I asked 15 energetic teenagers to build a stock portfolio. This is what they picked!

At my Barter2Bitcoin summer camp, the class had learned about the basics of stock investments. There were plenty of questions and discussions related to the merits of using certain popular metrics for stock picking (What does a low P/E signal about the quality of a stock? What about high or low dividend?).

Then I asked them to make one stock pick with limited amount of “fake” money. Not everyone had the same amount to spend, so their purchasing power varied. The group had been engaged throughout and mostly followed the number crunching (tried anyway, so A+ for the effort!). Still, with a room full of energetic teenagers, most with smartphones and some electronic games, I expected to see a list of technology picks from the group. On the contrary, what they produced was clearly a well researched and balanced portfolio that included a mix of dividend payers, growth companies, and large and small caps. Here’s their chosen portfolio in aggregate (combining similar stock picks on one line):

The portfolio is holding well so far even through market fluctuations. The next day the group picked a portfolio of crypto currencies, but that’s a story for another blog entry. Stay tuned!