May 19, 2019

Interactive Monday: Can You Time The Market?

Another engaging interactive to dispel the notion that one can time the market. 

Here's the description of the game (from Betterment) which is about 3-4 minutes long and can be played multiple times:

Many investors believe (or act as if they believe) they can beat the market through timing their deposits or asset allocation. Our interactive simulation puts you in the driver’s seat to decide whether to invest or sell based on actual New York Times headlines since 1928.

Click below to begin:

Ideas for implementation:

  • Here's a basic spreadsheet developed for this interactive
  • Each game has five rounds (headlines) and then gives students an option to continue
  • When each headline appears, students have to explain what they think the headline means in the context of the overall economy AND its impact on the stock market.
  • They then indicate with a + or - what happened over the next six months

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We know your students love stock market simulations. Here are a few more ideas:

  • STAX has been played by over 400,000 people in the six months since launch
  • Think You Can Beat the Stock Market? is a two minute simulation where students try to time the market by making a buy and sell decision. 
  • Get Rich With Tech IPOs has students make decisions on when the best time to buy a stock after they IPO ("go public")

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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