2011 Financial Planning Challenge

CFP Board is pleased to have again teamed up with the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®), the Academy of Financial Services and Ameriprise to host the 2011 Financial Planning Challenge.

The Financial Planning Challenge is a competition created to support the next generation of financial planners by: engaging students and program directors in the financial planning community; raising awareness of career opportunities; and encouraging learning and networking in the financial planning profession. This year's Financial Planning Challenge illustrated potential avenues for satisfying the oral and written components of the CFP Board Financial Plan Development Course requirement to both students and faculty.

2011 Winning Teams

CFP Board congratulates the following teams, each of which included students and faculty from CFP Board-Registered Programs:

1st Place: Fort Hays State University

2nd Place (tie): Kansas State University and Virginia Commonwealth University

4th Place: William Paterson University

Background

This distinctive competition is designed exclusively for undergraduate degree programs with financial planning curricula registered with CFP Board, or related fields of study. In this challenge, teams compete to advance through three phases:

Phase 1: Financial Planning Case Study (Written)

Phase 2: Financial Planning Case Study Presentation (Oral)

Phase 3: "How Do You Know Challenge," a trivia-style financial planning knowledge contest

In the first phase of the competition, all student teams were given profiles for two hypothetical clients and asked to prepare a complete financial plan.

Following judging of the first phase, the following top nine teams were selected to advance to the next phases of the competition.

• Fort Hays
• University of Georgia
• Kansas State
• Metro State College of Denver
• Missouri
• Texas Tech
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• William Paterson A
• William Paterson B

Each of these teams made oral presentations of their case studies and participated in the "How Do You Know Challenge," held in conjunction with FPA Experience 2011 in San Diego, California from September 14-17, 2011.

CFP Board thanks the following judges for the 2011 Financial Planning Challenge, who were selected by each presenting organization and contributed to the assessment of the student teams from both the in-person and virtual venues:

Caleb Brown, MBA, CFP®, New Planner Recruiting
Sharon Burns, Ph.D., Purdue University
Sarah McLeod, Vice President of Financial Planning Tools & Content, Ameriprise Financial
William J. Moran, CFP®, Vice President of Financial Planning Industry Relations, Ameriprise Financial
Harry Starn, CFA, CFP®, California Lutheran University
Thomas Warschauer, Ph.D., San Diego State University
Elizabeth Jetton, CFP®, RTD Financial Advisors, Inc.
Marc Freedman, CFP®, Freedman Financial Associates, Inc.

Additional Information and Resources:

2011 Financial Planning Challenge Case Study

Phase 1 Written Case Study Scoring Rubric

Phase 2 Oral Presentation Scoring Rubric

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