Hello all,
I've created a personal financial simulation game. It is at
http://lifesim.org/.
It is pretty rough, and still needs a lot built out, but the basic
idea is:
1) You select a level of education. With that level you may have
college loans to pay off and you can select a job. More education
gives you more job options. Salaries also depend on the job you
select.
2) You also need to select a rental house, a percentage of income for
charitable contributions and retirement savings, and a basic level of
spending (high, medium and low).
3) When the simulation starts, you advance through the months. Each
month you receive your salary and pay taxes, rent/mortgage,
transportation, food, misc., etc.,etc.
4) You can purchase things like a house, car, investments, personal
items., etc. For items like a house and car, if you don't have the
money, a loan may be taken out. For small items, if you don't have the
money, the balance will be put on your credit card.
5) At the end of the month when bills are due, if you don't have the
cash to pay all of your bills, the balance gets put on your credit
card.
6) Random evens occur, like getting married, having kids, furnace
breaking down (if you have a house), etc.
And so it goes. Each month your financial standing is recalculated.
You may create multiple simulations selecting different options. You
may then view a graph of any or all simulations to see how your
choices worked out financially.
What do you thing? Good idea? Bad idea? I originally created the game
to teach my kids about financial management (I'm a computer
programmer, not a financial expert). Now I'm not sure what to do with
the application. Should I try to clean it up and make it available to
schools? Something else?
Any advise is appreciated. Thanks.