Luke Starre: finance student, financial adviser

Luke Starre: finance student, financial adviser

Unlike most 21 year-old college guys, Luke Starre is building up a client base for his career field.

Luke, a senior at Franciscan University studying finance, is currently enrolled in 15 credit hours of study.  He attends class Monday through Thursday and is fully entrenched in his studies.  Although the Fall 2013 semester is now underway, he spent the better part of the summer studying for a test as well, but not the standard college course test.

“I passed the Series 7 test on August 16,” said Luke.  “I took it to become a licensed financial professional in the state of Ohio.”

Luke spent most of his summer studying two to three hours daily in preparation for the test, which was given at Prometric Testing Centers in Toledo, Ohio. He scored a 92 percent overall on the test.

“I was pumped when I got my score,” said Luke. “It was one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences of my college career when I did that well.”

Luke also took and passed the Ohio Health and Life test, which certifies him to sell health and life insurance in the state of Ohio.  Additionally, he studied one to two hours a day during the summer months to be successful in this endeavor.

The reason Luke has been pursuing these certifications is to enable him to start his self-employment.  Luke is an independent financial adviser with Creative Financial Partners of Toledo, Ohio.  He has started to form a client base in the Jefferson and Carroll County areas.

“With the huge boom in the oil and gas industry in this area, my market will be royalty owners in Jefferson and Carroll County,” said Luke. “Because of this, I’m working on my client base.”

Royalty owners are the people who own property that is being utilized by the oil and gas industry, notably those who have oil and gas pulled from beneath their property through fracking. Because of this increase in monetary wealth of landowners in these counties, Luke is looking to help advise these people on how to invest their money.

“The reason I’m starting this job while I’m still in college is because of the here and now of the situation,” said Luke. “There is an influx of money to the region, and I’m trying to get involved now.”

Luke spends his work time doing whatever tasks need to be accomplished, which range from communicating with the home office of CFP to researching into financial data and market updates.  His work days are flexible because of his self-employment, and he works from home.

“I’m spending my time familiarizing with products and developing a market plan for my target market,” said Luke. “I’m currently talking with potential clients, and as time goes on I’m hoping to have my business ventures grow.”