Junior Achievement
Project: “Retire4Real” Web Game | Role: UX Copywriter, Content Creator
Junior Achievement needed a slate of High School level educational content for their “Retire4Real” web game and they needed it fast! It was rush to turn around a sizable curriculum on a tight deadline. Fortunately my background in finance came to the rescue.
About “Retire4Real”
The gameplay is modeled after mobile-clicker games where net worth is accrued by stacking similar objects and routing them to one of three goal “jars.” Players decide between spending, saving, and giving as they work towards an eventual retirement.
Retire4Real main screen of the gameplay.
Interactive Content: Dollars, Cents, & Common Sense.
Throughout the gameplay the normal game would pause and the player would be given a lesson in financial planning or a multiple choice question regarding concepts previously introduced. I was responsible for creating copy for both sets of cards.
Educating young savers on how to tell the difference between financial wants and financial needs was central part of the content I created with JA.
Educational Content: “Paying” It Forward.
What I enjoyed most about this project was a feeling that I was “paying it forward.” I was fortunate to be given a foundation in personal finance at a young age but I know many don’t have the same luck. This topic typically isn’t taught in schools and it takes an extracurricular organization like JA to bridge the gap. I was grateful to be able to put concepts like compounding interest and the time-value of money into my own words.
The content package I delivered was a tour de force of financial literacy, we began with the most basic concepts regarding money and progressed to a basic understanding of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other popular investment vehicles.