Most undergraduates grew up with personal computers and saw the stock market soar throughout their teen-age years. And they have easy access to financial news and research in their dormitories, fraternity and sorority houses and campus computer rooms.
Many students appear to be taking a relatively safe approach to on-line investing.
That's a sure way to lose money,'' he tells students. Indeed, last month, the North American Securities Administrators Association reported that 70 percent of day traders lose money. While the firm could not say how many of those under-25 traders were students, it reported that nearly 5 percent, or about 25,000, were placing orders from schools, mostly universities. About 61 percent, or 305,000, were placing orders from home, a number that could also include some students. But nearly 23 percent of them invested on line primarily for fun or challenge, compared with 13 percent of their elders.