On the Fast Track: Ionnie Mcneill Just Graduated From High School, but She Already Has 11 Years of Business and Investing Experience — and a $10,000 National Scholarship
By Fallan M. Thompson, The Miami Herald
Jun. 8–Ionnie McNeill went to her first investment club meeting when she was 7. She bought her first stock at 9 — in Citrix, a computer software company based in Fort Lauderdale.
Then, at 12, she created her own financial advising business, Speak 2 Share, that teaches children and young adults ages 10-25 about finance and investing.
“What captivated me was owning something,” said McNeill, who is now 18.
McNeill’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.
At the end of April, she found out she had won the first-place $10,000 scholarship in Guardian Insurance Company of America’s Girls Going Places program. The award is for girls in middle and high school who have successfully started their own businesses.
“It was the way she approached her project; she’s very entrepreneurial,” said Diana Acevedo, marketing manager and program coordinator of Girls Going Places. “She showed a really strong contribution to her community.”
Girls Going Places, which Guardian Insurance started in 1999, gives the $10,000 first prize, a $5,000 second prize, a $3,000 third prize and a dozen $1,000 awards.
McNeill’s mother, Ann, who owns MCL Construction, and her financial advisor, Yolanda Lewis, nominated her for the award in an essay about why she made a good candidate and about her business. Her father, Daniel, who works for the Pratt & Whitney aerospace company, put her portfolio together.
“I was at school when I received the call that I had won,” McNeill said.
As a financial advisor, she speaks at major gatherings, such as the Florida Regional Minority Business Conference, to encourage young people to start investing early.
When she speaks, it is from experience.
McNeill, who lives in Miami Lakes, has shares in several companies, including Pfizer, Home Depot and JetBlue Airlines.
At 14, she created a mutual fund in Vanguard Total Stock Market with an IRA that is currently worth about $12,000.
By working on her investment portfolio, and providing she invests the maximum of $3,000 a year, when she retires her return on investment will be more than $1.6 million.
She encourages other young people to follow in her footsteps.
“Our best advantage is that we have time,” she said. “The best way to invest is really long term, at least five years. I don’t give in to instant gratification and buy all the shoes I want.”
It was McNeill’s mother who inspired her to pursue the finance and business world. Ann McNeill took her young daughter to a meeting of an investment club and the child was able to sit in on the kids’ session. She became hooked.
And, because her mother owns her own company, from a young age McNeill wanted to have her own business as well.
Besides running her business, McNeill teaches a free Youth Investing class at 6 p.m. Tuesdays at her church, New Birth Baptist Church, at Northwest 22nd Avenue and 135th Street in Opa-locka. She teaches kids 7 and up, and anyone can attend.
McNeill graduated in May from Monsignor Edward Pace High with a 4.8 grade point average. She was a member of the National Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America.
She will attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., majoring in accounting and finance.
It was not all books and numbers, though. McNeill played basketball all four years of high school as a point guard and won state honors twice.
“Since 7, my life has been investing, school and basketball.”
McNeill may play for Howard but she has no plans for a career in the sport.
—–
Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NASDAQ-NMS:CTXS, NYSE:UTX, NYSE:HD,