People earn and lose millions of dollars in the stock market every day, but Penn State students can experience Wall Street without risking any cash.

The Smeal College Trading Room creates a pseudo-stock market that serves as a classroom and research facility. "Evaluating Your Investing Personality," scheduled to begin at 7 tonight in the Smeal College Trading Room, 201 Business Administration, is a hands-on lecture that will help participants discover their investing personalities.

J. Randall Woolridge, professor of finance and director of the Trading Room, is presenting the lecture.

The audience will get to use the technology of the Trading Room to learn what type of investors they are, how much risk they are willing to take and what types of mistakes they make as investors.

During the lecture, the audience will learn about the nature of investing and take surveys about risk assessment and loss aversion. The surveys will evaluate the types of financial risks audience members are willing to take. Based on the results of the surveys, the lecture will give tips about the best ways to invest for each participant.

"People like to buy insurance, but they also buy lottery tickets. What does that say about their investing personality? Do they like the sure thing or one with a small probability of being a big winner?" Woolridge said.

The Trading Room provides access to live Wall Street data, including live coverage of financial markets from CNBC and CNNfn. Computer stations in the room allow students to simulate trades using real-time information.

"As soon as stock moves up or down we know about it," said Phillip Bolda, director of development at the Smeal College of Business Administration.

The Trading Room has five display boards running stock quotations on a continuous feed and 44 trading stations. The stations are set up as a trading desk would be in a Wall Street firm.

The lecture series opens the doors of the Trading Room to members of the community, faculty and students outside the Smeal College of Business Administration.

"You don't need to major in business to need to know about Wall Street and investing," said Steve Infanti, Smeal College spokesman.

The lectures take place in the Trading Room to give participants simulated hands-on experience investing in real world situations.

"How often do you get the opportunity to invest millions of dollars without losing your shirt? This puts you in the investing driver's seat," Infanti said.

The lecture is part of the Smeal College Trading Room Lecture Series. The event is free and open to the public. To reserve a trading station, contact Tina Jones at 863-0486 or crj2@psu.edu.