Careers Blog
MyCE: how Vanguard demonstrates the importance of financial literacy to students
Share
Related posts
Related Posts
My Classroom Economy (MyCE) is a free financial education program that was created and developed by Vanguard crew volunteers. Since its introduction in 2011, more than one million students in grades K–12 have had the opportunity to learn the importance of being financially responsible.
MyCE enables any educator to teach children financial responsibility through fun, experiential learning. It’s a simple classroom economic system based on the idea that students need to earn school “dollars” to rent their own desks. To earn dollars, the students would need to take on classroom jobs, earn bonuses (and avoid fines), save their earnings, and balance their accounts. The top savers can place bids in classroom auctions or opt for other rewards. For upper grade levels, the program offers more sophisticated scenarios. Students can add insurance to their desks or “invest” their savings and watch their stock and bond holdings rise or fall (they also pay taxes).
By bringing real-world scenarios into the classroom, students see the impact of their decisions to save, spend, and budget. Ultimately, the program’s lessons are just as important as those in English, math, social studies, or science. MyCE enables student with the knowledge and tools that can help them navigate through all of life’s financial stages.
Here’s what our crew had to say about the program:
“What’s unique about My Classroom Economy is that it’s essentially 100% volunteer-driven! I’m constantly grateful for the dozens of crew volunteers who power this incredible program, all because they have a genuine passion for improving the financial literacy of our next generation.”
“My Classroom Economy is a great way to help teach kids about financial education. This is an important topic that can help set young people up for financial success in the future. Financial education is something I’m passionate about and love helping with.”
“Finance can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. As a father and uncle, I’m proud to be a part of My Classroom Economy where we provide experiential learning to students, teaching them the value of money so they can have lifelong financial wellbeing.”
“I was introduced to MyCE during 2020 at a time when both teachers and parents were struggling to engage their students and children in unique learning opportunities. I realized what an incredible tool this could be to help both children to learn earning, saving, and spending, but also for parents and teachers to bring a fun behavioral management tool to their classrooms and homes. Amazed by the impact of this program built entirely by Vanguard volunteers to address the financial literacy gap I am intimately aware of, I saw the opportunity to make a difference in the futures of our youth and knew I needed to get involved. Fast forward to today, serving as Chief of Staff for the program, I am extremely excited about the new digital offer we are developing to enhance the impact of My Classroom Economy.”
