On October 12, 2020, Robert Schwartz '18 gave a Zoom presentation to Daniel Lawson's Finance Seminar (FIN422) class, which included several members of the Student Managed Investment Portfolio organization. The Seminar class provides senior finance major students with case-based lectures, speakers, and networking opportunities often spread over various areas of specialty within finance.
Robert Schwartz graduated from IUP in 2018 with a degree in finance and legal studies. During his time at IUP, he was the chief investment officer of the SMIP. After graduating, he worked as an analyst at PNC Bank out of the Pittsburgh headquarters. He is now a portfolio manager at First Commonwealth Advisors, where he is personally responsible for theinvestment management of over $100 million in individual and institutional client assets.
During the seminar, Schwartz walked students through key macroeconomic, stock, and bond market developments beginning in December 2019 and progressing through the third quarter of 2020. Emphasis was placed on understanding the change in economic aggregates, looking at things like real economic output, the state of the consumer, and how businesses have fared through the pandemic. Capital markets were also analyzed, taking note of the precipitous decline in interest rates both domestically and abroad.
Discussion was based around the search for yield in an environment where the Federal Reserve and central banks around the world are engaging in expansionary policy. This led to a further dialogue regarding the outlook of the United States economy and factors that will affect the data released in the fourth quarter. Students were driven to think about what the massive amount of fiscal and monetary stimulus might mean for capital markets, and how continued expansion of COVID-19 may dampen growth.
In the latter half of the seminar Zoom conference, Schwartz answered questions from students and talked about his work experience. Many attendees were curious about how to properly network with alumni and industry professionals. Schwartz emphasized the importance of growing relationships for the long term and not for the potential short-run benefits. He offered advice on how to make the interactions mutually beneficial for everyone, and encouraged students to find ways to stand out through their actions and their involvements.
The IUP Eberly College of Business and Information Technology appreciated the time that Robert Schwartz took to help IUP students further their knowledge about finance.