Nearing the End of the Academic Year: Irish Funds Financial Literacy TY Programme

The Irish Funds TY Programme was in five back-to-back schools last week and were delighted to present our brand-new banner and plaques sponsored by Deloitte at a school that we completed. 

St Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda 

Eibhlin Johnston, our lead facilitator and Jim Meegan (Deloitte) delivered Module 1 to over thirty students. They began introductions and covered career opportunities in the funds and asset management industry. Because of Jim's affiliation with the school as an alumnus, he highlighted to the students the potential for professional development and achievement, sparking a keen interest in the industry as a career path. We were very excited to have the kids participate with each piece of material we set up their portfolios, covered the stock exchange and what is asset management. We look forward to continuing our sessions.  

Woodbrook College, Bray 

In Woodbrook we were joined by Rachel Basquel (Deloitte), who has background in asset management and property. The students were interested to hear about property as an asset class whilst they set up their portfolios. We had a highly interactive session discussion about the stock exchange and individual company share prices, such as Ryanair. Once they understood assets, we showed them the "What is asset management?" video, which they took a huge interest in. 

Castletroy College, Limerick 

We completed the programme in Castletroy this week with Linda O’Neill, Northern Trust. Linda was able to share her inspiring transition from hospitality to Financial Services. Then, Alan Cuddihly, Deloitte presented the class with their school plaque as well as certificates and pins for each student, all of which were provided by our sponsor, Deloitte. We had remarkable investing success in this class having one student garner an 8.75% increase in their FT portfolio, having invested in Spotify and Netflix. It encouraged the students to discuss what may have been behind the increase, potentially from higher subscription fees or a larger song library. We wish these students every success in the future. 

CUS Leeson Street, Dublin 

Although it had been a long week, we were buoyed by the enthusiasm of the Leeson Street students. They took great interest in the Financial Times portfolios and Michael D'Arcy (Deloitte) talked about Man United as a stock and how their share price is impacted during cup finals for example - it proved to be a very fun session for the students with many of them staying in the classroom even when the lunch bell had rung!   

Blackrock College, Dublin 

We finished off in Blackrock college to yet another very enthusiastic class and teacher! Eibhlin was joined by Paul McGarry (Deloitte) and engaged in highly intelligent conversations with the students. They discussed the potential for working in both the financial and law sectors and upon setting up their FT portfolios they discussed news on Bowing, Ryanair and Trump Media, all affected by the current markets and news.  

We are coming near to the end of the academic year and have been excited and heartened are to meet students with such enthusiasm for learning about investing and the funds industry.