About
About Rise to Riches
Rise to Riches is a free investment simulator that replays real market history with virtual money. It is an independent educational project — there is no brokerage behind it, nothing is for sale, and no account is required to play.
Last reviewed
Why it exists
This project compresses recorded annual market history into a class period rather than waiting for live prices. Depending on the years chosen, students can explore a bubble, a crash or a recovery and compare their result with an index fund over the same period. One run is not evidence of investing skill.
The simulator is free and needs no student accounts. School web filters differ, so teachers should check it loads on their network. Teachers can run a whole class from one room code; see the classroom page.
Where the numbers come from
Asset paths are built from recorded annual returns for each asset in each calendar year. The moves inside each year are simulated, not historical daily prices, so prices move continuously during play. Within a year, the path wanders; the year's start and end points match the historical record. Certificates of deposit and the savings account use stored annual rate tables with simplified product rules.
The full list of assets, the year ranges covered, the data sources and the known simplifications are documented on the methodology page. If you spot a year that looks wrong, that page is the right thing to check first — and the request box on the homepage is the fastest way to tell us.
Limits and disclaimer
This is a simulation for education. It is not investment advice, not a brokerage, and not a prediction of future returns. Simulated results ignore taxes, trading costs, spreads and the emotional weight of risking real money. A strategy that wins here can lose badly in a live market.
Basic and Advanced stock games use visible calendar years, so recognizing an era can create hindsight. Hard Client Contracts conceals the historical period. All modes are practice, not a test of future investment performance.
Start with the simulator
The quickest way to understand the project is to play ten years of it.