A bright glow lights senior Brendan Binford’s face as he stares in amazement at his computer screen. The spiky green path of his most recent stock investment has shot through the roof, signifying its success. Staring at his charts, an idea pops into his head, how can he help others find financial success too?
His passion for investing led him to start the Young Investors Society at Bowie, sharing his knowledge of investing and teaching kids financial skills to help them generate wealth and set themselves up for the future. The first meeting this year will be held in accounting teacher Jennifer Vance’s room, F121, on November 7.
“I started it because I wanted to teach my friends and my peers a really valuable skill,” Binford said. “People talk about how they want to be financially independent, but no one talks about how, and my way to get to that point is through investing. So, I just thought I’d teach kids about that.”
In the Young Investors Society, Binford teaches the importance of conservative investing for beginners and provides members with a foundational skill set in the stock market to set them up for future financial success. To help his members begin investing, he shows them how to create brokerage accounts and helps them invest in indexes like the S&P 500. Binford also creates presentations for club meetings to teach members financial concepts.
“Public speaking can be kind of intimidating for people, so talking to a room of 40 people can sometimes be scary, but it’s really fun,” Binford said. “I have a good time doing it, and it’s really fulfilling to teach my peers a really valuable skill they can use for their entire lives.”
At the end of Binford’s freshman year, he reached out to Vance to express his interest in starting a club where he could share his passion for investing with others. Vance became the club sponsor when Binford established the Young Investors Society in his sophomore year.
“I just think he’s a leader,” Vance said. “The fact that he came and started discussing being a leader of a group as a freshman is pretty impressive. He’s definitely an avid investor, and he says he’s going to major in business.”
Binford takes macroeconomics, entrepreneurship, and accounting classes at Bowie to expand upon his financial skills and prepare for his future. He has also taken online courses from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard related to finance. Binford aims to pursue a career related to business that allows him to generate wealth, and considers exploring a pathway in investment banking or private equity consulting in the future. Binford believes investing gives him more confidence that he’s in control of his future.
“Investing, for me, is just kind of a big way that I’m setting myself up for success,” Binford said. “I can be confident knowing that I’m going to stand out from a lot of my peers with my investing skills, and that I’m probably going to be able to retire early and have some good passive income going for me.”
Binford previously worked alone as president of the Young Investors Society, but this year, he asked seniors Vaughn Rogers and Jack Calvin to assist in leading the club and take on the roles of co-presidents. Rogers and Calvin attended the club in previous years and learned investing skills from Binford.
“Brendan was actually the one who introduced me to investing,” Rogers said. “It sounded like an easy way to make money, and is something I might consider doing in the future. So, I started coming to the Young Investors Society because I wanted to learn more about it and possibly get into one of my majors of choice, which is investing.”
Over the summer, Binford and Rogers volunteered at Bear Creek Elementary through the Young Investors Society to teach kids about financial literacy. They gave a presentation covering topics such as spending versus saving to give kids a simple foundation of financial knowledge and teach them to use their money wisely. In the club this year, Binford plans to continue teaching financial skills to his peers in a simple and engaging way.
“Our approach is simple, direct, straightforward, and really easy to grasp,” Binford said. “I talked to my co-presidents, Vaughn and Jack, a few weeks ago, and we were saying that we want a third grader to be able to understand what we’re talking about in our club. So, that’s our approach, very simple.”
Binford believes he’s been successful overall with investing so far. Currently, he works at HEB and invests some of the money he earns back into his portfolio. One of his financial goals is to save up for retirement, and his investments have set him on track to accomplish this.
“Brendan has drive,” Rogers said. “He’s a super smart guy, and he’s very tenacious. He’s told me about what he wants to do in the future, his aspirations, and honestly, I admire the guy, because he knows what he wants to do and he’s getting after it.”
