Dollars & Sense, as the subtitle indicates, is an interactive guide to money management. It incorporates sound and video clips as introductory material to areas on budgeting, banking, and credit. Powerpoint‐like cartoons are used as link points to these educational areas. For instance, in the area on Budgeting, the cartoon of a man stretching a dollar moves the user to a video of a game show, where a person has just won $10,000. Later, she is interviewed after having spent all of the money and heavily in debt. From there, the user is able to explore subject areas on Why budget?, Goals, Income, and Expenses. Often, there is a short question/quiz on statements made throughout. The user needs to sign in their first and last name to use this product; why, I never quite figured out.
The CD is fairly easy to use and to load, and comes only with instructions to do so. This product is geared toward high school to adult users who have little to no experience with finance or budgeting. The content is fairly simple, introductory, and is informative only. There is very little chance for interaction from the user, except to point and click in order to move to different screens. This product would be useful for introductory courses in personal finance, budgeting, and credit at the high school or community college level, or for adults who wish to learn these concepts on their home computer.
