For the second year in a row, students from the Utah Valley University (UVU) Personal Financial Planning (PFP) program took first place in the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education (AFCPE) Knowledge Bowl on Nov. 17, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.

Students from PFP won two other national personal financial competitions earlier this year — the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC) competition in July, and the Financial Planning Association (FPA) competition in October — making it a grand slam of victories for the UVU PFP program.

“We talk a lot about the high caliber of our students, but this shows that the proof is in the pudding,” said Alisa Nguyen, team coach and Money Success Center assistant director. “Our students work really hard, and they excel at what they do because they put the time and effort into it. They deserve it.”

“The competition was in Orlando, one of the greatest cities in the world. There are all kinds of things you can do, and everyone was out at night, hanging out. What did our students do? They were in their rooms, studying,” said Ryan Law, Money Success Center director. “That is their level of dedication to this, and that’s what put them over the top over much bigger schools in terms of name recognition.”

Law stepped back from his main responsibility as team coach this year to make room for Alisa Nguyen, assistant director of the UVU Money Success Center. Nguyen graduated from UVU in 2021 and was on last year’s AFCPE winning team.

The AFCPE Knowledge Bowl consists of a game-show-style questionnaire of topics pertaining to financial planning, budgeting, and laws and regulations. This year, an essay portion was introduced, which the UVU team spent months writing together.

“I was not paying attention as they were reading off the placements,” said Nick Trotter, team captain and PFP student. “When everyone started clapping, I said, ‘What just happened there?’ It was an out-of-body experience.”

Team member and PFP student Alexandra Heras said her team enjoyed a camaraderie and connection that put her and her teammates a cut above the rest.

“This was like the ultimate dream team,” she said. “We laughed probably more than any other team up there. I feel like everyone, coaches and teammates, was very good at listening to each other. Our personalities meshed well, and everyone was willing to put in the time to study.”

Team member Ryan Wisner said he contributes his team’s success to the mentorship of Law and Nguyen, as well as UVU’s robust personal financial planning program.

“I think we have the greatest program all around with great students and amazing faculty,” Wisner said. “Nick, Alexandra, Alisa, Ryan, our amazing alternate Trent South — I don't think we could have done it without everybody coming together.”

“UVU is the school to beat,” Law said. “A couple of years ago when we started competing, people were like, ‘Who is UVU? Where are they? I've never heard of them before.’ Now, everyone knows that, if you're going to win, you have to beat UVU.”

Learn more about Utah Valley University’s Personal Financial Planning program.