Kansas State University

A team of three personal financial planning students earned second place in the national Industry Issues competition recently.

Students are undergraduates Mariah Bausch and Cole Foster, and master’s degree student Andy Rao. They earned $3,000 scholarship money for the K-State program.
Their coaches were Stuart Heckman and Martin Seay, assistant professors.

The competition, sponsored by the Foundation for Financial Service Professionals, was at the organization’s Arizona Institute in Phoenix. The team submitted a paper on “Rapid rise: Growth potential and changing business practices of U.S. financial services professions.” They researched and analyzed three professional career paths, the skills needed to be successful in those careers and the value of peer relationships. Continue reading “Our winning student team” →

The 11th Annual IFACE (Insurance and Financial Advisors Continuing Education) Conference will be April 28 and 29 at the K-State Alumni Center on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

Registration and lodging information for the conference

The spring meeting of the K-State Personal Financial Planning Advisory Board will take place on April 29.

Tibbetts receives research award

A current doctoral student, Racquel Tibbetts, was selected as the recipient of the 2015 American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) Family Economics and Resource Management (FERM) Community Emerging Researcher Award. She will be presenting her research at the AAFCS annual meeting in June in Jacksonville, Fla.

New York Times features financial therapy program

“Stressed by Money? Get on the Couch” read the headline in a special New York Times section called Wealth published online on Feb. 9 and in print on page 1F Feb. 10. The story focused on the Financial Therapy Clinic at K-State.

Reporter Paul Sullivan interviewed program director Sonya Britt about the field of financial therapy and Brad Klontz, associate professor, about “money scripts,” or the stories we tell ourselves about the role of money in our lives. He also interviewed Edward Horwitz and Anthony Canale who are both professionals working in the field and also Ph.D. students in personal financial planning from K-State.

One of the K-State photos used with the story featured Mariah Bausch, PFP senior.

Kurt A. Schindler, who received his Ph.D. in personal financial planning from K-State in 2014, was nationally recognized for his service to the community and the banking industry during the American Bankers Association’s Annual Convention in Dallas this winter. The director of financial education for Banco Popular in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was presented with the George Bailey Distinguished Service Award.

The award is given to a non-CEO bank employee who demonstrates outstanding initiative, performs impactful work and inspires others. It is the only award given to an individual as a part of the program.

Schindler serves as a mentor in the financial planning field, as well as a financial advisor to many peers and a youth advisor to children. During his tenure as director, Schindler has spoken to more than 37,000 people from every town in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and given more than 800 financial education workshops. He has made several television and radio appearances with consistent messaging about managing the family finances, the importance of saving and the importance of teaching the family healthy financial practices. Continue reading “Schindler receives prestigious service award” →

In the fall 2014, two Ph.D. candidates successfully defended their dissertations.

Anita K. Dale’s work was on “The Association of Culture with Financial Satisfaction.” She recently retired as an executive with Valent USA Corporation in Indianapolis and is pursuing faculty opportunities in personal financial planning.

Jeffrey Nelson, CFA, CFP®, presented “Three Essays on Personal Financial Difficulties of Military Members.” He is senior vice president and portfolio manager at Broadway Bank in San Antonio. Continue reading “Anita Dale, Jeffrey Nelson receive Ph.D. degrees” →

Powercat Financial Counseling is celebrating its five-year anniversary of providing free financial education to Kansas State University students.

It started as a student learning and outreach center in the personal financial planning program in the School of Family Studies and Human Services, College of Human Ecology.

Since opening its doors in fall 2009, it has become a national model for other universities.

Powercat Financial Counseling offers free services for students to learn about budgeting, understanding credit, identity theft, investing and more.

The program has served more than 1,700 individual student financial counseling sessions and more than 23,000 attendees to group financial workshops and presentations. Continue reading “Powercat Financial Counseling marks 5th year” →

If you are interested in supporting the Personal Financial Planning Program at Kansas State University, please contact Dana Hunter, development officer for the College of Human Ecology, at the Kansas State University Foundation, 2323 Anderson Ave., Suite 500, Manhattan, KS 66502, danah@found.ksu.edu or 800-432-1578. Or give online. Thank you for your past loyal and generous support of K-State and Personal Financial Planning.