Money Instructor Classroom · Simulations
Interactive Financial Literacy Simulations for Students
Give students hands-on practice with real-world money skills. Money Instructor simulations let students make budgeting, banking, investing, and planning decisions using fictional practice money in a safe classroom environment — then see what happens next.
About the Simulations
Teacher-ready practice, with none of the real-world risk
Each simulation is a self-contained activity your students work through inside Money Instructor Classroom. They make real decisions — what to spend, what to skip, what to save, how to handle a surprise bill — and then see the consequences play out, which is the part a worksheet can’t teach.
All money in these simulations is fictional practice money. Nothing here touches a real bank account, and the standalone simulators are completely separate from your class’s MI Bank and Classroom Economy balances — a student can spend every last dollar in a simulation without changing a single real class balance. These tools are for educational use only.
Teachers can assign all six simulations to a class from the MI Classroom teacher dashboard, then review each student’s results and written reflections when they finish.
Budgeting and Planning
Budgeting and planning
Two different jobs: one is a guided challenge that shows students what a month of trade-offs feels like, the other is a budget they build and keep.
MI Life Budget Simulator
The Paycheck to Paycheck Challenge. Students set up a profile, choose their monthly expenses, then face surprise event cards that put the budget under pressure — ending in a scored report and written reflections.
See the Budget Simulator →
MI Budget Planner
An editable monthly budget workspace students keep. They plan income, needs, wants, and savings, set a savings goal, then track what they actually spent against the plan — returning to it session after session and month after month.
See the Budget Planner →Which one? The Budget Simulator is a one-period, scored challenge with surprise events — a strong introduction. The Budget Planner is an ongoing workspace with no score and no events — it’s the student’s own budget, revisited over time. Many teachers run the Simulator first, then move students into the Planner.
Banking
Banking
Checking-account skills students will use the first time they get paid.
Not the same as MI Bank. MI Bank is your class’s ongoing bank — persistent student accounts and balances you run all year, with or without a classroom economy. The MI Banking Simulator is a standalone one-period practice activity with its own fictional balances that never touch MI Bank.
Two ATMs, on purpose. The ATM Simulator is a standalone practice machine with fictional money — a student can use it before your class has a bank at all. MI Bank now has its own built-in ATM: a student signed in to your class bank can choose “Use the ATM” instead of the deposit and withdrawal forms, key in their own PIN, and the withdrawal or deposit posts to their real classroom account and shows in their register. Teachers can switch the in-bank ATM off per class.
Saving and Investing
Saving and investing
Long-term investing behavior — diversification, risk, and staying calm — rather than stock picking. Three activities, in order of how much of a real account each one hands over.
Beginner Investing Challenge
The Beginner Investing Challenge. Students grow a fictional $500 across ten years of market ups and downs, making decisions at each round — and are scored on long-term investing behavior, not on how much they made.
See the Beginner Investing Challenge →
MI Investing Simulator
Students build and manage a virtual investment portfolio of their own: set a goal, move money into an investment account, choose what to buy, then ride five market years of contributions, dividends, fees and a downturn.
See the MI Investing Simulator →
MI Brokerage Simulator
Students open a practice brokerage account the way a real one opens — an application, an investor profile, disclosures — then transfer money in, place orders that preview before they confirm, collect dividends, and read a quarterly statement.
See the MI Brokerage Simulator →Want students working with real companies instead? The free Stock Market Simulation lesson plan is a six-lesson teacher guide for running a classroom stock market game with real tickers and real prices, over a few weeks or a whole school year. It is a lesson plan rather than an app, and it is free to read and adapt.
The Beginner Investing Challenge uses fictional practice money, does not connect to a brokerage or any real financial account, and does not provide financial advice or predict real-world returns. It is a teaching tool.
Common Questions
Common questions about the simulations
Is the money in the simulations real?
No. Every balance, paycheck, bill, and investment in these simulations is fictional practice money that exists only inside the activity. Nothing connects to a real bank, card, or brokerage account.
Do the simulations affect our MI Bank or Classroom Economy balances?
No. The six standalone simulations keep their own separate practice balances. A student can spend, lose, or save everything in a simulation without changing any real class balance, student account, or class fund in MI Bank or Classroom Economy.
Can teachers assign these to a class?
Yes. All six can be assigned to a class from the teacher dashboard in Money Instructor Classroom. You choose a class, assign the activity, and then review student results as they finish. You can close and reopen an assignment at any time.
What grade levels are these for?
Five of the six are written for grades 6–12. The MI Brokerage Simulator is written for grades 9–12 and adult education, because it covers an account application, limit orders and a quarterly statement.
How long do they take?
The Life Budget Simulator and the Banking Simulator are each designed for one class period. The Beginner Investing Challenge takes about 15–25 minutes. The Budget Planner is different — it is an ongoing workspace students return to across the month rather than a one-sitting activity.
Can teachers see what students did?
Yes. Each simulation has a teacher results view with a class summary and a per-student detail page showing their choices, their result, and the written reflections they submitted at the end.
What is the difference between the Budget Planner and the Budget Simulator?
The Budget Simulator is a guided, scored challenge: students make choices for one month, get hit with surprise events, and finish with a report. The Budget Planner is an editable workspace with no score and no events — students build their own monthly budget, track plan versus actual, and keep revising it over time.
Does the Beginner Investing Challenge give financial advice?
No. It teaches beginner investing concepts using fictional money. It does not connect to a real brokerage account, does not provide financial advice, and does not predict or guarantee real-world investment returns.
Do students need an email address or their own account?
No student email is required. Students sign in to Money Instructor Classroom with a class code, a username you create, and a PIN. Teachers sign in with their Money Instructor account.
Teach money skills with simulations, lessons, and printables
Members get unlimited access to lesson plans, worksheets, simulations, and teacher resources across every financial literacy topic — budgeting, banking, investing, taxes, credit, and more.
Need a class first? Assigning a simulation needs a class to assign it to. Setting up a Money Instructor Classroom takes three steps and one class code.
Shorter than a simulation? The 36 free interactive money games each run five to fifteen minutes, so they fit inside a lesson rather than filling a period.