PEABODY — Othman Menkari, a Peabody Veterans Memorial High School senior, realized his own potential after winning second place in the national stock market game run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Menkari learned of the competition in his financial literacy class, where he was given $100,000 of fake money to create a stock portfolio and compete against other schools, then other states, and for Menkari, then the top students in the country.
Thinking on what stocks he chose to put his money into, Menkari emphasized that, “what I learned is that if you want to make money off of stocks… you have to be chronically online.” Menkari focused on the biggest news headlines to figure out what to invest in, which led him to focus on artificial intelligence.
He said the goal behind the competition is to gain from the investments made and get up on the leaderboard. Menkari said he began taking the competition seriously as soon as he realized that he could take these skills to better his financial future.
“Obviously because it’s my senior year, there’s a lot of things that need to be happening, need to be thought of, so I somewhat just realized my own potential, realized what I can do, what I can’t do, and so I sat there, and I brainstormed,” Menkari shared. “I thought about the things that I can do, and I just attempted it, and this was one of them. Through that, I learned that if you just attempt things and see how you do, you can learn that it is possible — and doing that is what kept me going with the stock game.”
Reflecting on his second place podium finish, Menkari said he never thought success with stocks was in the cards for him.
“Accomplishing that, I feel like, is one of my biggest accomplishments right now just because it’s something that I actually thought was not possible,” he said.
Menkari added that, when considering what he wants to do after graduating high school, “stocks and things of that nature” have definitely piqued his interest.
“When I graduate, I plan on just going to community college, and in the meantime, of those two years, I plan on hopefully having something going for myself that I could build on for maybe the rest of my life,” he said. “I’d love to get into day trading, all that. But time is a very, very valuable thing, so having the time to do that, which requires a lot, I’m not sure. But stocks is something I want to stay in touch with for sure.”
He also mentioned having a passion for music and being interested in journalism, which may be his future fields of study.
“Same thing with the stocks: I saw that it could work, so I’m gonna attempt it. I’m gonna attempt journalism and things like that, and I’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, if it works, I’ll continue with it,” Menkari said.
His biggest lesson from this experience has been to trust himself over what other people say, a powerful lesson learned at the perfect time for Menkari to start planning his future.
“Sometimes you know what’s best; sometimes you don’t. But me, personally, I feel like, if I had just listened to myself more and trusted myself more, I definitely would have been in a higher position, probably a more successful position right now,” he said.
Menkari also mentioned how this stock market success has helped him find his personal drive to be successful.
“I hope my name is heard in this area in the same light again,” he said.
