Beach Investment Group (SMIF) – 25 Years of Experiential Learning

Published June 8, 2021

The Student Managed Investment Fund was created in August 1995 to provide students with a unique and valuable experience in managing an investment portfolio. Traditionally, investment courses used "paper" transactions to teach students industry-related skills, but in the mid-90’s the Student Managed Investment Fund began giving students access to portfolios with actual monetary assets. In 2018 the SMIF became the Beach Investment Group as a way to embrace its own identity and stand apart from other SMIFs at sister institutions.

In 2020-2021 B.I.G. celebrated its 25th year anniversary and despite it being the year that COVID-19 happened, B.I.G. students took second place in the highly competitive CFA Society Orange County Foundation RFP competition. As a result, B.I.G. has the opportunity to manage the 2nd largest of the CFAOC SMIF Portfolios for the 2021 calendar year. Additionally, B.I.G. is approaching $1 million in Assets Under Management, thanks in large part to the direction of Dr. Peter Ammermann.

Anastasia Franio ’21, served as the President during the 2020-2021 academic year and shared, “[BIG] has given me a real hands-on experience on how to run timely finance-related projects with a large group of people.” Adding, “I think B.I.G. is one of the best programs that COB offers to get a real-life experience in investment management. Where else are students given the responsibility to make investment decisions, recommend and research securities, conduct economic research that will influence their investment decisions? This is exactly how the world of investment management looks like and I think the COB and Dr. Ammermann have done a great job making B.I.G. as close to real-life experience as possible and providing this exposure to the COB student. Personally, I was able to get a job in wealth management by describing my experience of going through the RFP CFAOC Competition and talking about my leadership role in B.I.G.”

Experiential learning programs, like the Beach Investment Group, add value to student’s education and help prepare them for success. To support the incredible work B.I.G is doing, make a gift to the B.I. G. program or its scholarship.