HAYS — At a news conference called to announce good news about overall enrollment at Fort Hays State University, three individual students were recognized for their team accomplishment as national champion student financial planners.
Nolan Kempke, Claflin senior, Layne Krizek (pronounced KREE-zek), Hays senior, and Cameron Werth, Hays senior, won the Financial Planning Challenge national competition in San Diego on Sept. 17, running away with the challenge’s final competition, a game-show contest called "The How Do You Know Challenge."
FHSU President Edward H. Hammond, after announcing another record enrollment increase at FHSU, introduced Dr. Thomas Johansen, professor of economics, finance and accounting and coach of the financial planning team.
Johansen noted that this is the 10th year that FHSU has competed in the national financial planning championship. Out of those 10 years, FHSU has been in the top five every year, placed in the top three in seven years and this is the third year that FHSU has won outright.
The talk around the department, he said, was that this year was his "dream team." And this is an outstanding group, he said.
"They have the work ethic and the competitive drive," he said, and they proved him right when he predicted last spring, as he was putting this team together, that they could win the national championship.
But, he said, "In my opinion, I’ve had 10 dream teams."
He introduced Krizek, who explained that the team spent three weeks in June putting together a 150-page financial plan based on a case study of a fictitious family.
"Our preparation for this competition came from the cumulative work of three years of education. Fort Hays State’s Economics, Finance and Accounting Department and the instructors in the College of Business and Leadership are top-tier and without a doubt prepared us for this competition and prepares our students to excel in their career goals."
Kempke, who spoke next, covered the final two stages of the competition, a 20-minute oral presentation over the recommendations made in the financial plan, and the "How Do You Know Challenge," in which the teams each answer 30 questions covering the six areas of financial planning. Both of these are at the national conference of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the largest association of financial planners in the United States. The conference this year was in San Diego.
Werth, who spoke next, was the only member of the team who has competed before. He was on last year’s team, which placed second nationally. It was only due to a rule change the FPA instituted this year that Werth was allowed to compete again. A previous rule barred any student from competing more than once.
"My teammates and I put countless hours into preparing the written plan this year, and it is rewarding to see our hard work pay off. Our teachers do a phenomenal job preparing us for the competition," he said.
In interviews before the news conference, all three named the challenge as their favorite part of the entire contest. It is a "Jeopardy" style format with 30 questions covering six categories of financial planning: financial position (calculation); protection planning (insurance); investment planning; retirement planning; estate planning; and tax planning. Questions are worth from 100 to 500 points, and every team gets a crack at points on every question. A bonus question at the end is worth 750 points.
"We started out by getting the first seven or eight questions right," said Kempke. "From the first question we had the lead and never lost it. It was a good feeling to know that the other teams were all looking up at us."
"It’s kind of nerve wracking and nail biting," said Werth, the one who has now been through two of these events. "But when you come out on top it’s really rewarding."
He boiled down to three words what he likes about the competition: "The adrenaline rush."
"It’s in the spirit of competition," he said. "We got off to a great start, and we never looked back." This, he said, was the first time FHSU has placed first in the "How Do You Know Challenge."
"I think we showed that Fort Hays definitely needs to be mentioned among the top schools that were there," said Kempke.
This year’s competitors, chosen by the FPA from all the written plans submitted at the end of June, were, in addition to Fort Hays State, Colorado State University, Boulder; two teams from Kansas State University; Metropolitan State College, Denver; the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley; Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C.; and William Paterson University, Wayne N.J.
The team received the Career Coach Award, which provides each team member a one-hour career coaching session from a financial planning expert in addition to $10,000 in scholarship money for the university.
