By the time it was over, she had to borrow $200,000 to pay off her debts (and had to pay an extra $5,000 for every $20,000 borrowed.) Though she had lots of income the rest of the game, she got killed when she had to pay it back. And just in case you might get sued, get umbrella insurance or a good lawyer (the no-sue card) to cover yourself. In that case, you simply get to laugh at the person who sued you. That is, unless you have a card that lets you get out of a lawsuit. And if you do, get ready to fork over $100k (ouch!). Just like the real world, you can get sued in Life. Yeah, the game also has some financial benefits of having kids (for example, they can all get presents in cash), but not as many as the expenses they rack up. If you have a carload of kids, you end up paying a boatload of money. Quite often, you’ll land on a space that will charge you so much per kid for this or that. Why? Because kids are expensive in the game. Throughout the game you have the chance to “have” kids (you can choose a kid path or non-kid path.) My daughter always took the kid path because she liked to fill up her car (the token you move around the board) with pink (girl) and blue (boy) pins.

Each career card comes with a tax rate for the profession and just like in the real world, the more you make, the more you pay in taxes. The more you make, the more you’re taxed.Key lesson: Your career is your greatest financial asset so be sure to protect it. It’s a bit of a stretch - after all, who really goes from being a doctor to a hair stylist - but the key point of how important your career is gets made. And, yes, you still have the $125k debt from college.

Here’s the real kicker - you can pay the $125k for a college education, get a high-paying job, then lose that job (there are nasty “lose your job” spots on the board) and end up making a fraction of what you once did.

Lose your job and you take a big financial hit.

Key lesson: Make sure the career you’re going into justifies the high price of a college education. These jobs pay as much as (or even less than) a couple non-college jobs that you don’t have to fork over $125k to get. You have to blindly draw your occupation from the college career cards, and if you’re unlucky enough, you’ll be a computer designer ($50k per year) or a teacher ($40k per year). Of course, you can choose to go to college and then get the income shaft.

College doesn’t always make a difference in your pay.

Key lesson: Going to college to get a good career is almost always worth the cost. If you skip school, it’s likely you’ll get a low-paying job (like a hair stylist at $30k per year or a sales person at $20k) and suffer throughout the game.

This comes in quite handy as there are “pay day” squares all over the board, so you earn your $125k back pretty quickly. professions that make a good amount of money (doctor – $100k, lawyer $90k, vet – $80k, etc.). Why? Because you can become a doctor, accountant, veterinarian, etc. Going to college costs you $100,000 in Life (you take out loans to do this) and you have to pay back $125,000 (interest, you know - another thing the game teaches), but it’s almost always a good deal. It pays to get a college education/the career you pick has a big impact on your life.Key lesson: In financial terms, net worth is the main measurement you want to focus on and grow. By using this measure, Life hits the nail on the head as far as I’m concerned - it’s what you keep that is the key measurement to financial success. In other words, you win the game by having the highest net worth at the end. The goal of Life is to accumulate the most money (assets minus liabilities) during the game. Let’s start with the good things Life teaches about personal finance: I thought I’d highlight these and detail how my wife and I used the game to teach principles of personal finance. Life is centered around financial principles - some good and some bad. One game my daughter used to love was The Game of Life (I’ll just call it “Life” from here on out), so when our family had an extra, oh, THREE HOURS or so we played it (ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it is a long game.) Fortunately, I got to be the banker, so I wasn’t bored all the way through. It was so fun to see someone else get loaded down with a stack of cards! 🙂

We had every variety of the game including the one where it would shoot out a ton of cards if you were unlucky. If I had to pick one game that we played the most, it would have to be Uno. Then when we had our own family, games naturally played a big part in our entertainment time (to this day, my daughter and dad play Aggravation for money! LOL!) My dad and I would play Monopoly and Aggravation for HOURS when I was home from college - until 3 am or 4 am in the morning at times!

Game of life rules 2018