Through the Redlands Student Investment Fund (RSIF), students like Rob Osgood ’17 are getting real-world financial experience that will put them ahead of the game upon graduation.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn about investment management and investment analysis,” Osgood said. “I figured it would be a good idea to get a head start and take advantage of the opportunity to help manage money for an institution while still in college.”
A financial economics major, Osgood is the chief investment officer for the RSIF this school year and the inaugural recipient of the Redlands Student Investment Fund Scholarship. “I am extremely interested in investment management, and I enjoy teaching and learning from other students,” he said. “Investment management is definitely one of the things I’m most passionate about, and it’s also what I want to do for a living.”
The RSIF first started in 2006, and students worked with a mock portfolio. In 2009, the fund received seed money from several members of the Board of Trustees, their spouses and others who continue to support the organization. RSIF students currently manage more than $100,000 of the University’s endowment; a “spending rate” of four percent is deducted from the balance of the fund for the scholarship. “The Redlands Student Investment Fund is a great hands-on, co-curricular extension of the business and economics theory our students are learning in their classes,” Trustee Darren Rose said. “The RSIF members are learning firsthand what it takes to run an investment portfolio, make stock selections, allocate capital and more, and doing so in the type of team-based approach they are likely to encounter in their first jobs.”
Trustee Jim Schroeder and his wife, Althea, are advocates of the RSIF and the opportunities it gives to students. “The manner in which the program is structured is very creative and develops social awareness,” the couple said. “The profits that may be derived from the investment programs are given back to the University in the form of scholarships, which gives us and the University a double return on our investment, and that’s what investment is all about.”
The Schroeders see supporting programs like RSIF as part of a commitment to academic excellence and enjoy seeing what the organization can do for its members. “It is rewarding to directly support programs that impact a student’s experience at the University,” Althea Schroeder said.
The group is open to all students, and provides beneficial lessons for all majors. “Even if investing isn’t something you want to do for the rest of your life as a career, the RSIF teaches valuable financial, analytical, public speaking and leadership skills, which you can take with you for the rest of your life,” Osgood said.
