The Investments Club
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The investments club is open to all students who are interested in learning more about investments and investing. No prior experience is necessary. The purpose of the club is to help students learn more about the process of making good investment decisions. The club manages about $300,000 of Furman's endowment funds. If you are interested in participating, contact Bruce Brown at 294-3319 or bruce.brown@furman.edu. |
History
The Furman Investments Club started back in March of 1988 with $100,000 of Furman Endowment money. The account grew to over $345,000 by December of 2000 at which time the University withdrew the club's cash holdings of $105,000 and decided to sweep future dividends and interest earnings. After the cash withdrawal and market decline, the club balance fell to a low of $150,000 in March of 2003. As the market peaked shortly after the large cash withdrawal, we convinced our new VP of Finance in October of 2004 to leave us alone and let us once again reinvest our interest and dividends. The club holdings have since grown to approximately $300,000.
Operation
The club meets twice per month with professors or other guests presenting short "lessons" on various investment topics. Students propose changes in the portfolio and must present research and rationale for their proposals. The club then votes to follow the recommendation or not. We, for the most part, stay fully invested which requires decisions to "sell" in order to take new positions. Since we are using endowment money we are aware of our ficuciary responsibility and emphasize a long term approach. We do write "covered" calls periodically and have a small fixed income position.