Junior Kahlil Lalji and senior Zack Abuhalawa met in August at the start of the school year when Abuhalawa overheard Lalji discussing stocks and options in the school library. After just minutes of collaboration, the duo decided to create a stock club.
Lalji, who transferred to Redwood in August, has been trading stocks for three years. Now president and co-founder of his own investment group Protenus, Lalji also runs a school-sponsored club to learn about and to teach finance. At Lalji’s side is Protenus vice president and co-founder Zack Abuhalawa, a senior who has studied the market for two years and has been a stock trader for about one month.
“At this school, there aren’t many classes where you can learn about finance. If that is what you want to do when you’re older, the club is a place where people can learn,” Abuhalawa said.
A group of eight to twelve students meet twice a week in room 404 to listen to lectures on financial topics given by Lalji and Abuhalawa and to work on their virtual portfolios. Lalji and Abuhalawa, on the other hand, manage their real world investments.
Lalji manages over $10,000 in his own investments, while Abuhalawa manages $6,000. The two have different investment methods, however.
“The best investors are ones that disagree. It allows you to learn,” Abuhalawa said.
Abuhalawa invests in stocks and options of retail, oil, gold and technology and said he uses the trends in the market to decide which stocks are worth investing in.
“I’ll buy whenever a stock is in a good range where I can see some growth,” Abuhalawa said. “I’m looking for a profit where I can take it out, which is a little risky, but it’s fun.”
Abuhalawa’s philosophy is to put his money in and take it back out with a profit, as opposed to investing long term.
Abuhalawa invests by tracking the market. Currently, he’s active in the oil division due to the lowering of oil prices. A quick profit can be made by purchasing stocks when the oil sector is low and then selling the stocks once the oil sector rebounds, according to Abuhalawa.
Lalji wishes to pursue a career in finance, such as private equity or venture capitalism. Abuhalawa, however, envisions himself working with finance as a hedge fund manager. Hedge funds are mutual funds organized as a limited partnership. Managers run the operation while using high-risk speculative methods to obtain large profits.
“I’d be managing clients’ money with significant wealth. It’s more one-on-one, where you manage their money and try to grow for them,” Abuhalawa said.
Whether through risk or certainty, both Abuhalawa and Lalji hope to make a name for themselves in the vicious world of finance. When asked who the superior stock trader was, modesty exited the room, and both investors claimed the title.
