Beyond lectures, and the journeys to and from them, your ultimate university experience isn’t at all ultimate without the immersion in at least one of the 250+ student groups available to you at Kent – Arsen Alimi, blogs about his experience of the ‘Kent Invest’ Society.
Beyond lectures, and the journeys to and from them, your ultimate university experience isn’t at all ultimate without the immersion in at least one of the 250+ student groups available to you at Kent – so you can bet your bottom penny that there is a fitting society just for you!
Now, for those who like to stake their shillings in a more literal sense or simply look to gain new knowledge about investing, let me introduce the Kent Investment and Finance society. Kent Invest is a student-led society which assembles a group of like-minded individuals: individuals with a penchant for the markets and those willing to learn all about them! We cater for all members irrespective of academic background, be it Economics, law or psychology, and engineer our presentations and workshops from a no assumed knowledge basis. By demystifying complex concepts and jargon on all things finance and investment to a healthy medium of digestibility, we hope everyone can souvenir some take home value at the end of each of our sessions, enriched and wiser.
“The financial sector is a respected, yet viciously hyper-competitive space, attracting pools of talent from all corners of the globe.”
But what is finance?
The realm of finance is a vast and far-reaching one and – whether familiar with it or not, it touches virtually every aspect of our day-to-day lives. At a high level, finance concerns the management of money. Yes, number-crunching is inescapable here, however much of it is as easy as apple-3.14159 and largely involves the simple arithmetic of ratios and percentage changes. Prospecting to take up finance professionally? You can generally expect to brew up numbers using parameters such as revenues pulled from various financial documents to produce helpful metrics such as price-to-earnings multiples which can serve as part of a broader argument to justify an investment in- or even the acquisition of some company. Much of these activities are captured by the role of financial analysts, notably investment bankers. The financial sector is a respected yet viciously hyper-competitive space (perhaps something to do with the opulent income), attracting pools of talent from all corners of the globe. As such, it is imperative you embrace the job application process equipped with the adequate knowhow! While certain course modules hold relevant, not all are accessible and there is only so much that can be squeezed in a lecture theatre.
Kent Invest steps in to provide a complementary platform for anyone with aspirations of working in finance. In our weekly meetings, you can expect to explore the fundamentals of equities, corporate finance and Forex. To apply these learnings, we have devised flagship trading and stock-pitch challenges where you can hone and bounce your knowledge off one another in a team, and better yet, win prizes (something to boast on your CV, mind you).
What’s more, our series of special guest speaker events comprising of well-respected industry professionals mean you get to hear the pearls of wisdom and ‘ungoogleable’ insight of those who’ve made the fascinating art and science of finance and investment their bread and butter. Above all, the beauty of being a part of the Kent Invest family finely lies within the boundless opportunities that come with building a network with your fellow members who share an avid interest and motivation for professional and personal finance.
These are unparalleled resources Kent Invest offer to springboard your journey, maximise your employability and assist you in landing that internship or graduate scheme at a leading financial institution, as many of our previous members have gone on to do so.
If this spiel has won you over, tag along to our weekly meetings which take place every Wednesday from 3pm. And with membership coming at no demise of your wallet, it really is a no brainer! You can find more details on our Instagram page, @kent.invest, or contact us directly at investsoc@kentunion.co.uk for more information.
We hope to see you soon!
Arsen Alimi, studying for an Economics BSc is the current Vice President of Kent Invest.