Leading the 20th annual KPMG Senior School Investment Challenge is a Warwick Academy team that is up more than 30 per cent in its first month of virtual stock investing.

The Moral Hazards team used 18 trades in the investment challenge to make a mock profit of $30,071.98, using virtual trading funds of $100,000. They are restricted to 100 trades during the contest.

“The Moral Hazards succeeded with a huge increase in their investment fund over this first month” said Kyran Simmons, KPMG staff accountant and contest organiser. “I am very surprised by their figures as this is the school’s first time in the top position in a while.”

He could not say what investment strategy led to such positive results.

“We do not ask them that information because we are not allowed to give them any direct advice on what to invest in,” he said.

The school said the secret to their success was in their research.

They carefully read financial websites before investing their virtual $100,000 in a pretend stock market that closely follows the fortunes of the real one. Teams are ranked by how much they net with their mock investments, trading over six months of pretend trading.

MSA’s Trust Me Bro Investments is in second place, with a profit of $16,917.11, while The Berkeley Institute’s Topster team is third with $13,386.28.

Eighteen schools are taking part in the half-year challenge, with Warwick Academy providing three teams. Next April, the school leading at the end of the competition will be awarded real money – $10,000.

This year, KPMG is promising more interaction between its staff and participating students. To this end, it will be holding their Winter K-Nect at its Hamilton office on December 17 from 5.30pm to 7pm – a chance for high school and university students to network and learn about career opportunities in the financial services industry.