Kory Mello has never invested in the stock market. His aunt and uncle bought him stock once, but like many college students, the sophomore public relations and policy studies major does not have the experience or financial knowledge to invest on his own.

‘That stuff confuses me,’ Mello said. ‘Finances and numbers are intimidating.’

Syracuse alumni Todd Harrison and Kevin Wassong, have a message for students like Mello: ‘Relax, it’s only money.’

The statement appears on the front of the duo’s Web site, Minyanville.com, which is designed to provide financial information to anyone from the seasoned Wall Street pro to the first time investor.

To do this, the site uses cartoon characters, named Boo the Bear and Hoofy the Bull, to deliver some of the financial advice. Hoofy is dressed like a successful businessman, representing a thriving market, while Boo looks more like a college dropout and represents a slumping market.

‘I think people tense up when it comes to financial decision making,’ Harrison said. ‘We use the characters to educate people. People just vibed to them because they related to them.’

On the site, visitors can watch the characters in educational finance clips on MVTV. The characters are also in the ‘Our Town’ comic book that describes the history of Minyanville. They are joined by other characters named Sammy the Snake, Snapper the Turtle and Daisy the Cow.

Harrison started using the characters as part of his column for TheStreet.com in 2000. He said they became popular as ways to symbolize the ups and downs of the confusing market.

In 2002, Harrison created Minyanville.com as part of Minyanville Publishing and Media, in New York City.

Wassong graduated with a degree in television, radio and film and had been working as CEO of J. Walter Thompson’s interactive marketing and developing group in Manhattan for seven years. He joined his old friend at Minyanville 2005, and is now president of Minyanville Publishing and Multimedia.

With Wassong’s background in media and Harrison’s experience with finance – he was president of a successful New York City hedge fund – the pair developed a site capable of reaching a broad range of people.

‘The hardest part about finance is making it entertaining and making it stick,’ Wassong said. ‘Suddenly (the site) is becoming a much broader voice.’

But it’s not all fun and games in Minyanville. Wassong and Harrison said the site would be nothing without giving sound financial advice.

‘I think it has to start with the credibility of the content,’ Harrison said. ‘You need to have credible people behind the characters.’

Minyanville’s writers have diverse backgrounds, ranging from businessmen to professors and long-time finance writers. Wassong said the site tries to improve its credibility by bringing in successful contributing writers. Most recently, Dan Kadlec, whose work has appeared in Time Magazine and USA Today, joined the site’s staff.

Wassong said the writers bring more than just knowledge to the table at Minyanville. The site needs something more than just cartoon characters to set it apart from the rest of the financial Web sites in the world.

‘When you read things, a lot of it comes down to how we approach writing about the market,’ Wassong said. ‘The majority of our contributors don’t write like financial writers; they write like humans.’

But even with sound advice, many people are still hesitant to enter the investment world.

Melissa Perez, a sophomore sociology major, said she never got into investing because she didn’t have enough money to lose. She had friends in middle school whose parents helped them start investing and are now very experienced. But unlike those people, she was never exposed to the financial world at a young age.

‘Investing is something I would do if I had the money to do it,’ Perez said. ‘When I don’t have money it’s kind of intimidating.’

Minyanville offers several tools for new investors to learn about the financial world without throwing all their money away. The University of MV section provides lessons on how to invest and there is a whole page of definitions so readers won’t be too confused by the economic banter.

But not every student is inexperienced with finance. Peter Koveos, a professor of finance at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he has seen some students come up with great investment ideas.

‘It takes practice and a lot of knowledge to find out what a good investment is,’ Koveos said. ‘I think knowledge makes you more secure. But you have to know not only what you know, but also what you don’t know.’

For those more knowledgeable readers, the site provides access to the news and views section, which gives updates and analysis on topics ranging from personal finance to derivatives and fundamentals.

Minyanville was a free site when it was launched in 2002, and it grew at an incredible rate. Now Harrison said it is read in 111 countries around the world.

The growth came with little advertising on Harrison and Wassong’s part. Harrison said readers grew connected to the site and spread the popularity through word of mouth.

‘Minyanville, more than anything else, is a community,’ Harrison said.

Now, the site requires a subscription for investors to obtain information. The Buzz and Banter section can be accessed for a $59 per month subscription. This allows users to view real-time commentary from 30 Wall-Street analysts all day long.

Wassong said college students can access the section for free. They just need to go to the University of MW tab and look for the Free.edu Access link.

‘We believe in educating people,’ he said. ‘When they make it in the real world we hope they will remember that we helped them out when they were getting started.’

For more info: Go to www.minyanville.com

Published on February 12, 2007 at 12:00 pm