(COVINGTON, La.)  St. Paul’s students began taking steps recently to bring real-world investment simulators and financial planning services to St. Paul’s campus. Excitement for the club originated last school year when students taking Brian Logarbo’s Economics and Finance class began experimenting with the stock market simulator Investopedia.

“I always wanted to participate in Investopedia, but I did not take the economics class,”  co-founder Forge Mathes said.

Investopedia is an online database with a plethora of options, including investment news and strategies, retirement advice, and, most crucial for the club, an investment simulator. Investopedia’s simulator allows for custom trading scenarios to be created in which one begins with set amounts of capital to invest, and has limits on stock buys and shorts depending on how many outstanding shares are available.

Mathes went on to mention his interest in stocks and investing for years watching his parents, but he always wanted an opportunity to invest on a larger scale. Investopedia allows him to accomplish this goal and experiment with different investment strategies.

“We wanted to give students a chance to experiment with this program and benefit and learn from it,” co-founder Luc Hebert said.”I had shown Investopedia to a few friends outside of my economics class, and they jumped at the opportunity when I told them anyone can use the platform. Now it’s just about securing the members and a moderator to get the club started.”

Nevertheless, the club is still in a juvenile stage with many bureaucratic obstacles to overcome before being fully recognized as an official St. Paul’s club. For example, the decision on a club moderator has not been made, as well as decisions on a meeting scheduling or qualifications to join the club.

“We want the club to be set officially and have longevity at St. Paul’s,” Mathes added.

Mathes went on to mention the importance of an involved and interested younger class base in the club in order to keep it going for years to come. Also, the founders have planned to take the club further than just mock investing.

“We want the club to be more than just using the simulator; we want to incorporate different aspects of economics, financial planning and investment strategy into the club and use the simulator to test the strategies or effects of world news on the market,”  Hebert said. “Hopefully we can get this started quickly so the seniors will have a chance to participate before we graduate.