Vector Wealth Strategies continues to offer leadership development opportunities for college students interested in financial planning. With everything we learned through the global pandemic regarding working remotely, we are excited to expand our intern program this semester to include a virtual offering and welcome two new participants.
While this may be new territory for Vector and the interns, they have already hit the ground running and are enjoying new learning experiences. VWS spring interns this year are Freed-Hardeman University students Bradley Covert and Ben Painter. Although they are always just a face on the screen, they have been sitting in on client meetings, conducting research and assisting the Vector team this spring.
Bradley Covert
Bradley is a senior earning three degrees simultaneously — a dual enrolled business major earning a BBA/MBA as well as a BS in Bible Studies. His priorities this spring are to learn all he can during his Vector internship and in his role as Fund Manager of FHU’s First Bank Investment Team. “I’ve had preaching internships before, but this is my first business internship,” Bradley said. “I’m learning so much especially about asset management and strategy and how to tailor the decisions on an individual level.”
Meeting clients virtually has been one of the main highlights of his internship experience. “I’ve learned so much from client meetings while listening to their questions, working on projects with Jay and really seeing what goes on behind the scenes in financial planning.”
Bradley says the experience with the Vector internship has helped him realize his strengths. “Having strong interpersonal skills is something I’ve been building since I’ve been in ministry and that’s important when interacting with clients,” he said. “I’m learning how to look at a whole retirement plan using research as a guide.”
When he is not juggling schoolwork, the investment team or his internship duties, Bradley is spending time with his friends, watching movies and making pizzas in his family’s pizzeria, Viola’s Pizza Company. “Working for Viola’s has given me good hands-on experience working in a business,” he said. “And Vector is such a phenomenal environment and has shown me what a real job in the business world looks like and they have set a high bar for my expectations of the real world.”
