Baruch Gets NASD Grant to Create Young Investor Online Guide

The NASD Investor Education Foundation awarded a grant of $240,829 to Baruch College to develop an interactive, computer- based investment guide tailored to young adults making career choices. The Young Investor Online Guide will teach young adults how to use financial calculators, compare investment opportunities, manage debt, and consolidate student loans. Baruch will work with Kognito Solutions LLC, an educational software developer, to produce the financial education tool and has teamed with the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Career Services Association of the City of New York to market it. The guide will be offered online and in a CD format at college career development centers and libraries.

“We believe its success will lie in the ease of use and its delivery format,” says Associate Professor of Marketing Jim Coyle, who wrote the grant proposal and is heading up the project. While media exposure has made “401k” a familiar term, college students still have a murky understanding of long-term financial planning. “What we’ve been hearing from students so far is that they want personalized information and not in a gaming format,” says Coyle. “They are very interested in the planning necessary to achieve certain goals, like how to create a budget and how to afford moving out of their parents’ house.” The Young Investor Online Guide launches this summer.

—Lara Moon