Birmingham Student Shows His Investment Savvy -- Twice

Birmingham, MI — A Groves High School student is the first in the history of the Bloomfield Hills Financial Stock-to-Scholarship Challenge — a three-month-long contest that tests students’ investment savvy — to win the competition twice in its four-year history in the area.

Adnan Xavier Fakhouri, 16, won the contest two years ago at the end of his freshman year and again this year after he increased his stock portfolio by 42.5 percent, The Birmingham Eccentric reports. The effort won him a $5,000 college scholarship.

Students are given $100,000 in play money to invest in various stocks and mutual funds. They’re allowed to place trades in their portfolios at will on a third-party site, The Stock Market Game, developed by the SIFMA Foundation to increase students’ understanding of investing and also give them real-world skills and practice in math English language arts, economics, social studies and other subjects.

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Kevin VanDyke, founder and president of Bloomfield Hills Financial, told The Eccentric Fakhouri and the other contestants showed financial maturity in the management of their portfolios.

“Consistency is what we strive for when building personal financial portfolios,” VanDyke said. “These winners show a seriousness and dedication in the challenge that belies their ages.”

So, what advice does Fakhouri, whose career goal is to become an investment banker, offer to investors?

“For the average investor,” he said, “I would recommend not buying into single stocks, but rather a basket or the entire American market. I personally believe that the best three ETFs (exchange-traded funds) are DIA, SPY, and QQQ.

“These provide not only a tri-diversified exposure to the industrial sector, technology sector, and overall market,” he said, “but provide a higher exposure to some of the more safe and less risky established businesses across all sectors, without having to worry about the high volatility of the penny stock or micro capitalization market.”

» What else does he have to say? Find out on hometownlife.com.