Anna Brewer, senior financial planning major, is a founding member of the Women in Financial Planning Club. She helped officially charter the club with Mizzou in the spring of 2023, and, now serving at the president, has seen the club grow from three members to 15.

“We originally just wanted to see if there was any interest,” Brewer said. “The field of financial planning is currently fairly male dominated, but it’s also about to experience a lot of turnover as the older generation retires, so they’re looking for the next generation to take over their book of business, which is a huge opportunity for us going forward.”

Every other Wednesday at 3 p.m., the club hosts a professional woman in financial planning for a round table discussion.

“We get to hear how each speaker got started in their career path, and then the floor is open for questions,” said Leah Crawmer, club vice president. “It’s great to learn how many different ways you can get involved in the industry. There are a lot of different jobs within financial planning firms, and these meetings allow us to ask clarifying questions of someone actually working in the field to decide what may or may not work for us in the future.”

Because there are so many different positions within the financial planning industry, from back office data work to customer relations, the club wants to expand their membership to students outside of the major as well.

“Right now we have a few members from other majors that are getting the personal financial planning certificate, but one of our big goals is to reach out to people in agribusiness management, the business school, and accounting programs,” said Crawmer. “Those fields can go hand in hand with ours, and getting to talk to professionals in such a casual and informative setting is beneficial for everyone.”

Brewer is proud that in a short time the club has created an environment where talking to professionals is accessible and allows for up front questions about working in industry.

“It can be intimidating to speak to professionals, and it can be difficult to have time to get to professional conferences as student,” said Brewer. “Career fairs are a great opportunity, but we’re happy to offer something that is less formal where students can develop their networking skills in a more relaxed and casual environment.”

Women in Financial Planning meets every other Wednesday in Mumford 126, and can be found on LinkedIn and Instagram.