Instructor Account
Explainer Guide

Logging In & Student Access

Once you have your account, you can log in directly at personalfinancelab.com – just click “Login” at the top left of the page. Teachers and students use the same button to log in.

If you want a link to share on your LMS, you can also take students directly to the login page: https://personalfinancelab.com/login

• Student Access

  Students have the flexibility to access PersonalFinanceLab either in class from their school computer or tablet, or they can also log in from any personal device they use at home. Anywhere that has internet access!

Instructor Administration Page

From the Top Menu you can access the Instructor Administration page.

You can also access the Instructor Administration page from the Main Menu.

Hover over Administration, then click on Instructor Administration.

To learn more about the Instructor Admin page, please reference the Instructor Administration section of this guide.

• Add More Students
  

  You can add more students at any time from the Instructor Administration page.

  Go to the Add Extra Teams To Your Class section.

  Put in a student prefix, (e.g. your school mascot, school name etc.).

  Enter the total number of students and logins needed into the next two fields.

  Click Add, and the accounts and passwords will be randomly generated for you. You should receive an email with the login details for the accounts you create.

• Student Passwords
  

  If you lose your student login details, or you don’t receive the email automatically, click the button Click Here To Get An Email With All Your Students’ Passwords.

  Your students’ passwords are also available from under the Student Accounts tab in the reports section we cover below.

• Student Accounts
  

  You can view all the usernames and passwords for your students under the Student Account tab.

  You can change their usernames by clicking Edit.

  

  Click on View Portfolio to get more detailed information per student on their open positions, transactions, detailed balance, and trade notes. This information can be exported or printed for your records.

  Similarly, if your students are playing the Budget Game, click Budget Game Details to view their score and their transactions in their checking, saving and credit card accounts.

• Assignment Progress
  

  Use the Assignments tab to see how your students are progressing in their assignments. If the session you’re in has more than one assignment, use the dropdown menu to toggle through the different assignments.

  

  By clicking Details a window will pop up with more information about the completion and grades per task or lesson included in the assignment.

  Please Note: With an instructor account, you are not able to edit the assignments included in your session. Please contact the administrator if you have any issues with the lessons or assignments.

• Your Class Rankings
  

  From the Rankings tab you can view the portfolio ranking for just your students. Select a specific date if you want to compare to a previous ranking earlier in the session.

  To see the session rankings, please go to the Ranking page.

• Activity Report
  

  Dive into the weeds with the Activity Report. Discover which students are actively participating in the session, the last time they logged in, placed a trade, and more information about their performance in the Stock Game.

• Budget Game Report
  

  If your students are using the Budget Game you can view their game scores from the Budget Game Report.

  

  By clicking the View Details button, you can see all their transactions, bonus points, scores and each tab can be exported to Excel or Google sheets.

• Useful Links
  

  There are links to the Stock Game and Budget Game teacher packets, the completion certificates you can award your students or to edit your profile. Also, this Teacher Resource Packet is saved here!

  Please Note: Your instructor account gives you limited access to reporting tools, (teachers with paid site licenses get access to all student engagement reporting tools).

  Contact our sales team if you’re interested in learning more!

  sales@personalfinancelab.com
  1-800-786-8725 ext. 2
  1-514-871-2222 ext. 2

Dashboard

• Accessing the Dashboard
  

  You can access the Dashboard from anywhere on site by going to Dashboard on the Main Menu. Then click on Return to Dashboard.

• Select Session
  

  If you’re registered to more than one session, choose the one you want to access from this dropdown menu.

• My Assignments Widget
  

  The first widget on the Dashboard is for the assignments that are included in your session. Click View to go to the assignment page to see all the lessons included.

  

  Your session may have more than one assignment, to view the other assignments use this dropdown menu.

  

  Click the View button to open the individual lessons. For instance, Unit Introduction – Budgeting, Saving, and Spending or Read Article – Budgeting.

  

  This completion tracker will update for each assignment you choose from the dropdown menu based on how much of the lessons in each assignment you’ve completed.

  Please Note: This does not track your student progress in the assignments. To track your student assignment progress, please go to the Instructor Administration page.

• My Portfolio Widget
  

  If your session includes the Stock Game, the My Portfolio widget will be displayed here.

  This widget will display your holdings once you’ve invested in stocks, bonds or mutual funds, (depending on what is included in your session).

  If you haven’t invested in anything yet, this widget will display different stocks that other users on PersonalFinanceLab are holding.

  

  By clicking Buy you will be taken to the stock trading page. Once you are on that page, you’ll be able to choose how many shares you want to buy.

  

  Clicking View will take you to the Open Positions page. There you will get more detailed information about how well your holdings are performing.

• Budget Game Widget
  

  If your session includes the Budget Game, you will see this summary widget that includes all your stats and ranking.

  

  Click Play Now to go to the Budget Game page.

• Other Widgets
  

  Other widgets on the Dashboard include:

  • Word of the Day: including key terms on personal finance, investing and economics.
  • My Achievements: you earn badges by playing the Budget Game and Stock Game or by completing lessons. You can view the badges you’ve earned by clicking Badges.
  • My Watchlist: add/remove ticker symbols you want to track before investing in them.
  • Recent Transactions: access a list of recent transactions in your checking or savings account from the Budget Game.
  • Certification Progress: if your session includes them, you can see what lessons or actions you must complete to earn a certificate.
  • Latest News: pulls a cross-section of business and economic news from reputable financial publications.

Budget Game Menu

• Play Budget Game Button
  

  To access the Budget Game from anywhere on site, click the Play Budget Game button from under the Budget Game tab on the main menu.

  

• Game Rankings Button
  

  Click Game Rankings to compare your game scores against everyone else in your session.

• Apartment Button
  

  If the Apartment feature is enabled in your session, you can click the Apartment button to view your apartment and buy furniture, decorations, or appliances to make it your own.

  

  Click Shop New Items to browse by category: balcony, bathroom, bedroom furniture etc.

• My Statements
  

  View and export your financial statements from the Budget Report Summary pages. From the Summary page you’ll see your games scores, as well as detailed breakdowns of your net worth, quality of life and credit score.

• Budget Game Summary Page
  

  Use the tabs at the top of the page to toggle between your summary page, checking statement, saving statement and credit card statement.

  Please Note: To view your students’ transactions in the Budget Game, you will need to refer to the Instructor Administration page.

• Budget Game Tutorial Videos
  

  The tutorial videos cover all the main concepts covered in the Budget Game if you ever need any help.

Stock Game Menu

• My Portfolio
  

  Under the Stock Game menu you’ll find all the My Portfolio tools to track and analyze your virtual portfolio. Here is an overview of each page:

  • Portfolio Summary: view your account balances, the session rules and chart your portfolio to various indices (e.g. S&P 500).
  • Open Positions: view your current holdings as a standard chart, or as a 1-day, 30-day or 1-year chart. View more details below.
  • Closed Positions: use this page to get a profit/loss statement for each symbol you’ve closed or sold.
  • Transaction History: view all transactions over a specific period. You can filter to view only dividends, buyouts, trades only or spots.
  • My Order History: view your open, filled, cancelled, or expired orders from this page.
  • Trade Notes: view and export your trade notes per order (buy and sell).
  • My Rankings: the most popular page on the site, view how your portfolio is performing compared to everyone in your session. View more details below.

• Open Positions Page

  Go to Open Positions

  

  The Open Positions page provides detailed information for each asset you hold. If you’re holding more than stocks, choose the security type from the dropdown menu. By default, you’ll go to the Equities page.

  Click the Plus (+) Button beside the ticker symbol to get more information about how each company is performing.

  Click Trade to be redirected to the trading page, where you can either close out your position, sell a portion of your trades or buy more.

• Rankings Page

  Go to Rankings Page

  

  From the Rankings page you can use the filters to view the Overall, Weekly or Monthly rankings. You can also select a specific date and export to Excel or Google sheets.

• Make a Trade Pages
  

  Depending on what securities were enabled in your session, you may see different options available on this list. Click Stocks to go to the stock trading page.

• Stock Trading Page

  Go to Stock Trading Page

  

  For more information about the Stock Game, please check out our Stock Game Teacher Packet.

• Stock Game Tutorials
  

  The Tutorial videos will update based on the securities that are enabled in your session. These videos are a good place to get started if you need any help!

Investing Research Menu

• Markets
  

  To get an overview of how the markets are performing as a whole.

• Trading Ideas
  

  Use the Trading Ideas page to get stock, ETF and mutual fund ideas.

• Stock Research
  

  You can perform all your research on PersonalFinanceLab before choosing a company to invest in.

  We recommend starting with the Symbol Lookup page, where you can enter the name of any publicly traded company in the United States to view detailed financial information.

• Fund Research
  

  To get information specifically about exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) or mutual funds, use the Fund Research pages.

• Research Tutorial
  

  Watch the tutorial video on Using Our Research Tools if you require any assistance.

Learning Menu

• Assignments
  

  Under the Learning menu, you can view the Active or Expired assignments that were included in your session.

• Active Assignments

  Go to Active Assignments

  

  Use the Assignment dropdown menu to view the different assignments that were created in your session.

  Please note: With an instructor account, you won’t be able to view your student grades or report cards from this page. Go to the Instructor Administration page to get access to their assignment progress.

• Learn Center
  

  PersonalFinanceLab has over 300 lessons on personal finance, investing, economics, business and over 500 glossary terms that you can access from the Learning Center.