Updated (8/13/19): We added a section of our website to highlight our most popular games. Be sure to check out NGPF's Arcade! We also revamped our Semester Course this summer and crossed the 20,000 teacher account milestone. Today, NGPF's personal finance curriculum is used by middle and high school, college and non-profit educators in all 50 states. 

Update (January 2019)

Our STAX investing game has garnered over 120,000 game plays since its launch in November. Students make 20 years of investing decisions in 20 minutes...learning about the importance of having an investing strategy and index funds along the way. 

Update (April 2018):

Check out our new OnlineBank Sim [Extended Version] and Online Bank Sim [Short Version added October 2018] which will teach your students how to manage their bank account in this digital age! Move beyond writing a check to teaching about online bill pay and setting up account notifications. 

Update (December 2017): 

Here are three of our most popular interactives:

• Payback - a new simulation that we launched to help students master their money decisions during their college years. Perfect for your seniors before they head off to community college or a 4-year program.  
  • Here's our worksheet with reflection questions for this game
  • Teachers tell us that students are skipping lunch periods, talking to their parents for the first time about paying for college and deeply engaging with this game.  
• Spent - you can tell your students they need an emergency fund or you can have them play Spent in which the live the life of someone living paycheck to paycheck. 
  • Here's our worksheet with reflection questions for this game. 
• What if You Played the Lottery? - What are your chances of winning the Powerball? What are the potential financial pitfalls you could run into? Play this fun interactive to find out!

Also, be sure to check out our expanded Interactive Library which now has over 40 games with worksheets.  

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Andrew, Jessica and I had a great time with educators this weekend in National Harbor for the JumpStart conference. Thanks for your wonderful feedback and ideas!

One of the educators I met asked me about simulations, so….on my flight back on Saturday night somewhere over Chicago, I scoured our blog and created this Interactive Library that will engage your students. These simulations put students in the driver’s seat to answer such questions as:

• Is the career that I am interested in likely to be done by a machine in the future? 
• How much will that college I am interested in REALLY cost?
• How does online banking work?
• Can I time the stock market?

Enjoy!

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Update: Fast forward a year later and now we have over 40 simulations in our Interactive Library…be sure to check it out!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.