The Personal Finance Simulation
Help students connect classroom concepts to everyday financial decisions
Empower your students to manage their money! The Stukent Personal Finance Simulation mimics how money works in the real world. In the simulation, students receive a weekly salary to manage, including paying bills, tracking expenses, building credit, and planning for life’s unexpected events. It’s a hands-on way to reinforce key financial concepts in a safe, low-risk environment.
Pair the Simternship® with the “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware for a complete, skill-building learning experience.
Immerse students in authentic personal finance scenarios
Each round challenges students to make realistic financial decisions, just like they would in real life. From creating budgets to managing surprise expenses, students apply core personal finance concepts in a hands-on, low-risk environment.
One way that the Stukent Personal Finance Simulation has changed how I teach personal finance is that it brings in that real-world aspect for the kids to learn how mortgages work, how insurance works.
Kristen Dunnells, Teacher, Skyline High School
Preview
What’s in a Simternship round?
From budgeting to buying their first home, the Personal Finance Simulation challenges your students to develop a personal approach to their finances. Want to see it in action? Take a guided tour of how the simulation works.
Ralf Mehnert-Meland, J.D.
The “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware
A complete curriculum for teaching practical financial literacy
The “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware introduces students to the foundational skills necessary for managing money with confidence. Each chapter focuses on a key area of personal finance, including budgeting, saving, credit, banking, insurance, and investing, and provides students with practical strategies they can apply in everyday life.
You'll also get a full suite of ready-made resources to support your course, including lesson plans, lecture slide decks, auto-graded quizzes, engaging videos, and a sample course calendar.
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Explore the table of contents
The “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware provides your students with a comprehensive foundation in money management, one chapter at a time. From budgeting and saving to credit, insurance, and investing, each lesson builds essential skills through practical, real-world application.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Personal Finance
Chapter 2: Personal Goals and Financial Philosophy
Chapter 3: Earning Money
Chapter 4: Budgeting
Chapter 5: Banking and Insurance
Chapter 6: Borrowing Money
Chapter 7: Credit and Debit Cards
Chapter 8: Credit Scores and Credit Issues
Chapter 9: Spending Money
Chapter 10: Spending on a Place to Live
Chapter 11: Saving Money
Chapter 12: Investing Money
Chapter 13: Annotated Bank Terms and Conditions
Chapter 14: Annotated Credit Card Terms and Conditions
Chapter 15: Annotated Lease Agreement
See how easy it is to teach your next course with the “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware.
About the Author
Ralf Mehnert-Meland, J.D.
Ralf Mehnert-Meland brings global business expertise and real-world financial experience to the classroom. He holds a Juris Doctor from George Washington University, a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and International Business from Carthage College, and a German banking certification ("Bankkaufmann"). He has also published three books on the Ecu — the predecessor to the Euro — and the European Central Bank.
Before transitioning to education, Ralf worked in executive and management roles in both the U.S. and Germany, with experience in ERP, cloud, agriculture, and healthcare industries. He’s also a licensed attorney.
Today, Ralf teaches business law, ethics, and personal finance at Minnesota State University Moorhead. His teaching philosophy is simple: “Keep it simple, keep it real, and make it relevant for the students.” His approach to personal finance is shaped by both professional insight and life experience, including learning from a few financial missteps along the way.
Instructor support you can count on
With a 96.4% satisfaction rate and an average response time under 10 minutes, the Stukent Support Team and customer success managers ensure you can focus on teaching.
Always have the latest edition
The “Personal Finance Essentials” courseware contains robust instructional resources for educators and students. Best of all, the Stukent team updates the courseware annually, which means your curriculum will always be on the cutting edge of industry.
