Securities America Launches Scholarship Program for College Students
The firm will pay for 30 college juniors and seniors to attend its national conference in New Orleans.
Securities America launched a scholarship program to inspire current advisors’ college-age sons and daughters, as well as other finance-oriented university students, to pursue careers in the financial advice industry.
The “Link to the Future” scholarship program will enable 30 college juniors and seniors to attend the firm’s Connect National Conference in New Orleans from June 3-6 by covering all conference expenses, meals and hotel accommodations, if necessary, and will provide a stipend for students’ travel.
“Link to the Future is a crucial part of Securities America’s effort to address the question of where the next generation of advisors will come from, but it’s also much more than that,” Janine Wertheim, Securities America senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
The scholarship recipients will be able to network with financial advisors at the conference, attend general sessions, and take part in a specifically designed curriculum of breakout sessions and workshops developed to help inspire and inform their careers.
Each Link to the Future student will be paired with an individual advisor whom they can “shadow” through portions of the conference, look to for further clarity and insight on various conference topics and get to know over the course of the event.
Wertheim said that it’s likely that many of the student-advisor pairs will continue to be in touch after the conference ends.
“By leveraging the energy, expertise and drive of our advisors themselves, Link to the Future will enable us to forge new relationships with rising college students who have a passion for building their own businesses and making a positive difference in people’s lives through sound financial guidance,” Wertheim said in a statement.
Link to the Future was developed following extensive discussions with Securities America advisors, and factored in advisors’ responses to a survey the firm conducted earlier this year to gain insights into their views on industry demographics and their own succession plans. Among other priorities, the survey indicated that advisors are eager to find new and creative ways to identify, motivate and train the next generation of advisors.
Link to the Future scholarship winners will be chosen by the end of April, with preference given to applicants who are studying business and/or finance.