BYU students created the Personal Finance Club to help their classmates learn more about how to wisely handle their money before and after graduation.
Club President Peter Call is a junior in the accounting program. Call said he started the club because he noticed there was a lack of knowledge among most students concerning personal finances.
“People are graduating, getting real jobs and getting money,” Call said. “They find themselves in a situation where they don’t know how to use it. There is no training on it.”
Call said the goal of the club is to help BYU students from all majors apply financial principles to their lives during and after college. To achieve this, the club hosts a monthly 45-minute-long seminar with a professional on a specific topic.
According to Call, the seminar will start by teaching the principle and the second half will be a breakout session to learn how to apply that principle.
“In 45 minutes you can learn things and make decisions that can change your life,” Call said.
Call said the club’s first meeting topic will be about budgeting. Students attending the meeting will walk out with a personal budget they create during the seminar breakout session.
Club Vice President of Advertising Quinten Day expressed his excitement for the club. According to Day, even with his experience in finance, he is eager to learn more about how he can apply these financial principles in his life rather than just in business.
“As a finance major I am learning financial principles, but I am applying those in business settings,” Day said. “I am hoping to learn a lot of these skills so I can apply them for my personal finances.”
Financial coach and club adviser Paul Conrad expressed his enthusiasm for the opportunities that lie ahead for the Personal Finance Club.
“Students come to college and expect to do a lot of learning at the library and in the classroom, but some of the most significant learning is from running into a guy like (Call),” Conrad said. “That’s an exciting thing for students to be learning from each other in some of these areas.”
Conrad said he thinks students should start learning how to make financial decisions sooner rather than later.
“College is a good time to explore, but it’s also a good time to formulate your goals and find what budgeting method is going to work for you,” Conrad said. “Students are spending money and making financial decisions. This is a time when they can really learn about credit.”
According to Call, personal finance is essential to students’ futures.
“Everyone needs to know the basics of personal finance, no matter their major,” Call said. “This is something that is going to be a significant part of their life. If they learn it now, they will avoid a lot of pain in the future.”
The club meets the second Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. Its first meeting will be Feb. 13 in B190 JFSB.
