Posted on March 14, 2011 by William Thomason
The next evolution of the WSWs program is a hands-on, fund managing experience for university students, the E3 Innovation Fund. E3 Stands for “Educate, Earn and Empower”, all of which we plan to accomplish with every student enrolled in our new program. This is a private equity fund that we are raising to train university students from inner cities about dynamics and intricacies involved in managing a fund, while generating market returns by investing in women and minority entrepreneurs.
We have a partnership with the University Venture Fund who has an eight year track record investing funds and training university students from Brigham Young and the University of Utah. We have also excitedly completed the first module of our in-class curriculum with Stanford University.
Ultimately, E3 seeks to increase the racial diversity in the realms of private equity, venture capital, finance, and entrepreneurship. We are addressing the problem that people of color generally do not access money from Venture Capital firms for their own companies, and they do not largely work in the financial industry.
The E3 program will address the under-representation of people of color and women in private equity and venture capital, by educating college students from low-income communities about these sectors through a rigorous academic training program in conjunction with the students’ investment of a real private equity fund to gain real world investment experience. Because the students will be investing money in real companies, the program also has the broader effect of empowering the wealth of talent among entrepreneurs who are generally unable to access funds to grow their businesses.
Posted on March 10, 2011 by William Thomason
Celebrating its 20th year in business, Progress Investment Management Company, LLC has a vision to “change the face of the investment management industry.” Based in San Francisco, Progress creates multi-manager investment portfolios in public equities and fixed income featuring emerging entrepreneurial asset managers. Progress is a pioneer in working with these emerging firms, many of which are small but growing minority and women-owned managers across the U. S. Progress is an employee-owned and minority-owned business itself, managing $7 billion in assets for a blue chip list of institutional clients like CalPERS, CalSTRS, Boeing, General Electric, the State of New York, New York City, and the State of Maryland to name but a few. Through its portfolios, Progress demonstrates that competitive investment performance, diversification and diversity can work together to meet institutional client investment objectives in an efficient and innovative manner.
“I’ve known Bill Thomason for some time both as an investment professional and someone passionate about youth. I admire his commitment to teaching financial literacy to young people through his Wall Street Wizards,” said Thurman White, Progress’s CEO. “Beyond financial literacy, Bill is exposing these young people to the global markets, venture capital and entrepreneurship. If America is to remain competitive in the world’s economy, then we have to leverage all of our human capital. No one can be left behind. The Wall Street Wizards motivates young people to excel by giving them an understanding of money and markets.”
The Wall Street Wizards program is a match for the Progress charitable initiative for several reasons. For one, Progress has always looked for effective ways to give back to the communities in which it does business, and to the San Francisco Bay Area where its employees live and work. Progress does this through a partnership with New York City’s 21st Century Foundation [www.21CF.org]. The Progress charitable contributions focus on community-based organizations serving minority youth in four key areas: education, financial literacy, health and the arts. With a base in San Francisco and Oakland, and having recently expanded its programs to a pilot in New York City, the Wizards’ focus on youth, education and financial markets made it a ready fit for the Progress/21st Century charitable partnership. Progress has supported the Wizards for the past five years.
“I hope more Bay Area investment firms and Silicon Valley VCs will support the Wall Street Wizards’ programs like we do”. Adds White, “We don’t view our support as charity. Rather, our support for the Wizards is a long-term investment in America’s future – today’s youth.”
Posted on March 10, 2011 by William Thomason
The Wall Street Wizards New York Program is a part of Saturday programming that benefits students in the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx. This year we are pleased to announce that the program has been introduced to another New York Public High School, East Side Community High (ESCH), located on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. ESCH is a great fit for the Wall Street Wizards as the goal of the school is “to create a community of highly skilled students, lifetime learners and critical thinkers who, upon graduation, will be prepared to go to college and enter the work world.”
Like the California program, the goal of the WSW New York Program is to provide the students with a better understanding of the world of finance. The students are taught through the use of regular class material and exercises, as well as, through a student-generated portfolio of companies. The student-generated portfolio has proven useful as students are learning how to calculate the performance of individual stocks over a given time period as well as how to determine what economic factors may have led to the stocks performance.
Guest speakers and field trips are also an important piece of the program as they provide students with the opportunity to hear and see firsthand how the industry works. For example, last year students attended the Estee Lauder Annual Shareholder meeting. This year we are looking to attend another shareholder meeting and visit the New York Stock Exchange.
We continue to be excited about the progress of the program in New York and look forward to expanding it in the future.
Posted on February 8, 2011 by William Thomason
The most basic concept in finance, the time value of money states that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar at some time in the future. For example, if you invest $1,000 in a 5 percent savings account today, it will be worth $1,050 in one year. Therefore, if you can have $1,000 today or choose to have $1,000 one year from now, it is always better to have the money now because of its potential to grow.
By saving and investing today, you make the time value of money work for you. Let’s look at the reverse of this situation, to see how the time value of money can work against you. Suppose instead of receiving $1,000, you spent $1,000 by purchasing merchandise on your credit card. Remember that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, so in this case, you will have lost money because you will need to pay off your credit card account with money from the future (which is worth less than money today). In addition to having to pay with future money, you will also have to pay interest expense. So, in this case, if you paid off the credit card in one year (assuming 15 percent interest), you’d have to pay $1,150. You should think about the time value of money before making any financial decisions.
Posted on July 8, 2010 by William Thomason
Nationwide, there is a crisis. A majority of students of color and economically dis-advantaged backgrounds are unfamiliar with of the financial markets and the abundant career opportunities in the areas of finance and entrepreneurship. They have little, if any, economic responsibilities they will bear as adults. Often, secondary and/or parents have limited resources and little in the way of ba students on the global economy and personal money management.
