What's Your Money Attitude?

Last night we had an exciting two hour session playing the Cashflow 101 board game by Robert Kiyosaki. It was the first time for most of the players to play this game designed to sharpen our financial intelligence. This game is a fun tool to learn a rather complicated subject in a safe setup.

What fascinated me is how the game brought out each player’s character and attitude towards financial transactions and money in general. The designers of the game say that the attitude displayed in the game is a reflection of one's attitude toward actual money. Here are some of the characters I observed:

There are those that bought all the deals that were drawn. They gambled on every opportunity. It felt like, as long as they had the money, and they could afford the deal drawn, they took it up. It did not matter what the returns were, they just bought it! They were gambling their money if you ask me. I bet if you asked them why they made each of the purchases, they would not have a solid answer. Peer pressure can contribute to such a money attitude - everyone seems to be investing except you. You feel the pressure to invest in anything that comes your way just to be "in the investors' club".

We also had Big Dogs in the house! This lot went for the Big Deals - it did not matter whether they had the money or not. They are not afraid of running into bankruptcy. They are focused on getting out of the rat race as fast as they can. In their mind, if you go for the big deals, they have higher returns. They can easily forget to create a balance to begin somewhere and end up drowning in debt. In life, you need to cut your coat according to your cloth. Just because it takes long to get there, doesn't mean you will not arrive.

The what-if set of players were skeptical towards every opportunity drawn. They worried too much about what would happen or not happen.  They hardly invested in anything one hour into the game! As an investor you must be willing to take risks. They probably hardly invest in anything in real life especially after hearing horror stories of how people (real or imagined) have been conned of their hard earned earnings. They need to learn what questions to ask so that they can make informed decisions.

Then there were those who welcomed cooperation in taking up a deal. The person drawing the card was not selfish and sought for willing investors to get into the deal with them. In the consortium that formed thereafter, some pooled their money based on the decision of the others and did not bother to look at the details of the deal. Ignorance is not a defense - we must seek to understand the deal we want to invest in and not just rely on the person selling it to us. We also have to be creative and open minded - don't just pass a good deal because you are short of resources. It may take extra effort to form the consortium, but if the bigger picture has potential for all to win, then you are better off putting the effort.

There were many more attitudes displayed in the game. The fundamental question however is, what is your attitude toward money? Does your attitude empower you or impede you?