During the presidential debates this year, both candidates frequently touted their connections to Warren Buffet.
    The Omaha businessman and philanthropist was referenced throughout the debates as a potential treasury secretary.
    But John McCain and Barack Obama were not the only ones influenced by Buffet's work.
    Seth Auld, sophomore in finance, and Darin Mainquist, senior in finance, attended Buffet's annual shareholder meetings for his company Berkshire Hathaway in spring 2008 with a group of students from the Student Finance Association. At the meetings, the two decided K-State needed an organization to offer more hands-on experience dealing with investments.
    Thus, the Investment Club was born.
     Recruiting efforts are underway, Auld said, and the club is looking for anyone interested in investing.
    He said the club would take any experience level and functions with a collaboration of ideas.
    "We're really open to listening to anyone's ideas," he said. "That's the nice thing about it: Nobody's ideas are thrown out the window.
    Whether you are a beginner or an expert, we will sit and listen to your ideas and see if they are good investment ideas."
    The club is finishing its constitution, a task that must be completed by any student organization registered through the Office of Students Activities and Services.
    Scott Hendrix, instructor in finance and club adviser, said developing the constitution has been mainly what he has helped with thus far.
    Included in the constitution is the election process for officers, the managers of the portfolio and analysts.
    But that has not been the limit of Hendrix's activity with the club.
    "As they have had their meetings, I have sat in to listen to the strategies and respond to questions about the strategies," he said.
    The strategies are already going to good use. Investment Club members have combined to form a team for the 2008 Equitrader Collegiate Challenge.
    The school that takes first place in the competition will receive $10,000.
    More than $25,000 in prize money will be distributed by the conclusion of the tournament. As of Wednesday evening, the K-State team was ranked 43rd out of 549 teams.
    Hendrix said the strategies that would usually work are currently unsuccessful because of the market's volatility.
    "Over the short term, there can be some variability," he said. "But I think they have a strategy in place to be successful long term."
    Mainquist said his goal for the group was to have and operate multiple portfolios and to visit the investment industry in Kansas City.
    "That's what we are kind of working toward right now," he said.  
     Students interested in the Investment Club should contact Auld at shauld@ksu.edu.
    "We're just on the beginnings of this organization," he said. "We're really hoping we can have a lot of neat things that people will be able to experience through this club."