AMP launches university planning challenge

AMP has launched a financial planning-focused ‘university challenge’ aimed at giving university students greater access to the financial planning profession.

The program is run through AMP’s Horizons Academy and also has the support of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the recently formed Financial Planning Academics Forum.

The program aims to increase the profile of financial planning within the university system so more students consider it as a potential career, said AMP director of financial planning, advice and services Steve Helmich (pictured).

“It’s about professionalism, and it’s about more Australians seeing financial planning as a profession,” he said.

The challenge is open to any university students in the country provided they are not already authorised representatives of a financial planning firms, and can be completed individually or in teams of up to three, and will likely require between 15 and 30 hours of work, according to Horizons director Tim Steele.

The students will present a response to a case study in the form of a discussion paper, looking at modelling and recommendations in response to a hypothetical scenario. The paper will include a template so it is a test of the students’ planning skills rather than literary skills, Steele said.

The winning team will receive a $5,000 AMP Bank account, FPA membership, and attendance at upcoming FPA and AMP conferences; while the winning team’s university will also receive a $10,000 grant to put towards financial planning programs.

“The AMP University Challenge brings together financial planning professional bodies, leaders in the field and a potential new generation of planners,” Steele said.

“It provides a unique opportunity for students to find out what it’s really like to provide financial advice and appreciate the positive impact it can have on people’s lives.”

FPA head of professionalism Deen Sanders said the program addressed the crisis in the number of Australians receiving advice by encouraging future growth of the industry.

“As well as engaging bright young minds in the complex challenge of financial planning, [the competition] works towards some of the FPA’s broader objectives in terms of enhancing the professionalism of financial planning through university aligned [certified financial planner] education,” he said.

Griffith University Associate Professor of Finance Mark Brimble, a member of the Financial Planning Academics Forum, said the program will help students to realise there is a career attached to the study of financial planning.

Previously it has been hard to see the progression from student to financial planner, but this program helps to address that, and also gives students access to skills and a level of engagement they may not get through their university degree, he said.