Saturday, June 1, 2019 was the culmination of two great efforts between LEAD OC and LIFEvest. The LIFEvest program, which is run by the Center for Investment and Wealth Management at the UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business, teaches underprivileged teens financial literacy skills. Whereas, the mission of LEAD OC is to alleviate the financial burdens of these charities and raise awareness for local philanthropic causes allowing them to fully dedicate their efforts towards affecting positive change. The two organizations combined forces and threw a wonderful Gala in support of Financial Literacy. During the event, Beacon Pointe’s very own, Mark Moehlman, MBA, Managing Director, Partner was honored as a Champion of Philanthropy for his dedication and passion to help found both establishments and his charitable works in the community. All of us at Beacon Pointe are very proud of Mark Moehlman and feel it couldn’t have gone to a more deserving individual. Congratulations M2!
Over 13 years ago, Mark Moehlman helped found UC Irvine’s Center for Investment and Wealth Management (CIWM) to help develop youth into transformational leaders and provide them with valued educational programs in financial literacy, investment and portfolio strategies, and wealth management strategies. Over the course of the Center’s being, the program has positively impacted over 50,000 individuals.
Reaching out and helping so many young minds grow with financial education was a personal goal for Mark Moehlman from a young age. Mark was motivated to launch the LIFEvest program, a Summer Residential Financial Literacy Program, at UC Irvine in 2011 to honor his Mother Irene’s memory. Despite being an honor student in high school during the Great Depression era, it was never Irene’s personal destiny to attend college. One of her final requests of her eldest son, Mark, was that he help teenage girls gain an understanding of how money works, as she always felt financially illiterate, despite her high intelligence. She insisted that young girls needed to be taught financial literacy courses, which she felt would help them gain confidence in applying to college.
Irene lived her dream of going to college through her three children, all of whom earned college degrees. And, her dream lives on through the lives of the LIFEvest scholars, who aspire to be the first in their families to attend college. The LIFEvest program has expanded through the years to include teenage boys who also aspire to be the first in their families to attend college. The proof that the LIFEvest program is working is in the statistic that 76% of LIFEvest alums enter college, in contrast to the 25% of high school graduates nationwide!
We heard from various LIFEvest student alums at the Gala on Saturday night who confidently presented their success stories to an audience of 400+ people. Many stating that one of the many things they learned at LIFEvest was to present confidently to a large group. Every year eighth and ninth graders are invited to attend a week-long program on the UC Irvine college campus during which they learn financial literacy to motivate and prepare them to be the first in their families to go to college. Staying on campus in a dorm and eating in the dining halls really allows them to “taste” the college experience, while the extensive curriculum teaches the students the value of education, financial budgeting, and saving for retirement. More than 400 students have attended the program since it started nine years ago. We can see from the student testimonials that we witnessed that LIFEvest has positively touched the lives of all of its attendees. We look forward to seeing the further growth of the CIWM, LIFEvest, and LEAD OC. As Mark Moehlman says, “Onward and Upward!”
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