Precocious Market Analyst Picks Stocks Over ‘Bombs’

“I asked my Dad what a stock market is. He said that I had to know about stocks and bombs.”

This youthful exploration of Stealth and wealth won six-year-old Jeremy Herrmann of Pepper Pike, Ohio, the grand prize Friday in the Nasdaq Stock Market’s essay contest, “What Stock Markets Mean to America.”

Jeremy’s entry lifted off by taking stock of what he knows. “I know what a bomb is,” he wrote confidently. “I don’t know what a stock is. But a stock market must be better than a bomb market.”

His dovish reasoning led Jeremy to a bullish conclusion. “So I think that stock markets are good for America,” he wrote.

Nasdaq awarded a total of $25,000 to 25 entrants between the ages of five and 18. The contest drew 2,200 entries from 49 states, the District of Columbia, Japan, Puerto Rico and British Columbia.

The winners drew on different sources of inspiration.

Seven-year-old Emily Kuster of Johnston, Iowa, cooked up the idea that “stocks are like pies” after helping her mother bake in the kitchen.

Kelly McClintock, 18, tried to read the market. “She had so many books, encyclopedias and other reference materials piled up that we could barely get in the door,” her mother, Elaine McClintock said.