University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business and Financegraduates may have more job opportunities than expected, accordingto a new study.
Increased business and individual investments are expected tospur employment for financial analysts and personal financialadvisers, according to the Department of Labor.
To help distinguish themselves from their peers and hopefullyimpress potential employers, some seniors at the Fogelman Collegeof Business and Finance can add "member of team that managed$500,000 investment account for the Tennessee Valley Authority" totheir resumes.
The investment team won the TVA Investment Challenge for 2003,beating out a field of 24 other schools that included theUniversity of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University and the Universityof Mississippi for first place and $15,000.
TVA's Investment Challenge Program is a partnership between TVAand some of the universities in its service area that provides realworld learning experience in portfolio management, said WilsonTaylor, program director and manager of financial services forTVA.
The program is symbiotic. While students learn to apply thefinancial principles they learn in the classroom, TVA reaps thefinancial reward.
"It's important they make sound investment decisions because themoney will be used to decommission nuclear plants," saidTaylor.
Even though most students on The U of M's team are finance orbusiness majors, any student at The U of M can join the team, saidgroup adviser Phillip Kolbe, finance, insurance and real estateprofessor.
Students at other schools have to enroll in a particular classto participate in the competition, he said.
"We chose to keep it flexible -- no class, no textbooks, nogrades, just people interested in investing," he said.
Kolbe said the group makes decisions democratically.
"Members make presentations for their ideas and then the groupvotes on it. Some students are more willing to take risks andothers are not," he said.
"When you're dealing with someone else's money you have to bemore conservative," said Eric Dunn, senior finance major, who willintern this summer at Morgan Stanley.
The team used its individual diversity to create a portfoliothat posted a 41.7 percent gain in 2003, out-performing the S&P500.
The team, following a tip from Kolbe, invested in General GrowthProperties, an owner, developer and manager of shopping centers,and posted a gain during last year's market decline.
Employers are impressed when they find out the new graduate hasactually worked with real money, Kolbe said.
"I have already received calls from employers that want to knowwhich of these students are graduating," he said.
Sharing a few tips with fellow graduates, finance senior DavidHochstien said, "Pay off those high-interest credit card bills andstart saving what you can."
