You may know that NGPF’s Online Bank Simulator allows students to experience what it’s like to pay bills, transfer funds, deposit checks, and conduct other banking activities in a risk-free simulation. But did you also know you can use it to teach other big picture money lessons? Read on for more information on how the Online Bank Simulator can help you teach more than basic banking skills.

P.S. Student data is never (and was never) collected. Your students can use it worry-free!

Teach the concept of “Pay yourself first”

The NGPF Online Bank Sim allows your students to set up recurring transfers to pay bills. However, this feature can also be used to implement the popular budgeting strategy of “pay yourself first.” 

Have students set up recurring transfers to their savings account in the Online Bank Sim. Then, they can compare this strategy to the others covered in the Budgeting Strategies lesson in the Budgeting Unit. Here’s an Edpuzzle video you can use to introduce this method. 

Use it to discuss being Unbanked or Underbanked

Aside from the logistics of how an online bank account works, you can use the Online Bank Sim to start a discussion about the overall benefits of having a bank account at all and why some people and communities are more likely to be unbanked or underbanked. 

Use the Being Unbanked lesson in the Banking Unit to get started or focus on the Interactive activity, What’s the Banking Status in Your Area? You can also show your students the documentary Spent, found in the Video Library.

Help Students Become Smarter Consumers

The Online Bank Sim includes an online shopping section that allows them to “buy” things like smoothies, groceries, clothing, and more. 

Pair the simulation with the MOVE: What Will You Buy? activity to apply comparison shopping skills, or this activity comparing Needs vs Wants. You can use this FinCap Friday about Buy Now, Pay Later to get students thinking about the risks of overspending.

For Math Folks

The Online Bank Simulator is included in the Online & Mobile Banking lesson of the NGPF Financial Algebra Checking & Linear Equations unit. Activities that go well with these and the Bank Sim include Box and Whisker Plots for Banking Fees and DATA CRUNCH: How Do Consumers Use Mobile Banking? 

Go to the Online Bank Sim 

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.