Inspired after reading the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", I went for this Cashflow 101 Workshop by an entrepreneurship club last night. Cashflow is actually a board game created by the author of the same book, Robert T. Kiyosaki.
The attendance was a little less than 100, comprising of mostly the working class. I was surprised at the number of club members who turned up to support the workshop. Ratio was about 3-4 attendees to each club member. 1st impression of the initial part of the workshop was that it felt like a game show, with the MC inviting the audience to applaud for any and everything.
"Give a round of applause to all of you for attending... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
(After asking for foreign friends in the audience...)
"Give a round of applause to our friends from Malaysia ... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
"Give a round of applause to our friends from Vietnam... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
etc...
(After a story about her mum and her going shopping...)
"Give a round of applause to my mum... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
Wow... This feels so artificial. But maybe it's just me, because everyone else around me seems so enthu about it. Maybe I've been in the army for too long and this was the norm in the civi or corporate world nowadays. I've heard from my friend about attending some financial course where the audience are super enthu about answering the speaker's every question with a resounding "YESSS" or "NOOO".
Anyway, I think the more interesting part of the workshop was when we really start to play the Cashflow 101 game. Attempting to simulate every financial aspect of our working life, there were everything from stocks, properties, spending money on "toys", getting retrenched and even having a baby (I had a baby at the age of 60 in the game). The game revolves around a balance sheet where we try to increase our "passive income" so that it exceeds our monthly expenses. When that happens, you can move out of the RAT RACE, and move into the FAST Track.
Imagine if we really are able to do that in our real life. Having enough passive income to cover our expenses. That means we can practically rot at home, without changing our lifestyle. Going to work would then be a past time instead of being a burden. It was not as easy as it sound though. We played for an hour to simulate our age from 25 to 65. At the ripe old age of 65, I retired with only $5000 and no passive income. Pathetic...
But I think having read the book, I do appreciate what the author was trying to convey. If we depend solely on our employment income, we will not be able to attain the "nirvana" state of "financial freedom". Of course, this don't mean we should dive into the next bank or brokerage firm we find and "hantam" our life savings in stocks and shares. In fact, with some research, you should find that property would provide more stable passive income, though it requires considerably more capital.
The science of investing surely needs much more study and research. I've only just began my financial education journey as I begin my working life. Hopefully, after gaining more financial knowledge, I would figure out how to get our of the RAT RACE.
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