Life Lessons from Cashflow 101
This morning I went to Ortigas with my brother-in-law’s wife to play Cashflow with the Create Abundance community. Well, I was already expecting so much about this game and we have been procrastinating for a long time. For those who don’t know Cashflow is the game that Robert Kiyosaki, who wrote the best-selling book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, invented. It teaches all about financial literacy, meaning, learning to invest and how to handle finances, learning to take calculated risk in a simulated environment. If you know Monopoly, It is more of that kind except this has more rules and more real-life. So if you want to know more, you might want to visit the community’s website www.ca2020.ning.com.
On the way to Ortigas I kept asking Dred, 
if there is a dress code. Because we were both wearing jeans and from my experience those kind of gathering requires that we wear some sort of a business attire but she said it is not needed since her Coach didn’t tell her.Okay, so we went in jeans. I was quite surprise to see a lot of people…wearing business attire! Well, they didn’t made us feel off so that is really okay. What really amazed me is that there at a lot of people, we filled the place and there are many tables for playing. Fun! So okay, we met our moderator, Coach Abbie and Coach Jerson and they introduced us to the rules of the game and to each other and…YAY! We were handed a balance sheet. Uh-oh! I was kinda expecting this because I read so much about the board game but seeing it in front of you made me quiver. I hate Math! I abhor Math! More so accounting! But hey, Coaches were encouraging so we started playing. We started about 9:30am and they said it would end about 12:30. Okay long 3 hours, right? Wrong. The time was not enough. When Coach was saying that we only have 5 minutes left we were saying “oh my!” Kinda saying “bitin”. Yes, believe it or not 3 hours was not enough. You want to play more, learn more and that is how exactly we felt. The game is exciting and the people in our group are very accommodating and fun. You may want to join us next time. Just email me or join the community just tell them I invited you.(My name is Clarissa Centeno)
Okay, so what did I learn? I might also be sharing what the others shared after the game.
1. I got so excited because I was getting the hang of doing calculated risk. You see, I made a big loan from the bank just to purchase this business which in fairness has high yield and ROI. So I really calculated (congratulate me!) and found out that even with loan payments and all I’ll still me making $550.00 as cashflow. Coolness. In real life most of us were taught not to take out loans for anything, and as we grow older we were forced to take out loans (from credit cards, 5-6) just so we can make ends meet. But in here, we were being coached to make loans to make more money. You see, borrow someone else’s money but make sure that even while paying that loan, you still get something out of it, cash flow, so you don’t have to borrow during emergency.
2. Saving is losing. Yup, you’re right. I was warned that most people will react negatively if I say it in public. Because what is our idea of becoming rich? Saving enough until we can buy what we want. But, if you play the game, you will learn that no matter how much money you have in your hands, you’re still not rich because the only way to become truly rich is to have passive income (income that you get even if you stop working) that is more than your monthly expenses. So you really have to invest, to make that money work for you or you’ll end up being left in the rat race.
3. Dreams are free but living your dream is expensive. But hey, that is the difference between poor, middle and rich class, the poor dreams small and the rich dreams big. So they get big. See the picture? Also, it is notable from RDPD books that the poor’s mindset always says “I can’t afford that” but the rich mindset asks ” how can I afford that?” The latter, meaning you’re making your brain work and think of possible ways of getting rich.
4. Passive income is the key. Yes, again, passive income are income that you get even without having to go to work. This will come from big businesses, and real estate investments. As you may have noticed, the rich are the people playing golf on a weekday, they dine at the most expensive restaurants during times that most of us work. Because they have passive income.
5. Leverage. Using other people’s money to generate income for yourself. In the game, you can get Small Deal Cards that contains Stock information of certain companies (fiction) and then it says, ” Only you may buy”, so the technique is to ask your co-players to get shares in that stock and since you have the information, you can ask for something in return like a cut from their dividend or profit once they sell or make a profit at hand.
6. Buy low sell high. Obviously. But we were also taught to buy at large quantity because you will not feel the profit if it’s just $2 right?
7. It’s not how much money you make it is how much you keep and how hard that money is working for you. My character in the game is a doctor. And at first we taught that was great because my salary is above all of them. But there was a downside, I had more expenses than most of the players as well. Notice the similarity in real-life. Don’t we all wonder why is it that when we have 8,000/month income it was enough but when our income ballooned to 15,000 it is still the same though there is 7,000 difference? Yes, because as our salaries go up our expenses and the cost of living that we set becomes higher as well. Instant gratification. So after the game, I joked “hmmm… Ayoko na mag-work” Hehehe.
So there. I also have some few lessons learned that are not from the board game but from the people in the community. After the game Coach Patrick Esmundo came at our table and asked us how we did. And then he imparted some invaluable life and financial lessons. He said that the path to becoming rich is not easy. A lot of people will surely contradict you in a way, sometimes even your family, so it is better if you surround yourself with people of the right mind so you can keep the desires burning. He’s not saying to leave them, but just know where the boundaries are in listening to them. After all, it is you who will make the decision. Also, he said leave your past failures in the past, don’t let it hinder you future. And also, I think, the people there are dreaming big, so they are reaching big things. And me too I dream big and I pray that I will be able to reach those dreams! Thanks CA2020 community!
