Stocks & Bonds Workshop
Written by Roger Nath, YIP Toronto Class of 2017
On February 4th, 2017, the Young Investor Program had the opportunity to host two fantastic and insightful guest speakers: Lucy Lu (Executive Member of YIP and Western Investment Club Junior Analyst), and Ms. Jenna Gillies, VP of Investor Relations at the Toronto-based private equity firm, Ewing Morris and Co.
Lucy’s Primer:
Lucy is one of the Director of Events of the Young Investor Program organizing team. Her introductory primer provided us with some invaluable information related to investing and trading in securities in capital markets.
For instance, we learned about the major exchanges where stocks are traded in North America, such as the Nasdaq and TSX, and multiple investment/trading approaches (e.g.- growth driven, global macro, etc.). We also learned how to read a stock quote (e.g.- 52 Week highs/lows, P/E ratio, etc.), as well as about how to build and manage a well-balanced portfolio using both conservative and moderately aggressive allocation strategies.
Following the primer, Lucy explained the rules of the stock pitch competition and how we will be judged based on both our portfolio performance and our investment strategy on March 25th, 2017.
Next, we took the information we learned in the primer, and applied it too…
Jenna’s Presentation:
In addition to Lucy, we were honoured to have with us Western-alumna, Ms. Jenna Gillies. Jenna’s investment experience was fantastic — prior to her role as VP of Investor Relations at Ewing Morris and Co., she worked in the Private Equity and Investment Banking divisions at the Blackstone Group and JP Morgan Chase and Co., respectively.
I enjoyed how Jenna used her work experience in real life to further deepen our understanding of elements from the primer and optimize our learning.
For example, while we were learning about capital markets, she used her work experience to lead us in approaching the topic from a private equity angle. Jenna explained how many of her deals involved companies whose stock and worth may have been undervalued, and how that presented a growth opportunity for both the company and Ewing Morris as an investor.
Afterwards, a few other Young Investor Program students and I had an enjoyable discussion with Jenna about the Snap IPO, Twitter, fin-tech, and the future of the private equity industry as a whole.
All in all, the YIP Stocks and Bonds workshop was great. It provided us with a wealth of information and from two very insightful and credible sources. On behalf of all the YIP students, I’d like to thank Ms. Lu and Ms. Gillies, and I look forward to what YIP has in store for us (and you) next!
