Written by Mark McEnfuss
California State University, Monterey Bay professors Jennifer Quan and Timothy Ohm want to turn scary places into friendly places. They are introducing people to the stock market through the power of his YouTube.
Quan said many people avoid the market for fear of losses.
“What I hope is that more people understand the stock market critically in a way and feel empowered to invest,” said Quan, an associate professor in the School of Business Administration. .
To that end, she and Ohm, an associate professor of film arts and technology, have created a series of one- to two-minute videos that provide guidelines on what the stock market is, how it works, and how to approach it. We created Stock Prof. To invest.
The first six-part series was produced in 2023 and available on YouTube. The two are currently working on Season 2.
This video includes animated cutouts and narration to explain what stocks are, how prices fluctuate, what investment funds are, and more.
Quan said the idea for the project was inspired by a paper she published in 2018 on stock market institutional analysis. While discussing this topic with her students, she realized that there were some gaps in knowledge.
“There were some fundamental parts about the stock market that people didn't understand that were interesting and important for people to know,” she said. “Especially given the new developments in platforms like Robin Hood (an online trading platform), and cryptocurrencies. I thought, how can I reach out to people like my students and other young people? I want them to invest in a safe way.”
She believes the stock market has the potential to level the economic playing field.
“We're thinking about how the stock market and investing can build intergenerational wealth for people who have historically been discriminated against in housing and banking,” she said.
Ohm said the project was very collaborative.
“My role is to take an idea and make it easy to understand in a one-minute video,” Ohm says. “Jenny and I are writing the script together. In a sense, we're producers. We work together to figure out what the visuals should be.”
It's great to see one of their videos go viral, but there's no way to control it or make it happen, Ohm said. So far, he doesn't have a lot of views, but he feels like he has a lot of potential.
“Ultimately, if someone goes to YouTube and types in ‘how to invest,’ we want our video to be the first thing that comes up,” he said. “That's one of our long-term goals. Once we start marketing, I think the views will increase.”
Quan said he is confident the work will attract attention.
“I think the content is valuable, the quality is very good, and it ultimately makes an impact,” she said. “If we can make this available to more people, that would be really great.”
At least she enlightened at least one person.
“I feel like I have a better understanding of how to invest,” Ohm said. “I've learned a lot.”
