Students of the 21st century face financial difficulties from the first steps in adulthood: scholarships are barely enough for basic needs, part-time wages rarely cover all expenses, and the desire to take out a loan for a fashionable gadget exceeds the possibilities. All this is due to the lack of financial literacy, which should be compulsory in schools, colleges, and universities. Unfortunately, almost 88% of American adults surveyed said that high school had not prepared them “completely” to handle money in the real world.
At this age, financial literacy is not just a useful skill, but an important tool for money management, budget planning, and debt avoidance. But let’s face it honestly: Learning financial literacy from boring textbooks is not pleasant. What if we turn this process into a game?
Gamification is a method that allows you to make learning fun and interesting. Financial games for students cause excitement and a desire to win and improve, which helps to consolidate knowledge in practice. Imagine managing your budget as if it were a game where every financial success earns points, achievements, and valuable skills in the real world.
But can games about money and financial literacy go hand in hand? Read the article!
What Is Financial Literacy and Why Does Every Student Need It?
Financial literacy is not about becoming rich or a financial guru. It is about a harmonious relationship with money and understanding your needs and goals. Here, thinking, lifestyle, and knowledge of different tools are important. Being financially literate means:
- being able to keep track of income and expenses
- planning a budget
- setting and achieving material goals
- creating a financial cushion in case of emergencies
- being able to use government support and advantageous offers from creditors
- being able to distinguish fraudulent financial schemes.
Kayla Harris, financial writer and expert at 15M Finance, emphasizes: “Mastering basic financial knowledge is the first step to making money your ally, not a source of stress.” Her own example is inspiring: even as a student at the University of Wisconsin, Kayla Harris managed to cope with her student debt just a few years after graduation. Her story proves that financial literacy is not just a theory, but a powerful tool for achieving financial independence.
Gamification in Finance: Learning Through Play – How Does It Work?
Gamification of the educational process is the introduction of game elements that can interest students. Education is gamified to increase students’ cognitive activity, generate interest in knowledge, and develop the educational motivation and initiative of staff and employees.
Gamification has its characteristics:
- Learning is fun, as the elements used make learning more comfortable and joyful.
- Tension will be relieved, and students will not be afraid to make mistakes.
- Gamification promotes emotional inclusion.
- Allows you to work with and interact with an entire group. For example, this can be realized through team games.
- Provides easy assimilation of the material.
In children, gamification relieves tension and shows the child that he can make mistakes. In adults, gamification allows one to get out of the routine and study in an unusual format.
Examples of gamification in finance:
- Financial quests: tasks to reinforce basic financial knowledge.
- Virtual investments: modeling strategies and learning the basics of investing.
- Financial manager: a tool for budget planning and tracking finances.
To integrate gamification into educational processes, you can use the Gimkit platform, which offers interactive tools for creating educational games. Detailed information about logging in and using the platform is available on the website, which describes the steps for creating an account and configuring training modules through game mechanics. This allows teachers and coaches to effectively introduce game elements into educational courses, increasing students’ activity and interest.
How Can Students Start Using Financial Gamification?
Students can use games about money management to improve their financial literacy, and no special skills or equipment are needed. All that is required is a desire to improve and a little creativity.
The first step is to select the appropriate tools. Today, many applications and online games help you deal with finances. For example, applications like YNAB (You Need A Budget) teach you how to plan a budget, and Monopoly digitally explains the basics of investment and asset management. These tools turn a routine into an interesting process.
It’s important to start small. Create your first “gaming budget”: set yourself the task of saving a certain amount within a week or month. Every day, check how the process is going, celebrate successes, and reward yourself for achieving goals. It can even be something simple, like buying delicious coffee with the money you save.
Another way is to organize a competition with friends. For example, who can save up for a concert ticket or a new book faster? This approach not only motivates, but also makes financial literacy a common hobby, supporting the spirit of teamwork.
Do not forget about the real tasks. Turn managing your expenses into a quest. For example, you aim to find the best mobile service plan or the product with the maximum discount. Solving these tasks will not only be useful, but also fascinating.
To consolidate the success, you can use virtual simulators. Many offer to “play” with investments by creating portfolios or managing virtual assets. Such simulations make it possible to understand how the economy works, without risking a real wallet.
What Technologies Are Waiting for Students to Learn Finance?
The future of financial education for students promises to be useful and exciting. The technologies already entering our lives will change the usual methods of learning. Here’s what it might look like:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) will become your personal financial advisor.
You spend money on lunches and entertainment, and an AI-based app analyzes your spending and says, “Hey, if you cut your coffee expenses by at least 10%, then in two months, you can buy a ticket to the dream festival.” These are no longer just dry numbers, but help achieve your goals.
- Virtual Reality (VR) will make learning as lively as possible.
You put on VR glasses — and now you are running a virtual business, trading on the stock exchange, or planning a budget for travel. In this personal finance game, you learn to make important financial decisions and not fear losing real money.
- Augmented Reality (AR) will integrate financial education into your daily life.
You point your phone camera at a product in a store, and AR immediately shows which option is more profitable or how much you can save if you take a wholesale package. You become financially savvy right on the spot.
- Cryptocurrency simulators and blockchain games will help you understand how modern money technologies work.
Do you want to learn to invest in Bitcoin, create a smart contract, or trade NFT? All this will be available through gaming platforms where you learn by doing without risking your savings.
- Mobile applications of the future will turn everyday financial tasks into exciting quests.
If you need to save money for a new technique — the application will prompt you to set a goal, break it down into stages, tell you where to save money, and reward you with an “achievement” when you achieve the result.
- Social networks will become a platform for financial education.
Imagine participating in a challenge to see who can save up for their dream the fastest. Share your successes, life hacks, and experiences with friends! This is no longer just a study, but an exciting competition that helps you not stop there.
Conclusion
Gamification of education helps to instill an interest in learning in both children and adults. At the same time, game learning copes with its purpose: with the right approach, it helps to gain knowledge and learn how to apply it in practice. The main thing is not to completely replace all learning with gamification, because even the most active children and students will get tired of constant games in the classroom.
