The advent of COVID-19 shut down many things, one of which was the summer positions Yeshiva University students had set up to improve their knowledge and enhance their résumés. However, Dr. Noam Wasserman, dean of the Sy Syms School of Business; Dr. Selma Botman, provost and vice president of academic affairs; and Susan Bauer, executive director of the YU Career Center were determined that the summer of 2020 would not be a lost summer for YU undergraduates, and their answer was a new initiative called the 2020 Summer of Opportunity. That initiative set up virtual internships with companies in the United States and Israel and close to five dozen matches between students and professors for research projects, which ranged from exploring career paths of senior employees to investigating the connection between Facebook friends and impulse buying.

Prof. Leonard Fuld

Prof. Leonard Fuld, clinical associate professor and founding director of the graduate tax program at Sy Syms School of Business, stepped into the breach to direct three students (Shaina Levin ’23SB, Barak Cohen ’22SB and David Mirsky ’22SB) to author a financial guide book for people suddenly thrust into a position of responsibility for their own finances due to losing their spouses or significant others or even for young adults leaving home. “As I wrote in the introduction,” said Fuld, “this book is proof of the amazing results that can spring from the pit of adversity. The authors are serious, caring, intellectually curious business students at Sy Syms who developed this relatively extensive yet easy-to-use guidebook for the less financially sophisticated. I am proud to have had a small hand in their accomplishment.” Mirsky, an accounting major at Sy Syms, felt drawn to the project because it would allow him to learn more about finance and accounting while providing a guide to people dealing with their financial responsibilities. “But I have to admit,” he said, “that going into the project I didn’t know anything about retirement plans and related investment accounts,” a situation he quickly remedied as he dug through the details of various 401(k) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Levin, a double major in accounting and business intelligence and marketing analytics, found herself in a similar situation. “Starting from scratch,” she said, “I researched the financial basics such as opening bank accounts and budgeting as well as retirement accounts and investing.” This work took time, but it expanded my knowledge and helped me gain a more well-rounded view of managing finances and other aspects that go into a person’s financial planning.” For Cohen, also pursuing a double major but in accounting and finance, the attraction to the project lay in “a balanced combination of my passion for helping others together with my interests in money management and financial markets.” He also looked forward to working with Prof. Fuld outside of the usual classroom environment. The work was rewarding because it encouraged them all to push themselves out of their intellectual comfort zones. “For example,” said Levin, “when I was researching retirement accounts, I had to find reliable sources and narrow down the information to a simple but complete picture that could help someone understand the basics. Since the topic is extremely complex, it was even a greater challenge to filter out the information that would not be relevant for the purpose of this project. I gained valuable research skills and knowledge on topics I wasn’t educated on prior to the summer.” The hardest task for Cohen “was to transform a detailed set of topics into something that is easy to read,” which he accomplished by emphasizing how the topics are related to each other, “hopefully turning the learning process for the reader into an easy one.” Mirsky found a similar satisfaction with the work, “pleased that I learned about how the products worked and am equally thrilled that I am able to share this knowledge with others.” In fact, learning about sharing became one of the great benefits of the project. Cohen enjoyed “working with a team of talented people and expanding my knowledge in a variety of important topics.” “Before this project,” said Mirsky, “I would have much preferred to work on a project or assignment by myself. But I learned that I enjoy working with other hard-working team members.” Levin also learned that “I enjoy working with a team” and looked forward to the meetings “even over Zoom!” because “everyone on the team was hardworking and passionate about the topics we were researching.” The project is mostly finished, which is to say that the manual they compiled is still in draft, but Fuld believes that “their product is worthy of publication, because through their diligence and dedication, they developed an excellent resource for anyone just starting out on their own who needs some basic guidance with respect to all things financial.” The students are extremely pleased with the fruits of their labors, not only with the manual itself but also how it changed them as students and people. “I am amazed and thankful,” enthused Mirsky, “that YU and Prof. Fuld gave me the opportunity to contribute to such a meaningful project. I am really pleased with our work, and I hope our project will serve as a guide to help people through any financial transition.” For Levin, “to be provided the opportunity to help others in this way felt very fitting and applicable, not only for its connection to my major, but also applicable for the state the world is currently in.” In fact, Levin has gone on to join the consulting group TAMID because “through this summer research project, my love for and drive to help others was reinforced. I realized that I enjoy not only analyzing and researching how to help others but also putting it into action and taking what I’ve found and producing a tangible result.”