Targum spotlight: Rutgers Personal Finance Club helps inform students on debt, stocks, budgeting

The Rutgers Personal Finance Club (RPFC) is a student-led organization with the goal of helping students become more financially informed, according to the club's page on getINVOLVED.

The Daily Targum spoke with Ansh Gandhi, a Rutgers Business School sophomore and president of the RPFC, who discussed the importance of the club as a space for students to openly discuss finances in ways they may not be able to at home. He added that these environments likely contribute to difficulty with personal finance for these students.

"As children and as students ourselves, we're often taught not to talk about anything money-related with other people," Gandhi said. "I think by having a dedicated space and normalizing it as part of the broader conversation ... it really helps to cater to a broader audience and help students learn more about how they can set themselves up for the future."

By teaching students about core financial issues, the club helps students engage with their finances and reach their financial management goals, according to its getINVOLVED page. The club also informs members about financial issues relevant to students and their future, such as credit management, insurance, stock trading and tax planning, Gandhi said.

During their meetings, which are open to all students, club leadership holds workshops to discuss fundamental financial skills and topics of interest among club members.

Gandhi said their stock market investment workshops are the most popular workshop among club members. Attendees discuss the market as a whole, approaches to investing, as well as alternative forms of investment, such as bonds or options trading.

The club also hosts guest speakers and financial experts who give professional perspectives on finance to club members.

In October 2023, club leadership invited Jeffery Durr, a senior partner from RU Financial, a financial planning firm for current and former student-athletes, to speak with students about managing their finances for the future, Gandhi said.

When asked about the most common personal finance skills students must address, Gandhi said that budgeting is extremely important to a student's financial stability but can be easily overlooked. He noted a tendency for college students to overspend during this time in their lives, adding that he hopes students think about strategies to save money.

Gandhi also discussed the importance of student financial literacy in the context of managing student loans. He cited heightened interest rates and federal turmoil around the topic as reasons for concern, as U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s administration's debt relief proposals were rejected by the Supreme Court in June 2023 and continue to be appealed.

"I think it's crucially important, now more than ever, that we really understand how student debt works," Gandhi said.

The RPFC is currently deciding its leadership for the next academic year. Gandhi said he will be continuing in his role as president and has many goals for the coming semester, such as visits to financial firms and a greater focus on helping students explore careers in various financial fields.

Above all, Gandhi recommended students improve their financial literacy by doing online research to demystify daunting concepts in the finance world but cautions against blind faith in any given source.

"Just learn as much as possible," Gandhi said. "There's so many different resources that we can use online to understand what the concept is and also understand how we can incorporate it into our own lives and best set ourselves up for the future."