Sunday night, after a particularly long weekend of kids’ sporting events, the girls and I decided to have another Family Game Night. Husband had homework to do (darn him for being such a good student!) so it was just me and the girls.
Rather than playing another game of Mexican Train Dominos, we opted for Life. And for the record, can I just say how hard it can be to find a board game that a 36-year old, a a 14-year old and a 9-year old can play together? And ENJOY IT?
I digress.
While we sat at the kitchen table and played this board game, I noticed how similar the game really can be to REAL LIFE. Or at least depending on the players.
Take my 9-year old for example. Her attitude in the game was like me in my twenties. She was immediately willing to borrow $100,000 from the bank to fund her college education. She wanted the biggest and the best house possible, irregardless of what she could afford. She would borrow more money from the bank, simply because she could. She was basically willing to beg, borrow and steal to get more money (or more credit). She didn’t think she would need insurance, so she passed up the auto and homeowners insurance at every opportunity. There was no urgency to get her debt paid off throughout the game, even though she knew it would hurt her at “retirement.” When she retired, she still had some student loan money to pay back.
Then there’s my 14-year old. She represents me in my early thirties. She took a little safer route. She looked at the two choices at the beginning of the game– college education or going straight to work. In the game, the college education requires a $100,000 loan from the bank, but can mean a higher salary later on when you choose your career. She took the loan, but she was hesitant. She paid attention throughout the game to how much money she had, but again was not concerned when she had to go the bank for a loan. She waited for a couple catastrophes to happen before finally ponying up the money for the insurance. She didn’t purchase any stock, but tried to keep a cushion of money in case of emergencies. She paid off some of her debt at the beginning, but made it pretty close to the end of the game before getting it all paid off.
And then there’s me. The 36-year old who realizes what credit and debt and overspending can do, even in a board game. I also reluctantly opted for the $100,000 student loan, but only after carefully reading each space on the board until I could “start my career” so I knew exactly what could happen. Upon choosing my career (I was a doctor!), I chose to begin paying off my debt to the bank immediately. Within my first few turns, I was out of debt and remained debt-free through retirement. I had homeowners insurance and auto insurance, and I even was able to purchase some stock. I played it safe by choosing a house that I could pay cash for, without borrowing any money from the bank. When I would come to a crossroads in the game, and needed to decide which way to go next, I would look not for where the next payday was, but also what obstacles were in my path. I planned ahead.
Care to guess which one of us won?
