 "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." - Milton Friedman |
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The investments club is open to all students who are interested in learning more about investments and investing. No prior experience is necessary. The purpose of the club is to help students learn more about the process of making good investment decisions. The club manages about $300,000 of Furman's endowment funds. If you are interested in participating, contact Bruce Brown at 294-3319 or bruce.brown@furman.edu.
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History The Furman Investments Club started back in March of 1988 with $100,000 of Furman Endowment money. The account grew to over $345,000 by December of 2000 at which time the University withdrew the club's cash holdings of $105,000 and decided to sweep future dividends and interest earnings. After the cash withdrawal and market decline, the club balance fell to a low of $150,000 in March of 2003. As the market peaked shortly after the large cash withdrawal, we convinced our new VP of Finance in October of 2004 to leave us alone and let us once again reinvest our interest and dividends. The club holdings have since grown to approximately $300,000. |
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Operation The club meets twice per month with professors or other guests presenting short "lessons" on various investment topics. Students propose changes in the portfolio and must present research and rationale for their proposals. The club then votes to follow the recommendation or not. We, for the most part, stay fully invested which requires decisions to "sell" in order to take new positions. Since we are using endowment money we are aware of our ficuciary responsibility and emphasize a long term approach. We do write "covered" calls periodically and have a small fixed income position. |
Recent Performance and Trades Our return with dividends reinvested was 2..4% for 2006, lead by our oil and financial stocks including late 2005 acquisitions of JP Morgan and Citigroup. Recent Trades: We sold Pier One and Reynolds American and part of our Marathaon Oil holdings. We have taken a small position in TIP, which is an ETF holding Inflation Protected Securities, and added Verizon to our portfolio. On Friday, April 27, 2007, we sold 200 shares of ADM to bring it's share of our portfolio back under 10%. We used the proceeds to take a new position in Johnson and Johnson (100 shares) and to increase our holdings in Hospiria from 40 to 100 shares. We now have more exposure in the health sector and increased international exposure through JNJ's international subsidiaries. |
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| Department of Economics | Furman University, Hipp Hall
201 | Phone: 864.294.3473 | Fax: 864.294.2990 If you have questions or comments about this page, send email to ken.peterson@furman.edu |
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