Money Flow Challenge

A fun game for learning how to manage personal finances

Money Flow Challenge allows young people to learn about key issues in managing personal finances, from planning income and expenses to investment and loans, all through a game!

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Finland 100

Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

Finland 100

Updated March 2017

Web presence

2015

Established

20K 2024

1

Countries

All students

Target group

We wanted to create a completely new and fun way to learn the most important things about managing your personal finances.

About the innovation

What is Money Flow Challenge?

Managing one’s finances and making smart choices with money can be challenging for many young people. Today, different financing options make it possible to shop for things without your own money, which leads to people taking quick loans with high interest rates. It's vitalto teach young people the skills needed to stay in control of their finances.

Money Flow Challengeis designed to be fun and easy to play.It's a gamethat every teacher can incorporate easily intotheir lessons, without being a financial planning expert.

Money Flow Challenge seeks to create discussion around financial planning in the classroom. The studentsplay up to five levels to learn the skills needed for financial management,from planning income and expenditure, eventually making investments and using loans to fund various purchases.

The approach was inspired by the need to break down the different elements of financial planning in a fun, gamifiedway that hadn't previously been offered to children.

Money Flow Challenge was chosen as the game of the year in the 2016 Finnish Game Awards. It is aligned with the new Finnish curriculum’s content area for teaching financial responsibility in high school andwas made in co-operation with the Finnish National Board of Education.

University of Vaasa did a two year research project relating to Game-Based Financial Education which Money Flow Challenge participated. The research project was completed during the fall of 2018. Research concluded that bringing Money Flow Challenge into classroom as a study material increased students interest into the topic and it helped them to learn personal finance related issues better.

Money Flow Challenge is available in all countries where Apple App store or Google Play are available. The user interface outside of Finnish market is currently in English so any teacher and students who are able to understand English can test the game. Money Flow Challenge is considering the possibility of creating a user interface in an additional languages if we get positive feedback from our game from certain markets.

Money Flow Challenge is searching for pilot schools globally for example from English-speakingor Nordic countries.

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

Innovativeness

Finances can seem abstract to young people, but by using a gamified approach, with real world examples, Money Flow Challenge makes learning about finances engaging and fun.

Impact

Learning about managing personal finances from an early age can help people to be in control of their money and to reduce financial difficulties in adult life.

Scalability

Learning to manage personal finances is an important part of life and many young people around the world face the same challenges when it comes to understanding finances. That's why we believe the Money Flow Challenge concept could be used effectively around the world.

Media

Implementation steps

Downloading the game

The Money Flow Challenge game can be downloaded on iOS and Android devices and from the Money Flow Challenge's website.

You can get to the website from here.

You can find Money Flow Challenge on Apple's App Store or on Google Play. Users cancreate a device-specific username after downloading to enable sending results to the website.

Players are able to see the top results of Money Flow Challenge in real time and they can easily compare results on the website. The online service also allows teachers to see their class results with their group username.

The Money Flow Challenge PRO is free to downloadon the App Store and Google Play and there are no in-app purchases.

Money Flow Challenge is searching for pilot schools globally.

Creating a group for the class

Create a group username to give to your students. This will allow you to track the progress of all class members who have joined the group.

It is easiest to differentiate class and player results if you base the group name on your school’s name and class number e.g. Helsinki Elementary School 9B.

Download the lesson plans from the following link:

Gameplay and the virtual teacher

Let the games begin! Allow about an hour in total to play through the game.

If students play the game with school devices during several lessons, remember to record who used which username. This way, the results will be registered for the same players in the following lessons as well.

The website also has a virtual teacher that advises the player on how to get better results in the game.

Working through the levels

There are 5 levels to the game, each covering a different topic.

Level 1
How do you keep income and expenditure in check?
How do you prioritize different types of expenditure?

Level 2
What are unexpected expenses and why is a buffer fund important?
How much is enough for a buffer fund?

Level 3
Investing: What should you do with extra funds?

Level 4
What are loans and how can they be used, for example, to buy a home?

Level 5
Entrepreneurship and financial independence.
Without personal financial planning, even a large amount of money can quickly disappear from your bank account.

On each level, the player helps their character make the best possible financial decisions and at the same time strives to keep the character's happiness at a high level. Just like in real life, the student has to think about whether obtaining something for the character will make them so happy that it’s worth doing.

At the end of the level, the game evaluates how the player’s decisions have affected the character’s finances for the next ten years, teachingthe player about long-term decisions.

Keeping track of the game and discussion

Using the group log in, the teacher can follow the progress of their own students on the website.

It is agood idea to take a break from playing every now and again to discuss any issues related to personal financial affairs that may come up.