JA Finance Park

JA Finance Park includes three parts:

▲ Classroom lessons and activities
▲ ​Budgeting simulation at JA Finance Park
▲ ​Debrief and follow-up in the classroom

At JA Finance Park, students have the rare opportunity to experience their personal financial futures first-hand. Here, students participate in an immersive simulation that enables them to develop skills to successfully navigate today’s complex economic environment and discover how decisions today can impact tomorrow.

Before students travel to JA Finance Park, they take part in JA’s unique 12-lesson classroom curriculum, split into four main units, taught by their teacher. This knowledge serves as a foundation in personal finance education and gives them the skills they need for a successful JA Finance Park® experience…

Upon entering JA Finance Park, each student is provided a tablet with a randomly generated unique “life persona” – a personal profile with the details of their “adult life”, including job title, annual salary, age, marital status, debt, savings and credit score.

Led by their volunteer facilitator, students visit life-like store fronts, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of the line items in their monthly budget. They will make choices on transportation, groceries, buying or renting a home, obtaining loans, insurances, savings accounts, investments and charities– balancing up to 22 expenses without exceeding their budget.

By the end of the simulation, students recognize that the decisions they make about education and career will have an impact on their potential income and quality of life.