Trick yourself into learning about investing and building wealth with Cashflow 101!

This week, I wanted to write about a really fun and unique alternative for learning some of the basic principles of investing and personal finance. The game (yes, I said it...GAME) is called "Cashflow 101: How to Get Out of the Rat Race," and it was created by Robert Kiyosaki, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The game revolves around this concept of the "rat race," which represents the typical 9-5 day job. The main objective of the game is to get out of this "rat race" by accumulating enough passive income (ex: side income from a limited partnership or rental properties that you own) to cover 100% of your periodic expenses. You are able to do this by taking the money that you earn from your day job (careers and salaries are randomly assigned) and investing it in real estate, stocks, and businesses. You move from deal to deal, building your wealth and reinvesting until you are able to earn enough passive income to get out of the rat race of your 9-5 job and retire early. With each deal that you make, the game teaches you to classify and record each transaction on your own personal balance sheet and income statement. Cashflow can be extremely fun and competitive, and allows you to play with up to 6 people at a time.

Cashflow 101 is a board game, and can be purchased on Amazon via this link; however, there is a new way to play this awesome game. Here is a link to the RichDad website where you can now sign up for a free account and play the Cashflow game online, either against the computer, or with other people just like you: http://www.richdad.com/apps-games/cashflow-classic.aspx

I hope that you will all take a moment to check out this awesome game. For anyone who is looking to hone their skills, or develop a deeper understanding of basic accounting and finance concepts, this game provides a fun and lighthearted avenue to do so. For the first time investor, the game allows you to experiment with different investment strategies and make those much needed mistakes to learn from, without losing actual money!

As always, leave me a comment with any thoughts or suggestions. Have fun!