Teaching kids about ASSETS - a MONOPOLY board game with a twist.
The best way to learn for all of us is through play. Thankfully there is an increase in all sorts of financial education games out there. Among all of them, the most known is The MONOPOLY.
Growing up as a kid we actually had a game called EUROBUSINESS, however, the principles of that one were almost (if not) identical to MONOPOLY. Every time you pass START you get M200, you buy streets, then place houses and hotels, occasionally go to prison, and miss collecting all the income your properties bring. Sometimes you need to pay tax, quite often pay rent to other players… Money constantly keeps on moving, coming in - going out. You win some - you lose some.
I decided to harness that movement and added it to the game Income Statement and Balance Sheet.
I know…. it sounds boring and you could never imagine kids doing anything like that… but you actually might be here for a surprise.
Those financial statements are very simplified and contain only 4 parts:
Income; Expenses; Assets; Liabilities.
Every time we receive money - the amount and what was it for is placed in the Income Column. When we buy properties, then that expense goes to the Assets column. When we receive money from the assets - we put that amount into the Income Column and note what it was for and how much we earned from it.
You may have played this game many many times, but believe me, a big eye-opener for kids is when they start making those notes. WHY?
Because:
They learn the difference between income and expenses
There are good expenses and bad expenses.
Assets bring you more income.
It’s good to save and plan the purchase of the right assets.
Kids learn accounting terminology.
You can ask them questions such as:
What are your expenses?
What are your ways of getting income?
What assets have you got?
How much income did each asset bring you?
