Financial Lessons From the “Game of Life”
March 02, 2015Recently, my family had one of those cold, winter weekend days where the social calendar was completely empty: no birthday parties, no basketball games, no play dates, and no plans. I am usually very eager to get out and explore all of the beauty outside of our little casa but my initial reaction was relief and joy because the “Mom & Dad shuttle” was staying at home for a change. This was an excellent plan until the excitement of a lazy stay-at-home day getting some household chores wore off and Monster #1 and Monster #2 decided they could no longer coexist peacefully in our house.
After exhausting all potential entertainment options (e.g., Netflix, Legos, iPod games) and attempting pure bribery, my wife and I realized that we needed to mix things up a bit. That’s when we realized the temporary solution for peace was hiding in our closet in the form of good old fashioned board games. One of these board games, Hasbro’s “The Game of Life,” allowed us to turn off technology for a few hours and enjoy each other’s company, have a few laughs, and reinforce some valuable financial lessons for our kids. Playing a board game also provided a nice flashback to the countless hours that I spent as a child playing games like this with my family.
For the benefit of those out there who have not played “The Game of Life,” the rules are quite simple and the outcome in most cases comes down to pure luck. But there are some strategic decisions that can have a significant impact on the outcome. Should you choose the longer career path and go to college or go to work right away and start collecting paydays earlier? Buy a home, sell one, or continue to rent and do nothing? Will you decide to have children?
The end result in “The Game of Life” is the player with the most money at retirement wins the game. At first I thought what a horribly misguided message this could be sending our kids! But then I decided to shut down the financial life planning side of my brain for a while.
Yes, it may be true that money doesn’t buy happiness in the real game of life. But the more money that we make throughout our careers, the more opportunities we have to save and invest for retirement – however we choose to define retirement. Having the financial freedom to focus on important life goals requires us to build a retirement nest egg that allow us to fulfill our dreams, vision, and values.
After finishing the game and counting up our “nest eggs,” yours truly was declared the official winner. Of course, then the financial life planning side of my brain started lighting up, ready to find out what my kids thought about the game. Perhaps there was a valuable financial lesson to be found in between all of the silliness and laughter.
During our wrap up discussion as we were putting away game pieces, my daughter said that she learned from playing the game with friends a week earlier that she should have gone to college to improve her lifetime earnings ability. This time around she went to college and ended up with a higher paying job. It didn’t guarantee her “victory” during the game but gave her more opportunities.
With student loan debt now exceeding $1.2 trillion dollars, there is growing skepticism about the true value of a college education. In general, college is not the only path to success and does not always guarantee positive outcomes in life. But with proper direction and wise career selection early in the process, college remains a wise investment for many people.
However, this success is often contingent on choosing a major wisely and incurring as little debt as possible to acquire this education. I also strongly believe that success is not determined by salary. I’ve worked with too many high earners recently who get little satisfaction in their jobs and are getting closer to retirement with a desire to do something different and more fulfilling. Nevertheless, education and career choices have a huge impact in the real world too.
Some other important lessons included the following:
- Tracking your net worth is a good way to keep track of your progress in real life too.
- If you aren’t prepared for potential setbacks such as a loss of job or getting sued, you will take a major financial hit.
- A little leverage isn’t a bad thing but too much debt will hold you back.
- Having kids can pay you financially in the game but they also come with a cost. Plan accordingly!
- It’s important to balance taking risk with the potential rewards.
- Don’t try to convince your real world spouse that a teepee and houseboat are acceptable housing options. (Hey, my two houses paid off because they led to victory).
The real world doesn’t work exactly as planned and “The Game of Life” may not be a true indication of the financial planning opportunities and challenges we are all faced with during the journey. That being said, our family enjoyed playing the game and actually turned it into an impromptu discussion about money matters and life choices. My wife and I tried to balance the seriousness of challenging what was realistic and what was not.
In the end, we were spending time together as a family and having open and honest talks about money. This doesn’t come naturally for most of us and money is often a taboo topic in society. Do you have any board games that really stand out as good examples of teaching important financial principles to your children?
Speaking of playing games, the concept of gamification has been growing in popularity during recent years. In next week’s blog post, we will take look at how smart financial decision making can be influenced through gamification. Until then, go dust off some board games and find a friend or family member to test out your gaming skills.