Wharton forms investing club

To the possible consternation of the power-lunch, power-tie Wall Street cohort, the future of investment banking may soon be moving to West Philadelphia. The competition is coming in the form of the Wharton Investors Network (WIN), a student-run organization looking to use a portion of the University's endowment in order to learn about the real-life drama of money managing. Members are seeking to establish a $2 million fund by drawing from alumni contributions, which are earmarked for WIN. The group will then invest this capital in stocks, fixed income securities and speculative markets. The group, which held two introductory meetings last night and Monday night, began last semester, receiving avid support from 450 undergraduates, who signed a petition to endorse the fund. The organization is set up in a three-part fashion. The first division will manage the fund, using a nine-member committee selected by a Finance professor. Students must apply to be part of this group. According to WIN Senior Vice President Jon Rabinow, committee candidates should expect to raise in excess of $100,000 each for investments. Those who are not chosen to serve on the committee will concentrate their efforts in research and learning about investment through seminars and workshops. Participants will select companies, which they will then analyze and write up in the form of a report. Research Coordinator Justin Piergrossi explained that inquiries will cater to individual curiosities. "It's going to allow you to do research and analysis into some of the things you're interested in," the Wharton junior said. The second division will put out a monthly newsletter entitled the Insider's Forum. Drawing from the research element of the group, the publication will print stock picks and research reports, and will look to recruit guest columnists. The third and final division will produce Wharton Week, advertised as a "college version McNeil-Lehrer Hour," to air weekly on UTV-13 under the direction of College junior Roee Wiczyk. The segment will consist of a two to three minute news broadcast and a series of debates run by five-person panels. WIN President Andrew Nissenbaum was careful to point out that the group will not make any personal profit from the investments, and that any surplus will only increase the endowment itself. "It's for the benefit of Penn students," he said. "We will not be receiving any personal financial contributions. "We are confident in that the knowledge we gain from this will increase our net worth," he added. "That is what will make us rich." Wharton junior Brenda Cheng explained that the thrill of practical experience is a particularly attractive offer. "I'm really interested in learning about investment banking not just from books," she said.

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