Financial literacy
Real-world money skills for real-world futures
Free programs that teach students to budget, save, borrow wisely and invest — before the mistakes get expensive.
Introduction
Make your dollars make sense
Every student faces big money decisions: paying for college, signing a first lease, choosing a phone plan, deciding what to do with a first paycheck. Too many make them without anyone ever explaining the rules.
Our financial literacy programs teach those rules early, and they are free. Students start with budgeting and saving, move on to credit and the hidden costs of college and first jobs, and build toward investing and long-term wealth. They can learn with us in a workshop, practice on their own in the Hidden Curriculum Lab, and soon try investing with virtual money in MarketWise.
Learn with us
Financial Literacy and Investment Workshops covering budgeting, saving, the stock market and building wealth.
About the workshopsPractice online, free
The Hidden Curriculum Lab: live a year of real money decisions, one month at a time, from age 7 to a first job.
Explore the labInvest with virtual money
MarketWise, coming soon: lessons, quizzes and a realistic stock-market simulator for ages 10 to 25.
About MarketWiseWorkshops
Closing the financial knowledge gap
The financial knowledge gap
Many students of color enter college and the professional workforce with limited knowledge of effective financial management. As a result, they may face challenges in budgeting, saving, and making informed financial decisions during critical stages of their personal and professional development.
Many also have limited exposure to investment options and financial vehicles — and a lack of guidance on how to leverage these tools to build long-term wealth and financial security.
Empowerment through education
The Giboney Foundation is bridging this gap through our Financial Literacy and Investment Workshops. These programs are specifically designed to equip students with the “real-world” skills necessary to navigate the modern economy.
What students gain
Personal finance mastery
Essential skills in budgeting, saving, and informed decision-making.
Market fluency
A foundational, practical understanding of the stock market and investment options.
Wealth creation strategies
Actionable plans to grow income, increase net worth, and ensure long-term financial stability.
Free · Play online now
The Hidden Curriculum Lab
Practice the money moves no one taught you — from your first piggy bank to your first 401(k). Students live a year of real-life money decisions, one month at a time, and see how every choice shapes their savings, their credit and their relationships.
Free account · progress saves automatically
- 01Ages 7–11
Elementary School
Needs vs. wants, one piggy bank at a time.
Earn an allowance through chores, resist the candy aisle, and save birthday money for a goal.
- 02Ages 14–18
High School
First paycheck, first real tradeoffs.
Balance a part-time job with grades, pick a phone plan, weigh a bus pass against an old car, and ask about college fee waivers.
- 03Ages 18–22
College Student
Loans, roommates, and your first credit score.
Cover textbook gaps, handle a roommate who skips the bills, compare paid and unpaid internships, and say no to a 27% APR card.
- 04Recent graduates
Young Adult
Gross vs. net, 401(k) matches, and owning your seat at the table.
Decode a paycheck, capture the employer match, negotiate a raise, and pay down student debt.
Why it matters
Learn the hidden curriculum — before it costs you
Many first-generation students and students of color never hear the money rules that others pick up at the dinner table. The lab teaches them safely, where a mistake costs nothing.
Real choices, zero risk
Phone plans, car costs, credit-card offers and rent emergencies feel real, so students build judgment without real debt or damaged credit.
The rules no one explains
Fee waivers, internship stipends, the employer 401(k) match, salary negotiation — the “ask for it” knowledge that quietly shapes who gets ahead.
Money with values
Students weigh family obligations, generosity and community alongside their own goals, because real financial lives include the people we care about.
Habits that last
Every stage reinforces the basics: budget first, build an emergency fund, keep credit-card balances low and pay on time.
Grows with the student
Four stages from age 7 through the first job, so a student can start young and keep coming back as life gets more complex.
Coming soonInvesting education
MarketWise by The Giboney Foundation
A free app that teaches students how to think about investing — not what to buy. Short lessons and quizzes lead into a realistic stock-market simulator where students practice with virtual money.
Every trade needs a written plan: why they’re buying, how long they’ll hold, and what could go wrong. After it plays out, students reflect on what happened. That habit of explaining decisions is what turns curiosity into sound, lifelong investing.
Learn step by step
Bite-sized lessons with quizzes, from money basics and how the stock market works to analysis, portfolios and investing psychology.
Practice with virtual money
A $100,000 practice portfolio, fractional shares and real market prices — with no real money and no brokerage account, ever.
Built for ages 10 to 25
A simple guided view for younger students and a full view with charts and research for older students, plus classes, challenges and leaderboards for teachers.
Rewards skill, not luck
Leaderboards rank students on an Investment Skill Score — planning, learning and risk management — where returns count for only a small share.