Careers Visit to Rathbones Investment Management

During our Careers Visit to Rathbones, some children who had expressed an interest in the Maths curriculum and the world of finance were introduced to the world of trading and investment management through a series of engaging presentations and a huge supply of chocolate bars!

We first met with Andy, a Financial Accountant at Rathbones, who organised the morning. We also met with other professionals with different roles throughout the company such as dealers, risk managers and even apprentices. Each of these professionals was able to give us information on what a career in finance is like, what skills you would need and what you would need to study in school before choosing the university or apprentice route as an adult.

Next came the highlight of the morning, the Chocolate Trading Game! Children were given £1000 and 10 bars of chocolate to start with and then had to buy and sell chocolate as prices fluctuated due to certain major events. Our children discussed and plotted their trading strategies as wars shut down cocoa production or the cost of sugar fell. At the end of it, children could look at their assets to see if they had more or less chocolate than they started with as a result of their buying and selling.

At the end of the task, the children had made a profit of 78 chocolate bars, which were quickly devoured by staff on their return to school! We all returned knowing more about careers in the financial sector and, most importantly, having experienced a very enjoyable morning.