The Student Managed Investment Fund at University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business recently received a significant boost in funding thanks to a $750,000 investment from the UGA Foundation’s investment committee.
Terry’s Student Managed Investment Fund serves as an opportunity for students interested in investing to cultivate hands-on experience by acting as investment managers for the foundation. With this responsibility, students are additionally required to maintain regular reports of market value and reinvestment returns. The recent boost in funding- the result of a unanimous vote by the investment committee- will increase SMIF’s capital from roughly $354,000 to over $1 million.
The SMIF began back in 2006 with a gift of $100,000 from UGA Foundation Trustee Darren Devore and his wife, both alumni from 1986. Their goal was to give students the opportunity to act as investment managers rather than simply using hypotheticals to learn about the financial industry. In its almost ten year history, students in the program have achieved investment returns comparable to major Wall Street averages.
John Crawford, chair of the investment committee, commented on the importance of the program for preparing students for their career in the financial services industry. “The SMIF team has brought some new and fresh investment ideas to the foundation and I am looking forward to working with them to help grow the long-term portfolio. This is an outstanding opportunity for the SMIF students to…develop strategies for success both personally and professionally.”
The program remains a popular and highly competitive opportunity. Each year, over 150 finance students compete for only 42 student manager positions.