It’s straight down to business when the session starts at 10am and Berman kicks off with a couple of questions: “Is the market in a good or a bad mood?” he asks, and “What’s an ETF somebody saw yesterday that looks interesting?”
Everyone has an answer. There would be a flurry of raised hands if this was in the UK, but it’s Israel, so shouting out is fine.
These youngsters are interested and engaged, and learning something that simply isn’t part of the academic curriculum.
“At school they learn all about the skill set to earn money,” says Berman. “But they’re really taught very little about how to actually make that money grow. Knowing that can have a sizeable impact on a person’s future options.”
Teens start with a virtual $10,000, which they invest during the week. “All of a sudden, even on day one, they need to start to make decisions. What do I want to buy? Is this a good decision?
“Some want to use these skills later with real money. This gives them the background training for the real world.”
In Israel, as in the UK, the minimum age for buying shares is 18, but under-18s can invest through parent-managed accounts.
The teens who attend Berman’s boot camp are there because they want to learn how to make money. Some have already bought and sold shares, others are doing so virtually for the first time.
“We have an introduction,” says Berman. “We say, why are you here and what do you want to learn? And the driving force is: I want more money.
“A lot of kids are hustling, they have a few different part-time jobs and the stock market is another thing that they think about as an income stream.”
Some want grow their existing savings, others are already eyeing the stock market as the place they want to work.
Whatever their motivation, they all finish their week of boot camp knowing more about investing than 80 per cent of adults, says Berman.
“Their knowledge, I would say, eclipses that of even quite competent adults. I say that is because a lot of the principles are from what I teach at Tel Aviv University and also from my adult classes. Teens can absolutely get and absorb the same information as adults.”
One of those teens is Michael Carmeli, aged 13. “Right now, I think I understand more about the stock market,” he says. “I see that it’s pretty simple and not as complicated as I thought.
“I know things like what to buy, when to buy, how to sell. And I can basically go to the stock market and make a lot of money right now.
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Michael Carmeli, 13, at his summer camp (Photo: John Jeffay)[Missing Credit]
“I think my parents really wanted me to understand it because they know it will make a lot of money in the future and it’s really important to start when you’re younger.”
There are more boys than girls at the camp, which is conducted in English, and there are also youngsters joining via Zoom from across Israel as well as from the UK and Europe.
Eliana Rosen is one of the older participants, at 18, and will draft shortly to the IDF. Her dad is from Leeds and her mum is Russian. “I work a lot. and I wanted to try to invest,” she says.
“This course has actually really helped me understand how to do it in the safest way.
“I learnt what the stock market actually is, what it means to actually buy and sell, about the S&P the Nasdaq.
“I’ve learnt that you can actually invest in different industries as well as different companies and how to look at the graph and tell when it’s the best time to invest and when’s the best time to sell.”
The boot camp is an extension of an after-school activity that Berman runs, where youngsters also invest a virtual $10,000. Over six months I think 90 per cent of teens’ portfolios went up,” he says.
“Some made $7,000. Some made $3,000, lots made $2,000 or $1,000.
“Part of the reason is that, yes, these kids are amazing and they’re bright, but it’s also that the stock market over time goes up much more than it goes down.
“Plenty of people think the stock market like gambling.
“If you go to Vegas or Macau, you’ll lose more than 50 per cent of the time.
“But one fact about the stock market is that the market indexes, like the Nasdaq or the S&P, go up on average 71 per cent of the time. It’s a fact, not my opinion.”
Berman made aliyah to Ra’anana from San Francisco in 2014, and has been investing for 15 years.
“I made tons of mistakes, lost a lot of money,” he says. “But through that process, I just learnt and basically, by the time I hit 40, the stock market was just earning more than my salary was.”
He holds an MBA from Georgetown, and worked in investment banking in London and for Sony PlayStation.
Today he invests and teaches others how to invest.
He started teaching adults four years ago, then started after-school sessions for teens, and this is his second summer boot camp.
thestockboss.com/bootcamp
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Malcolm Berman (Photo: John Jeffay)[Missing Credit]