Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2000
Abstract
UNIVERSITY, Miss. -- When officials with Birmingham-based investment firm Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. visited The University of Mississippi recently to dedicate a new scholarship, no one could blame them for being tempted to do a little recruiting on the side. After all, Fred Brister, the company's senior vice president, and Gean Rea, vice president, developed their business acumen as Ole Miss students and knew they had put the firm's funds into capable hands. 1999 was the fourth annual brokerage account partnership between the University and Sterne, Agee. The partnership creates a shared stock account for business students to invest at their discretion, allowing the students to apply modern finance theory to investment decisions directly involving market transactions. As participants in the Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. Student Investment Fund, 13 finance students took charge of a $50,000 portfolio, with the promise they could keep 50 percent of any profits they generated. Administrators with the Ole Miss School of Business Administration decided directing the profits back to the students only fit. Student investors generated more than $14,000 in profit in just two months. And the Sterne, Agee & Leach Investment Fund has taken that student astuteness and translated it into two annual scholarships for finance majors in the business school. It's a win, win and win situation. Sterne, Agee identifies future business leaders, students experience the stock market firsthand and yet-to-be-named scholarship winners also reap rewards. "Our students demonstrated exceptional skill in a market that has seen some wild fluctuations, and I can think of no better way to reward them than giving the money back in the form of a scholar-ship," said Dr. Gay Hatfield, assistant dean of the School. The student investment fund is designed as an investment portfolio-building experience. Eligible assets for investment are restricted to common stocks listed on a domestic exchange or the NASDAQ system, corporate and government bonds, and preferred stocks. Securities, such as publicly traded limited partnership interests and closed-end investment company shares, also are eligible provided they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or American Stock Exchanges or NASDAQ. The Ole Miss group, led by a student management team, receives monthly statements detailing cost basis, market value, and unrealized profits and losses from their Sterne, Agee broker. Brister, a 1971 Ole Miss alumnus, consulted with company CEO Jim Holbrook on the decision to engage student investors on the Oxford campus. "Our theory is that it's valuable to provide a vehicle for students to actively play the market with real money and real results," he said. Brister and Rea, a 1982 Ole Miss graduate, presented the $7,162 check to the student group. "We start with a lot of different ideas," said club president Jim Taylor of Crawfordsville, Ark. "It's fun to whittle them down and make the picks. I sometimes act as tie breaker when we're making controversial picks." In addition to giving participating students experience in the financial world, the investment program provides a competitive incentive. Sterne, Agee has entered into the same partnership with the University of Alabama, Auburn University and the University of Georgia. "I sit back and let them do everything -- decide what to buy and sell. The success of this is all theirs," said Kyle Jones, the group's adviser and visiting assistant professor of finance at Ole Miss.
Relational Format
Newsletter
Recommended Citation
Boyd, Beth and Sullivan, Heather, "Savvy Business Students Ride Stock Market to New Scholarships" (2000). University of Mississippi News. 8832.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/umnews/8832
Accessibility Status
Searchable text