Conversations like these are pretty common for Civil. He joined two finance-related clubs in college after a personal finance class in high school piqued his interest. He was the first person in his family to invest, but school clubs have been a way to gain investing skills he may not have otherwise gotten.
“Coming from a low income family, I know how hard it is to not have a ton of money and live paycheck to paycheck,” Civil says. “Knowing I have the skills to have a stable financial life is really nice.”
College investment clubs have been around for years. Some, like the Lafayette College Investment Club — which started with $3,000 in the 1940s and now manages more than $1 million dollars — involve having students run a portion of their school’s endowment with the help of faculty advisors. These clubs give students real-world, hands-on experience with investing and a glimpse into what a career on Wall Street might look like.
