Teach Kids About Money

With the easy availability of credit and the pressure to take on long term contracts for things like Satellite Television, Mobile Phones and Tablets, understanding the implications of these items on a weekly budget can be quite difficult.

MoneyManger.ipl is a free, MS Windows based, computer program that can be used with children and young adults to practice budgeting.

Put simply you get paid once a week, you then spend this money on food, rent etc. If you do just this, then you will be able to save some money and then buy cars, holidays etc. However you can apply for a credit card or loans for cars and holidays and pretty soon you will be in debt!

Ideally you should run the simulation for at least 53 weeks, because things like the TV licence will expire, bills for power will appear, car insurance will need renewing and the interest on loans will start to add up.

To try it you need to Download the program and then read the Guides.

1. MoneyManager requires a screen resolution of at least 1024x768
   
   
2. Start MoneyManager/IPL from the desktop shortcut or the Programs menu.
   
   
3. This step is done for you if you use the shortcut provided. Select File->Open and open the file c:\program files (x86)\IPL\Samples\MoneyManager.ipl
   
   
4. Press the Green Go icon on the toolbar
   
   
5. Press OK to Accept the offered Salary of £200, we have just started an imaginary week.
   
   
6. Examine the Green Area that displays your current financial situation. You will notice that you have a value in the Total Owed item, this is the rent that you now need to pay.
   
   
7. Move the mouse over the Rent picture and Left Click to bring up a payment box.  Press OK to make the £70 weekly rent payment.
   
   
8. Move the mouse over the Food picture and Left Click to bring up a payment box.  Select the amount that you want to spend on food and press OK.
   
   
9. Move the mouse over the Get Paid button and Left Click to bring up the Salary prompt.  You are now into next week, if the bank balance is negative after being paid a £20 charge will be made by the bank.
   
   
10. By clicking on other boxes, you can build up a weekly expenditure example to show whatever point that you are trying to get across.
    
    Utility bills arrive automatically every 12 weeks and TV licence bills every 52 week.
    
    If you buy a Car or a Holiday you are offered a loan or you can pay from your bank balance.  You need to click on these every week to make the loan repayments.

• Interest on loans and credit cards is charged weekly. This is mainly to highlight the consequences of borrowing.
  

If you want to use the program as it is then it is free to download and use but it is still copyright protected.

If you wish to modify the program you need to use the full version of IPL. Again you can download and use it for free but a donation is requested but not required.