Sparking Financial Curiosity: Watch Riley’s Story

Riley’s first job was on a dairy farm, where his first paycheck sparked a curiosity about financial management. At UW-Green Bay, he decided to double major in Business Analytics and Finance. In Business Analytics, Riley is learning to dissect complex information to uncover the relevant details that drive informed decisions—a skill that will serve him well in his future career as a financial adviser. Listen to Riley’s story, below.

Transcript: Once I got my first job, I actually worked on a farm. Um, I was making $8 an hour. I had money coming in. I didn’t have very many expenses and I was just so curious on what I could do with that money. I wanted to learn as much as I could about it. That was kind of a segue into my Business Analytics major and pursue Finance in college. So, my favorite Business Analytics class so far was Machine Learning. It was hard, um there was a lot of work that went into it. We did a lot of R-code. I had never utilized any coding prior to college at all, so that’s kind of why that was one of my favorite courses because I had to, I had to learn really quickly and I definitely had to pay attention a lot. In the Finance Lab, I took a class called Corporate Finance and we utilized a bunch of software in here. We used Interactive Brokers, so we were able to kind of see what you could do, learn how to trade. And, I also used a software called Facet and that is a way that you can do a lot of valuations for companies, you can see all their financials, you can see what their corporate governance looks like, ESG, all that fun stuff and I don’t think I would have learned any of that if we didn’t have this Investment Lab here, so it’s been great. As a wealth associate intern at Nicolet Wealth Management, I did a lot of client meeting prep. So, if a client had a specific question about this stock and their portfolio I would do further research on that stock, and in the end, what really sparks me is is being able to help people and that’s what gives me the drive. So, after I graduate I will become a financial adviser, and the way that I’ll be able to apply what I’ve learned on the Business Analytics side, is by being able to dissect kind of all of the information that’s out there and therefore I’ll be able to do better in my career because I’m able to find the information that is truly relevant.