The Launchpad · The course
A full personal finance course that ends with a plan.
Six units, delivered as a web app, with a playbook for every module and a live dashboard that shows understanding shift before and after. Every required topic in Ed Code § 51284.5 is mapped to the module that teaches it.
How it works
Built for the teacher running the room.
01
Fits your bell schedule
Assign one module, one unit, or a full semester. Every unit stands on its own.
02
A playbook for every module
Timing, discussion prompts, openers, exit tickets, and the misconceptions to expect.
03
The shift is measured
The same questions before and after, so the change shows for each student and the class.
04
No student emails
Students join with a class code and password, plus a first name and last initial.
What's inside
Six units and a capstone.
Banking & Saving
- Where money lives, what accounts cost, scams, and a budget built on guardrails.
Investing
- Why invest, what goes inside an account, risk, and the long game.
Credit & Debt
- Credit scores, cards, loans, buy now pay later, and what borrowing really costs.
Taxes
- Paychecks, W-2s, filing, and money that arrives with nothing withheld.
Insurance
- Health and auto coverage, deductibles, and what drives a premium.
The College Project
- Fit and cost as one decision, from the college list to the award letter.
Wrapping Up
- A capstone: a financial plan written for the student at 25.
Real Takes and the Advisor Series sit inside every unit. Scope and sequence, an 18-week pacing plan, and a grading policy
What students keep
Two things that outlast the course.
Money Moves
Each student's own financial plan: what financially healthy means to them, goals, and real steps with dates, marked done the day they make them.
A Finance Notebook
The record of what they learned: the big ideas from every finished module, in their own words, with a stamp for every finished unit. Theirs to download, keep, and look things up in after high school.
Try it with a sample class.
The teacher demo opens a full dashboard with no signup. When you're ready, creating a real class takes a few minutes. The Launchpad is free for schools through The Finance Lab, which operates the service and protects student data.
Why The Launchpad lives at thefinancelab.co: Tyler creates and updates it. The Finance Lab, a California nonprofit, runs it and holds student data, so your district's data agreement is with a nonprofit that never sells student data.