On January 19th and 20th, HUECU had the opportunity to host our 11th annual Wintersession Personal Financial Wellness program. We were excited to have students attend from all Harvard University schools as we hosted our sessions virtually! Our Wintersession course consisted of four different sessions: Saving for Retirement; Investing; Building and Maintaining Credit; and a panel on Managing Your Money as a Student. All four presentations can be watched right now on our YouTube channel. Here are some key takeaways!
On day one, Veteran Wintersession presenter Jake Northrup, from Experience Your Wealth, opened our program with Jane Mepham from Elgon Financial Advisors by giving students an opportunity to think through what they value and how their money can help them experience that. Students were able to envision what retirement would look like for them and learned tips on how to plan for their future. Although there was great conversation about the future of retirement, most students were ready to get started saving early. Students had questions about Roth IRAs, when to start saving for retirement, and compound interest. Jake and Jane did a great job encouraging our students to really look into their financial futures.
During the second session on day one, we were happy to welcome back Shahar Ziv, HUECU Board Member and Co-Founder of our Personal Finance Wintersession course, as the presenter for our investing session. He gave students a good foundation on how to get started in investing, but also how to “stay average,” just like Warren Buffett. Students were interested in learning more about robo-advisors and ETFs, as well as the upside of investing early.
On day two, we were joined by Luke Pelger from Greenpath Financial Wellness as our presenter on Building and Maintaining Credit. He told students how to freely check their credit scores, and how to ensure their credit score remains high. Students were interested in learning about what makes up a credit score, and Luke did a great job walking through that breakdown. He also encouraged all students to get in touch with a GreenPath counselor for one-on-one recommendations to raise their credit score.
For the final session, our panel on Managing Your Money as a Student consisted of Eddie Richardson and Meadow Hall, Harvard College students and HUECU SAC members; Debi Meche, Harvard College Alumni; and Evelyn Contreras, Harvard staff member. They touched on everything from how to budget money for a summer internship to their own experiences regarding money management. They helped summarize what next steps would be good to take when thinking about money after attending Wintersession.
We look forward to continuing to work with students throughout the spring semester! If your student group is interested in setting up a personal finance presentation, please contact Sarah Scruggs.
To watch all Wintersession presentations and more, subscribe to our YouTube channel.
