You are 25 with $1,000 and a monthly savings habit. Choose how to split your money, play five years at a time, and decide what to do when the market crashes. At 65, see what compounding, diversification and patience were worth.
Green: your balance. Gray dashed: money you added. Blue dotted: everything in a savings account. All returns are simulated.
Pick how much you save each month, then choose a mix of four places to put your money: a savings account, a bond fund, a stock index fund and one hot stock. Press the button to invest for five years. The game plays those years one at a time, adds your savings at the end of each year and shows how every part of your mix did. Eight turns take you from age 25 to 65, and you can change your mix at every turn.
Returns are simulated from fixed settings, not predicted. The stock index fund averages 8% a year with swings of about 18%, which makes it lose money in roughly one year out of three. The bond fund averages 4% with smaller swings, and the savings account pays a steady 2%. The hot stock follows the market with bigger moves. These settings are chosen to show the trade-off between risk and return. The SEC beginner guide says stocks have historically had the greatest risk and the highest returns of the three major asset categories, and that large company stocks as a group have lost money in about one out of every three years.
Once you have a plan you like, run your own numbers in the compound interest calculator or find your comfort zone with the risk tolerance quiz. New to all of this? Start with investing for beginners.
Educational, not financial advice. All returns in this game are simulated and every game is different. Real investing also involves fees, taxes and inflation, which the game leaves out.
There is no single answer because the returns are random. Mixes with more of the stock index fund usually end higher but swing more along the way. Putting everything in the one hot stock is the riskiest choice, since one collapse can wipe out most of it.
No. They are simulated from the settings listed on this page, so every game is different. They are meant to show how compounding and risk work, not to forecast any market.
Money invested at 25 has ten more years to compound. In the game the late starter saves the same amount each month, but for 30 years instead of 40, and the missing early years are the ones that would have grown the longest.
Yes. A full game takes about five minutes, needs no account and works on phones. Students can play once with a cautious mix and once with a growth mix and compare the results. For a trading-style game, try the stock market game for students.