Test your skills: Financial football

Fans of the New England Patriots will be looking for some revenge Sunday in the big game against the Giants, but there’s a way to have some fun this week, test your financial literacy skills, and give the Patriots a boost heading into Sunday. 

It’s Financial Football and the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition is urging local fans to help the Pats come from behind in the national contest between fans of different NFL teams. 

Peter Kerwin from the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, joined The Rhode Show to talk more about it.

So what is Financial Football?

Well it’s an online video game that is focused on teaching kids and young adults about important money management skills that will hopefully lead to a lifetime of financial stability.  We unveiled it a couple of years ago with the folks from Visa, the NFL and the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, where we had some students from Rhode Island schools compete up at Foxboro Stadium, with Matt Light and Wes Welker taking part.

If you go to www.rhodeisland.financialfootball.com , you can take part in the national competition going on between fans of different NFL teams.  Right now, New England is #5 on the leader board, so we have a great opportunity to get New England fans to visit the site and bring our team from behind to win this competition.  We’re in the Super Bowl, for crying out loud!  We can’t come in behind teams like Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills which are sitting at home right now.  We need to get in the game and put New England on top and let everyone know how fired up we are for Sunday.

How does it work?

You have a football field and two teams square off.  If you answer a question correctly, the ball moves forward and you eventually score.  You lose yardage if you get a question wrong.  I love playing the game because it has questions on college savings and 529s, so it’s right up my alley.

The Jump$tart Coalition has done a lot to get the word out on this program over the years because it’s a great resource to help young people learn valuable lessons about how to handle money and how to live in a world where there are so many different financial products and services out there.  In addition to the game, there’s content with money management resources and lesson plans tailored for use at home, in the classroom or at work.  It also contains an array of tips to help prepare for life changing financial events, from planning for a baby to saving for college and retirement, as well as a number of other budget calculators and interactive games.

So if you’re planning a big party for the game Sunday, take the time to add some Financial Football to your plans.  If we can go into the big game having moved New England up the board, it’s only going to add to the excitement and it might just give us the edge we need to pull out a bigger win on Sunday.