The family next door just received a $300,000,000 cash payout after winning the lottery. You talked with them and are trying to convince them to let you manage a portfolio of investments for them.  You have been doing some research and would like to start and manage a mutual fund when you graduate from college at the end of this semester.  Since they know you are taking a class in Finance at Penn State Altoona, they decided to have a contest.  They will allocate $250,000 to each student. They want each student to work with a team that will serve as an investment committee.  

The individual with the highest net return (i.e. the highest portfolio value) wins, and the family has agreed to invest all of their winnings in a mutual fund to be managed by that person.   The winner will also receive 5 bonus points for the project, provided that at least 5 points have been otherwise deducted.  In no event will the winner's grade exceed 100%.

Investment Criteria:
There will be will certain limits imposed on the percentage of your portfolio that can be invested in any one investment.  These limits will be built into the portfolio management software by your instructor.  Each investor (student) must utilize at least seven (7) of the following investment vehicles in their portfolio:    

1.  Market orders for stock                                                           6.  Mutual funds
2.  Limit orders for stock                                                              7.  Futures contracts
3.  Stop orders for stock                                                                8.  Bonds
4.  Call options contracts                                                               9.  Spot contracts
5.  Put options contracts

As each student develops his/her portfolio of investments, trades can be made on any of the 20+ global exchanges that are included in the virtual trading platform, but each investor must trade on at least three (3) of the following exchanges:

A.  New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)                                     D.  London Stock Exchange
B.  NASDAQ                                                                            E.  Bombay Stock Exchange
C.  Frankfurt Stock Exchange                                                 F.  Shanghai Stock Exchange