Undergraduate putting stock in financing career

(Editor’s note: The following article featuring UIU online undergraduate Kevin Pira was republished with permission of the Cresco Times Plain Dealer.)

It is always nice to see our young people returning to the area. Although 2017 Crestwood (Iowa) graduate Kevin Pira has not moved back to Cresco, he has opened a business and is ready to help the public with their finances.

He is owner of Pira Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser. He currently lives in Coralville, Iowa, and has a business there but has opened a second location in Cresco at 119 N. Elm St. He plans to be in Cresco every other week by appointment.

He is currently enrolled at Upper Iowa University for financial management. “My degree is expected to be finished this year in December,” he said.

He first became interested in finance around the time he was in junior high. “I grew up in a low-income family, so I was exposed to the hardships of not being financially well off. This motivated me to my very core to learn more about finance and investing.”

Pira became fascinated with the workings of the stock market and even started stock investing during his freshman year of high school with his school MacBook.

“I became so interested in the stock market that I would spend thousands of hours reading books and investing articles online.”

With ultra-low interest rates, there is a need for higher yields which the stock market can provide. “I firmly believe this is a better approach than letting capital sit in a bank account earning a penny a year in interest and eroding to inflation,” he explained.

Although he is only 22-years-old, Pira owns a business that is legally allowed to provide investment advice for a fee. He has passed his series 65 exam. (The exam needed to be able to become a registered investment adviser.) “I’m now working towards my Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.”

Since Pira grew up in Howard County, he wants to help as many people in the area as he can. “A lot of folks have money sitting around, and they aren’t sure where they should be putting it. I believe there are many opportunities to help people in the community fully realize their financial freedom. Registered investment advisers must always put their client interests before their own and are legally required to do so! Sometimes in the financial industry, you don’t always work with a professional who is held to that standard.”

Pira has also been featured in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.