You got the job. Now find out what actually lands in your account, and decide where it goes.
1Pick a job
2Read your paycheck
3Give every dollar a job
Which job did you land?
Hours over 40 in a week are overtime, paid at 1.5 times your hourly rate. Students under 16 have legal limits on their hours, so overtime usually applies to students 16 and older.
Paid every two weeks. Hours are a typical school-year or summer schedule.
Here's your pay stub
Real pay stubs use short codes like Fed W/H and OASDI. Tap any line to decode it.
of what you earned is yours to spend or save. Did you expect more or less?
Give every dollar a job
NeedsWantsSavings
Your plan
Prototype notes for reviewers
Problem
A student hired at $17.50 an hour expects to take home $17.50 an hour. Their first paycheck is smaller, and nobody has explained the difference between gross and net pay, or why taxes come out at all. Many also don't know that a low-earning teen can get federal withholding back by filing a return, so that money often goes unclaimed.
Hypotheses to test with students
Walking through gross vs. net with their own job makes taxes concrete, so students can explain FICA in their own words.
Knowing withholding may come back as a refund makes students more likely to file a return.
Tying savings to a named goal (laptop, car) raises how much they choose to save.
Letting students enter their real job and real expenses increases completion.
Success metrics
Completion rate across all three steps
Share of students who use a custom job or add their own expense
Share of stub lines opened, and of students who open "Why do we pay taxes?"
Share of plans that balance to $0 left; average savings rate by goal
End-of-plan check: share who found it helpful, who say they understand taxes better, and who say they're more likely to file a return
Changed in v2, after review
Students can enter their own job, paid hourly or by yearly salary.
The paycheck step opens by explaining gross vs. net pay with the student's own numbers, and why everyone pays taxes.
The federal tax line explains the refund a student may get back by filing.
Students can add their own needs or wants to the budget.
Changed in v3, after tester feedback
Each pay-stub line shows the code a student would actually see (Fed W/H, OASDI, FICA-Med, IL W/H) next to its plain-language name, and tapping it explains what the code stands for.
The plan screen ends with a three-question check on helpfulness, understanding of taxes, and likelihood of filing a return.
Hourly jobs have an overtime option: hours over 40 a week are paid at 1.5 times the hourly rate and shown as their own line on the stub.
Events this prototype would track (live)
Tax math is simplified for teaching: 2026 single standard deduction, 10%/12% brackets, Illinois 4.95% flat rate with the personal exemption. Overtime at 1.5x for hours over 40 a week. Not tax advice.