The Money Mentor

Finances can be complicated and confusing. Especially for students who may just be starting out on their own, but even for those of us who have been ”adulting” for a while. 

Should I be investing the bonus I got at work? Is a Pledge Loan a good option for buying a car? Is my side hustle worth it?

Dan Wickens is here to help. By day, he is an accounting manager for MultiCare Health System, preparing the company's financial statements and monthly accounting. But his side hustle is helping students better understand their finances. 

He graduated from the Milgard School of Business with a bachelor’s in accounting in 2013, and now he’s taking what he learned, as well as his years of professional experience as a Certified Public Accountant and offering “money help” for UW Tacoma students through the Center for Financial Wellness.

Having grown up in the South Sound all his life in a family of teachers and coaches, Wickens said he enjoyed training staff and leading departmental seminars. He also began to write about financial matters, and he learned about a group that taught financial literacy to high school students. 

“I started writing some of my own material, and that started as a Powerpoint presentation, and I realized it was no longer just a simple presentation,” he said. 

He began to go through the material and write it all down over the course of several years, and the result was his first book, Healthy Dough. The title comes from a cooking show that his then-girlfriend (now wife) was watching. 

“The chefs were able to complete their tasks so effectively because they had the right ingredients and knew the concepts of cooking,” Wickens said. He analogized bread making with the other “bread.” “When people possess the right knowledge (flour), skill (liquid), and strategy (flavor), they can make money a healthy and positive part of life.”

But in the middle of writing the book, Wickens came to a realization. 

“There was a big change in focus right in the middle,” he said. “I started to think about life a little differently and reprioritize things. I realized I don’t care about being rich. I just want a positive and healthy life.” 

From that point, the tone of his writing changed, and he said he “found his voice.” It was a moment that pushed him toward wanting to share financial ideas that help people understand how to manage their finances to create a comfortable, stable and healthy life. That led him to the idea of offering personalized financial help to students who, he said, “are just getting started and learning about how to manage their own money.”

Getting involved

Wickens came to UW Tacoma as a transfer student from Tacoma Community College confident in his vision of what he wanted for the next step in his education. “The biggest reason that I chose UW Tacoma was that it seemed like the perfect fit and right balance of quality education and opportunities to get involved,” Wickens said. “Getting involved was really important to me.” 

“I got to know my professors and people I was going to school with, and I joined the Accounting Student Association (ASA) in my junior year, and I became president of it in my senior year,” he said. “Our adviser for the ASA was Dr. Daniel Bryan, and I got to work pretty closely with him on a lot of our events. I really enjoyed having the big school resources with a small campus feel.”

That experience allowed him to hone his own vision for a career path toward accounting and being a CPA. “In Washington state, to get certified, we needed the equivalent of a fifth year of credits, and I crammed that all in,” Wickens said. As he worked toward graduation, he took extra classes that allowed him to sit for the first CPA exam.

Helping current students learn financial wellness

While Wickens does live presentations on campus through the Center for Financial Wellness, he has also created the “Money Matters” page where students can ask questions about money and financial matters “I just started that recently,” Wickens said. “The plan is, I reply at first with a detailed direct response, but I’ll also do a video in which I can engage more people and give a more general response that might apply to a larger group.”

Teaching students to create a healthy relationship with money is Wickens’ priority on the Money Matters page. “Students are beginning that time where they’re going to have a lot more decisions about their lifestyle, about the career they’re in and questions like, ‘if I work 20 percent more to earn 15 percent more, is that really worth it to me? Or would I rather work a little bit less, and maybe travel on the cheap?’ 

For a lot of students, the career they choose might be a little more intense, and a little bit different than what they’ve been used to.” Wickens said that students are in the position to make decisions about what they’re getting out of their careers, and how much of their life they want their career to occupy. “Is it just a paycheck, or is it fulfillment? What do they actually want out of their careers, and how do they find that right balance so they can take care of their financial needs as well?” he said.       

With a keen interest in sharing the knowledge that he’s learned and clearing a path for students to make better financial decisions, Wickens has a boundless energy for his topic. “I feel like it’s a win-win, where I’m getting to do what I’m excited about doing and hopefully providing value to the students.”