The Finance Camp helps teens build wealth and etiquette early
News April 8th 2025
Jaymin Kanzer
The world of finance can feel inaccessible and confusing, but Ron Speaker is working to change that for the next generation.
Speaker, a Carbondale-based finance expert, is hosting his third annual Youth Finance Camp from June 9-15. The weeklong program will bring together 12 to 15 high school students from across Western Colorado for an intensive, hands-on introduction to personal finance, investing, and financial literacy.
“You’ve got to know money,” Speaker said. “You have to know it, and the schools aren’t teaching investing. There are some good programs out there, but this was my best way of providing a solution.”
Funded and directed by Speaker, the camp is free for students ages 14 to 17, who are selected through a competitive application process open until April 15. Applicants must also complete 25 hours of community service before attending.
“The goal is to just get the kids in the game,” Speaker said. “If we can help kids start thinking about retirement accounts this early, they can find their way to financial freedom. It doesn’t take that much money, but it takes time. I’m trying to get them on an early start.”
Camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at Speaker’s finance studio in Carbondale. Students will explore topics such as the history of money, investing fundamentals, cryptocurrency, and long-term wealth-building strategies. Lessons incorporate multimedia, college-level content, and even clips from movies like “The Big Short” and “Wall Street” to make the material more engaging.
“I try to open up the window and say, ‘Here’s this big world of finance and it has so many different players,’” Speaker said. “From bankers to investment advisors to Wall Street traders. I use technology to help me tell the story of finance.”
Every student who completes the community service requirement receives a $500 seed investment, funded by Speaker, to begin trading in a Charles Schwab custodial account. At the end of the week, whoever passes the final exam with a score of 75% or higher will receive an additional $750 toward their custodial investment accounts.
“They are required to have a custodial investment account at Schwab,” Speaker said. “If they’ve done their community service, then I wire $500 into all the accounts the next day.”
The program emphasizes long-term investing but doesn’t shy away from real-world trading. Speaker, who has a partnership with Schwab, monitors the accounts to ensure students stay on track. The student with the highest portfolio value by Dec. 31 will win the camp’s $5,000 grand prize, complete with an oversized check.
“Part of the lesson is how to engage with the financial institution,” Speaker said. “I’m trying to encourage a long-term investment mindset, but sometimes the kids just want to gamble. At this very moment, the stock market is in turmoil. It could be a wonderful time to make a long-term purchase. But I also teach them how to actually buy — and I want them to actually sell.”
In addition to learning about stocks and investments, students receive training in etiquette, which Speaker believes is a key part of professional success. He uses lunch breaks as opportunities to sneak in a lesson on manners.
“There are no ‘manners classes’ here in the valley,” he said. “It’s wonderful because the kids really take to it. It isn’t about pointing out their faults, it’s about supplying a healthy learning environment. We cover everything from what to wear in interviews to how to hold forks.”
Applications remain open through April 15. For more information, visit thefinancecamp.com.
Aspen High School student reaps benefits of financial literacy camp
News | Jan 22, 2024
Lucy Peterson
Lucy Peterson/The Aspen Times
An Aspen High School freshman won $5,000 for competing in an investing competition with the Carbondale-based Finance Camp. But the bigger prize she’s taking home is newfound knowledge of investing and increased financial literacy, she said.
Emma Jane Mallory was one of 12 students enrolled in The Finance Camp in June 2023. Ron Speaker, a longtime Carbondale resident, started the camp to teach young adults in the valley how to invest and save money. While the camp ran for one week in June, the students — 14-15 years old — competed in an investing competition until the end of the year in which they put their investment skills to the test to buy and sell stocks strategically. The student who made the most money at the end of the year won the grand prize.
Mallory won by just $9.
The investing competition was a culmination of skills Speaker taught students during the weeklong Finance Camp. He started the program to help students in the Roaring Fork Valley make smarter decisions with their money.
Students who enrolled in the camp were given $500 on the first day after completing 25 hours of community service. They were given $750 after completing a 25-question financial literacy exam. They were then taught how to buy and sell stocks and create an investing profile using the money provided by Speaker.
Speaker taught students how to invest in companies strategically, showing them how to use current events to inform their purchase and how to know when to get rid of a stock.
“I would encourage them to be patient,” Speaker said. “It’s a really difficult job, and we have an election day ahead of us and there’s some big concern some stocks will go down… but (Mallory) has this amazing firepower and knows how to do it strategically.”
He also encouraged them to invest in companies they already know and love.
Mallory invested in several companies including Target and Lululemon, which she said helped her win in the end.
“Ron told us to choose brands that we know and we like to shop a lot, so I started off with Target and Lululemon,” Mallory said. “I did some more research on articles, and my family just bought an electric car so I decided to invest in new electric car companies.”
To earn the first $500, Mallory volunteered for the Aspen Youth Center, a nonprofit that offers programs to children in grades 4-12. She won the competition after earning about $1,500, and she plans to invest that and the additional $5,000.
Winning excited Mallory, but the skills she learned are invaluable, she said.
“I feel like it’ll be very good to keep investing, pay for some college,” Mallory said. “I feel like also I can just help my friends out because it actually is very helpful to know and I’ve made money from it already.”
“I honestly think just letting my friends and family know so it can spread and other people can invest too, that’s my main goal,” she added.
Applications for the 2024 Finance Camp are open at thefinancecamp.com. The camp runs from June 10-14, and serves students from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.