Business club shifts focus to investments

The Business for Life club started two years ago as the brainchild of junior Charles Sun and senior Paul Stavropoulos. Ever since then, the club has had big success, especially with the debut of two classes of the Introduction to Business course taught by Kirk Davis last year. Sun and Stavropoulos now want to head in a new direction by changing Business for Life to Investment Club.

“This year, we want to do a spin-off with Investment Club so that we can apply the things we learned in [Introduction to Business] into the real world,” said Sun.

Despite the current problems within the economy, students are still eager to learn how to invest.

“I decided to join Investment Club be¬cause the stuff I’m learning will be useful in the future,” said senior Alex Lun. “I also might major in business. I’m looking forward to the things we can do with [the club’s] money.”

By switching the club’s focus to investments, Sun and Stavropoulos have created new objectives. They plan to raise $1,000 as an initial fund, which they will later use to invest in the stock market. Sun and Stavropoulos hope to reach the $1,000 mark with help from banks and brokeradges.

“Paul and I went to downtown Saratoga and Argonaut Shopping Center and got very positive responses [from local businesses],” said Sun. “The thing is they need documentation before they can sign off any donations. Since we don’t have the documents right now, there’s not a lot we can do other than small fundraisers.”

The documents are needed to show that Investment Club is a non-profit organization. Davis is in talks with a lawyer to obtain the necessary forms. With the non-profit status, Investment Club won’t need to pay taxes on the money it makes.

A second goal of the club is starting a business scholarship. Within the next few years, once the club has earned enough money, a business scholarship will be awarded each year to a graduating senior. As for now, students from the Investment Club are focused on raising money. That way, each member will have a vote on where the money is invested in.