Grant will help prepare finance students for careers as financial advisors

Rutgers Business School is among six institutions of higher education that each received $15,000 from TD Ameritrade Institutional to help develop a robust and diverse pipeline of talent for the registered investment advisors (RIA) industry.

Now in its eighth year, the TD Ameritrade Institutional RIA NextGen Scholarship and Grant program aims to expand the pipeline of future financial planners joining the RIA industry and support the long-term sustainability of the financial planning profession.

In the grant application, Ron Richter, a professor of professional practice in finance and economics, said the grant will help Rutgers Business School to promote student success by increasing networking opportunities, enhancing hands-on industry experiences for students, and removing obstacles that may prevent students from gaining real-life financial planning experience.

Rutgers Business School-Newark, part of Rutgers University, was one of two New Jersey colleges to receive a grant. Other winners were William Paterson University, Central Washington University, Charleston Southern University, Franklin University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to the six grants, TD Ameritrade Institutional awarded scholarships of $5,000 to 12 students at schools across the country.

The 2020 scholarship and grants are designed to alleviate a looming shortage of advisors as more than 100,000 RIAs prepare to retire by developing a more robust and diverse pipeline of talent.

Rutgers Business School-Newark currently offers a financial planning track designed to prepare undergraduate finance majors for careers as financial advisors. The program provides a practical and theoretical approach to personal financial planning. Students who successfully complete the curriculum satisfy the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. The program also prepares students for the wealth management industry and satisfies the educational requirement of the Certified Financial Planner certification.

“As the demand for financial advisory jobs grows,” Richter said in the grant application, “RBS seeks to provide financial planning education to the next generation of advisors and attract top talent to this growing field.”