Brian Sumereau, a sophomore finance and Information Technology major, and Karmen Yap, a junior finance major, recently founded a new club called the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
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Photo courtesy of Alexa Coughlin[/caption]
“A friend once told me that she wished she knew about credit score earlier when she was studying in the university,” Yap said. “The conversation inspired a reflection I had thinking about my community, which I found a need to provide opportunities for all students to learn about personal money management.”
Margaret Schantz, a junior finance major, explained how she became involved with the new club. “I met Karmen for the first time when we visited Citi Bank with the Hall Street Fund,” Schantz said. “She pitched the idea of starting FPA and I was interested and excited to contribute.”
Schantz said she hopes that the members of the club, as well as its founders, will be enthusiastic as she is and will learn a lot.
Taylor Cutcliff, a senior mathematical finance major, said that everyone will need to think about financial management and that the club was a great idea. “Karmen approached me with an amazing idea to start a club that gave every student, no matter what their degree or background with business and finance was, a chance to understand the basics of money management,” She said.
Juliana Arrabito, a sophomore management and marketing major, said, “I met Karmen at an event and she told me she was starting a club that freshman-me wished SHU had. FPA is something that every student of any major could benefit from and I want to be able to help in any way I could.”
Arrabito said that she sees people struggling financially after college and she believes the club with baseline knowledge will help alleviate some of this burden.
Everyone in college needs to know money management basics and financial planning, Sumereau said, since these are necessary skills post-graduation that are often overlooked in the standard curriculum. “In high school, I had the ability to take a financial literacy class,” Sumereau said. “But the content was not entirely relevant or applicable to high school students. When I learned of the FPA material, I was determined, with the help of the other members of our team, to bring these lessons and resources to the SHU students.”
Yap said that the club plans to inform all students that FPA is where they can learn the essential personal money management skills they can carry with them after they graduate from Seton Hall. She added that the club will achieve this by delivering values and making sure to have different times scheduled to maximize chances for students to attend the events.
Cutcliff said in addition to the meetings, the club is also incorporating an online course provided by Envestnet. The Envestnet Institute on Campus is a seven-module online course that allows students to search through the different areas of the wealth management industry.
“We will take comments, questions, and concerns from members of the club and ask them how they feel,” Sumereau said. “This club was created to be a tailored financial-planning supplement to the classes at Seton Hall, so we want to hear from our members of what we can do to provide the best environment to foster discussions and create real learning opportunities in the world of finance and money management.”
Alexa Coughlin can be reached at alexa.coughlin@student.shu.edu.
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