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FinanceChallenge

Fall Challenge (Online): Oct. 1 2025 - Dec. 19, 2025

Spring Challenge (Online): Jan. 1 - March 13, 2026

State Finals (Des Moines): April 15, 2026

 

State Finals

  • Both Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 Iowa Personal Finance Challenge participants will be eligible to participate in the State Finals.

  • The top 2 teams from each region in both the Fall & Spring will move on to the Iowa Finals.

  • Students may participate in the Fall or Spring semester, but not both.

  • State finals will be at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Urban Campus located at 1100 7th Street Building 7, Des Moines, IA 50314.

  • DMACC Des Moines/Urban Directions and Interactive Map

Each team will be given a hypothetical family scenario. They will have one hour to create a PowerPoint/Google presentation on their financial recommendations for the family. Each team will have up to 10 minutes to present their financial plan to our panel of expert judges.

  • This event will be held at DMACC location, however, the event is not sponsored by DMACC and
    DMACC does not have any additional affiliation with the event other than the location.

What is the Personal Finance Challenge? 

Each year, the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition, with support from the National Council for Economic Education hosts the the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge. The challenge is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge of personal finance by connecting with other students from across the state in an online competition.

How does the challenge work?

Teams of 3-4 students will have 35 minutes to complete a 30-question online exam covering the principles of personal finance including money management, credit, investing, and insurance.

Students earn 10 points for every correct response and 0 points for each incorrect answer. Every question must be answered to move on, and students are not able to go back to previous questions.

There will be a cash prize for the top two teams in each region for both the fall and spring challenges for both middle school and high school:

  • 1st Place: $25 per student
  • 2nd Place: $15 per student

The top 2 high school teams in each region, fall and spring (total of 16 teams), are invited to the state championships for a live competition with student teams from across the state. State finalists will be assigned a fictional case-study with time to prepare a presentation sharing their recommendations for the fictional client before a panel of judges including economists, business leaders and financial professionals. 

Next Steps

  1. If you are new to the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge, welcome! You will need to select "Teacher Registration" from the menu and create your teacher profile. Once you profile is created, you will be able to log in and begin creating your teams.
  2. If you are a returning teacher, welcome back! Your profile information is saved from your previous participation, and you can log in to begin creating your teams for this year's challenge!
  3. Teachers sign up their team(s).  *You may sign up multiple teams on your teacher admin page, after you log-in  -- no need to register more than once.

Teacher Drawing

For each registered team that completes the challenge, teachers will be entered into a drawing for a $100 cash prize.

Teachers can create as many student teams as they'd like.