Financial Literacy Heats Up This Summer on UpDown.com

Social Platform for Virtual Investing Offers Great Way for Students of All Ages to Learn about Investing in a Real-world Environment, with No Financial Risk

BOSTON, MA, June 17, 2008 – UpDown.com, the leading social platform for virtual investing, today announced a new way for students to earn a few extra dollars this summer while learning about investing with no financial risk. UpDown.com offers a fun, informative and social environment in which they can learn about investing, connect with friends and earn money. UpDown.com members can earn money by outperforming the S&P 500 Index.

Students at the college level can compete in the UpDown.com $10,000 Student Investment Contest. The contest awards real-money to students with the best performing virtual portfolios.

UpDown.com is the only free investment platform that allows members to earn money with zero risk of financial loss. In addition to giving members $1,000,000 in virtual money to invest, UpDown.com provides a platform for investors to improve their skills through collaboration, competition and aggregated wisdom.

"UpDown.com is a great site to learn about the stock market in a real-world environment without any financial risk,” said Michael Reich, CEO & co-founder of UpDown.com. “Most teenagers and young adults don’t realize the power of proper investing and will lose out because of fear and lack of knowledge. If we teach children at a young age to take an interest in their financial futures, it can mean the difference between retiring wealthy or not."

He continues, “For example, if I’m in my teens or early twenties and put $10k in a CD returning 3%/yr, after 25 years, I would retire with a little less than $21k. If I invest $10k in the stock market which has averaged a return of 8% per year, after 25 years, I would retire with almost $70k. If UpDown.com members leverage the experience they have gained on the site, and perform a little better and earn 11% per year, after 25 years, they would retire with more than $135k on a $10k investment."

Dubbed by mainstream media outlets as "fantasy football meets the trading floor," UpDown.com was launched by three Harvard entrepreneurs last fall and has grown 500% since January 2008, with over 60,000 current registered members.

To learn more about UpDown.com go to www.updown.com.