This presentation accompanies our lesson on Working vs Studying after high school, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Stocks, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Ticker Symbols, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Spending Plans, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Researching Purchases, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Reconciling Accounts, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Building an Investing Strategy, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Reading Stock Quotes, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Protecting Against Fraud, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Portfolio Diversification, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Planning Long-Term Purchases, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Opportunity Cost, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on filing income taxes, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Getting Trading Ideas, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Family Planning, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Using Credit, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Credit Reports, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Credit Cards, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Classifying Products and Services, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Car Insurance, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on buying a car, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Building an Investing Strategy, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Budgeting, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Budgeting and Spending Strategies, which is available as a class Assignment with a built-in assessment. Click Here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Bonds, which is also available to include in your class assignments with an assessment. Click here to view the main lesson!
This presentation accompanies our lesson on Payroll Accounting, which is also available to be included in your class Assignment with an assessment. Click Here to view!
This presentation accompanies our lesson about Sales Tax, which is available as an “Assignment”.
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This presentation accompanies the Personal Finance Lab Career Center, with a brief discussion of some of the many options students have to choose from after completing high school.
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In this lesson students will learn about various ways to invest. They will be
learning about different types of investments such as stocks, mutual funds
and bonds. Students will be assessing different risk that comes with each
type of investment and determining when it is a good idea to invest.
In this lesson students will be learning about the different options that they have after graduating high school. They will be looking at different careers and learning about what skills and level of education is required to be successful in those careers.
In this lesson students will be learning about income tax and why certain states have an income tax. Students will be learning about taxes from the start to finish, from filling out tax forms to calculating what percentage will be taken out of their income.
In this lesson students will learn what sales tax, discounts and tips are. These are important things for students to know and learn because they will be interacting with these terms in their everyday life. Students will walk away being able to calculate all of these terms in a variety of situations.
In this lesson students will be learning about the different costs that come with buying and owning a car. This lesson is important because there are many costs that students do not think come with owning a care and it is important to take them all into consideration before owning a car.
This lesson introduces the concept of opportunity cost in the eyes of both the consumer and the producer. Students will walk away from the lesson thinking about the opportunity cost that comes with each decision that they make.
This lesson plan in an introduction to “Needs” and “Wants”, and how we use that distinction to make decisions throughout the day. The class activities also start to bridge the gap between the basic concepts, up through integrating concepts of money, and the foundations of budgeting.
In this lesson students will learn about the basics of what a credit card is and the different responsibilities that come with owning a credit card. Students will learn about what both a credit report and credit score are and the impact they have on someone’s finances. By the end of the lesson students will be able to implicitly and explicitly think about situations that will either improve or harm their credit and explain why.
This lesson plan will introduce students to the concept of comparison shopping. There are a variety of activities that all center around comparing different items in order to get the best value for your money. Students will be able to find the unit prices of various items and also how and where to research different prices of items both big and small.
This lesson is an introduction to buying a stock. Students will be introduced
to basic vocabulary that is involved with a buying and owning a stock. Students will be going through the entire process of buying a stock from looking up the stocks ticker symbol to buying a stock on the market.
In this lesson students will be learning about both budgets and spending
plans. They will be able to tell what the different parts of each are and when to use either. They will be looking at other peoples’ budgets and saving plans to evaluate how to create one. They will leave with the tools and the skills to create their own personal budget and spending plan.
In this lesson students will be learning all about checking and how to track
their purchases. Throughout the different activities students will be interacting with checks and connecting that back to budgeting and spending. Students will go through the entire bill paying process from reading a billing statement to writing a check in order to pay the bill and reconciling their out standing payments with their bank account. Includes 4 customizable activities
In this lesson students will be learning about different types of scams that could happen over the phone or on the computer. They will be able to identify when they find a scam and will learn the importance of not falling into the scam.
Includes 5 customizable activities
This document was part of the lease you signed after moving into your apartment.
Lease Terms
QUIET ENJOYMENT: Tenant shall be entitled to quiet enjoyment of the Premises and Landlord will not interfere with that right, as long as Tenant pays the rent in a timely manner and performs all other obligations under this Lease.
POSSESSION AND SURRENDER OF PREMISES: Tenant shall be entitled to possession of the Premises on the 1st day of the Lease Term. At the expiration of the Lease, Tenant shall peaceably surrender the Premises to the Landlord or Landlord’s agent in good condition, as it was at the commencement of the Lease, reasonable wear and tear excepted.
USE OF PREMISES: Tenant shall only use the Premises as a residence. The Premises shall not be used to carry on any type of business or trade without prior written consent of the Landlord. Tenant will comply with all laws, rules, ordinances, statutes and orders regarding the use of the Premises.
OCCUPANTS: Tenant agrees that no guests not as a signed tenant on this lease may live at the Premises for more than 5 days without prior written consent of the Landlord.
CONDITION OF PREMISES: Tenant or Tenant’s agent has inspected the Premises, the fixtures, the grounds, building and improvements and acknowledges that the Premises are in good and acceptable condition and are habitable. If at any time during the term of this Lease, in Tenant’s opinion, the conditions change, Tenant shall promptly provided reasonable notice to Landlord.
ASSIGNMENT AND SUBLEASE: Tenant ☐ shall ☐ shall not assign or sublease any interest in this Lease. All sublease arrangement must be made with prior written consent of the Landlord, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. Any assignment or sublease without Landlord’s written prior consent shall, at Landlord’s option, terminate this Lease.
DANGEROUS MATERIALS: Tenant shall not keep or have on or around the Premises any item of a dangerous, flammable or explosive nature that might unreasonably increase the risk of fire or explosion on or around the Premises or that might be considered hazardous by any responsible insurance company.
UTILITIES ANDS SERVICES: Charge for ☐ electricity, ☐ telephone service, ☐ cable television, ☐ heat, ☐ hot water, ☐ water, ☐ garbage pick-up, X snow-removal and ☐ lawn maintenance are services/utilities provided to the apartment are included as a part of this Lease and shall be borne by the Landlord in addition to the following: $35 per month of services rendered.
PETS: Tenant shall not keep any pets on the Premises without the prior written consent of the Landlord. If Landlord grants permission to Tenant to keep pets, an additional security deposit of $250 will be required by the Landlord to keep in trust for potential damage to the Premises caused by Tenant’s pets.
ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS: Tenant agrees not to make any improvements or alterations to the Premises without prior written consent of the Landlord. If any alterations, improvement or changes are made to or built on or around the Premises, with the exception of fixtures and personal property that can be removed without damage to the Premises, they shall become the property of Landlord and shall remain at the expiration of the Lease, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
DAMAGE TO PREMISES: If the Premises or part of the Premises are damaged or destroyed by fire or other casualty not due to Tenant’s negligence, the rent will be abated during the time that the Premises are uninhabitable. If Landlord decides not to repair or rebuild the Premises, then this Lease shall terminate and the rent shall be prorated up to the time of the damage. Any unearned rent paid in advance shall be refunded to Tenant.
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR: Tenant will, at Tenant’s sole expense, keep and maintain the Premises in good, clean and sanitary condition and repair during the term of this Lease and any renewal thereof. Tenant shall be responsible to make all repairs to the Premises, fixtures, appliances and equipment therein that may have been damaged by Tenant’s misuse, waste or neglect, or that of the Tenant’s family, agents or visitors. Tenant agrees that no painting will be done on or about the Premises without the prior written consent of Landlord. Tenant shall promptly notify Landlord of any damage, defect or destruction of the Premises or in the event of the failure of any of the appliances or equipment. Landlord will use its best efforts to repair or replace any such damaged or defective areas, appliances or equipment.
RIGHT OF INSPECTION: Tenant agrees to make the Premises available to Landlord or Landlord’s agents for the purposes of inspection, making repairs or improvements, or to supply agreed services or show the premises to prospective buyers or tenants, or in case of emergency. Except in case of emergency, Landlord shall give Tenant reasonable notice of intent to enter. Tenant shall not, without Landlord’s prior written consent, add, alter or re-key any locks to the Premises. At all times Landlord shall be provided with a key or keys capable of unlocking all such locks and gaining entry. Tenant further agrees to notify Landlord in writing if Tenant installs any burglar alarm system, including instructions on how to disarm it in case of emergency entry.
HOLDOVER: In the event Tenant remains in possession the Premises for any period after the expiration of the Lease Term (“Holdover Period”) a new month-to-month tenancy shall be created subject to the same terms and conditions of this Lease at a monthly rental rate of the same in this agreement unless otherwise agreed by the Parties in writing. Such month-to-month tenancy shall be terminable on thirty (30) days notice by either Party or on longer notice if required by law.
ABANDONMENT: If Tenant abandons the Premises of any personal property during the term of this Lease, Landlord may at is option enter the Premises by any legal means without liability to Tenant and may at Landlord’s option terminate the Lease. Abandonment is defined as absence of the Tenants from the Premises for at least 25 consecutive days without notice to Landlord. If Tenant abandons the Premises while the rent is outstanding for more than 60 days and there is not reasonable evidence, other than the presence of the Tenants’ personal property, that the Tenant is occupying the unit, Landlord may at Landlord’s option terminate this Lease Agreement and regain possession in the manner prescribed by law. Landlord will dispose of all abandoned personal property on the Premises in any manner allowed by law.
EXTENDED ABSENCES: In the event Tenant will be away from the Premises for more than 7 consecutive days, Tenant agrees to notify Landlord in writing of such absence. During such absence, Landlord may enter the premises at times reasonable necessary to maintain the property and inspect for damages and needed repairs.
SECURITY: Tenant understands that Landlord does not provide any security alarm system or other security for Tenant or the Premises. In the event any alarm system is provided, Tenant understands that such alarm system is not warranted to be complete in all respects or to be sufficient to protect Tenant on the Premises. Tenant releases Landlord from any loss, damage, claim or injury resulting from the failure of any alarm system, security or from the lack of any alarm system or security.
SEVERABILITY: If any part of this Lease shall be held unenforceable for any reason, the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect. If any provision of this Lease is deemed invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, and if limiting such provision would make the provision valid, then such provision shall be deemed to be construed as so limited.
INSURANCE: Landlord and Tenant shall each be responsible to maintain appropriate insurance for their respective interests in the Premises and property located on the Premises. Tenant understands that Landlord will not provide any insurance coverage for Tenant’s property. Landlord will not be responsible for any loss of Tenant’s property, whether by theft, fire, riots, strikes, acts of God or otherwise. Landlord encourages Tenant to obtain renter’s insurance or other similar coverage to protect against risk of loss.
BINDING EFFECT: The covenants and conditions contained in the Lease shall apply to the Parties and the heirs, legal representatives, successors and permitted assigns of the Parties.
GOVERNING LAW: This Lease shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT: This Lease constitutes the entire Agreement between the Parties and supersedes any prior understanding or representation of any kind preceding the date of this Agreement. There are no other promises, conditions, understandings or other Agreements, whether oral or written, relating to the subject matter of this Lease. This Lease may be modified in writing and must be signed by both Landlord and Tenant.
NOTICE: Any notice required or otherwise given pursuant to this Lease shall be in writing and mailed certified return receipt requested, postage prepaid, or delivered by overnight delivery service, if to Tenant, at the Premise and if to Landlord, at the address for payment of rent. Either party may change such addresses from time to time by providing notice as set forth above.
CUMULATIVE RIGHTS: Landlord’s and Tenant’s rights under this Lease are cumulative and shall not be construed as exclusive of each other unless otherwise required by law.
WAIVER: The failure of either Party to enforce any provisions of the Lease shall not be deemed a waiver of limitation of that Party’s right to subsequently enforce and compel strict compliance with every provision of this Lease. The acceptance of rent by Landlord does not waive Landlord’s right to enforce any provisions of this Lease.
INDEMNIFICATION: To the extent permitted by law, Tenant will indemnify and hold Landlord and Landlord’s property, including the Premises, free and harmless from any liability for losses, claims, injury to or death of any person, including Tenant, or for damage to property arising from Tenant using and occupying the Premises or from the acts or omissions of any person or persons, including Tenant, in or about the Premises with Tenant’s express or implied consent except Landlord’s act or negligence.
LEGAL FEES: In the event that the Tenant violates the terms of the Lease or defaults in the performance of any covenants in the Lease and the Landlord engages an attorney or institutes a legal action, counterclaim, or summary proceeding against Tenants based upon such violation or default, Tenants shall be liable to Landlord for the costs and expenses incurred in enforcing this Lease, including reasonable attorney fees and costs. In the event the Tenants bring any action against the Landlord pursuant to this Lease and the Landlord prevails, Tenant shall be liable to Landlord for costs and expenses of defending such action, including reasonable attorney fees and costs.
ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
DISPLAY OF SIGNS: Landlord or Landlord’s agent may display “For Sale” or “For Rent” or “Vacancy” or similar signs on or about the Premises and enter to show the Premises to prospective tenants during the last 30 days of this Lease. Tenant agrees that no signs shall be placed on the Premises without the prior written consent of the Landlord.
NOISE: Tenant shall not cause or allow any unreasonably loud noise or activity in the Premises that might disturb the rights, comforts and conveniences of other persons. No lounging or visiting will be allowed in the common areas. Furniture delivery and removal will take place between 8a.m. and 8p.m.
PARKING: Tenant is ☐ granted X not granted permission to use parking space(s) that may be found at the property for the purpose of parking 2 motor vehicle(s) during the term of this Lease. Landlord is not responsible for, nor does it assume any liability for damages caused by fire, theft, casualty or any other cause whatsoever with respect to any car or its contents.
BALCONIES: Tenant ☐ shall X shall not use balcony for the purpose of storage, drying clothes, or cleaning rugs. Use of balcony for this purpose shall result in a $25 fine per day.
BICYCLES: All bicycles owned by the Tenant shall be stored only in the areas designated by the Landlord and not in any other parts of the building including the hallways, entrances and lobbies.
DWELLING: Tenant is only entitled to occupy the dwelling listed above. This Lease does not entitle the Tenant to use of any area outside of the dwelling including, but not limited to, the attic, basement or the garage without written permission from the Landlord. Tenant is not to paint any part of the apartment without prior written permission from the Landlord.
WATER LEAKS: Tenant is to notify the Landlord immediately if Tenant notices any running water in the faucets in the kitchen, bathroom-sink, bathtub or any other faucets. If the toilet is running and does not shut off properly, Tenant is to notify Landlord immediately. If Tenant does not notify Landlord of any water leaks and it is determined that the water bill is in excess because of this leak, Tenant will be responsible financially for paying the difference in the water bill.
LATE FEES: If Tenant fails to pay any additional fines within 15 days of notice, an additional $35 fine will be levied for late payment.
The world’s best tool for teaching Personal Finance, Economics, and Business is about to get even better with our new customizable Budgeting Game!
How It Works
Schools with a site license for PersonalFinanceLab.com stock and budgeting games will now have the option to also add our new customizable budgeting simulation to their class, and will find a new set of Assignments specifically geared for actions students need to take throughout their simulation.
The new budgeting game puts your students in the role of a college student with a part-time job covering one simulated year. Students need to manage the variable income from their job with variable monthly expenses (like rent and tuition), while trying to build up their net worth, credit score, and social life.
Your school will need a site license to PersonalFinanceLab to take advantage of this new budgeting simulation.
Events will take place every few “days” in the game, prompting students to make buy/save decisions, and whether to rely on their debit card or credit cards.
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Focus On Learning
While students are progressing each month, they are also prompted with work vs study decisions, how much time to dedicate to leisure, how much money to keep in their checking account vs savings account, and randomized quiz questions testing their knowledge of broader personal finance concepts.
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This keeps the emphasis on learning – students learn a bit more with every action, and need to react to financial events in the game that are typical of college students in real life.
To help students understand how all of these activities come together, we also feature a robust reporting framework, where students can see their complete account summaries, credit card statements, and overall monthly activity reports – both live while playing the game, and from their student reports!
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Teachers can see all their class reports too – giving a complete picture on student progress, choices made, and monthly summaries for their entire class.
More Information
If you want more information about our Budgeting Game, or how to use PersonalFinanceLab in your class, get in touch through the form below!
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Teachers sometimes ask us why we anchor the curriculum and other activities on PersonalFinanceLab.com to our stock market simulation – so we want to tell you why!
Research Tested, Student Approved
There are numerous studies showing how stock market games improve classroom outcomes in Personal Finance, Economics, and Business classes, with a body of literature going back nearly 30 years (coincidentally, not long after StockTrak, the makers of Personal Finance Lab, launched the world’s first web-based stock market simulation).
To get to the heart of the matter, there are two reasons why stock market games “work” in the classroom:
- It gives your students a chance to “get their feet wet” and see how concepts you cover in class are applied in the real world
- The class rankings of your game adds an element of competition that keeps kids paying attention day after day
We took this one step further with our “Trade Notes” feature, which directly encourages students to connect concepts you cover in class with the trades they make in their virtual portfolio.
Longer Games = Better Learning
When we talk to teachers, we sometimes see teachers who are very comfortable investing on their own that still avoid stock games in class. Their reasoning is that the length of a class is not long enough for students to tell the difference between a “good” investor or “bad” investor. This criticism comes up most often when teachers are considering using a stock game just during their 2 week unit on Investments. And they are right!
This is why it is important to run your class stock game for as long as possible – giving your students the most possible exposure to the real ups and downs of the financial markets. We designed our platform to even let your class game go on long after your class ends – letting students continue to log in and manage their portfolio even over summer vacation (if you choose). This is why we tie everything together on PersonalFinanceLab.com with the stock simulation – to encourage teachers to hold longer sessions. This can mean having students dive in to the game before you cover every part of investing in class, but we make sure to build in plenty of tutorial videos and educational resources to help them hit the ground running.
A New Way To See The World
Using stock games in class gives your students a whole new perspective on the world around them. By the end of your class simulation, your student’s thought process gets transformed from “I’m going to the store to buy some food” to “I’m going outside in my Nike (NKE) shoes, Wrangler (VFC) Jeans, and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) t-shirt, to the Bank of America (BAC) ATM to get cash, then drive my Ford (F) car rolling on Goodyear (GT) tires with BP (BP) gas to Walmart (WMT) to buy Charmin (PG) toilet paper, Crest (PG) toothpaste, Coca-Cola (KO), and Ben and Jerry’s (UL) Ice Cream.
This helps students take stock of how they spend their own money, and how businesses operate in the real world – fostering a new level of critical thinking and understanding of finance and economics. Why does Charmin toilet paper and Crest toothpaste have the same stock symbol?
Group Projects With Accountability
Stock games are also a perfect opportunity for group work in class. We take group projects seriously, and know it can be a challenge to properly credit each team member with their own work. That is why unlike other stock games, even if students work in teams, each participant will have their own separate login. You can see each student’s trading activities, assignment progress, quiz grades, and individual rankings separately.
If you choose to run your class game as a group project, you can move students into “Teams”, which aggregates their trades and portfolios into one big group – and also gives class Team Rankings. This lets students build group strategy and work together, while still maintaining the accountability of seeing exactly what each participant contributes.
Because They Need It
At the end of the day, very few of your students will become day traders, or even very active investors (but you definitely will see during the course of your game which have the aptitude!). The benefit of using stock market games for the average student is opening the window on a world that they absolutely need to understand in the 21st century. Not every student needs to understand how to read patterns in a stock chart, but EVERY student needs to be able to have an intelligent conversation with their financial adviser about their long-term goals, and what they want their investments to look like.
Giving your students exposure to the stock markets also makes the financial world far more accessible. This helps students understand that they can, and should, get started saving and investing as early as possible, rather than waiting until they feel “adult” enough to start putting money away. The trigger of “buying stock” in any person’s mind also fires the same triggers as spending on consumption. This means young adults tend to find “investing” a much easier pill to swallow than just the abstract concept of “saving”, since they have an actual asset they can see changing value in real-time. Showing how portfolio returns are moving every second of every day solidifies compound interest, encourages healthy saving habits, and helps make sure young people do not get left in the dust when it comes to building wealth early.
So if you haven’t already, start using stock market games in your classes!
CashCrunch 101 Expands Company’s Educational Personal Finance Simulations
For Immediate Release
(Montreal, Quebec) May 8, 2019 – Stock-Trak Inc., the leading provider of virtual stock market trading applications for the education and consumer markets, has recently acquired a personal budgeting simulation (CashCrunch 101) from Fortune and Venture, LLC.
“The addition of a customizable personal budgeting simulation is a perfect complement to our customizable stock simulation and personal finance curriculum. Beginning this Fall, both our PersonalFinanceLab.com and our StockTrak.com sites will have this budgeting simulation, allowing our K12 and university students to have a broader, financial educational experience” says Mark T. Brookshire, Founder and CEO of Stock-Trak Inc.
The personal budgeting simulation shows students how to create a monthly budget of income and expense items. Unlike other simple budgeting simulations based on relatively fixed settings over the duration of the class, the Cash Crunch 101 simulation has the ability to include much more variation in monthly income and expenses – making it a far more realistic exercise for recent graduates and college students for when they need these skills the most. Students manage the day to day activities of paying bills, deciding whether to pay cash or charge items, making decisions on payment plans and insurance, managing their credit card balance and credit score, and many more financial literacy topics.
“As more states are requiring students to have a Personal Finance Class, our sites are becoming perfectly aligned with the needs of educators. No other educational company provides a single website that offers a customizable budgeting simulation, a customizable stock market simulation, and customizable integrated lessons covering Personal Finance, Business and Economics,” says Mr. Brookshire.
The StockTrak.com website is the #1 portfolio simulation for university finance classes and trading rooms. StockTrak.com is used by over 1,100 professors each year and their 70,000+ students. StockTrak.com allows professors to customize a trading period for their class by selecting trading dates, initial cash balance, commission structure, position limits, and other trading parameters.
Stock-Trak’s high school sites (PersonalFinanceLab.com and HowTheMarketWorks.com) are used by over 20,000 teachers and their 500,000 students each year. PersonalFinanceLab.com is similar to StockTrak.com but includes over a library of over 300 integrated Personal Finance, Business and Economics lessons aligned to national standards for high school students.
About Stock-Trak Inc.
Stock-Trak offers a variety of virtual trading applications for both the academic and corporate markets. Our family of virtual trading and stock market education sites (StockTrak.com, PersonalFinanceLab.com, HowTheMarketWorks.com, WallStreetSurvivor.com, NationalSMS.com, and Investing101.net) helps over 750,000 students and adults each year learn how the stock market works and become more confident in their investing decisions. Our robust virtual trading platform can also be customized to meet the needs of banks, brokerages, media companies, and other financial websites to enable them to offer their clients a virtual stock trading experience. Founded in 1990, our virtual trading platforms and websites have helped over 8,000,000 individuals learn about the markets and practice their trading skills.
Contact:
Mark Brookshire at (770) 337-7720
Mark@StockTrak.com
Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City, Indiana was one of the first schools we worked with to transform one of their classrooms into a full Financial Literacy Lab.
The Marquette program utilizes the Personal Finance Lab simulation and curriculum both in their Economics classes and their Global Trading classes, focused on investing and finance.
The Lab Space
The Marquette lab is fitted with a wall-to-wall LED ticker along the ceiling, displaying 100 NASDAQ stocks. They also have a second smaller ticker displaying the time in some of the major markets from around the world that their Global Finance class focuses on – Chicago for futures and options, New York for American equities, London for European equities and futures, along with the Beijing and Sydney exchanges, all of which are available in the Personal Finance Lab trading platform.
They also use two LCD displays, which alternate between live quotes for Forex and Commodities, a stock watchlist, live market news, live updating stock charts, and a streaming leaderboard of their class rankings (you can see more of what you can add to your displays on our blog post here).
The Classes
In the Lab itself, Marquette holds their Global Finance classes, Intro to Business classes, and Microsoft Office classes. The Intro to Business and Microsoft Office classes do not currently take advantage of the Personal Finance Lab website, but the streaming rankings are always a great discussion point, as they see their friends and classmates moving up the leaderboard.
Marquette is a 1-to-1 iPad school – outside the lab space itself, they also use the PersonalFinanceLab website, curriculum, and simulation in their Economics classes. While these classes do not meet in the Lab itself, they are still able to utilize all the PersonalFinanceLab resources from anywhere with internet access – making it perfect even for homework assignments.
Over the last 12 months, the total usage of the PersonalFinanceLab website has increased from about 15 students a semester to over 60, as more teachers at the school find ways to incorporate the platform in their lesson plans.
Using Personal Finance Lab With The Global Trading Class
The Global Trading class was the first to utilize the stock game in their classes. This CTE-focused course has between 10 and 20 students a semester, with an emphasis on researching investments.
Snapshot of the Financial Statements Research tool
The class also utilizes the built-in Assignments feature to get students familiarized with investing and building a portfolio. Each week, students are given a new “Assignment”, borrowing both from the included stand-alone lessons, and integrated Investing 101 Beginner’s Investing Course.
Snapshot of a student progress report – names obscured for privacy
So far, a group of 9 students this semester have placed over 550 trades between them (that’s over 60 trades each!), and we are barely through the midterms!
Since the Global Trading class meets in the Lab itself, the class rankings are broadcast to the LCD screens, and the students from other classes can monitor the standings of their friends – with a lot of interest getting generated to start a school Investing Club!
Using Personal Finance Lab With The Economics Class
Starting this semester, Marquette is also using the PersonalFinanceLab website in their Economics class. This class does not meet in the lab itself – students typically log in using their iPads elsewhere at school (or at home for homework).
The economics class swaps intensive investing for more of a focus on the lessons and curriculum (the class of nearly 40 students have about 700 total trades).
Snapshot of the Teacher Dashboard
The economics teacher structured the class Assignments to start small and work big – the first 2 weeks focus on stocks and investing (to get introduced to the concept of managing a portfolio) before adding in Economics and Personal Finance lessons, tailoring the week’s assignments to align with the topics covered in class. In all, there are 9 separate assignments, arranged week by week, with an average of 3 topics covered in each Assignment.
The addition of the Economics class greatly increased the reach of their Lab resources throughout the school, from a CTE-specific resource used by the business classes to an invaluable resource used by the social studies department as well (and a much wider audience of students).
Looking To The Future
Since launching the Lab, there has been a huge boost in interest for finance and investing across the school, and they hope to launch a new Investing Club later this year. Their new business teacher is also looking to use PersonalFinanceLab.com as a more active part of her lesson plans next semester.
If you are interested in getting more information, or ordering PersonalFinanceLab for your school, be sure to fill out the information request below!
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We work with hundreds of schools around the country to take their Personal Finance, Economics, and Business classes to the next level. Over the last few years, more and more schools are using our Personal Budgeting Game, our customizable Stock Market Game, and our curriculum library to start building Finance Lab. Eventually they add on the hardware (scrolling stock tickers and Wall Street-style LCD screens) to change their classroom into the most popular room at their school.
No two schools are the same, and so every lab space is different. However, all successful labs have some combination of these elements – the PersonalFinanceLab.com site license which includes a Budget Game and a Stock Game, an LCD MarketBoard displays, scrolling LED tickers, and fun, educational posters. Here is what you need to know about each when planning out your successful lab:
PersonalFinanceLab.com License
The PersonalFinanceLab.com site license is the starting point for any Personal Finance, Business, or Economics class. This gives your classes access to the PersonalFinanceLab.com Personal Budgeting Game, our customizable Stock Market Game, curriculum, assessments, teacher reports, research tools, and Investing101 course.
The Budget Game, the Stock Game, and the curriculum are endlessly customizable, with plenty of quick-start settings to help you dive in. This will let you run your class stock contest (and keeping engaged in the class rankings), while students work through their Personal Finance, Economics, Accounting, or Business lessons that you choose each week. Each lesson ends with a quiz, and you can automatically add unit assessments to track overall progress (with plenty of reporting tools!) This is also the fastest and easiest part of your lab to launch – your classes can be up and running in as little as 24 hours – including a live webinar with the PFinLab team to help you get started.
Pricing
Individual/Student Accounts for less than 100 students
- Cost: $10/student for either our stock game or budget game (both include our full curriculum library)
- Or get both the stock AND budget game for just $15 / student!
- Ideal for teachers that need less than 100 accounts per year
- Order Now and pay with a credit card or request an invoice.
Single Class License
- Covers: up to 60 students per year
- Cost: $595 / year for either the Budget Game or the Stock Game
- or $895 / year for BOTH the Budget Game and the Stock Game
- Perfect For: Smaller schools with one or two teachers teaching financial literacy and business
- Order Now and pay with a credit card or request an invoice.
Micro Site License
- Covers: up to 100 students per year
- Cost: $995 / year for either the Budget Game or the Stock Game
- or $1,495 / year for BOTH the Budget Game and the Stock Game
- Perfect For: Smaller schools with one or two teachers teaching financial literacy and business
- Order Now and pay with a credit card or request an invoice.
Mini Site License
- Covers: up to 250 students per year
- Cost: $1995 / year for either the Budget Game or the Stock Game
- or $2,995 / year for BOTH the Budget Game and the Stock Game
- Perfect For: Medium schools with multiple economics, personal finance, and business classes
- Order Now and pay with a credit card or request an invoice.
Full Site License
- Covers: up to 1,000 students / year
- Cost: $3,995 / year
- or $5,995 / year for BOTH the Budget Game and the Stock Game
- Perfect For: Large schools with a focus on business and finance education, and schools that run school-wide investing challenges (Prizes are available)
- Order Now and pay with a credit card or request an invoice.
If you want to launch your lab quickly and cheaply this semester, you can’t go wrong with the Single Class license, and upgrade once more funds become available.
Learn More about the PersonalFinanceLab stock game and curriculum!
LCD “MarketInsight” Displays
The MarketInsight display is one of the fundamental pieces of any Finance Lab. This is an LCD screen that can rotate several financial “widgets” for your classes. The coolest part is that each MarketInsight is fully configurable – you choose what you want displayed! Click Here to see some options of what you can put on your MarketInsight Display.
There are two ways to upgrade to a MarketInsight – upgrade an existing TV, or order a commercial-grade screen.
MarketInsight Installation Tip:
MarketInsight draw a lot of attention – so keep this in mind when installing in your classroom! MarketInsight are best positioned at the sides or the rear of the room to avoid them becoming a distraction during instruction time.
Upgrading a TV
To upgrade a TV you already have at your school (or one you buy specifically for this purpose), you will need to order a $99 “Intel Stick”, which plugs into any HDMI port. This will connect to your school’s WiFi and the data feed to display your widgets. If you decide to upgrade a TV, remember to turn the screens off at the end of the day to avoid long-term screen burn.
Cost: $99 for each “Intel Stick”, plus $360/year for up to 3 screens for the data feed.
Commercial-Grade Display
Schools building a completely dedicated lab space may better be served by commercial-grade LCD display screens. These are typically a bit more expensive than a standard TV, but are designed to stay on for years at a time without any screen-burn. They are used both inside the classroom, as well as in the school hallways where they are expected to stay on regularly overnight. The purpose-built displays come with their own media players, so there is no need for an “Intel Stick” with this route.
Cost: A 48″ display costs about $1350, including shipping. Larger screens are slightly more expensive. This also requires a $360/year data feed, which covers up to 3 screens.
Scrolling LED Tickers
Scrolling LED tickers are the crown jewel of any lab. These bring live market data into your classroom, making it the most exciting room at the school. If you do have an LED ticker, you will want to show it off – try to position it in the room so that it is visible from outside, but not at the very front of the class (to avoid it becoming a distraction).
In fact, many schools with LED tickers opt to either have windows on the classroom to make it completely visible from the hallway, or even install a second ticker in the hallway to grab the attention of passing students (and visiting parents). Tickers work best when you have drop-ceilings; they will need a standard power supply AND a hard-wire ethernet internet connection (they will not connect to your school’s WiFi)
See our gallery of recently-completed labs!
Cost: An 8-foot ticker costs about $5,200, 16-foot tickers cost about $10,000. Larger tickers are available in 4-foot increments. Each ticker also requires its own $499/year data feed.
Free Posters
Educational Personal Finance and Economics posters are an awesome way to spice up your classroom, and the first step in its transformation into a Finance Lab. Best of all, the best posters are free for schools thanks to the Federal Reserve in Atlanta!
There are over 15 different posters to choose from – pick which ones you like, and they will ship directly to your school, free of charge. These posters are a free (and super easy) way to “Set the mood” of your classroom – making it one of the fundamental building blocks of a Lab.
Click Here To Order Your Posters
Get More Information
Have more questions? Ready to launch your lab? Let us know and we’ll be happy to help!
The MarketInsight display is one of the fundamental pieces of any Finance Lab. This is an LCD screen that can rotate several financial “widgets” for your classes. The coolest part is that each MarketInsight is fully configurable – you choose what you want displayed!
How Does It Work?
Think of your MarketInsight like a PowerPoint presentation that automatically cycles between slides. You can set any schedule you want – some widgets can be shown just for 30 seconds, while others are up for 2 hours. You can also schedule them differently per day – so you might want some widgets to only appear during certain class periods. However, most schools pick a few widgets on constant rotation, for a few minutes on each before cycling to the next.
The available widgets include:
The Market Wall
The “Market Wall” is customized with your school’s logo and colors, and includes a customizable watchlist, a live market chart showing market movement throughout the day, a market news feed, and a watchlist of the 30 biggest companies in the US markets.
Ranking Widget
The Rankings Widget connects to your PersonalFinanceLab.com classes, and pulls the rankings to the display. This is configurable for different classes, and usually the part students get most excited about!
The Watchlist
The Watchlist is part of the Market Wall widget, but can also be used on its own. The Watchlist widget will let you pick any 30 stocks, and will constantly update the prices throughout the day. While the Dow 30 stocks are set by default, your classroom can also configure the list for whatever stocks your class wants to watch.
Words of the Day
Word of the Day widgets show glossary terms and concepts from different areas of financial literacy. There are few different “Sets” you can mix and match:
Digital Ticker
Each screen can also be enhanced by adding a customizable digital ticker to the top or bottom – perfect to keep live market updates regardless of other information!
Custom Screens
Custom screens can also be embedded – like school lunch menus, announcements, class web pages, and more!
To get a MarketInsight for your school, along with a site license for PersonalFinanceLab.com, you can request a quote here:
Cost is the biggest barrier preventing teachers from launching their first lab. Getting quotes from vendors, applying for grants, getting administration approval (on top of planning and running your classes!) puts up a huge wall between your students and the awesome financial literacy resources they deserve.
To help break down this barrier, we’ve put together the ideal “Starter Lab” – the core foundation of every lab that starts with one teacher in one classroom. Every finance lab builds on these foundations – so if you want to launch your Lab this semester, start with these basic elements!
Block 1: PersonalFinanceLab.com License
This is the basics of the basics – both the most important component of any lab, and the fastest to add to your classroom. A “Single Class” site license for PersonalFinanceLab.com covers up to 60 students per year (or 30 per semester) – just enough to launch your lab with a single class. For the first year of your lab, you might need to start small while the rest of the funding comes together, and expand the Lab resources to cover more classes.
We can set up your teacher logins for the PersonalFinanceLab.com platform (giving you complete access to the Budgeting Game, Stock Game, and curriculum library with over 300 self-grading lessons with build-in assessments), class rankings, and investment research tool suite) the same day your school issues a PO (or pays for the license by credit card), making it a fast and easy way to get your students the coolest tool in financial literacy education.
PersonalFinanceLab.com Single-Class Site License
- Covers: 60 students/year
- Cost: $895 / year
- Perfect For: Small schools with small classes, or “Trial Runs” with a single class
PersonalFinanceLab.com Micro Site License
- Covers: 100 students/year
- Cost: $1,495 / year
- Perfect For: Smaller schools with one or two teachers teaching financial literacy and business
PersonalFinanceLab.com Mini Site License
- Covers: 250 students / year
- Cost: $2995 / year
- Perfect For: Medium schools with multiple economics, personal finance, and business classes
PersonalFinanceLab.com Individual Accounts
- Cost: $15 / Student
- Perfect For: Smaller schools and pilot programs
If you want to launch your lab quickly and cheaply this semester, you can’t go wrong with the Single Class license, and upgrade once more funds become available.
Learn More about the PersonalFinanceLab budget game, stock game and curriculum!
Or Order Now!
Block 2: Educational Posters
Educational Personal Finance and Economics posters are an awesome way to spice up your classroom, and the first step in its transformation into a Finance Lab. Best of all, the best posters are free for schools thanks to the Federal Reserve in Atlanta!
There are over 15 different posters to choose from – pick which ones you like, and they will ship directly to your school, free of charge. These posters are a free (and super easy) way to “Set the mood” of your classroom – making it one of the fundamental building blocks of a Lab.
Click Here To Order Your Posters
Block 3: Transform A TV Into A MarketBoard
The biggest eye-catching pieces of any Lab is the hardware. This is what really brings the room to life, turning an old classroom into the most popular room at your school.
A “MarketBoard” display is a screen in your room that cycles between several “Widgets”, including Financial News, Glossary “Terms of the Day”, Quotes and Charts from the stock markets, and the class rankings from the investing simulation (part of PersonalFinanceLab.com).
Many schools with large grants available will order multiple purpose-built display screens, along with LED tickers. However, to get your lab set up quickly (and cost-effectively), you can also use an existing TV at your school, and upgrade it into a MarketBoard with a simple add-on that plugs into any HDMI port.
Upgrading your existing TV into a MarketBoard just needs the add-on stick ($99 on Amazon), plus a $360 / year Financial Widget pack (this pack covers up to 3 screens, which makes it easy to upgrade your lab as more funds become available).
Cost to upgrade your TV: $99 add-on + $360 / year Widget Bundle = $459 total
Set-Up Time: 3-5 Business Days for the add-on to arrive, plus time for your school to install the screen at your school
Putting It All Together
All in, you can launch your Lab in less than 2 weeks for 60 students for an all-in cost of $1,255 – one of the best investments your school can make!
Request More Information
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Comparative Advantage is the concept where one person, business, or economy is able to outproduce one particular product or service compared to another person, business, or economy.
The concept of comparative advantage is essential to understanding both why people choose different careers, and why countries engage in international trade.
Comparative Advantage At The Personal Level
When it comes to people, comparative advantage will have a large role in determining jobs and income. There are two main types of comparative advantage – Natural, and Acquired.
Natural Comparative Advantage
Imagine two farmers – Alice and Bob. Alice and Bob both have farms located 15 miles away from a major city, and both have about the same quality of soil. If they both grow corn in the same year, they will produce about the same amount, and earn the same income. In this example, neither Alice nor Bob has any comparative advantage.
However, there are a few things that can change this, including Distance, Quality, and Aptitude:
Distance
If Alice’s farm was actually 30 miles away from the city, it would mean she would need to travel 20 more miles than Bob to get her produce to market. That adds an extra cost – even if she works just as hard and produces the same amount of corn, she will have a lower income than Bob just because of the distance.
Quality
If the soil in Alice’s farm is a lot rockier and less fertile, she will end up producing less corn with the same amount of work as Bob.
Aptitude
If Alice is not as fast a planter as Bob, it will also mean she will produce less corn with the same amount of work. For comparative advantage, “Aptitude” is something you are born with, not something you can acquire later with training.
Acquired Comparative Advantage
Natural comparative advantage is outside someone’s control, but acquired comparative advantage is something that will change over time.
Skill
If Alice goes to school or focuses on honing her farming skills, she might become a better planter, or more efficient with her inputs. This will give her a comparative advantage over Bob.
Capital
If Alice always re-invests half of her income into her business, but Bob does not, within a few years Alice’s machines and tools will be a lot more up-to-date and productive than Bob’s.
Personal Comparative Advantage and Careers
All of these factors also come into play when choosing jobs and careers. You might have a lot of aptitude at a job you don’t like – this means that you might have a comparative advantage at the beginning of someone else, but that person could easily surpass you with training and dedication. At the end of the day, your income and job satisfaction will come from both your natural comparative advantages and your acquired ones. Doing something you enjoy, while constantly working to improve your skills, is a good way to secure growing income (so long as what you choose to do has value on the markets – someone will still need to pay you!).
National Comparative Advantage
The same factors that impact a person’s comparative advantage also applies to countries. An easy example is oil, which constantly trades between countries all over the world.
Distance: The United States imports oil from Saudi Arabia to the East Coast, but also exports oil to Japan from Alaska. This is because it is cheaper to bring oil from Saudi Arabia to the East Coast across the ocean than it would be to bring it by pipeline from Alaska. At the same time, the Alaskan oil fields are relatively close to Japan, making it cheap to export.
Quality: Japan has almost no oil in their own soil, so if they wanted to produce any themselves, they would need expensive offshore oil drilling platforms (and still would not have enough). They can instead buy oil from the United States far cheaper than they can produce it themselves, since the US can produce it relatively cheaply from Alaskan oil fields.
Aptitude: The United States has a much higher population than Japan, meaning we need to put a much smaller percentage of our workforce into oil production. This means it is fairly easy for the United States to have a large number of well-trained petroleum engineers, while Japan would need to take engineers away from other fields to work on oil research.
Skill: Japan tends to focus its research and development on technology and energy efficiency, and not on oil production. Saudi Arabia is rich in oil, so to best exploit this natural resource, they train many engineers and researchers to work with petroleum. This means Japan is more likely to produce computer chips and medical technologies that it trades for oil, while Saudi Arabia is more likely to produce oil that it trades for computer chips and medical technologies.
Capital: Japan has been investing heavily in its own infrastructure over the last 100 years in an effort to rapidly industrialize. This means that Japan has a lot of advanced technology in many fields, so it can compete on a global scale in a large number of industries. Saudi Arabia has been rapidly industrializing only over the last 40 years, continually re-investing its profits from oil into expanding their economy. This means that their economy is very dependent on the oil trade (and sensitive to the change in price of oil), while Japan does not rely on any one particular industry.
Specialization
Countries will choose what to produce themselves, and what to trade, based on their comparative advantages relative to the rest of the world’s economy. This means that by trading with other countries, both trading partners usually benefit. With our oil example:
Japan starts off by needing to import oil. It can import from Saudi Arabia or the United States. Both sellers are offering the same price, but the Saudi Arabian oil is farther away than the Alaskan oil, making it more expensive. This causes Japan to decide to import its oil from the United States.
The United States drills its oil in Alaska, but needs its oil in New York. It could send it to New York by pipeline, but the cost of building and maintaining that pipeline is more expensive than the transport cost of bringing in oil from Saudi Arabia. This causes the United States to import oil used on the East Cost from Saudi Arabia, while selling the oil it drilled in Alaska to Japan.
Saudi Arabia wants to buy computers from Japan, but Japan does not want anything from Saudi Arabia. So instead, Saudi Arabia sells its oil to the United States to get US dollars. Meanwhile, Japan wants to buy oil from the United States, so it is happy to trade its computers to Saudi Arabia to get their US dollars, completing the cycle. Everyone gets better off, thanks to the trade!
This lesson is part of the PersonalFinanceLab curriculum library. Schools with a PersonalFinanceLab.com site license can get this lesson, plus our full library of 300 others, along with our budgeting game, stock game, and automatically-graded assessments for their classroom - complete with LMS integration and rostering support!
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