Arkansas Personal Finance Challenge

female adult standing with three teenage students holding a competition banner

Economics Arkansas and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis will host the 2025 Arkansas Personal Finance Challenge, an opportunity for high school students to demonstrate their knowledge of personal finance by competing against other students in a one-day challenge.

Arkansas Teachers may register one team of 3-4 students to participate. No advanced qualifications or tests are required.

Teachers of all registered teams will receive the 2025 case study via email in advance of the competition. Teams will collaborate and prepare a 6-minute slide deck presentation making suggestions based on the case study information. They will bring printed copies of their presentation to the state competition.

Students should exhibit knowledge in areas such as earning income, buying goods and services, saving, using credit, investing, and protecting and insuring. Presentations are scored in content knowledge, teamwork, and communication skills.

The day of the competition, teams will also participate in a round of testing.

COMPETITION DATE:

When: Friday, March 14, 2025

Where: University of Central Arkansas (UCA)

Time: Approximately 9:30 am -2:30 pm

Prize money, certificates, and medallions will be awarded.

The first-place winning team will split $500 and advance to the National Personal Finance Challenge hosted in June. Economics Arkansas will provide $1,500 in transportation costs. The National Personal Finance Challenge will cover hotel, food, and transportation costs to and from the hotel to the competition.

View complete rules and a sample case study here.

Click here to find a toolkit of ways to prepare for the Personal Finance Challenge.

Personal Finance Challenge	Prize Amount
1st Place	$500 (split among team members)
2nd Place	$300 (split among team members)
3rd Place	$150 (split among team members)
Top 3 students TEST	$25 each
1st Place Teacher	$100
2nd Place Teacher	$75
3rd Place Teacher	$50