Monday, October 25, 2021

Decades of News Stories: Young Adults Lack Financial Skills

The evidence that students need better financial literacy education is in the news every week. Young adults chronically struggle with the same problems and these problems aren't knowledge problems, they are capability problems. Young adults need to be better at doing, not knowing. Welcome to the home of Learning-By-Doing®.

How Can Budget Challenge Be The Only Program Teaching Skills?

We have fully issued United States utility patents which makes Budget Challenge the only program that can send out fake bills and reconcile fake payments with multiple due dates. At first pass, this might not sound like much. However, adding transactions like paying bills allows Budget Challenge to do something that no other program can. We can test students on whether or not they can actually do personal finance in the real world. We can also score students on the demonstration of important skills such as paying bills on-time, saving for retirement and much more. The difference is night and day. Other programs just talk about personal finance. If you want students to have an ultra-realistic practice round before using their own real money, you have found the right place.

Knowledge

Budget Challenge

Teaches National AND State Standards

Typical Free Program

Teaches Some National Standards

Skills

Budget Challenge

To earn this trophy:
Save at least $500 into your savings account in the first 11 days of the simulation.

Typical Free Program

To earn this trophy:
Pay the second credit card statement balance in full.
To earn this trophy:
Pay all bills on time and in full.
To earn this trophy:
Pay an extra $500 towards the student loan by the end of the simulation.
To earn this trophy:
Contribute at least $1,000 to 401(k) account in the first 4 pay periods.
To earn this trophy:
Keep credit card utilization below 50%.

Establish Positive Financial Habits

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

Cash Flow Budgeting

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

New & Up-to-Date Textbook

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

Live Support for Students

Budget Challenge

“Hello, I’m having trouble finding the place to change my 401(k) elections. Can you help me?"

Typical Free Program

Priority Support for Teachers

Budget Challenge

“Hey, we are finishing vendor selections and I have two students who say they are locked out of their accounts, can you assist them?"

Typical Free Program

Age-Appropriate Investing

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

Mobile App

Budget Challenge

Practice paying bills on the go with modern banking technology.

Typical Free Program

Gold Standard in Protecting Student Data

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

Parent Engagement Teacher Tools

Budget Challenge

Typical Free Program

Report Cards Showing Effectiveness

Budget Challenge

Effectiveness report cards includes metrics for engagement, knowledge, capability, and value.

Typical Free Program

Join the Revolution! Start Teaching Standards AND Skills

The one truth about education that every teacher knows all too much about, is this: Knowledge fades. To battle this unfortunate truth, early schools taught the ‘important’ subjects every year in increasing complexity. This is called ‘spiraling’. Spiraling would work for personal finance if there were unallocated time in school, but there is not. Schools have run out of room to handle additional requirements.

So what to do? We could teach personal finance like we teach driver’s ed. The book test and road test are an excellent way to create capable young drivers. It also has the benefit of lasting much longer than knowledge alone. Have you ever heard of someone forgetting how to drive?

Join the revolution in creating financially capable young adults by teaching both knowledge AND skills. Start making good news with us.

It's Fun. It's Easy. It works.