Q: Can you tell us a little about your role at West Virginia University?
Dr. Karen Kunz teaches public administration that includes public finance and public budgeting, economic policy, fiscal policy, etc.
Q: How long have you been participating in the IBKR Student Trading Lab, and what attracted you to it?
She has been using the IBKR Student Trading Lab for about 10 years
Q: Can you describe a bit about the courses you teach and your learning objectives?
Students compare ratio analysis, fundamental analysis, and the underlaying economic policy to understand how the Fed, markets, and government are related to each other. With this in mind students paper trade the entire semester.
Q: What are some of the benefits you get as an educator from using IBKR’s tools?
Report management helps Dr. Kunz every week because it gives her the student’s performance percentages. She can check every student account to take a look how their assets are distributed and diversified to provide feedback. Another tool that is frequently used include “how to use charts” in the IBKR app.
Q: What are some success stories you can share, and how does the IBKR Student Trading Lab help your students beyond your course – after they’ve completed it?
About 50% of her students are confident enough of opening brokerage accounts during grad school mainly because Interactive Brokers have provided them with the exposure to participate in the markets and that experience is now being used to invest in retirement accounts besides the traditional 401k accounts that students may have.
Q: What would you say about the IBKR Student Trading Lab to other educators?
The IBKR Student Trading Lab is an absolutely recommendation to all the individuals teaching finance because of the ease of use and teach. Also, students are fascinated by it and use it in every class.