Kate Healy touted the success of TD Ameritrade Institutional's next-gen and female advisor initiatives recently in an interview with ThinkAdvisor at FPA Experience 2013, noting that the two issues are intertwined and one could potentially solve for the other.
While at the conference, the managing director of institutional marketing with the Omaha-based custodian said she had run into a number of students awarded scholarships by the firm in August.
"Last year, we announced the establishment of the program to award 10 scholarships of $5,000 each as well as a grant of $50,000 to a school that offers a financial planning major," Healy said. "I've seen the recipients here, and they come up to me and are so thankful. They are great ambassadors for the program."
The grant was awarded to William Paterson University, in part "because they teach the softer skills with financial planning, in addition to the numbers, which can be tough. But the way they do it is something that can be replicated in other programs," she noted.
It's part of a plan by TDAI to provide $1 million over the next decade to expand the number of college students pursuing a career in the financial services industry. It joins a number of other firms and groups that are actively seeking to replace retiring advisors in the aging advisor industry with a fresh group of new recruits.
She described a day at the stock exchange the company recently hosted with the scholarship winners and their parents, one that also included a visit to the Museum of American Finance before heading back to the exchange to stand on the podium and ring the closing bell.
