Fifth time's the charm

The fifth annual Good Wealth Management Challenge yielded successful results for three CoB students, who won a combined $5,000 in scholarships. Although this was the competition’s fifth year, it was the first in which the participants had competed for scholarship prizes. Daniel Uribe, the managing partner for Good Wealth Management, was also in attendance to award the new scholarships. 

Sponsored by JMU’s Department of Finance and Business Law and Good Wealth Management, students were given a case study describing a fictitious family’s financial goals, and, acting as a financial planner, had to assess the family’s risk levels. The case study tested students’ ability to compose and present financial planning recommendations, as well as their risk management and portfolio construction capabilities.

Eli Rosequist, a senior international business major, secured a first place win, earning a $2,500  scholarship. “This challenge broadened my perspective on how my interests in international business and political economies are intertwined with the decision-making process as a financial planner. It was great practice for my formal writing skills and creating organized excel spreadsheets…”

Sophomore finance major Ethan Coyle, who earned a second place finish said, “The most valuable part of the challenge was the knowledge I gained. I learned so much about financial planning and realized that there was much more to it than just picking stocks and mutual funds. This challenge helped me to learn on the fly. Without much background knowledge, I was able to compose a synopsis. This skill will definitely help me in the future.” Coyle was awarded a $1,500 scholarship. 

Matt Allen, a junior majoring in finance, placed third in the competition, earning a $1,000 scholarship. 

Challenges such as this help students better apply the skills and lessons they’ve learned in the classroom in real-world scenarios. It also allows students to explore different specialties of the profession they are interested in so that upon graduation, CoB students have a clearer idea of the paths ahead of them.