(NAPSA)—Askchildren to set personal financial goals to manage their allowance and you’d probably be met with blank stares. If, however, you ask them to identify something they want to do, such as go on a trip, and ask them how much of their allowance they need to save per week to attend, you are teaching financial responsibility in language they can understand. This is the tack taken by a popular Website to make financial education more fun. Designed to teach math and personal financial planningskills to students in grades six through eight, Moneyopolis is a free Web site, created by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. The site features a space alien who navigates visitors through the game in the quest to fix his broken spaceship and return home. It can be used by individual schoolchildren at home with their parents or as part of an education program with specially designed tools for teachers to further the cause of financial responsibility. The comprehensive site includes lesson plans for teachers as well as offsite activities, and a section for parents to use to educate their children about the basics of good money management. A popup glossary helps kids master the On a popular Web site, kids learn about money and math as they help the alien Xerbie get home. terms of mathematics and finance, and a “Budget Gadget” helps them with their own financial plan. According to a 2002 survey by the JumpStart Coalition, only 51.9 percent of U.S. high school seniors were able to correctly answer questions about personal finance. The game was created as a means to address the lack of financialliteracy in this country. Many corporations recognize the need for more financial education and, like Ernst & Young, work to educate youth, along with organizations such as America’s Promise—TheAlliance for Youth. To learn more, or to play the online game,visit the Web site at www.moneyopolis.org.
