Ionnie McNeill is on the road to becoming a financial guru. With her professional speaking business well underway, a budding investment portfolio and shares in several companies including Proctor and Gamble, Wendy’s and Pfizer, she has paved her own way t
It all began after her mother, Ann McNeill, started taking her young daughter to her weekly investment meetings and classes. Ionnie, who was 7 years old at the time, would help Ann with her homework, researching and analyzing companies from which to buy stock. After that, Ionnie was hooked.
“What really interested me was the fact that I would be part owner of whatever company I bought stock from,” Ionnie said. “The ownership part was big for me.” The Howard University junior bought her first stock at age 9 in Citrix, a computer software company based in Florida, also where she is from.
She incorporated her own business, Speak 2 Share, when she was 15, and now she travels around the country teaching children and teens about investing and how to get started. “My mother often tells a story about how after a meeting I came out and told her, ‘Now I understand why having Nike stock is more important than having Nike shoes,’” she said.
“And really, it’s true. I sometimes tell the students that if you forfeit in buying that pair of Jordan’s, you can spend that $120 and buy two or three shares of stock.” McNeill believes that investing in education and saving money should begin at an early age, just as it did with her. Her father, she said, was very frugal when she was younger, and this started to build her mindset to be money conscious. Her mother, who also owns her own business, inspired her to pursue her career in finance and business.
Although she is not entirely certain on her plans after college, McNeill said that she wants to be in corporate America, possibly working in consulting or financial services. Until then, she plans to focus on her business and educate youth about making their money grow. “My mind isn’t always on making money,” she said. “It’s on enjoying life, being with family and friends and having the financial freedom to do whatever I want.
And I see it as my passion to teach young people about it and how to get it, and letting them know that it’s not hard at all.” McNeill will be teaching at a youth investing seminar Saturday at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel.
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