The answer is: This New York-based money manager is taking a multimedia approach to investor education that includes card games, quiz shows and CD-ROMs.
If you said, "What is OppenheimerFunds?," you're right.
OppenheimerFunds is in the second year of its education program called "Pulse of the Market," which is based on its annual survey of the same name. The shareholder survey was designed to "get a sense of what people are feeling about the market," said Jill Glazerman, vice president and director of product development at OppenheimerFunds.
The program, designed by Ms. Glazerman and distributed through financial representatives, is designed to educate investors -- defined contribution plan participant as well as retail clients -- about the stock market, its history and investing in general.
But instead of analyst reports and newsletters, Oppenheimer produced an interactive CD-ROM that features a time machine and a quiz show, along with a desktop set of Trivial Pursuit-style question and answer cards with questions such as: What initial public offering experienced the largest first day percentage gain in stock price?
Ms. Glazerman said the program was created to help people understand the markets and their investments beyond just data and numbers.
For example, to illustrate the power of long-term investing through various market periods, punch in 1976 on the time machine and you'll get a 10-year growth chart for $10,000 invested in 1976 over images of Jimmy Carter and a disco ball.
The program is updated each Nov- ember based on data from the most recent pulse of the market survey.
If you're curious, theglobe.com experienced the largest first day percentage gain in stock price when it rose 606%.
