Cashflow 101, the board game that can actually make you financially free.

Cashflow 101, the board game that can actually make you financially free.

When I think back to my decision to start my own business and become a serious real estate investor, I almost always return to the day that I first had the opportunity to read Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.   If you have not read this book, I would highly recommend you read it and read it again.  It literally opened my eyes and explained how money works – giving me the true facts about money that the rich teach their children and that the poor and middle class does not.  While the book opened my eyes to everything I was doing wrong with my finances, it wasn’t until 5 years later when I started playing Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 board game that I actually began to take action and implement the ideas and apply the concepts laid out in the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book.   I like to say that the “Rich Dad” book puts the knowledge to create financial freedom in your head, but actually playing the Cashflow game puts the knowledge to create financial freedom in your heart.

You may ask “What is the Cashflow 101 game?”  Well, the best way to describe it is Monopoly on steroids.  Like Monopoly it is a board game that involves investing, but unlike Monopoly it serves as a powerful tool for learning basic financial strategies and accounting principles.  Simply stated, Cashflow 101 is the first in a series of board games created by Mr. Kiyosaki to reinforce the information and financial principles that he teaches in his books.

In the board game, you play a rat that travels around two unique tracks. At the beginning of the game you start in the small inner circle track called the "Rat Race".  Your goal is to escape the “Rat Race” and make it to the larger outer track called the "Fast Track".  Starting in the “Rat Race”, you quickly discover that simply earning a “Paycheck” will not allow you to create financial freedom and escape to the “Fast Track”.  Only by acquiring income producing assets like rental properties do you slowly discover what it takes to generate the passive income necessary to make it into the “Fast Track”.  

At the heart of the game is making players learn how to actively manage their money by filling out and creating their own financial statements. Players choose from a variety of starting careers (Truck Driver, Mechanic, Lawyer, Airline Pilot, etc.) and fill out their financial statements appropriately. As they earn money, pay bills and invest in different deals like turn key income properties they dutifully log each change to their financial statements and begin to understand and control how money flows through their lives.

There are literally thousands of Cashflow game clubs around the world. These are groups of “like-minded” individuals who have typically read Mr. Kiyosaki’s book and get together regularly to play his board games to develop their skills for investing and money management.  Besides creating a fun environment to learn life changing financial skills, these clubs offer opportunities to create lasting friendships, learn about various investment opportunities, and build a network of contacts that can support you in securing your financial future.    

It was because of the amazing people that I met at those first Cashflow game club events that I decided to start my own clubs in Burbank and Pasadena California over five years ago.  So go ahead and visit a local Cashflow club in your area. You can go to www.meetup.com where many of the clubs are listed.  If you are like me, the board game will transform your "money mind-set", whether you are a newcomer looking to get out of the “Rat Race”, or a seasoned investor seeking a faster path to financial freedom.