522: What It’s Like To Do Financial Planning for Naval Sea Systems Command With Brett Bergen, NavSea [Main T4C Episode]

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Brett Bergen is a Financial Planning & Analysis professional for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. where he works with a team to manage multi-billion dollar budgets for the U.S. Navy’s Radars, Electronic Warfare, &  Lasers to keep America’s Navy #1 in the world. He also spends one week each Fall to recruit students at Penn State, his alma mater, from almost every major and GPA for thousands of civilian positions that support exciting U.S. Navy programs across the country.  Additionally, Brett channels his passion for education into an organization he founded, called The Wiseman Institute. In the fall of 2020, he’s launching a new training called “Megamind”, which is a complete guide to acing online classes. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Brett graduated in the top 2% of his class from Penn State University in 2009, with a double-major in Finance and Industrial Psychology. 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why you should consider a civilian career with the U.S. Navy and what Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is (6:36)
• How many positions there are for entry level jobs for college graduates (10:15)
• What jobs humanities and liberal arts majors can explore in this field, including business, HR, legal and project manager positions (14:24)
• What the benefits are for working for the federal government, especially the Navy (20:00)
• What the Navy can do for you if you want to pursue another degree, Brett’s graduate degree experience and an explanation of the Navy’s SMART Scholarship (24:15)
• Brett’s advice for graduating during an economic recession (30:55)
• What he does as a financial planner and business financial manager and why he compares his experience to the movie Office Space (34:04)
• How Brett started the Wiseman Institute in 2015 (43:48)
• What classes he has developed for students, including his new training for online classes called GetMegamind.com at Megamind (44:35)
• Advice on how to deal with not-so-great professors, especially for online classes (50:37)