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Dear Stock Market Game Teachers and Participants:
Tomorrow marks the tenth celebration of the International Day of the Girl with the theme, "Our time is now - our rights, our futures." Created by the United Nations, the goal is to raise awareness of the issues faced by girls around the world from education inequality to equal rights. The SIFMA Foundation is proud that more than 300,000 girls globally take part in The Stock Market Game™ annually and more than nine million girls have been served in our 40+ year history. On behalf of the entire SIFMA Foundation, thank you for partnering with us, as together we are increasing financial capability for girls and preparing the next generation of financial leaders!
In financial news, the markets continue their downward trend as inflation and recession fears loom ahead of Thursday's release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This report is a good indicator of how much more aggressive the Federal Reserve will get with its interest rate hiking plans. This week will also see the beginning of third quarter earning season with some of the big banks like JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Wells Fargo set to release their earnings.
Has Wall Street's performance got your SMG students a bit bummed by their returns? They're not alone. Losses are seen throughout the country both in SMG portfolios and 403b and 401k accounts alike. Perhaps now is the time to introduce dividend paying stocks to ensure returns in a topsy-turvy market. Especially now, receiving a dividend check is a welcome relief for many investors. For our novices, corporations may pay part of their earnings as dividends to shareholders as a return on their investment. These dividends, which are often declared quarterly, are usually in the form of cash, but may also be paid as additional shares. Investors may be able to reinvest the cash dividends automatically to buy additional shares if the corporation offers a dividend reinvestment program (DRIP).
Increasing or at least maintaining its dividend payment in the current economy suggests company strength. Take a look here for a list of stocks and ETFs that have recently increased their dividend payments. And for more information about stocks paying dividends, have your students take a look at Nasdaq's dividend history page accessible here. The site provides a wealth of information on how dividends work, when they get paid, and a company's history of dividend payouts.
Students can learn more about the dividends via our new Dividends Fact Sheet (also available in Spanish!) In addition, the Dividends and Earnings lesson examines the ways investors receive earnings on their investments through dividends and by selling stocks for a profit. To access, search the Teacher Support Center for “dividends.”
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