18-Week Financial Literacy
Course Outline
Stop building a course from scratch. Our complete 18-week
curriculum provides everything you need for a full semester of
engaging, hands-on learning—from daily lesson plans and
presentations to semester-long games and projects.
Includes extended class projects and presentations to support more in-depth study.
Notice for teachers joining our Free Financial Literacy Events – Our free events do not have full admin access for teachers – all settings are enabled with our recommended settings. You can skip our guides on course set-up and dive straight into the Unit Outlines and Teacher Packets!
Everything You Need for a Full Semester
5 In-Depth Units
A complete, standards-aligned curriculum with extended time for projects and deep dives into complex topics.
Year-Long Simulations
The 18-month Budget and Stock Games run the entire semester, providing a rich, long-term experiential project.
Flexible Teacher Materials
Get presentations in both PowerPoint & Google Slides, plus editable lesson plans and packets in Google Docs.
Curated Resources
Go beyond our core lessons with supplemental videos, activities, and course packs from other leading finance experts.
Course Scope and Sequence
This 18-week course provides a comprehensive framework for a full semester. The extended schedule allows for a deeper exploration of each of the five core units, with the games serving as a semester-long project.
Designed for In-Depth Study
The 18-week schedule provides ample time for the 45-minute lessons, plus extended periods for class discussions, project work, and reinforcement activities.
Rich & Varied Content
Enhance your lessons with a curated mix of our core curriculum, in-class projects, and supplemental resources from other financial education experts.
Project-Based & Hands-On
The Budget and Stock Game serve as the “applied learning lab,” running throughout the semester to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world application.
Customizing Your Full-Semester Class
While our platform offers extensive customization, this guide provides the ideal starting configuration for a full-semester, 18-week course.
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Recommended Budget Game Settings
- Set up an 18-month game with students “Part-Time” for the first 12 months and “Full-Time” for the last 6.
- Utilize Speed Limits to allow students to complete no more than 2 months of the simulation per week of class.
- Ensure students can save 10% of their monthly income by confirming the preview settings (if you adjust the default settings).
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Recommended Stock Game Settings
- Give students $10,000 in initial cash to build their stock portfolio.
- Enable $1,000 weekly deposits to simulate the powerful effect of regular, long-term investing.
- Organize the class into student teams to foster collaboration and prepare for final group presentations.
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Managing Semester Assignments & Grading
- Load tasks as Weekly Assignments for easy and consistent class management throughout the semester.
- Use the ‘Rewards’ function to award bonus cash in the games and incentivize on-time submissions.
- Set up pre- and post-tests from the assignments page to measure student learning over the entire semester.
Give Us Your Feedback
We would love the input of every teacher on our course outlines. They undergo constant revision to reflect new lessons and features on StockTrak, with each update based in feedback from teachers like you. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a message below:
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