Cashflow 101 is a board game designed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of bestselling book “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” Kiyosaki developed Cashflow 101 to help teach people the basic principles of getting out of the Rat Race.
The game has two separate “Tracks” on it; the “rat race” and the “fast track”. Everyone starts off in the rat race and their primary goal is to get on to the fast track. The rat race represents the average person’s life today, living from pay check to pay check, and just getting by. However, scattered around the rat race there are opportunities
to create residual income, and after practice, you learn to recognise what is and what’s not a good opportunity.
The opportunities in Cashflow 101 range from real estate deals to stock options, and even include opportunities to start part-time businesses. The player simply needs to increase his/her residual income to be greater than his/her expenses. However, just like in life, there are the dreaded “doodad” squares. Doodad’s is the name Kiyosaki has given to liabilities that people buy. If you land on a doodad, like buying a new car for example, then your monthly expenses increase, which in turn means you need to increase the amount of residual income you earn to exit the rat race.
While trying to find your way out of the rat race, each player has to look after an income statement and a balance sheet. At first this seemed really difficult and complicated, but after 2 or 3 games, we soon got the hang of it, and it was then “easy.”
Once you qualify to exit the rat race, you step onto the fast track. Your income suddenly shoots up incrementally and you no longer have to work. The fast track is full of fancy, posh, holidays, businesses, and experiences.
I must be honest; the getting onto the fast track in Cashflow 101 is somewhat of an anti-climax, whereas I can’t wait to get onto the fast track in real life! Let me give you some examples to show you what I mean. One of the experiences is a trip to go and see the seven wonders of the world – “go by plane, boat, bicycle, camel, canoe and limo to the 7 Wonders of the World. First Class luxury all the way: $200,000” another example is Buy a forest – “Stop the loss of ancient trees. Donate 1,000 acres of forest and create a nature walk for all to enjoy: $250,000.” If you have the specified amounts, you pay the money, and put a marker on the square to say you have done that. Not quite the thrill of the real thing…
All in all, I think Cashflow 101 is a brilliant game. It has been simplified specifically to help people grasp the basics of investing, and increasing their residual income. It teaches people to keep their eyes open for opportunities that come around every day and to capitalise on them and ultimately exit the rat race.
Attitude is Everything tigress financial partners
Jeff Keller tells us that attitude is everything if you truely want to live a successful life and on the very first page he opens with the following quote:
”Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal
Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
In Attitude is Everything, Jeff Keller shares with us twelve lessons that we can learn to help us improve our attitude about ourselves, our careers, others and how we see the world.
Jeff puts it nicely when he says that our attitude is our “Window” to the world. Everything we see in the world is seen through our own attitude and that’s why some people react so differently to the exact same circumstance. Most people who perhaps loose their job, think this is a terrible catastrophe, how they going to pay their mortgage or feed the family? Yet, some people when they lose their jobs are able to look at it from a positive point of view and see it as an opportunity to grow and find something better.
Jeff tells us how we all start with a clean attitude “window” but over the years it becomes smudged from criticisms, ridicule, rejection and disappointment.
In Attitude is Everything, Jeff tells us we become what we think about. Our circumstances reflect what we think about and need to picture ourselves to success. In Attitude is everything, Jeff gives us 2 examples of Famous people who were able to picture themselves to success.
In an interview, Celine Dion was asked if she ever dreamed at the start of her career that someday she’d sell millions of records and sing in front of tens of thousands of people. Her response was that none of this surprised her as she had pictured the whole thing since she was five years old.
The other example given in this book is that of Jim Carrey. In 1990, while he was still a relatively unknown comedian, he wrote a cheque to himself for $10 Million for “acting services rendered” and post-dated it thanksgiving 1995. Jim Carrey knew he was going to be a success and every day he looked at this cheque. In 1994 he was paid $7 million for his role in “Dumb and Dumber” and in 1995 he earned many more millions.
I personally have decided to follow Jim Carrey’s example and I have written a cheque to myself for £20 Million and post-dated it 10 years for Christmas 2017. I have this cheque next to the PC on my desk where I can see it every day.
Obviously just imagining where you want to be in life alone is not going to get you there; you need to make a commitment to do what it takes to reach your goals. Even if you don’t know exactly how you going to achieve your goal, be committed to make consistent action towards your goals and the “how to” will start making itself apparent.
Throughout Attitude is Everything, Jeff keller gives examples from his own life, from celebrity people and from everyday people that he meets on his travels. The book is jammed with inspirational quotes and life changing stories. It really is amazing changing your attitude can change your life. Attitude is Everything!