INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE

A new financial literacy program is designed to help students invest in themselves

This past spring, four CSG students competed in the National Council on Economic Education’s Personal Finance Challenge.

Gabi Yuan ’23, Peyton Readler ’23, Claudia Jones ’23, and Anya Nguyen ’23 made it to the state level of the competition, which was held virtually. As the only all-girl team, the only female faces they saw over Zoom were their own.

The experience served as a reminder of the gender disparity that exists in math and finance fields. As CSG works to empower girls and young women, part of that effort will increase the attention spent on financial literacy and exposure to finance careers.

Slated to launch this fall, the financial literacy program is one of the first offerings from the Center for Girls’ and Young Women’s Leadership—a new CSG signature program created through the Power & Promise campaign to enrich our commitment to empowering girls and young women to find their voice and know their power.

Suggested by Yori O’Neal ’24, the financial literacy program features a six-week curriculum in which students learn about earning, spending, saving, investing, and managing money. Students will also have the opportunity to meet women in the finance field, such as financial advisors, investment bankers, and stockbrokers.

Dr. Emily Krichbaum, who serves as the Center’s Director, said the goal of the program is to invest in young women so they can invest in themselves. Students often leave for college highly competent in a variety of abstract theories. Equipping students with practical tools to better themselves now and in the future is of equal importance.

“We send our students to college having conquered AP Calculus AB, but we need to make sure they also know about APRs and IRAs,” Dr. Krichbaum said. “There are too many women who wished they would have learned these things earlier. Part of positioning our students to find their voice and know their power is giving them the tools they need to invest in themselves and their future.”

Controlling credit, loans, and debt and investing in the stock market were just some of the things O’Neal hoped to learn through involvement with the program.

“The goal is to ensure financial literacy and to have fun while doing it,” she said.

Educating girls and young women in personal finance is also necessary to decrease the wealth gap between men and women and increase the number of women in finance roles, O’Neal said.

Statistics show the finance industry suffers from a severe lack of gender equality. According to Rock the Street, Wall Street, a nonprofit with the goal to bring gender and racial equity to financial markets, women represent only 2.5% of hedge fund managers, 8% of venture capitalist partners, and 9% of mutual fund managers. According to Girls Who Invest, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in the asset management industry, only 6% of the chief investment officers of the largest institutional U.S. money managers are women. Only 6% of senior leaders in private equity are women—4% in real estate and 3% in hedge funds.

While for generations women in finance have had difficulty getting seats at the table, CSG is equipping our girls with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in leadership roles within the industry.

O’Neal said the program caters to those with an interest in finance while also giving other students the opportunity to learn more about the field.

“It is important that women are aware of the opportunities in finance and are not pushed away because of the lack of mentorship and knowledge,” she said. “With an increase in financial leadership in girls and women, barriers can be broken.”

FORTE ET GRATUM • FALL/WINTER 2022 15