University at Buffalo School of Management

6 Buffalo Business Autumn 2018 the nation have enrolled in MoneySKILL, which includes 37 learning modules in such areas as saving, budgeting, investing, vehicle financing and renting versus own- ing property. Locally, the School of Management and M&T Bank partner to provide outreach and teacher training, and host the MoneySKILL Mania competition. Since the partnership began in 2006, more than 22,000 Western New York students have boosted their financial literacy through the free program. "MoneySKILL definitely made me aware of a lot of aspects of personal finance that I wouldn't have otherwise been ex- posed to. I have a healthy understanding and respect for how my finance decisions af- fect me, both now and later down the road," says Kelly Marco, a 2009 MoneySKILL Mania winner who went on to earn bach- elor's and master's degrees in pharmaceu- tical sciences from UB, and her law degree from Georgetown University. She's now a senior associate in the health industries ad- visory practice at PwC in Washington, D.C. For Marco, the most interesting parts of the curriculum dealt with retire- ment planning and the differences be- tween a 401(k), IRA and other long-term investments. "It's memorable because it was so for- eign to me at the time that I had significant difficulty learning the material," she says. "But now, as a young professional starting to chart out the rest of my life, the knowl- edge is invaluable." Jerome Trankle, BS '14, won both the team and individual competitions in 2010 as a Clarence High School student. Aer graduating, he bought his first stock and enrolled as a business administration stu- dent in the UB School of Management, in part because of the affordable tuition rates. Eight years later, he's still investing and using what he learned from MoneySKILL. Money Matters Years later, MoneySKILL Mania winners reflect on the program's impact As teenagers approach high school graduation, they face nerve-wracking deci- sions that will affect their lives — and their financial situations — for years, even de- cades, to come. Aman Shamaa remembers this well. But in her case, as she grappled with col- leges and financial aid packages, she was able to pull from the knowledge she gained through MoneySKILL®, a free, online per- sonal finance curriculum. In 2012, Shamaa and her teammates from Harkness Career & Tech Center won the regional MoneySKILL Mania competition, sponsored by the School of Management and M&T Bank. She also took second place among individual students and, most importantly, was equipped with personal finance skills for years to come. "MoneySKILL Mania could not have come at a better time for me," says Shamaa, who is now a certified physician assistant at UBMD. "To this day, I find myself referring back to the information I obtained during preparation for this competition, whether it is purchasing my car insurance or invest- ing in my retirement savings. The concepts I learned in high school from MoneySKILL are the same topics people tell me now they wish they had known earlier." The competition tests basic money management concepts covered by the MoneySKILL program, which was devel- oped by Lewis Mandell, professor emer- itus of finance, in collaboration with the American Financial Services Association Education Foundation. Since its incep- tion, more than 850,000 students across Community Impact Aman Shamaa was part of the winning MoneySKILL Mania team in 2012; today, she's a certified physician assistant. MoneySKILL Photos: Joe Eberle " The concepts I learned in high school from MoneySKILL are the same topics people tell me now they wish they had known earlier." Aman Shamaa

• Cover