Two days after selling his stock in Tesla at $270 a share with his father, senior Mairt-Clydrick “Mc” Nagar said Tesla’s share price rose to $300, leaving him upset at this loss. 

“I would have made somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 more dollars if we had just waited, but at the end of the day, you never know where a stock is going to go,” Nagar said. 

In his freshman year of high school, Nagar said his father exposed him to the world of finance through watching videos of the successful businessman, Warren Buffet. Now, he is the president of Northwest’s investing club.  

“[Investing] calls me to be more financially literate and know what I’m talking about,” Nagar said. “I’m just getting to know more about investing, and then spewing those findings to my members.” 

Nagar said he ran for president of the Investing Club because he wanted to elevate the club’s recognition and lead a group of people. Last year, he said there were not many members in the club and he hoped to increase the number this year. 

“It was not as exciting. There wasn’t much energy in my mind,” Nagar said. “When I was at the meetings, I was like, ‘If I were the president, I could definitely make things way bigger and make a big impact on this club.’” 

Senior Evie Fisher is in charge of media and outreach for the club. She said Nagar has promoted it through a revamped social media presence and running more hands-on activities. 

“He has been spending so much time and dedication to this club, as well as making it fun for others,” Fisher said. “We invest his actual money, and we as a club get to decide where we invest.” 

Nagar said all of the club’s activities are funded out of his account. He said it typically costs $60 every month to fund the meetings, but he’s been working more shifts to compensate for the money going to the club. 

“I don’t care about the fact that I have to pay for all of it because of just how much I love all of the involvement going on and the buzz that’s going around and how big it’s grown,” Nagar said. “I feel like that’s worth the cost.”

Additionally, on the second meeting of the school year, Nagar said he promised the club that he would let a club member buzz his hair if the club met the $500 mark through the simulated account.

“If we meet $500, we can pay for senior cords, fund our own catering event, and donate excess funds to charities,” Nagar said. “Shaving my head is just a little cherry on top.” 

Fisher said alongside educating members, one of the club’s main objectives is to bring everyone together.

 “The community that has come from this has been so great,” Fisher said. “We’re getting to meet kids from all different grades, and everybody’s been talking to one another and having fun and learning about investing.”

Financial Literacy teacher Erin Izzo said she has noticed a rise in student interest in investing. She said her students participate in projects, such as online simulated accounts mimicking the stock market, to teach core concepts such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. 

“Students have $100,000 to choose investments they would be interested in and see how that simulated account might fluctuate throughout a semester,” Izzo said. “I’m always happily surprised to hear students tell me [about] the level of knowledge and the level of interest that they have in investing.” 

Izzo said it is important for students to learn about investing and take advantage of setting themselves up financially to achieve more in the long run. 

“At a young age, they can take advantage of compound interest, which means that as your investments grow, you’re earning interest on the interest that you accrue in those accounts,” Izzo said. 

Through each investment, Nagar said he will continue investing in the future because of the money he is accruing over time. However, he said if students are interested in investing, committing to the time required to maximize the stock market’s benefits is important.

“Investing money carefully is such a tedious process, and you really need a lot of time and attention to it every single day, just to make sure that nothing goes awry,” Nagar said. “Kids tend to be really impatient, and investing is all about patience, and you’re never going to make money if you’re not patient with your own money.” 

Similarly, Izzo said students should be patient with the stock market and allow it to take its course to reach their financial goals but also be conscious of the amount of money they’ve invested.

“You can’t be in a situation where you need to sell [your stocks] in order to pay for day-to-day expenses,” Izzo said. “Be aware that when you do invest for the long term, it’s not always going to go up immediately.”

Fisher said students should join the Investing Club because the world revolves around money. 

“At every single meeting I’m learning more about the investing world,” Fisher said. “Everybody should come join. It’s a really fun time, a really great community and a great way to get involved in Northwest.”