A Stable Beginning: Personal Finance Lab: Interactive Budget Game and Stock Market Game for Financial Literacy ~ a TOS review

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Personal Finance Lab: Interactive Budget Game and Stock Market Game for Financial Literacy ~ a TOS review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

My oldest daughter at home right now is in her Senior year and as she heads off to University in August I hope that I have prepared her how to create and stick to a monthly budget. Last year we did a paper simulation of a budget game but I am so glad we have had the chance to use the PersonalFinanceLab Budgeting Game for a more real life simulation. Let me tell you a little more about it.

PersonalFinanceLab.com is an online budgeting and stock market game that is geared for high school students to help promote and encourage financial literacy. The program includes integrated curriculum to teach students about important key concepts like your credit score and interest. We received a nine month subscription (for a school year) to the PersonalFinanceLab Budgeting Game, Stock Market Game and integrated curriculum from PersonalFinanceLab.com.

Getting started was easy. Once we got our log in information it was easy to set up our account. I will admit I was a little intimidated at setup, but once we started playing around within the game it was quick and easy to catch on. Initially, I set up student accounts for Mikayla (12th), Montana (8th), and McKenzie (5th). In the end we just ended up using one account to play the game together. We collectively decided to start with the Budgeting Game and had great fun working through the life-like bill situations a college student may encounter. Bills such as rent, groceries, utilities, and a car loan. I love how the game throws in unexpected expenses such as speeding tickets or having to pay for pest control extermination because you were not so tidy in your apartment.

Playing the game was a fun activity for us to look forward to each day as we progressed through the simulated calendar months. Each month takes roughly 20 minutes to play through and includes life-like situations and consequences. With each purchase or expense the student must decide if they want to use debit or credit to pay. Students will also need to learn to budget their weekly paycheck and to pay their bills on time. My kids were all shocked by the amount of money that Uncle Sam takes for his cut of their paycheck.

We actually had a really good time playing the Budgeting Game! They eagerly looked forward to the time we would spend playing the simulations and making the game decisions. The only thing we wished we could have done within this game is to pay a little more on our bills. If we had extra money in our account we could not pay more on our utilities or rent to get ahead. Not a huge distractor but a useful feature that would help simulate a more real life experience.

We also received access to the Stock Market Game. While, we didn’t really get much into this game we did dabble in it to know that it is jam-packed with knowledge to help you become an excellent stock trader. During the game you get to research and buy and sell stocks just like the real stock market. Everything you need to research about the stocks and keep your portfolio up to date is within the game so you can make informed decisions to be a great investor. Be sure to check out what my fellow reviewers had to say about the Stock Market Game.

Overall, this game has been a great success as a personal finance curriculum for us! I love that it teaches real life budgeting scenarios in real-time with real like consequences. Forget to pay your cable bill, well you will get a late fee. Forget to spend time on your studies in college and you may end up failing the class and need to pay more money to retake it.

I love how my children really thought out about how they would spend the weekly paycheck and what to do when unexpected expenses happened. They learned a lot and are looking forward to completed the last six months of game play we have in the game. We also plan to take more time and dive fully into the Stock Market Game. Be sure to click the banner below and check out the reviews from 24 of my CrewMates and be sure to check out the Budget Game and/or the Stock Market Game for your family!