Exeter Investment Society
By SAM ALTMAN, VICTOR ANGELINE, JACK CASSIDY, CAROL LEE, and MEGHAN TATE ZEE
On Monday nights, On Monday nights, Exonians father in the Forum to learn about economics through watching presentations and doing interactive activities. Co-heads Dhruv Nagarajan, Ronald Qiao, Shaoshao Tang, and Eric Bagg lead the Exeter Investment Society. Through this club, Exonians compete in competitions and gain knowledge on different aspects of the macroeconomy.
Nagarajan explained the general course of meetings in the Investment Society throughout the year. “We’ve tried to tailor the curriculum in such a way that people of all investing experience can get aligned with what we’re talking about within the first couple of months,” he said. “We start with simple topics like what a stock is and how to construct a portfolio. Then we move into more complicated topics like how the macroeconomy affects the performance of different sectors and how you can use that knowledge to balance a portfolio in different circumstances.”
Qiao offered an example of a meeting that was conducted earlier this year. “In early October, Dhruv and I lectured together on portfolio allocations. We talked about economic cycles, how interest rates affect different stocks and diversification of assets in different environments,” he said.
The complex and diverse topics of discussion are what make the club not only enticing but enjoyable. “I enjoy learning all of the vocabulary you need to know in the investing world,” lower Eli Orbach commented. “In the meetings, they talk about lots of topics, most recently about financial statements.”
“It’s a great community,” lower Drona Gaddam said. “Investment Society is intellectually challenging but we also have a lot of fun. I think it will help me with finance in the future because the co-heads are very knowledgeable and we even do live simulations that allow us to apply what we learn.”
Upper Eric Bagg added, “My favorite parts of the club are the guest speakers and competitions—specifically our termly stock account competitions, the NIC, and the Wharton Investment Competition each fall.”
Investment Society also hosts online investment games for members to participate in throughout the year. Upper Roy Vaid explained, “MarketWatch is a platform that allows people to use fake money in a stock market that mimics the real one to simulate how your choices would play out in the real world. As of today, I’m actually leading the competition at 272% return so far. While part of it was luck, I did a lot of due diligence on catalyst events that I thought would have a large impact on the market.”
“Last year we reset the competition every month, but this year we are doing it by term,” Qiao said. “The rationale is that this way, short-term market volatility doesn’t factor in as much. We wanted to give an environment where members can test their skills in a simulated protected environment so that they can get the feel of the markets.”
“They are also very fun because it’s fake money and it’s over a short time period,” Nagarajan commented. “People just use them as outlets to be more speculative with their investments. We also use them as a way to discuss our investment rationale and practice the concepts we’ve learned.”
Beyond that, Investment Society also participates in competitive international competitions in which students can earn prizes. “In the Wharton Investment Challenge, you’re given a hypothetical real client who has certain investment goals, risk profile, and investor profile. You need to curate a portfolio for them from a given list of stock tickers. Students get into groups of four to seven, and they submit midterm and final reports. If they make it to the next stage, they submit videos and presentations,” Nagarajan explained.