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 woman demanded her money back. She said that the very idea
that a game could be a reflection of her was ridiculous. Her money was promptly refunded
and she left.
Since 1984, I have made millions simply by doing what the school system does not do. In
school, most teachers lecture. I hated lectures as a student. I was soon bored, and my mind
would drift.
In 1984, I began teaching via games and simulations, and I still rely on these tools today. I
always encourage adult students to look at games as reflecting back to them what they know
and what they need to learn. Most importantly, games reflect behavior. They are instant
feedback systems. Instead of the teacher lecturing you, the game is giving you a personalized
lecture, one that is custom-made just for you.
The friend of the woman who left later called to give me an update. She said her friend was
fine and had calmed down. In her cooling-off period, she could see some slight relationship
between the game and her life. Although she and her husband did not own a boat, they did
own everything else imaginable. She was angry after their divorce, both because he had run
off with a younger woman and because, after twenty years of marriage, they had accumulated
little in the way of assets. There was virtually nothing for them to split. Their twenty years of
married life had been incredible fun, but all they had accumulated was a ton of doodads.
She realized that her anger at doing the numbers—the income statement and balance sheet—
came from her embarrassment about not understanding them. She had believed that finances
were the man’s job. She maintained the house and did the entertaining, and he handled the
finances. She was now quite certain, that in the last five years of their marriage, he had
hidden money from her. She was angry at herself for not being more aware of where the
money was going, as well as for not knowing about the other woman.
Just like a board game, the world is always providing us with instant feedback. We could
learn a lot if we tuned in more. One day not long ago, I complained to my wife that the
cleaners must have shrunk my pants. My wife gently smiled and poked me in the stomach to
inform me that the pants had not shrunk. Something else had expanded—me!
The
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