From markets and models to pitches and prices, the world of finance can be overwhelming and confusing, especially to a college student. Students considering a career in finance face the challenge of mastering various skills and concepts on top of a rigorous courseload. Fortunately, the College’s finance clubs are here to help. Three students — Rebecca Bao ’28, Maxwell Burd ’28, and William Chang ’28 — spoke with the Record about their experiences as members of finance clubs across campus.

Burd is a member of Williams Investment Group (WIG) and Williams Insight. “Williams Insight is the College’s financial and political think tank,” Burd said. He explained that members meet once a week to discuss current affairs, then write articles about these topics for Insight’s financial publication, which the club releases on their website.

Founded in 2022, WIG is a long-only investment fund that is a separate capital pool included in the College’s endowment. Members of WIG manage a six-figure portfolio, funded by donations specifically to WIG. “Every meeting, people pitch stocks [that] are publicly traded,” Bao said. “Our club has a portfolio, and after each meeting, we vote: Should we invest in this stock or not? And if it passes, then we use the club’s money to buy the stock.”

Students who take the Winter Study course “Investing in a Real Fund,” which is taught by David Pesikoff ’90, have the option of joining WIG after the course ends.

In addition to donations, Burd confirmed via email that both Insight and WIG receive funds from the Facilitators for Allocating Student Taxes.

Purple Mountain Partners, which is not a Registered Student Organization, works similarly to WIG, managing a pool of money that they invest. “Everything was funded by the upperclassmen and board members, and they had jobs in business,” Chang said. He first joined Purple Mountain Partners as a first-year because of his curiosity about the investment world. “I wanted to get more involved with what investing looks like,” he said. “I had started my own investment account, and so that was the rationale.”

Insight and Purple Mountain Partners have a mentorship system, which aims to prepare students for internships and careers. “[Underclassmen] get paired with a mentor — an upperclassman — and you have one-on-one coffee chats or meetings,” Chang said. “They give you advice about anything related to business or finance.”

The College’s finance groups help build on previous interests and cultivate skills essential to working in the world of finance, according to group members. Bao joined WIG after completing “Investing in a Real Fund.” “I knew I wanted to go into something business-related, and I had a lot of upperclassmen who told me, ‘Oh, you should give investing a try,’” she said. “I’m currently recruiting for investment banking, and that’s how my spark in finance started. All because of a Winter Study.”

Burd took inspiration from a past internship when deciding to get involved. “The summer before [starting college], I [had] just gotten off an equity research internship in Boston where I was busy making three statement models to evaluate potential investment decisions for this really small family office, and [WIG] really was the same sort of deep value philosophy that my internship had,” he said. 

Burd said that he learns distinct skills from his involvement in each group. WIG is where he learns the technical aspects of finance. “I’ve now learned how to do a stock pitch, what a good stock pitch looks like, what a bad stock pitch looks like,” he said. Insight is where Burd learns the non-technical aspects of the market. “I wouldn’t say debate is the right word, but making sure that you’re getting your idea across clearly and effectively, but also being open to people who would disagree with you,” he said.

Despite the range of opportunities offered by finance clubs, members said that the general perception of finance — and those pursuing a career in it — can be unfavorable. Chang mentioned that some people view finance as “one-dimensional.” 

“A big stereotype is that most people who are ‘finance bros’ are very cutthroat and hypercompetitive,” Bao said. “But I think, at least for Williams … people strive to support one another throughout the process and just help one another.”

Burd, meanwhile, embraces the label of “finance bro,” but with some caveats. “By finance bro, I don’t mean someone who dresses in a vest everyday,” he said. “I do mean someone [for whom] finance is on their mind a lot. As a sophomore, I’m definitely in a finance bro era. But for WIG and Insight, it’s typical people who are very interested in finance, but they’re also very interested in learning in a technical manner and are not in the club just to be as ‘sweaty’ as possible.”

According to group members, joining a campus finance club requires effort and dedication. Bao, Chang, and Burd all emphasized the importance of getting involved early to students interested in finance. “Something to know is that there are actually a lot of finance clubs, so apply to all of them,” Chang said. “Express why you want to be a part of the club, and if you do your preparation well, there’s a solid chance that you’ll get into the club.”

Burd said students should have a grasp on foundational concepts and keep track of current events to help them pinpoint which areas of finance appeal to them. “You want to show your niche [in interviews],” he said. “Be in tune with the market, what the current trends are. That [shows that] you’re naturally interested, [and] you are willing to deep dive.”

Bao admitted that the prospect of joining a finance club might seem intimidating. “The overall perception of breaking into Wall Street will cause more people to think it’s a huge, selective, exclusive, mysterious club,” she said. “But to be honest, most of what we do is actually just pitching stocks.”  

“Really be yourself,” she continued. “I think a lot of finance clubs are not just your technical knowledge, but your behavior, how you present yourself.”