Calling Ma Wenya for an interview Thursday caught him in the middle of what does best: closing a deal.

    Unlike other seniors busy scrambling for jobs, Ma, a senior majoring in media market research and analysis at Beijing-based Communication University of China (CUC) has lived his last year of college on the fast track to success, earning himself about 5 million yuan ($ 732,500)by investing in real estate and stocks.

    "I moved with my parents to Shanghai from Henan in 2002. Seeing all the wealth there, all the people with money and cars, I dreamed that one day I could be one of them," Ma said.

    Flip mode

    With dreams of striking it rich in Shanghai, Ma made his first investment in 2003 at the age of 15. Using 20,000 yuan he collected in gifts from family members during the Chinese New Year, he convinced his parents to invest in a villa in Shanghai's Minhang district at 4,000 yuan per square meter.

    "I watched the local financial news reports everyday and monitored developments which I thought had promise. Its (Oriental Garden) price was comparatively low, the location was good, and the Western architectural style was really to my taste. So I convinced my parents to buy it," Ma said.

    Once again depending on his preternatural understanding of finance, Ma advised his parents to sell the villa one year later at the price of 8,000 yuan per square meter, double the price he paid. He walked away with 80,000 yuan in profit.

    "I felt so happy to make my first deal, and realized how important it is to live independently," Ma said.

    With this money, Ma continued researching and scoping out investment opportunities throughout his high school years.

    "I invested in over 10 real estate projects in Shanghai within three years, all of which all turned a profit. The real estate business, at that time, was really going well. By the time I graduated from high school, I had earned about 500,000 yuan," Ma said.

    Although thousands before graduating high school can hardly be scoffed at, since Ma spent all his time studying finance and economics, his grades plummeted; his university entrance exam scores were the lowest in his class.

    However, Ma's scores were high enough to get him into CUC in 2006, where he chose to study media market research simply because he felt it "easy enough to free up more time.

    Stock market blues

    Sometimes overconfidence in natural talent can teach some hard lessons. During his first years at college, Ma changed his focus from investing in real estate to the stock market, where he experienced his first run in with large losses.

    "I've been investing in stocks since middle school, but really just played with it for fun. It wasn't until later that I started investing heavily. By the end of 2007 when the market hit its peak, I had earned over 200,000 yuan off of my original 500,000 yuan investment, but those days didn't last long.

    "My shares started to dive and I kept holding on until I was left with the amount I started with," Ma said.

    "It was a big blow to take. I began to feel that I was in over my head and had a lot to learn."

    Call it a comeback

    Discouraged by the defeat, Ma took some time off from investment, concentrating on his studies and waiting for a chance to stage a comeback.

    It wasn't until earlier this year when Ma saw a real estate opportunity in Xianghe, Hebei Province. Ma took everything he had left and bought two villas with a group of investors.

    "I had only 500,000 left and couldn't afford to invest in Beijing. But this investment has been paying off," Ma said.

    Even though finance involves risk, that doesn't mean Ma closes his eyes and jumps in a deal with a fistful of yuan. His secret lies in a combination of using his natural talent for feeling out the market while knowing how to hedge his bets.

    "When I was a boy, I never played basketball because I thought it was dangerous. I don't like doing things with high risk, but rather I am just quite sensitive to trends in the market and seeing potential opportunities. I do a lot of research before I leap."

    As Ma approaches graduation day, he plans to keep developing his finance superpowers, but when asked what he would do if he lost it all tomorrow, Ma says he'll take his passion to the classroom.

    "I would teach finance so I could help students know what not to do and avoid the mistakes I had made," he laughed.