[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6585]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    ENCOURAGING FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT WEST IREDELL HIGH SCHOOL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, each year, more than 600,000 students across 
all 50 States play the SIFMA Foundation's celebrated Stock Market Game, 
an online simulation of the global capital markets. The program 
introduces students to economics, investing, and personal finance in 
order to prepare them for financially independent futures.
  Last week, I had the privilege of visiting West Iredell High School 
in Statesville, North Carolina, where students in Ms. Brooke Campbell's 
personal finance class were wrapping up participation in the 12th 
annual Capitol Hill Challenge.
  The Capitol Hill Challenge matches Members of Congress with students, 
teachers, and schools competing in the Stock Market Game. The 10 teams 
with the highest-ranked portfolios at the end of the competition win a 
trip to Washington, D.C.
  Mr. Speaker, for 14 weeks, nine teams from West Iredell managed a 
hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio and invested in real stocks, 
bonds, and mutual funds. Unfortunately, no one from the school finished 
in the top 10, but when the final results were tabulated at the end of 
the competition, five of the teams increased the value of their online 
portfolio. For high school students with little to no experience 
investing, that is a significant accomplishment.
  Four of the teams at West Iredell finished with less money than when 
they started. However, they lost less than $3,400 combined. As I said 
to the students, even great investors like Warren Buffett aren't 
bulletproof when it comes to the stock market. They may call him the 
Oracle of Omaha, but even Warren Buffett gets it wrong sometimes. These 
students made an admirable effort and learned important lessons about 
the volatility of investing.
  During the visit, Mr. Speaker, I also participated in a simulation 
with students about the realities of money. Everyone was assigned a job 
and a salary with which to develop a budget and make purchases. This 
former educator was a teacher making $60,000 a year, a scenario that 
definitely hit close to home.
  As part of the simulation, students had to purchase a new door for 
their house. If they paid cash for the door, they discovered it would 
cost only $300. However, if they bought the door on credit with the 
terms and conditions offered, they would pay nearly $800 for the same 
door. Students learned important lessons about how interest is a 
double-edged sword. When you invest your money, it gains interest. When 
you buy on credit, you pay interest.
  West Iredell High School and Ms. Campbell are doing these students a 
great service by teaching them the importance of financial literacy and 
ensuring they have a strong financial education. It is my belief the 
lessons they are learning in the classroom will lead to careful and 
thoughtful decisionmaking in the real world.

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