Our Financial Literacy Program
We firmly believe that financial education is a right that should be available to all, not a privilege available to few. Yet, society as a whole has failed to prepare people with financial skills they need to not only survive in this world but to thrive in it. For instance, over half of U.S. states do not require high school students to take any type of personal finance course, and those who do often lack the resources to teach financial decision-making and change students’ behaviors long-term.
Established in 2011 by Magnetar’s founders, our program’s objective is to democratize access to financial education across the U.S. We believe that high-quality financial education is key to empowering equality of opportunity and long-term success.
Evolution and Partnership
In 2011, we developed Magnetar Academy, a financial education program that served Chicago-area schools. It was successful on a local/regional scale and served as a proof-of-concept which confirmed students, teachers and communities longed for high-quality financial education programming.
In 2016, the Magnetar Foundation partnered with the renowned learning sciences experts at University of Chicago. Together, we developed finEDge, a best-in-class high school financial education curriculum designed to solve problems where others fell short. Our Foundation also hosts an annual mock stock trading competition, the Magnetar Team Challenge, as the curriculum’s “capstone” event.
