The International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC®) reports that the Finals of the National Financial Plan Competition scheduled for Cincinnati, OH at the end of April will be reformatted to take place virtually this week. This reorganization is in compliance to COVID-19 mandates against public gatherings and promotion of social distancing .
Thursday, April 2, the following students will be gearing up for their recorded presentation to be judged by the IARFC Trustees and US Chapter Board Directors:
- Abigail Adams and Zachary Wakamatsu, Utah Valley University – Associate Professor Dr. Luke Dean
- Allison Biddix and Michael Austin, Western Carolina University – Dr. Patrick Payne
- Jackie Battles, University of North Texas – Adjunct Professor Dave Ragan.
“While the whole world has shut down due to the global pandemic, the IARFC and its professionals are still finding a way to mentor, develop, and train the next generation of financial planning talent,” commented Dr. Luke Dean, Utah Valley University. “This shows the character and caliber of IARFC professionals. While weathering one crisis, they’re training the talent necessary to help clients weather the next crisis. Our students gain so much from this competition and while we’re truly sad we won’t get to compete in person in the finals in Cincinnati due to travel restrictions — we are grateful that the IARFC is holding the Finals virtually this year so our students can still have this incredible training experience and compete for cash dollar prizes that are even more necessary now than ever before for some of these students now that a lot of student jobs have disappeared nationally. Thank you to the IARFC and its Board of Directors and member professionals for all that you do to train and support the next gen of financial planning talent.”
The National Financial Plan Competition is organized through the IARFC for undergraduate students in a curriculum related to Financial Services and supported in part by IARFC members and corporate backers such as 2020 sponsors Money Concepts International and Envestnet MoneyGuide.
This competition gives students an exercise in real-world practices – that of analyzing a client’s situation and critically thinking a course of action. In many cases, professors have used this exercise as part of their curriculum. Participants were given a fictional case study of a family and an overview of their financial picture. From that data, teams were asked to produce a financial plan with recommendations for current and future action.
“This method change by no means diminishes the amount of preparation that these students have invested into their financial plans,” explained IARFC Competition Coordinator Vicki Caplinger. “We still anticipate well thought out presentations and excellence in delivery.“
For more information on the IARFC National Financial Plan Competition, visit https://www.iarfc.org/events/nfpc. The results of the Finals will be announced as soon as the results are available.
