Budget Game
Students build a monthly budget, pay bills, handle surprises, manage credit, and chase savings goals. This is where “money class” stops feeling abstract.
Core experience Not another worksheet packet
Personal finance kids actually practice — and remember.
PersonalFinanceLab turns money skills into games: run a real monthly budget, make tradeoffs when life happens, and optionally trade a virtual portfolio. Teachers assign. Students play. Learning sticks.
Free for eligible MI high schools via Mercantile Bank · setup in minutes · no student PII to the bank
What you’re getting (exactly)
One classroom platform. Real decisions. Real outcomes. Free under the Mercantile Bank sponsorship for eligible Michigan high schools.
Stock Market Game
Optional layer: virtual portfolios with real-market feel. Students research, diversify, and compete on performance — risk-free capital, teacher-controlled setup.
Optional / powerful
Lessons + teacher tools
300+ assignable lessons and library content, progress visibility, and classroom controls so the games support your standards — not replace your judgment.
Standards-readyDesigned so students lean in — not check out.
This is the pitch teachers care about: engagement you can see, skills you can assess, and prep that doesn’t eat your weekend.
- 1Consequences, not quizzes only. Miss rent or max a card and the sim hits back — memorable in a way vocab lists aren’t.
- 2Competition that teaches. Credit score, returns, net worth, rankings — healthy pressure without real-money risk.
- 3You stay in control. Class setup, assignments, and pacing stay with the teacher. Students join your class — they don’t self-register as the primary path.
- 4Michigan classrooms, sponsored. Eligible high schools on the Mercantile Bank list get access without a school PO fight.
Make personal finance fun — on purpose
PersonalFinanceLab’s whole product story is interactive practice: games first, lessons that lock learning in, tools teachers actually use.
Budget + marketTwo flagship games teachers can run alone or together
300+ lessonsAssignable content around what students just practiced
Teacher cockpitProgress, class controls, classroom-ready support
$0 to youSponsored seats for eligible MI HS via Mercantile Bank
From registration to first class period
Simple path. No procurement maze for eligible schools on the sponsorship list.
1
Register
Tell us your school and when you want to start. We’ll check eligibility under the Mercantile Bank sponsorship.
2
Get access
We confirm placement and provision your PersonalFinanceLab teacher access for the sponsored program.
3
Launch
Create your class, invite students, and start with the Budget Game. Optional stock layer when you’re ready.
Sponsored by Mercantile Bank
Mercantile Bank removes the cost barrier so Michigan teachers can give students money practice that sticks — without another line item on the school budget.
Community support · classroom tools
Register your classroom
Free PersonalFinanceLab access for eligible Michigan high schools sponsored by Mercantile Bank.
*Our Terms and Conditions can be found by clicking here.
**Our Privacy Policy can be found by clicking here.
†Sponsorship Acknowledgement: Teachers accessing PersonalFinanceLab via sponsorship acknowledge that the Sponsor’s logo will appear on the PersonalFinanceLab website for their students. Aggregate usage information, including but not limited to total classes participating, total number of students, total trades made in the stock game, total months completed in the budgeting game, and total quizzes completed in the learning library may be shared with the sponsor as “general usage statistics”, in aggregate. No individual student information, and/or student personally identifiable information, will be shared. Contact privacy@stocktrak.com for more information regarding Stock-Trak’s data privacy and security policies.
You’ll leave knowing
- What games your students will play
- That lessons + teacher tools are included
- How sponsored access is provisioned
- That the bank does not get student PII
Best fit
HS personal finance, business, economics, CTE, and advisory teachers who want practice, not another packet students ignore.
After you submit
Watch for confirmation and access steps from the PersonalFinanceLab team. Prefer a specific semester? Note it in the form.