Skyline Vets and Scholars club, officially listed as Skyline Veterans and Scholars club, hosted a spring semester edition of a financial literacy workshop on March 20.

Skyline Vets and Scholars club president Allan Arata-Vega said, “We did a financial literacy workshop in the fall, actually, and we were doing it to teach students about stuff that’s not traditionally taught in classrooms.”

Arata-Vega said that this is the kind of information that students must have access to, especially in crucial times when money is needed. He highlighted that they wanted to help as many people build wealth as much as possible.

“We think it’s important for everybody to have a shot at success and you can’t have a shot without understanding money,” Arata-Veta added.

Social work student Victor Solorio said, “I attended this event because I’m constantly searching for information on it [for a] better understanding in finances.”

“It is a lot easier than confusing…the material is easier to understand when you sit down and take the time to listen to it,” Solorio explained.

The event focused on how a student can start investing money and being more informed about it.

Economics professor Don Uy-Barreta said, “I think the first step is maybe talking to someone, maybe your parents to see what they’ve gone through from budgeting a household.”

Uy-Barreta mentioned that getting information on investment, retirement planning, and savings may be daunting but is very much needed regardless of one’s career choice or industry.

“The sooner you get acclimated and [get] comfortable with investing basics, I think the better off you are,” Uy-Barreta added.

In Uy-Barreta’s 20 years of teaching, he observed students make financial mistakes during their college years.

“I see students in general make is following the trends from meme stocks to what’s latest on social media, not really getting rounds with the fundamentals of long-term investing, but rather short-term gains,” Uy-Barreta explained.

Uy-Barreta also mentioned that there is a lot of volatility in this method of investing and end up losing money. He said that he is still a believer in the old-school way of investing where one has to create cash flows, and balance sheets and look at products and market share rather than looking at what’s hot out in social media.

Uy-Barreta suggested that if one would like to do a social media quick turnaround, one should not play with large numbers.

“So for [the] long-term, maybe a little bit textbook,” Uy-Barreta added.

He suggested that those who would like to take the long-term path should try a more traditional approach like indexing, ETFs, or mutual funds to have more diversified options.