ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ups and downs in the stock market have been top of mind throughout the past week. While many are concerned about their 401k or retirement plans, some college students are using this rollercoaster ride as an opportunity to learn about the world of finance and the ever-changing stock market.

“We cover anything from like economic issues to specific industry, related things, and then also just companies themselves and what's going on. So there's kind of three levels that come into play with the economy, a specific sector industry. And then what's going on with the company,” James Linko explained.

Linko is the president of the Golden Flyers Investment Fund at Nazareth University. The club has about 15 members of all programs and they’re given $200,000 in funding to put into the stock market. It’s an opportunity to receive hands-on experience for their futures, without personal risk.

What You Need To Know

  • President Trump's proposed tariff's took effect last week and many Americans have been concerned watching their investments or 401k retirement plans drop in the stock market

  • Nazareth University's Golden Flyer Investment fund is a club of about 15 students of all programs who are given $200,000 to put into the stock market to learn hands-on experience

  • They're offered factors to consider such as a company's hiring strategies, supply chain issues and frequently used materials

  • The club has given students the confidence to invest in their own stocks

“Most of them have this fear of trading, so that’s one way to encourage them to get engaged, as soon as possible, to the real-world investments,” said Amin Amoulashkarian, a club advisor and assistant finance professor at Nazareth University.

The club meets every other week to discuss how to use the funding. They work together to strategize which stocks to sell, which to wait out and which to propose for future investments. Amoulashkarian guides the students to consider factors in their decision-making, such as a company’s business model, hiring strategy or supply chain issues that may all play a role in its value. This week's topic of discussion is President Donald Trump’s recent tariff implementations.

“With tariffs, will inflation go up or down? That's a big thing. If inflation's going to rise, how will that impact interest rates? Because interest rates will also have to rise to combat that. And with that, it's kind of like the stock market has a reciprocal effect. When interest rates rise, markets tend to fall. We saw it in 2020 or even all the way back to the Great Depression. Like you see these big fluctuations and crashes,” Linko explained. “It's mainly just trying to balance where we think the market is headed right now. And with the tariffs, there's a lot of uncertainty and investor fear, as I said earlier, are these tariffs going to be a long-term thing? How are they going to impact companies? Are prices going to rise? And what investment decisions can we make going along with it? So I think that potentially it could be a good opportunity to buy in the market."

The club has given many students the confidence, and experience, to start their own investment funds, or put money into personal stocks.

“It's helpful to use the analysis that we do here in my own personal portfolio and to make decisions based on that. Personally, I’ve been buying more stocks. I’ve been holding everything. It’s not great to see when your account goes super low, but it’s also nice to see when something you think is way undervalued because of market overreaction,” Linko said. “I’ve also seen losses to learn. And I think even when you take a loss, it's a huge learning experience to look back on and see what I did wrong. What can I improve on? Where did I go wrong in the analysis and what actually happened? And that helps moving forward when you're using that on future companies to analyze.”

“It'll help them, for their future career. And, the other thing is just they got involved in this process from the beginning. Even if they are not finance students, they will see these ups and downs and they’ll see the tools that we used to do this analysis. So it’s a good opportunity for them,” Amoulashkarian added.

No one seemed too concerned about the drops their personal stocks are currently experiencing because they trust that everything that goes down, must come back up.

“I hear a lot of people saying they're fearful and want to sell, but I think it could be a good opportunity to get in the market at a tractable price for a lot of different equities,” Linko explained. “It's just kind of like staying patient and not being fearful can really make you win in the market.”