A team of three students (David Boyd, Lauren Kearl, and Devin Miller) majoring in Personal Financial Planning placed second in the national 2020 Financial Planning Challenge competition. This competition is sponsored annually by the Financial Planning Association, Ameriprise Financial, and the Certified Financial Planning Board, and involves three phases:

• First phase – a written case study. Student teams were given profiles for two hypothetical clients and prepared a written comprehensive financial plan (50-60 pages). After the first phase was judged by professionals, the UVU team was one of only eight teams nationwide invited to participate in the second and third phases of the competition.
• Second phase – an oral presentation. Each of eight remaining teams orally presented their case study recommendations to a panel of professional judges. UVU scored high on their oral presentation over Zoom.
• Third phase – a quiz bowl. Each of the eight remaining teams participated in a jeopardy-style quiz bowl with topics on investments, retirement, taxes, risk/insurance, estate, and fundamentals. UVU placed second in the quiz bowl.

Scores from each of the three phases were then weighted together to determine the winners of the overall competition where UVU placed second overall and was awarded a $5,000 scholarship. The other seven teams to make the final round included Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, Temple University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kansas State University, Fort Hays State University, and Texas Tech University. Texas Tech University placed first and the University of Wisconsin placed third.

“I am proud of our students and how they represented UVU so well!” said Hyrum Smith, faculty coach for the team. “It reminds me every year of the great planners UVU is producing for the profession. We have the best students out there in my book!”

"I am so grateful to represent the financial planning program at Utah Valley University in the FPA Student Challenge this year,” said David Boyd. “As a team, we prepared a comprehensive case study, oral presentation, and jeopardy-based quiz bowl. This competition was no small feat, but we were able to achieve second place and continue to the academic excellence and high standard of our program. I appreciate this opportunity and know it will help us as we start our careers in personal finance.”

“I am so thankful for the opportunity to participate in the FPA competition representing Utah Valley University,” said Lauren Kearl. “We have been given an amazing education as students in the Personal Financial Planning program. A virtual competition, due to COVID-19, challenged us to prepare for the workforce we will enter when we graduate. As a team, we were able to work together to accomplish so much while still having fun. It helped us realize that our profession has a great deal to offer for ourselves and others. I am excited for the future that lies in store for the three of us and other UVU Financial Planning graduates.”

“Participating in the FPA challenge was an amazing experience!” said Devin Miller. “Our success in the competition is a direct result of the dedication that our professors have shown in making sure we not only understand what they are teaching, but also know how it applies to real world experiences. The PFP program is full of intelligent, driven individuals who are going to make a big impact in the world of financial planning, and I feel lucky to associate with them all, especially Lauren and David. I'm grateful to be in a university and program that constantly strives for excellence and gives us such incredible opportunities.”

“Well done Coach Smith and everyone else who helped,” said Jacob Sybrowsky, WSB associate dean. “The students have every reason to be pleased with such an amazing accomplishment.”

“I can’t express how much I marvel at Hyrum Smith’s ability and commitment in preparing students for this competition,” said Dean Norm Wright. “It is just this kind of caring about our students that makes such a big difference. Hyrum teaches the team to believe in themselves and – by extension – the other students in the program to know that they are right up there with the best of them if they will only work hard and listen to good coaches.”