During Swiss Money Week, children and young people learn how to handle money in a playful and engaging way. Studies show that financial literacy often remains limited—even in countries with highly developed financial markets. This is where the Swiss Finance Museum’s activities come in.
This year, 22 school classes from the cantons of Zurich, Bern, and St. Gallen took part in two age-appropriate competitions aligned with the Lehrplan 21 curriculum—including 4 lower primary, 10 middle primary, and 8 secondary level classes.
While the lower primary classes brought their collages to the children’s workshop “Money Makes the World Go Round!” and reflected on them there, the highlight for the older students was the award ceremony of the budgeting competition, held on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.
Budgeting a Class Trip
For middle and upper secondary levels, the challenge was to create a realistic financial plan for a class trip—from transportation and accommodation to meals and activity fees.
At two award ceremonies—one for middle level and one for upper level—the classes presented their thoughtfully planned trips. The award presentations followed immediately afterward.
The Winners
The winners of the competition were recognized separately for upper and middle levels:
Upper Level:
- Stettbach School, Ms. Deli
- Berufswahl- und Weiterbildungsschule Zürcher Oberland (BWSZO), Ms. Mühlheim
- Buchlern School, Ms. Rey
Middle Level:
- Bungertwies School, Ms. Malaci-Dadecko and Ms. Fisch
- Langmatt School, Ms. Künzli
- Allmend School, Ms. Feit and Ms. Balderer
Lindenhof School Wil SG, Ms. Schmid
Teachers
We liked the idea of having a class project that students could work on independently—and a class trip is an ideal setting for this. The students managed the entire project themselves. From a financial perspective, what’s particularly valuable is that they learn where costs actually arise, what it really means to spend that amount of money, and where there is room for financial flexibility. The award ceremony was, of course, an additional highlight. For teachers, it’s important to allow sufficient time for the project.
Allmend School, Ms. Balderer and Ms. Feit
Swiss Money Week can be very well linked to curriculum content and is both realistic and motivating for students. What we particularly appreciated was the intensive collaboration as a class community: it brought the class closer together, strengthened team spirit, and at the same time encouraged a more mindful approach to money. As a small tip, we recommend starting the project as early as possible after the official launch, as children’s imagination knows no bounds. It is worth allowing enough time so that their many creative ideas can be thoughtfully developed, discussed, and implemented
Bungertwies School, Ms. Fisch and Ms. Malaci-Dadecko
The Jury
I’m impressed by how the school classes went beyond simply calculating costs in their budgeting. Over the course of the project, they overcame numerous challenges as a class, developed viable solutions together, and learned a great deal—not only about costs, but also about effective collaboration. I’m proud to support this initiative as a member of the jury.
Fabienne Strobel, Head Sustainability at SIX and Jury member
SIX and the Swiss Finance Museum offer an engaging budgeting competition as part of Swiss Money Week that creates real added value for school classes. It teaches students essential financial skills in a practical way while also strengthening their teamwork and organizational abilities. Particularly encouraging is this year’s record level of participation, which highlights the strong relevance of this topic.
Alisa Gallmann, City of Zurich School Authority and Jury member
Those who understand early on how money, budgeting, and investing work are better equipped to make sound financial decisions later in life. With Swiss Money Week and our competitions, we help foster these skills. I’m pleased to see how much children and young people learn—and how they can benefit from it in the future.
Andrea Weidemann, Director Swiss Finance Museum and Jury member
Impressions
Creating a Money Collage
Lower primary classes explored what money means to them through a creative collage project. Guided by one or more self-selected key questions, four classes engaged with the topic of money in a creative way.
To reflect on their collages and explore the topic of money in greater depth, the Swiss Finance Museum invited the classes to take part in the children’s workshop “Money Makes the World Go Round!”.
New Competition 2027
Investment Strategy Contest - The Stock Market Game
As part of Swiss Money Week 2026, the exchange operator SIX, the Swiss Finance Museum, and the Swiss National Bank’s education program iconomix are jointly launching a stock market game for vocational and upper secondary schools.
During the 2026/2027 school year, students will develop investment strategies over a period of six months on the VirtualAlpha platform, supported by experts from SIX and the Swiss National Bank. In doing so, they learn how to use financial investments in a risk-aware manner—an especially relevant skill: from the age of 18, young people are allowed to invest in the stock market, yet they are often exposed to advertising for financial products much earlier.
The award ceremony will once again take place in March 2027 as part of the annual Swiss Money Week. Following a pilot phase in German-speaking Switzerland, the stock market game is planned to be rolled out nationwide.
Swiss Money Week, the Swiss edition of Global Money Week, takes place this year from March 16 to 22, 2026. As an international initiative, it aims to raise awareness of financial topics among children and young people.
The Financial Literacy Network, of which the Swiss Finance Museum is a member, organizes a wide range of activities to strengthen financial education in Switzerland and help prevent debt.
Partners
Asuera Stiftung
Ramsay Foundation
Stiftung Zürcher Bankenverband