Would you give your money to a group of students to dabble in the stock market?
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It might seem like a bizarre question, but that's exactly what these Canberra students are asking under a venture believed to be an Australian first.
Simon Mishricky, Steven Li, Luke Crowther, Ming Wu, Phoebe Jin and Lachlan Carter are all studying degrees at the ANU College of Business and Economics, most of them in their final years of actuarial studies.
They are members of the ANU's Trading and Investment Collective, founded by Ms Jin and two other students in 2013, and are now concentrating on starting up a student managed fund.
The fund would be created from a pool of money collected from institutional investors such as investment banks, asset managers and hedge funds, which would be managed by students in an attempt to maximise returns for investors - just like in the real world.
The idea is not new and there are currently more than 100 student managed funds operating worldwide, including at Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities. Many are ranked as profitable ventures.
Although the ANU students were keen to turn a profit, they believed the concept was also an important educational opportunity.
The students have organised a board of 16 student research analysts and directors who are building their paper portfolio "so that they can operate a live portfolio which would be the first live student-managed fund within Australia," said Mr Wu, a third year actuarial studies and economics student.
Mr Wu believed the experience would also appeal to future employers, who would benefit from new graduates who already had industry experience.
The ANU Endowment Fund and ANU Connect Ventures have "expressed their willingness to help", said Mr Wu.
ANU Connect Ventures chief executive Nick McNaughton said if the fund was successful, "it will strengthen the appeal of the university for business and economics students interested in a life in investment banking".
Although the fund's educational aspects were paramount, students would take minimising risk very seriously.
"A huge part of investing is being confident in your strategies so that you're not worried," said Mr Carter, a fourth year finance and economics student.
"You have your risk strategies in place so that if stuff goes wrong … your loss isn't huge and you're not losing sleep."
Mr McNaughton acknowledged if they received investment funds, their "reputations and the investment dollars of their backers will be on the line".
However, he hoped their exceptional performance in virtual markets would help.
"Last year, for our commodities and currencies training fund, we returned 74 per cent and that was within nine months," Mr Wu said.
Now the challenge for this group of finance whizzes is to turn this virtual return, raw enthusiasm and a combined 24 years of studying finance trends into real profit.
