Why not rise to the challenge to “Get Out of the Rat Race”? I personally am a huge fan of this game and have been playing it intermittently for just over 20 years.  So far, I am still learning and don’t seem to tire of it. It is played all over the world with regular events in Robert’s home of Hawaii, New York, London, Paris and now Chester!

Homesale Homelet run a monthly/bimonthly cashflow game, usually in the Chester Abode Hotel ground floor bar.  It is free to join, you just need to advise in advance that you are coming to secure your game place.

I find, every time it is unpacked and balance sheets distributed the excitement with everyone, new and experienced, builds.  Everyone reaches for their trusty phone and start up the calculator app for the competition and excitement that will follow.

This is how the game works: everyone gets assigned a career, like secretary, doctor, engineer, etc…  That determines your starting income, but it can also come along with debt.  It is easy to get excited about getting a high income such as doctor but when you read how much debt with some careers it is easy to be brought back down to earth.

On the board is a ring labelled “Rat Race”, where everyone starts off and the players go round and round in circles and you land on a number of different types of tiles.

 

PAYDAY

The payday tile means you get paid.  You take your jobs income, minus off your expenses and you receive the amount of cash equal to the difference.

 

OPPORTUNITY

If you land on opportunity you draw a card from the “DEAL” pile, in which you are presented with an opportunity to buy an investment. You have to analyse the financials of the deal to decide whether you want it or whether you want to pass.

 

MARKET

If you land on this, you draw a card from the “MARKET” pile.  These cards have events on it that may affect your investments.  For example, a MARKET card may say “A buyer wants to buy your apartment building for £x.  Do you want to sell to this buyer?”.

 

DOODAD

If you land on this, you draw a card from the “DOODAD” pile.  These cards are not good news and they will cost you money.

 

The game creates twists and turns, deals come up in either individual stocks or residential options with some options for technology start-ups and occasionally an empty plot of land.

 

Like in real life, when financially able you can also reduce your debts by paying them back to the bank.  This allows you to increase your payday amount.

 

The objective of the game is to increase your passive income ie) income without working from your investments.  This means you become financial independent and you are out of the rat race.   When this happens you move from the inner circle of the game to the larger outer circle.  You then turn over your balance sheet and move into the fast lane.

 

This is when for me the game gets really exciting.  When you have escaped the rat race you are not working but are earning high passive income, it allows you to do more advanced deals through cards and with working with other members of the game.

 

The game continues well beyond when it ends.  I find, as do others that have played, that it is incredibly thought provoking and insists you to question, if not rethink your approach to investments, debt and future planning.

 

If you are interested in joining us for a Cashflow Game, please drop me an email on lisa@curranshomes.co.uk or give me a call on 01244 313 900.  We would love to meet you and be involved in your own game or indeed real life cashflow experiences.

 

The next Cashflow game is 6pm on 25 June at the Chester Abode ground floor bar.