Chapter Five: Lesson 5
fail to realize that while that idea or way of doing something was an
asset yesterday, yesterday is gone.
One afternoon I was teaching how to invest using a board game
I had invented, CASHFLOW®, as a teaching tool. A friend had brought
someone along to attend the class. This friend of a friend was recently
divorced, had been badly burned in the divorce settlement, and was now
searching for some answers. Her friend thought the class might help.
The game was designed to help people learn how money works.
In playing the game, they learn about the interaction of the income
statement with the balance sheet.
They learn how cash flows between
the two and how the road to wealth
is through striving to increase your
monthly cash flow from the asset
column to the point that it exceeds
your monthly expenses. Once you accomplish this, you are able to get
out of the Rat Race and out onto the Fast Track.
As I have said, some people hate the game, some love it, and
others miss the point. This woman missed a valuable opportunity to
learn something. In the opening round, she drew a “doodad” card
with the boat on it. At first she was happy. “Oh, I’ve got a boat.”
Then, as her friend tried to explain how the numbers worked on her
income statement and balance sheet, she got frustrated because she
had never liked math. The rest of her table waited while her friend
continued explaining the relationship between the income statement,
balance sheet, and monthly cash flow. Suddenly, when she realized
how the numbers worked, it dawned on her that her boat was eating
her alive. Later on in the game, she was also downsized and had a
child. It was a horrible game for her.
After the class, her friend came by and told me that she was upset.
She had come to the class to learn about investing and did not like
the idea that it took so long to play a silly game.
Her friend attempted to tell her to look within herself to see if
the game reflected her in any way. With that suggestion, the womanYou can play CASHFLOW
Classic on the web at
http://www.richdad.com and
learn how money works.