Nichols analyzes the S&P 500 for future trades.
February 20, 2023
Investing is a great opportunity for people willing to look to slowly grow their wealth while being patient. It is a great way to set yourself up for retirement when you are older. Owatonna High School offers a personal finance class as an elective. This class can be extremely beneficial for people’s future.
OHS teacher Mr. Tate Cummins said, “Personal finance as a young adult is absolutely critical. Especially the fundamentals of tracking income and expenses, setting financial goals, using the Rule of 72 to your advantage (compound interest), becoming a homeowner, understanding the pitfalls of credit card debt and investing in yourself (education and training) to earn an income that supports your lifestyle. As our parents have told us:” “Money doesn’t grow on trees”. Young adults have to take ownership in preparing themselves after high school. I think this class can be very eye opening for our students.”
Mr. Cummins has had a background in the market and has learned a lot about the stock market when he was younger.
Mr. Cummins said, “It turns out the events from 9/11 had a big impact on the financial markets. At the time, I was a young Financial Advisor with American Express. I had been with the company for approximately 18 months and things were going well. I enjoyed it, but I always had a feeling that I wanted to help a younger generation understand the importance of business and more specifically- finance. With the turbulence in the world economy and the overall difficulty with gaining new clients during that time; I decided to go back to school to become a business teacher.”
This shows his love for teaching and his experience with the market which is a perfect combination to teach the students of OHS.
Junior Maurice Dut is a business fanatic that loves to learn. He is currently enrolled in marketing and in personal finance. Personal finance is an easier class to access in the school due to the importance of the class.
Dut said, “Personal Finance it’s an important class that everybody needs to take to learn how to manage their money and learn about the stock market.”
