Finance & Banking · Personal Finance

The First Paycheck

A 3-round personal finance capstone simulation for US high school students.

3 rounds Undergraduate English, Español

Preview

About this simulation

A 3-round personal finance capstone simulation for US high school students. Students play Jordan Rivera, a 17-year-old Columbus grocery bagger, making real decisions on the first pay stub, W-4 election, 50/30/20 budget, credit cards and BNPL, meme-coin temptations, and opening a custodial Roth IRA at age 17 — with a Financial Health Score and a compound-interest reveal at age 65.

Who it is for

An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.

How a session runs

  1. The instructor creates a session from the Eureka dashboard and invites the participants.
  2. Participants play 3 rounds. In each one they submit their decisions and the simulation calculates the results. The first round opens with: Decode the Paycheck and Build the Budget.
  3. The simulation can be run in English, Español.
  4. The instructor follows each participant's progress and results from the dashboard, and uses the class results for the debrief.

Decisions participants make

The decisions participants make during the simulation:

  • D1. W-4 withholding election
  • D2. Monthly savings amount (from $487.81 unallocated)
  • D3. Savings vehicle
  • D4. How will Jordan buy the $300 gaming console?
  • D5. Buckeye Fresh Market store credit card
  • D6. A friend sends a meme-coin tip: $DOGE going to the moon
  • D7. Asset allocation of accumulated savings
  • D8. Emergency: phone screen cracked, $180 repair
  • D9. 12-month forward monthly savings commitment

What participants track

What participants follow on screen as the rounds go by:

  • Financial Health Score by Round
  • Accumulated Savings
  • Roth IRA at age 65 — $0 vs $50 vs $100 per month at 7% real

Subjects covered

Designed for courses in Personal Finance.

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