Investor Notes

Welcome to the 2026 - 2027 Stock Market Challenge.  We will buy our Session #1 this weekend which will include 3 stocks from our 30 dow jones choices.  Only buy whole number share amounts.  We will spend 75% minimum of our $100,000 starting amount and complete the calculations on our gold colored stock sheet and complete the entries on our school website under the academics tab and click on the Stock Market Challenge.  Due to the Labor Day weekend, this first session will be due by Tuesday, 9/9 at 8 am.

Challenge Years      Winner's Name            Total Amount        Rate of Return

2012-2013                Evan Lance                        $145,300                    45.3%

2013-2014                Trent Wells                        $147,800                    47.8%

2014-2015                James Madison                $153,400                    53.4%

2015-2016                Avery Fleeman                 $152,600                    52.6%

2016-2017                Loren Holl                            $148,100                    48.1%

2017-2018                Mr. Thompson                   $155,700                    55.7%

2018-2019                James Madison                 $173,800                    73.8%

2019-2020                Mr. Thompson                   $136,100                     36.1%

2020-2021                Copeland Goodson         $160,100                     60.1%

2021-2022                Brady O'Connor                $183,000                     83.0%

2022-2023     Anna Randles               $190,000       90%

2023-2024                Owen Roach $159,993 60%

2024-2025     Logan Petty $181,090 81.1%

2025-2026     Manny Moffitt $193,048 93%

In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum.[1] Speculation typically involves the lending of money for the purchase of assets, equity or debt but in a manner that has not been given thorough analysis or is deemed to have low margin of safety or a significant risk of the loss of the principal investment. The term, "speculation," which is formally defined as above in Graham and Dodd's 1934 text, Security Analysis, contrasts with the term "investment," which is a financial operation that, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return.[1]

In a financial context, the terms "speculation" and "investment" are actually quite specific. For instance, although the word "investment" is commonly used to mean any act of placing money in a financial vehicle with the intent of producing returns over a period of time, most ventured money—including funds placed in the world's stock markets—is technically not investment, but speculation.

Speculators may rely on an asset appreciating in price due to any of a number of factors that cannot be well enough understood by the speculator to make an investment-quality decision. Some such factors are shifting consumer tastes, fluctuating economic conditions, buyers' changing perceptions of the worth of a stock security, economic factors associated with market timing, the factors associated with solely chart-based analysis, and the many influences over the short-term movement of securities.