Design Your Own Financial Literacy Games for Adults

This story illustrates how the NFEC can help you create your own financial literacy program.

Gary was a lawyer who needed a change of pace. He wanted to help underprivileged adults become financially literate but wasn’t sure where to start. Searching online brought him to the National Financial Educators Council, the NFEC. Digging through their resources illuminated him to just what was possible with the right guidance.

He started with some market research within his local city and found a larger need than he imagined.  The financial literacy statistics reviewed showed that most adults were facing major financial programs and stress. The demand was also there, confirming the viability of Gary’s idea.

Gary considered the level of understanding he wanted his financial literacy course to provide. He could extend the training to provide a sufficient amount of time to allow extended thinking on two related aspects of personal finance. He could also cover three topics at the level of strategic thinking. He’d leave this flexibility open for now and let his students decide. He was starting to realize that a few financial literacy games for adults could go in many directions and cover a wide range of student needs.

How to Deliver Financial Education Games Aimed at Adults

Now Gary considered the best ways to deliver financial education games for adults. A self-paced, accomplishment-based program would suit the wide range of adult needs he would face. Pre-recorded webinars covering many aspects of money management would work nicely. The adult students could delve into whatever subjects they wanted. Structure would be maintained by a closed Facebook group and a weekly live question and answer webinar.

Gary’s next step was to decide on the specific subjects his financial literacy games for adults would cover. They had to be diverse and cover all levels of understanding. For the sake of narrowing it down, he decided to offer budgeting, debt, risk management, investing and retirement planning. He would also allow students to request specific areas of interest.

Custom Financial Literacy Curriculum Considerations

What type of curriculum would be best for presenting financial literacy games for adults? It had to be flexible with a modular design that would allow diving deep into the subject matter and on-demand learning that adults need. The financial education games would have to be engaging and relatable to typical financial decisions that adults face on a daily basis. The course also had to be aligned with core financial education standards, with learning principles based on evidence.

Gary was not ready to become a certified financial instructor, so he needed to find the perfect person for the role. He wanted the presenter of his program to have a proven success record of facilitating financial education games for adults and their financial literacy certification from the NFEC. The right person would also have to be a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI). He was surprised when the NFEC helped him find someone local, who fit all of those criteria.

The Surprising Outcome of Gary’s Adult Financial Education Program

Of the 35 adults who signed up for Gary’s program, 31 stayed through the end and finished successfully. That’s over 88%. Nice. Every student had nothing but praise for Gary’s program that centered around financial education games for adults.

Gary gathered data from the course and generated a report showing off the impressive results of his first class. He was not going to stop here and he’d present the report to possible investors and use it to penetrate into surrounding communities.