Reece Smith ’24 was a summer Finance Intern for Aptus Wealth Planning, a small financial planning firm in downtown Pittsburgh.
How is the summer going? We asked Reece…
How did you find your internship?
Reece: “I secured this internship due to the incredible network our Allegheny College teachers and alumni have with the financial services industry.”
What are you doing during this experience?
Reece: “I had a wide range of duties, such as spearheading our inorganic growth initiative, aiding our CFP in creating financial plans for clients, creating an interactive spreadsheet for use in client meetings, handling outreach to prospective clients, uploading a large portion of our client files onto our servers, and training my replacement for the fall semester. This has been a wonderful experience, teaching me a lot about all the aspects that go into running a financial planning firm. I am very grateful for this opportunity.”
Would you recommend this internship to other students?
Reece: “I absolutely recommend that other students apply for this internship.”
Reece is an Economics major, scheduled to graduate in 2024. He is a rising 2nd year student whose first year studies included a Law & Policy concentration. He was a winner in the 2021 CBE Financial Literacy Competition ($1,750 prize, First Freshman Winner) and participated in the 2022 Zingale Big Idea Competition. He serves on the boards of the Allegheny Wealth Management Club, Radio Station and Ghost Club and is a member of the Aikido and Fencing clubs. Reece hosts his own radio show featuring an hour of political and economic news, followed by an hour of music.
Studying economics at Allegheny College teaches students how people respond to incentives in making choices, and how those choices affect outcomes at both the micro and macro scale. A microeconomist might study how a firm or a family chooses to finance a new piece of equipment or a home purchase. A macroeconomist might study how a change in interest rates affects economic growth, unemployment, or the balance of trade. While economists address topics often associated with the field, like banking and finance, the range of topics studied by economists is very broad, including sports, the environment, health, crime, discrimination, and business.