Finance
The finance “Bulls” are running at Herriman High School club for girls.
All the pre-meeting boxes had been checked in the moments prior to the recent gathering of Herriman High School’s “Girls Investing Club.”
- Engaging digital finance-presentation slides were all prepared and uploaded. Check.
- The club’s three student organizers — each donning “Girls Investing Club” T-shirts — stood smiling and ready to welcome their fellow students and guest speaker for the club’s October meeting. Check.
- And dozens of donated Crumble cookies were fanned out across a classroom folding table, just for added enticement. And, check.
But would students show up?
It was a fair question.
After all, the first-year club was meeting on a Friday afternoon after the end of a Herriman High school week.
Now the weekend was calling. Would high school girls (and a few boys) really want to hang around campus for an extra hour to talk stock trading, Roth IRA contributions, compound interest and entrepreneurship?
The answer: An emphatic “Yes”.
By the time Herriman High School’s Girls Investing Club leaders called their October meeting to order, the classroom was packed. And when all the seats were filled, the remaining students simply plopped down on the floor.
“Thank you so much for joining our meeting today,” said high school senior and club co-founder Kaylee Arsenault, greeting her fellow club members. “Today’s theme will focus on stocks and the stock market.”
An alliance of finance-minded girls
The genesis of the Herriman High School’s Girls Investing Club was sparked last spring when Arsenault and her friend Lizzie Anderson were participating in an international conference for Distributive Education Clubs of America — aka DECA, a nonprofit organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
The then-high school juniors fell short in their bid at the conference to win an international DECA business competition — but they were already setting their sights on winning it their senior year.
The girls knew that in order to be competitive for the international DECA contest, they needed to find, in Anderson’s words, “A ‘fire’ project to win.”
So they began searching for a business-related need within their own community.
“We learned that there’s a major lack of finance knowledge among women — along with a lack of women in finance professions and a lack of women participating in investing,” said Anderson.
The imbalance in women participating in finance and investing with confidence became even more frustrating for the Herriman students after discovering research that revealed women actually perform better than their male counterparts when investing in the stock market.
Anderson, Arsenault and junior classmate Baylee Zuniga — with the support of their business teacher/DECA adviser Randall Kammerman — began forming an investor initiative project designed to educate and empower women in areas of finance and investment.
Their first task was to organize an investing club for girls at Herriman High.
Mission accomplished.
Herriman’s Girls Investing Club was up and running by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
“And now we also hope (to take the investing initiative) to middle schools and other high schools, and then across the community,” said Anderson.
The investing club leaders have even reached out to local women’s shelters and the Salt Lake City YWCA.
“We’ve already found interest in us coming and doing workshops to teach women in our community about how to invest and also how to prepare for finance-based professions,” added Anderson.
In its maiden year at Herriman, the Girls Investing Club has over 100 members.
Club organizers Anderson, Arsenault and Zuniga are also demonstrating an advanced grasp of the power of networking.
They have already connected with several folks in the local business community to secure sponsorships for their investing initiative — while simultaneously curating a pool of guest speakers for the club gatherings.
Anderson and her fellow student leaders are also developing another essential skill in navigating the turbulence of finance and investing: Resilience.
“We’ve had a lot of success with this club, but we’ve also had our fair share of challenges with, say, people not responding to us or initially struggling to get our club approved,” she said. “So we’ve learned about persistence and the importance of working with teammates.”
Kammerman, meanwhile, marvels at the capacity and “get-it-done” grit of his young students.
“I’ve taught here at Herriman for 13 years, but this is the first year we’ve done this club because we’ve never had a group of girls like this who just saw a need — and then wanted to do this awesome thing,” he said.
“I love teaching finance, so when these students said they wanted to start the ‘Girls Investing Club’, I just said, ‘Let’s do it’.”
Women making leaps in stock market activity
Herriman High’s Girls Investing Club reflects national trends that women of all ages are making strides in their investing confidence and savvy.
More women are taking ownership of their finances and investing than ever before.
According to recent research from Fidelity Investment’s 2024 Women & Investing Study, 7 in 10 women own investments in the stock market — an 18% increase compared to 2023.
While younger generations continue to invest in higher numbers, the percentage of Gen X and Boomer women who invest in the stock market jumped the most year-over-year, increasing 18% and 23%, respectively.
“It’s encouraging to see the number of women taking control of their finances swell over the past three years,” said Sangeeta Moorjani, head of tax exempt market and lifetime engagement for Fidelity Investments.
“We know there is still work to be done — the financial confidence gap continues to persist, and women continue to report higher levels of financial stress than men — but we’ve made considerable strides.”
After-school “running with the bulls”
The first half of October’s Girls Investing Club meeting focused on the stock markets.
But instead of simply lecturing the club members on the ins-and-outs of, say, the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq Composite, the three student leaders — Anderson, Arsenault and Zuniga — “hired” each club member to become virtual stock market investors.
Utilizing the popular MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange — “Run with the Bulls, Without the Risk!” — the Herriman students each opened-up their own simulated investing accounts on their phones or laptops.
Within seconds, they were analyzing market trends and searching for well-known publicly traded companies such as Nike and Netflix — and then making initial virtual investments utilizing $100K in, well, play money.
Over the course of the 2024-2025 school year, Herriman’s club members will compete for “Top Investor” spots atop the club’s MarketWatch leaderboard.
At year’s end, the top three performers will walk away, literally, with prized dividends — a pair of trendy new sneakers.
Even while feeling the combined rush of market investing and sugary Crumbl cookies, the club turned its collective attention to October’s guest speaker, Vincenza Vicari-Bentley.
An accredited financial counselor and the coordinator of Utah State University Extension’s Empowering Financial Wellness Program, Vicari-Bentley spent 30 minutes interacting with club members on financial topics such as the power of long-term investing, leveraging compound interest, taxes and budgeting, outpacing inflation and wisely utilizing finance-related social media.
“I think it’s super cool that all of you are here at this stage of your life and age,” said Vicari-Bentley. “I wish this was something that I would have been thinking about or had been interested in years ago, because I would have been that much further ahead.
“So good on you for being here and being open to learning about this stuff… It’s empowering.”
An investing community for all girls
Herriman sophomore Bryanna Nickerson is quick to admit she’s not generally interested in money matters.
Still, she’s proud to be a member of her school’s charter investing club designed especially for girls.
“I’m hoping that this club can help me realize that I’m going to need to deal with money in my life, and that there are ways to do that,” she said. “So I’m really glad that I signed up for the club because it’s a learning opportunity — and there are good snacks.”
When Herriman’s club gathers once again in November and beyond, it will be saving a seat — and a cookie — for Nickerson and scores of other girls.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the third of a three-part series, we look at Hong Kong’s position as a stable base where demand for property has held firm despite the global turmoil.
The seven-week military conflict in the Middle East will redefine Hong Kong’s role as a global financial centre, positioning the city as a safe harbour for capital and investments.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that more banks had turned to Hong Kong to protect their businesses and committed themselves to expanding their presence in the city. At the same time, inquiries about adding allocations of mainland Chinese assets among global investors had recently increased, potentially enlarging the customer base for the city’s asset-management industry and family offices and driving demand for offshore yuan-linked financial products.
For years, Hong Kong’s status as a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region has been challenged by Dubai, which has risen to prominence as a gateway linking Asia and Europe in capital flows, transport and logistics. With the war destabilising the Middle East – at one point forcing the closure of the Dubai International Airport and sending stocks in the Gulf region plunging – Hong Kong has re-emerged due to its geographical location, a pegged exchange rate, free capital flows and support from China’s economic strength.
“In that context, China and Hong Kong are attracting renewed attention,” said Gary Dugan, CEO of The Global CIO Office in Dubai, which advises family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals globally. “There is growing interest among some clients in increasing exposure to China and Hong Kong. It is less a simple flight to safety and more a reassessment of where investors see relative value, policy consistency and long-term strategic opportunity.”
Dubai now relies on trade, tourism and finance as the pillars of its economy, reflecting the success of its four-decade diversification away from oil for sustained growth. The United Arab Emirates city is home to Jebel Ali Free Zone, the biggest free-trade zone in the Middle East, and the second-largest stock market in the region, with combined market values of US$1.01 trillion. The city, also a global hub for gold trading, has a population of 4 million, about 80 per cent of which are foreign expatriates. Dubai’s economy grew by 4.7 per cent in the January-to-September period last year.
Before seeking a new referendum MPS needs to rebuild trust in the community through completing state audits, putting in place controls to prevent overspending and routine reports to the public.
For MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, who just wrapped up her first year leading Milwaukee’s public school system, her tenure has been punctuated by some very big numbers.
The first is $252 million. That is the amount of new spending voters narrowly approved in an April 2024 referendum to support operations in Wisconsin’s largest school district. Just months later, MPS was rocked by revelations the district was months behind in filing key financial reports to the state, which led to former Superintendent Keith Posley’s resignation.
The second is $1 billion. MPS faces a deferred maintenance backlog exceeding $1 billion. The district’s enrollment has declined 30% over the last 30 years, leaving many schools at less than 50% full. That, in part, is driving a plan to close some schools and to improve others to help lower costs.
The final is $46 million, the deficit MPS was running for the 2024-25 school year, an unexpected shortfall which has led to hundreds of staff layoffs.
Getting the district’s accounting, budgeting and financial reporting back on track has dominated Cassellius’s first year at MPS. In an April 15 interview with the Journal Sentinel’s editorial board, she talked in detail about the challenges putting that into order and progress she sees in restoring transparency into its operations.
State funding and aging buildings create budget nightmares
Cassellius says state needs to keep up its share of school funding
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel editorial board, MPS leader Brenda Cassellius says budgets and buildings are her two top worries.
Cassellius said the on-going budget crisis is her top concern. She said the state’s failure to live up to its share of funding is exacerbating MPS’ budget woes. A group of school districts, teachers and parents filed suit against the state Legislature and its Joint Finance Committee claiming the current state funding system is unconstitutional and prevents schools from meeting students’ educational needs.
Funding for special education is especially critical. About 20% of MPS students have disabilities, almost twice the share of the city’s charter schools, and the average of 14% across Wisconsin.
“What’s keeping me up now, you know, is really just the budget crisis we’re in, with not only this year but multiple years going out without additional state aid, we’ve been not getting funding for what our needs are for our students, and particularly our students with special needs,” she said.
Although the state budget increased special education funding to a 42% reimbursement rate, the actual rate has been about 35%. Another component to the budget headache is the age of MPS buildings. The average age is 85 years-old compared to 45 across the nation.
“We have just kicked this can down the curb or kicked it down the street or whatever you call it for too long. And it’s time that we really take on a serious conversation about the conditions of the learning environments in which we send our children,” she said. “Particularly in Milwaukee Public Schools, we serve the most vulnerable children. Children who have language barriers, children who have disabilities, children in high-concentrated poverty.”
What needs to happen before MPS seeks another referendum
Voters need to be comfortable MPS has made tough budget decisions
In an interview with Journal Sentinel editorial board, Brenda Cassellius said voters will need to see budget improvements before seeking more spending
Cassellius said MPS will definitely need to go back to voters for a new referendum in the future. In addition to the 2024 measure, voters approved an $87 million plan in 2020.
Before doing that, she said the district first needs to rebuild trust in the community through completing required state audits, putting into place controls to prevent overspending and routine reports to the school board and public about finances.
“I don’t think that the voters are going to want us to bring something forward until they feel comfortable that we have done the cleanup that is necessary,” she said. “And we’ve built the trust that we have the sufficient controls in place.”
In the interim, she’s hoping the state will meet its constitutional responsibility to adequately fund public schools.
“What the public expects is you know where the money is, you’re spending it as close as you can to children, you’re getting good on the promise around art, music, and PE, and the things the public said they wanted to fund,” Cassellius said. “And they want their kids to have so that they have a quality education and an excellent education in Milwaukee Public Schools, and that they had the right amount of staff that they actually need. In the school to be safe and to run a good operation.”
Rebuilding finance staff in wake of $46 million in overspending
MPS is rebuilding school finance staff in wake of reporting lapses
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel editorial board April 15, MPS superintendent discusses accountability for district’s financial problems.
The $46 million budget shortfall from the 2024-25 school year started coming into view last fall and was confirmed in mid-January. Cassellius noted that in addition to hiring a new superintendent, MPS also parted ways with its comptroller and CFO.
“We are really rebuilding the personnel and staff of the finance department. That is what’s critical, is having the right people in the right seats doing the work,” she said. “Also critical is making sure that you have the right controls in place. The audit findings found that we did not have proper controls in place and now we have those proper controls in place and when we find things we put new SOPs in place and that is what any business does.”
Identifying that shortfall, though painful, was the result of better accounting.
“Being three years behind in auditing means that you don’t have full sight on your actual revenues and expenditures. And so we have now full sight of our revenues and our expenditures and that’s why we were able to see this new deficit of $46 million,” she said. “And we still continue to work with DPI on those processes to make sure that every month we’re doing monthly to actuals and doing those accounting, reporting that to the board. In a way that is consumable to the public that they can understand.”
Jim Fitzhenry is the Ideas Lab Editor/Director of Community Engagement for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reach him at jfitzhen@gannett.com or 920-993-7154.
Property markets move in cycles, and with interest rates rising and other pressures like high fuel costs, some markets are clearly slowing down. Many first-home buyers who have only ever seen markets going up are conditioned to think that when purchasing, competition is always intense and decisions need to be made quickly.
In those times, buyers often feel they need to act fast, stretch their budget and secure a property at almost any cost. But things have definitely changed.
In a softer market, the dynamic shifts. Properties take longer to sell, competition thins, and it’s the vendors who begin to feel pressure.
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For buyers who understand how to navigate that change, the balance of power quickly moves in their favour. The opportunity is not simply to buy at a lower price. It is to negotiate from a position of strength.
If that’s you right now, these are the key skills first-home buyers need to take advantage of in softer market conditions.
The most important shift in a soft market is psychological. In a rising market, buyers often feel like they are competing for limited opportunities. In a softer market, the opposite is true. There are more properties available, fewer active buyers and less urgency overall. This gives buyers options.
When buyers understand that they are not competing with multiple parties on every property, their decision-making improves. They are more willing to walk away, compare opportunities and avoid overpaying. Negotiation strength comes from not needing to transact immediately. When that pressure is removed, buyers are able to engage more strategically.
One of the most common mistakes first-home buyers make is continuing to apply strategies that only work in rising markets. Auction urgency is a clear example. In strong markets, auctions often attract multiple bidders and create competitive tension. In softer conditions, properties are more likely to pass in, shifting the process away from a public bidding environment into a private negotiation.
This is where leverage increases.
Private negotiations allow buyers to introduce conditions that protect their position. These may include finance clauses, longer settlement periods or price adjustments based on due diligence. Opportunities that are rarely available in competitive markets become standard in softer ones.
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