Each year ASX, the company which is responsible for the bulk of Australian Stock Exchange Trading, runs an educational game for school children.
In its marketing, the ASX schools share market game offers students “the opportunity to develop their knowledge of the share market, research companies, and discover the importance of wise investment decisions”.
While this sounds like a charitable and community minded endeavour, we need to bear in mind that the ASX makes money when Australians trade in shares, so there is obviously a vested interest on their part. However, in general we would be supportive of anything that assists in developing financial literacy for young Australians.
Where we do have an issue though, is the use of the statement “setting them on a part towards understanding the world of investing”.
This is actually trading, not investing. The competition only runs for 10 weeks, investment would be more like 10 years. You could use a dartboard to produce a competitive return over 10 weeks!
The economist Paul Samuelson made the famous quote “investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement take $800 and go to Las Vegas.”