The Personal Budget Simulator drops students into AI-generated real-life scenarios where they earn, spend, save, and manage wellness across four life phases. Before students can join, you need to activate it for the class. This article covers activation and what you can (and can't) configure today.

From the Classes tab, open the class you want to enable. Click the blue Activate Budget Sim button in the top-right corner. Until you do this, students in that class won't be able to join or launch the simulator.

The Budget Simulator is currently in beta. During beta, the starting point, success points, and failure points are managed automatically by Intertwined — instructors don't need to (and can't yet) configure them manually. This keeps the experience consistent for every student while we refine the controls. Watch this space; teacher-configurable settings are on the roadmap.

Scenarios are created with generative AI (powered by Microsoft and OpenAI), so each student's path adapts to their own decisions. Two students in the same class will face different, personalized budgeting challenges — which makes for great classroom discussion about why people make different financial choices.

Once activated, point students to their Student Portal to begin the High School phase. For a full breakdown of what students experience in each stage, see The Four Life Phases of the Budget Simulator.

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