The PersonalFinanceLab Budgeting Game is an excellent way to get students thinking about money over time – sometimes even TOO engaging. Teachers may set up a game lasting 18 virtual months with the intention for the class to progress through it over the course of 10 weeks, only to find some students moved too far Read More…
Every teacher has been there – you’ve had your students complete a formative quiz, and you want to review their answers to see where the class is struggling. All the quizzes are graded, but going through every student one-at-a-time to find patterns can be frustrating and time consuming. This is where our Class Quiz Summaries Read More…
Picture this – you are a student playing through the PersonalFinanceLab budgeting game, and you get a prompt – do you want to buy an aquarium? The cost is $100. In the real world, tons of people buy aquariums – it is a personal preference, but maybe you really like looking at fish. This is Read More…
You’ve got an important announcement for your students. Maybe you already posted it to your classroom page, and sent out an email. Even wrote it on the board in class. But if you want to be extra sure they see it, you also want to pop it in front of them while they’re working through Read More…
You’re planning to use the PersonalFinanceLab stock game in your class. You’ve used stock games before, and have seen some students buy something in the first week, then forget about it until the end of the semester. You want to encourage students to keep an eye on their portfolio, and re-balance it over time, just Read More…
Students can work in teams to complete this assignment. After logging into PersonalFinanceLab, they can go to the Stock Screener, in the Investing Research section to compare two companies from the same industry. Adjusting the Industry filter, they can compare any companies that trade on the US stock exchange. For example, students could choose Electronics/Appliances Read More…
For an 18-week class, we recommend that students write their own personal investing strategies that is separate from the group portfolio project. This allows each student to reflect on their current financial goals and how they intend to meet them. Students should choose one of the following financial goals: Based on their selection, students should Read More…
In this project we will be asking students to conduct a comparison-shopping exercise. They will first look at their most-preferred smartphone, and what it costs. They also need to specify what exactly makes this their preferred smartphone. Next, students will need to identify cell phone service providers that support their phone. This is the bulk Read More…
At the conclusion of the class period, students will build a final report and presentation synthesizing their experiences from both the budget game and stock game. Students will work in the same teams that they used for the Stock Game project to build this report. The Stock Game freezes all student portfolios automatically at the Read More…
In this project, we will be asking students to investigate different budgeting “apps” and resources that people use to help manage their money. Student will be challenged to use critical thinking to address two primary concerns with budgeting apps: Students are asked to identify at least two different budgeting apps or online resources, and do Read More…
This project is placed towards the end of the Investing unit, after each student has already begun to place a few trades. Ideally you will also have organized students into Teams as well. From this point of the class onwards, students will continue to be managing their portfolio as a project in the background (just Read More…
The stock game project utilizes PersonalFinanceLab’s stock game to teach students about investing. The key to a successful class stock game is making the game last as long as possible so students have exposure to the real markets and see how real-world news impacts their portfolio. Therefore, our course outline places the investing unit early Read More…
The second project of the budget game takes place after 7 months of play, immediately before beginning our unit on Careers. This timing is important – after 6 months, your students will have “graduated” from school in the game and begun their first full-time job, and so at this point students have gotten their first Read More…
Midpoint Check-In At this point students will be about 2/3 of the way through their stock game. The “Check-In” project is a short exercise for teams to evaluate how the group has performed so far, both relating to their original objective statements and how each team member has been fulfilling their roles. The primary objective Read More…
The Budget Game on PersonalFinanceLab is a long-term project where students will learn how to manage cash flow, savings goals, and credit over the course of your class. While the budget game is customizable for every class, for a 9-week course we recommend using a 12-month game (with each game taking 10-20 minutes to complete), Read More…
Order your PersonalFinanceLab 3-year school license and get a free ticker At PersonalFinanceLab.com, we have helped many schools transform their traditional classrooms into exciting Personal Finance or Business Labs by combining our gamified platform with colorful tickers carrying the latest stock prices and business news. Now with our partnership with our preferred ticker vendor, Rise Read More…
Did It Work? That is the biggest question teachers need to know after using any resource in the classroom – did it actually improve outcomes? And we at PersonalFinanceLab could not agree more. That is why a year ago we implemented our Pre- and Post- tests as part of our Assignments engine, allowing teachers to Read More…
Stash101 shuts down as a money management and investment simulation for schools, with all existing accounts disabled on January 31, 2023. What happened to Stash101? Stash is primarily a banking app, which also can include a personal checking account. Stash101 was a free “practice” version with other educational resources built in, designed for schools and Read More…
For Spring 2023, we have one of the most exciting additions we’ve ever seen to the PersonalFinanceLab Budget Game! One of the most consistent items of feedback we get from students every semester in our budget game was that most events of the game had no long-term visual impact – a choice to buy an Read More…
Hello! My name is Marta Watson, and I work at Bishop Kelly High School, in Idaho. I currently teach Business and Economics! Can you share a positive experience using PersonalFinanceLab? “Oh, my goodness, I can share 100 [examples]. The kids literally walk in with their laptops open talking to each other about their portfolios and their Read More…
PersonalFinanceLab is a financial simulation program that offers complete control to teachers to choose what their students experience and provides live customer service too. Launching a New Finance Department Bruce Groberman is the Director of Financial Education at North Point Schools, which operates 3 private schools (Boys School, Girls School and Co-Ed High School), in Read More…
Gamification has been a buzzword in education for over a decade. Teachers now have access to more games for the classroom than ever, with a dizzying array of options to fill a limited number of weeks in the classroom. To try to help teachers pick out the best possible options for your students, we want Read More…
This Fall, new and returning teachers can look forward to using their favorite LMS for registering their students to their PersonalFinanceLab class. You will need an active account to be able to take advantage of this new integration. However, once you have your site license, you can take advantage of single sign-on through platforms like Read More…
Hey teachers – we have a major update in store for you this Fall! From budget game graphics updates to currency trading and everything in between, this might be our biggest update ever! Clever Integration We are making it easier than ever to get students registered into your class! Starting this Fall, teachers can add Read More…
PersonalFinanceLab.com is used by nearly 1,000 teachers each year and we love getting to know each and every one of them! Everyday we are impressed by their dedication and the many unique and innovative ways to teach students about Personal Finance. Today we celebrate one of our many outstanding educators — Terry Ley, a high Read More…
PersonalFinanceLab.com is used by nearly 1,000 teachers each year. In our conversations with many of them throughout the year, we are constantly impressed by their dedication and the many unique and innovative ways to teach students about Personal Finance. Today we celebrate one of our many outstanding teachers. Robert Fredette, a 10th grade Financial Independence teacher. Read More…
Are you looking for interactive resources to bring personal finance concepts to life? PersonalFinanceLab has all the resources you need in one online platform that is ideal for K12 classrooms. To see how you can use this in your class, join the webinar that best suits your schedule. Our regional account managers are here to Read More…
There are a lot of new enhancements that will improve how both teachers and students use PersonalFinanceLab! Spring 2022 Key Updates Dozens of new graphics for event cards Lesson Cards have been improved with multiple-choice quizzes Personal Finance curriculum has new sub-units based on the Jumpstart/Council for Economic Education standards. Each sub-unit has Read More…
Offering you four exciting and fun features: 5 great reasons to register yourself to the challenge! Dates: Registration is now open. Challenge runs from March 28th to April 29th, 2022. Prizes: The Top 10 students from each contest, (from the Budget Game and Stock Game) win a $100 Amazon gift card for their classroom. Teachers Read More…
Watch our new teacher tutorial video with an overview of our budget game, stock game, curriculum library, and how to set up a class! Want More Info? Request More Info Order Now Get a Free Trial Customize the exchanges and securities to suit the level of difficulty for your students. We have Read More…
Our team has been busy this summer rolling out improvements to make teaching financial literacy and personal finance that much easier. Check out all the new features that will be available for this fall semester. Budget Game Improved Bank and Credit Card Statements – student’s checking account, savings account, and credit card statements are new and Read More…
Many CTE programs across the country already use PersonalFinanceLab! Find out what you and your students are missing! Research shows the students learn more by doing than by listening. And at PersonalFinanceLab.com, we totally believe that! Our simulations let your students “DO” Personal Finance so that they will remember it. Perhaps more than any other Read More…
There are a lot of new enhancements that will improve how both teachers and students use the platform! General Improvements New Dashboard • Our new Dashboard brings all your student’s actions into one place Live Chat • PFinLab now has live chat support available for teachers and students (during market hours) Onboarding • First-time users Read More…
Offering your students four exciting features to bring some excitement and real-world learning into your classroom: 4 great reasons to register your class to the challenge: If you want a printable PDF to download and share with your students, click here. Dates: Registration now open. Challenge runs March 22nd to April 30th. Teachers can continue Read More…
Coming to Personal Finance Lab Spring 2021 There are a lot of new enhancements that will be coming this January and will improve how both teachers and students use the platform. Quick Overview Stock Game Weekly Deposits $1 Starting Cash Budget Game Starting Positions Graphics Update System Updates New Badges New Widgets New Certifications New Read More…
You may or may not have used PersonalFinanceLab in your classes before. Many teachers know how to take advantage of all its resources, but there are always new schools registered that need a basic tutorial on how to use the platform. With that in mind, we created this post to highlight the main points you Read More…
If you have used a stock game in your class before, you know the drill – you choose your class’s custom rules and starting cash (usually around $100,000), your students sign in, and they use that cash to build their portfolio that they manage over the course of a semester. This might make sense to Read More…
PersonalFinanceLab is a gamified platform that focuses on engaging students through interactive and experiential learning. The program has a Budget and Stock market game that allows students to learn while understanding the fundamentals of managing and investing money. When focusing on money management, people tend to concentrate on either looking for ways to earn more Read More…
PersonalFinanceLab is a gamified platform that focuses on engaging the student through interactive and experiential learning. The platform has a Budgeting game and a stock market platform, that allows the student to learn while doing, making mistakes and repeating the actions until they succeed, thereby learning and understanding the fundamentals of managing money and investing Read More…
Want to get a walkthrough of PFinLab, but no time to schedule a demo with our team? No problem! This recording walks through all the essential features that can help transform your classroom! For a deeper dive into how PFinLab can be used in your classes, also check out our library of customizable lesson plans, Read More…
Bringing gamification into your classroom By Paul Vasey – Former Business teacher, head of department, external examiner, teacher trainer, author and game designer. Engagement, experiential learning and differentiation. Through my years of teaching, I found that the most engaged students were ones that were talking about themselves and learning without really realizing it. To expand Read More…
Our latest teacher webinar walks through some of the basics of gamification – and the keys to best leverage these new levels of engagement to supercharge your blended and remote classrooms this Fall! If you are using a blended or fully-remote classroom, quality online resources are more important than ever! Our new Badges and Achievement Read More…
With the next major update to the PersonalFinanceLab Budget Game, your students can graduate from school and start their Full Time Jobs! How It Works If you have used the Budget Game before, your class would have taken on the role of college students with a part-time job. They would be working variable hours each Read More…
This Summer, PersonalFinanceLab has partnered with BountyBlok to power our awesome new Badges and Achievement system to bring classroom engagement to a whole new level! Personal Finance should never be boring for students – by working with BountyBlok, our Assignments engine is supercharged with new ways to track student activity and provide them with real-time Read More…
Our first major enhancement of the summer is almost here! The next release of Personal Finance Lab focuses on our Assignments – our awesome system used to manage curriculum and track your students’ progress through our Stock Game and Budget Game. There’s three game-changing new features you can expect for your next classes: Rewards, Prerequisites, Read More…
If you find yourself teaching a class remotely for the first time this Spring, never fear! PersonalFinanceLab.com has everything you need for a knock-out distance learning class, all in one place. Our engaging simulations, interactive games, built-in assessments, multi-media curriculum, customizable lesson plans, and teacher presentation and video library has everything you need to turn Read More…
Just in time for March, the Personal Finance Lab team is excited to announce a massive new update for our budgeting game! Our latest update includes some huge enhancements for your class, including: An overhaul to the Quality of Life scores, making the point scoring system much easier to understand. A new Overall Game Score, Read More…
As you may well be aware, we have a Budgeting game which can be used as both a supplemental and integrated resource. The philosophy of the Budgeting game is for the students to learn by doing. The focus of the game is to keep things simple and for the student to learn the fundamentals of Read More…
Teachers, 2020 is here, marking a fresh new start, so there isn’t any better time to challenge your students to change their spending habits and set them up for financial independence! Here’s a great activity for your class that uses our Budget Game to understand how to build an emergency fund! Goal: The goal of this activity is to Read More…
Here are 3 QuickStart lessons that I like to use with my classes to introduce some of the fundamentals of money with our Budgeting Game. Each lesson will require the player to play at least one “virtual month” in the game which will take approximately 20 mins. Further time can be taken to do research Read More…