Achieving high placings in this year’s competition, Deakin Financial Planning students maintain a stellar record.
Deakin teams placed 2nd and 4th in this fiercely-contested, national Financial Planning competition.
Five teams competed in the finals, selected from tertiary-student submissions nationwide. Having two Deakin teams in the running was itself a great result.
Team members are all undergraduates enrolled in the final capstone unit of the Financial Planning major within the Bachelor of Commerce.
Garth Andrew, Sarah Hoffmann and James Flannery made up Team 1, with Scott Westerweller, Max Lucas and Lincoln Krieger on Team 2.
The AMP University Challenge is a financial planning competition open to all students undertaking tertiary studies. It aims to provide students with an insight into the financial planning profession and to provide first-hand experience of the type of work undertaken by a financial planner.
The challenge comprises 3 segments: a technical quiz, a mock SOA presentation delivered to a set of clients and a speech delivered on a particular theme.
This year, the theme was on financial literacy with students proposing solutions to improving financial literacy within the community.
The finals competition was conducted virtually and provided one of our students with an additional challenge living in Shepperton and having to contend with the recent widespread flood damage, loss of property and lack of internet.
The resilience of our students shone through, with the Shepperton-based student unable to access the internet to conduct their client presentation and having to adapt on the spot to deliver their presentation over the phone.
At Deakin University, the AMP Challenge is embedded into the assessments for the capstone unit and represents a great opportunity to combine technical knowledge with communication skills in a real-life work scenario.
The capstone unit is designed to help students make a successful transition into the workforce and a career in financial planning through an emphasis on work-based practices, current knowledge and strategies and the development of employability skills.
The unit is co-taught by Program Director of Financial Planning at Deakin Marc Olynyk and financial planning academic Mr Gurbinder Gill, both of whom supported students throughout the finals competition.
They were extremely pleased with the performance of the students on the day and how well they represented Deakin.
Marc Olynyk commented, “The performance of the students gives us great confidence in the quality and direction of our financial planning courses and in the future of the next generation of advisers entering the profession.”
All students involved in the finals competition received a monetary prize, but more importantly walked away experiencing a great event, establishing industry connections and networking with other students and having experienced the opportunity to demonstrate and receive recognition for their craft.