Nonprofit gives each Athens high school senior a $1,000 investment portfolio

Mohit is a successful tech entrepreneur who founded Bizrate.com, Shopzilla and Flipagram, a music video app he sold to Chinese investors and eventually became TikTok.

The Athens program, covering roughly 800 students, is Gifted Savings’ first districtwide initiative after the nonprofit launched a pilot program last year at a small charter school in Los Angeles. To keep their individual investment portfolios, students must complete financial literacy programs, turn 18 and begin and end the school year enrolled.

Gifted Savings officials conferred with Athens native Logan Smalley, executive director of TED-Ed, TED’s youth and education initiative, about introducing the portfolio program in three schools around the country.

Smalley, a Clarke Central High graduate, urged Gifted Savings officials not to “dilute their efforts” and instead to scale up and focus on an entire school district — and then suggested Athens’ Clarke County.

“Logan told us there was multigenerational poverty in Athens,” said Josh Landay, the nonprofit’s executive director. “We hope this will change the narrative.”

Ben Smalley, Logan’s brother, is the social studies director for the Clarke County School District. He coordinated with high school staff so seniors will use 15 minutes of their weekly advisement periods to complete the educational modules created by Gifted Savings. At the end of the academic year, students will have completed 20 modules explaining each part of their portfolios.

Clarke County School Superintendent Jennifer Scott said she believes the program will “teach students what investing means, keep them in school and on track, and give them something to look forward to.”

If the participating students complete the requirements, Gifted Savings turns the portfolios over to them. They can buy or sell as they wish, including cashing out.

Researchers from the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences are following the students for the next four years to learn how the program affects them as individuals, their families and the community.

An anonymous donor is funding the first year of the Athens program, which will cost $814,000. Gifted Savings is paying for half the second year, with expectations for the Athens community stepping up to pay the remainder, and, eventually, to create a $16 million endowment to fund the program in perpetuity.

“I think the business community in Athens craves an opportunity to provide a hand up,” Athens Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Bradley said. “I was very skeptical at first, but this is the real deal. It’s going to fully engage the students and show them there can be light in their future.”