Team places 3rd in national finance contest

Beatrice Nknuga (’23), Ai’Yanna Tombs (’23), and Daniel Nkunga (’24) took third place at the National Personal Finance Challenge held June 5 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in Ohio.

Thirty-three teams competed for the title. Each team had two hours to review a detailed fictitious family case study and develop a presentation. They then presented it to the assembled judges. The teams were divided into four groups with one team from each group advancing to the final round.

The team earned their spot in the national contest by winning the Arkansas Personal Finance Challenge sponsored by Economics Arkansas in April.

The state competition was similar to the national competition. It challenged students to review a fictitious case study of a family’s financial situation, collaborate to find a solution, and prepare a presentation of suggestions for the family.

This year’s case study involved a newlywed couple with two different lifestyles merging families within a limited financial framework. The groom was a long-term bachelor accustomed to living a bachelor lifestyle while taking care of his mother who resides in an assisted living facility. The bride was a single mother of two children with large financial debt and little savings while trying to find a balance between providing the necessities and offering her family some funfilled experiences.

The team had to provide a viable financial plan for the family that would allow them to address the debt while maintaining appropriate housing and transportation.

“We tried to put ourselves in the family’s shoes,” said Beatrice Nkunga. “We understand that some of their decisions seemed ridiculously expensive, but we also felt that it was important to note that in life there has to be a balance between happiness and survival. The family was not too far gone!

“Using resources like budgetestimating websites, finding reallife houses and researching helpful money saving skills, we came up with a financial plan that could help them regain that balance between survival and finding joy in their new and changing life.”

Daniel Nkunga said that during his research for the project he approached the situation as if the couple were real people in a tough situation.

He wanted to make sure that the changes the team suggested for the couple’s lifestyle wouldn’t affect their quality of life too greatly.

“When doing research, my focus was on using things within our designated area. When we decided to have them move into the Little Rock area, for example, all of my future research was focused on using vendors and suppliers more specifically within about twenty minutes of their residence,” he said.

Tombs was a member of the ASMSA team that won the Arkansas Economic Challenge, also sponsored by Economics Arkansas earlier this spring. That experience influenced her decision to compete in the Personal Finance Challenge.

“I really enjoyed being presented with a problem and fixing it by looking at it from a new perspective. And because I enjoyed the economic perspective, I believed my new knowledge would transfer to the Personal Finance Challenge,” Tombs said.

Tombs reached out to the Nkunga siblings about joining her team. A second ASMSA team for the competition was already full. She was comfortable taking a leadership role for the team.

“I would like to think that I was the delegator and organizer of the team. If there was something to be researched, rearranged or written, I was on it,” said Tombs, who was also named Arkansas Economics Student of the Year.

Beatrice Nkugna said she was very excited to hear the state final results.

“There is also something so thrilling about winning with a group, especially when that group consists of one of your best friends and your brother. I wouldn’t have celebrated that win with anyone else!” she said.