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Learning to Invest the Fun Way
by Karen West

It’s game night in Kirkland, as about 30 people — mainly women — break into small groups and gather around their game boards. They’ve come to play Cashflow 101, to practice real world investing with play money.

The educational, interactive game designed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of motivational finance books, has become a popular way to teach, and learn, about investing. It has sparked an interest among more than 250,000 people worldwide who have used the game to enter the world of accounting, investing and finance — a world many find intimidating and one they would rather avoid.

But the idea of making risk-free investments with imaginary money is not so daunting, and the concept has prompted monthly game nights throughout the Puget Sound area and across the country. Groups gather for two-to-four-hour games, in which the players tackle life’s challenges in their pursuit of financial independence and an escape from the “rat race.”

“It has made me change my thinking about my own finances,’’ says Theresa Neal, who attended a recent game night at the Kirkland office of CFA Northwest Mortgage Professionals. A single mother with four children, Neal is a self-proclaimed “Cashflow groupie,” having attended game nights regularly for the last six months. “The game is often a reflection of your real life,’’ she says, adding that it motivated her to invest in property.

“I’m on a mission,” she says. It’s the same mission of the game: to generate passive income — money earned on a regular basis beyond a fixed salary — that exceeds expenses.

PUTTING YOUR MONEY TO WORK
“The idea is to make your money work for you instead of you working for your money,’’ says Debbie Leviton, a CFA certified mortgage professional, who hosted the Kirkland event. (CFA President Carolyn Frame introduced the game to her company several years ago after discovering it through Kiyosaki’s seminars, and now offers it monthly at her offices in Kirkland, Renton, Silverdale, and on Bainbridge Island.)

In many respects, Leviton says, the game offers “a clear insight into our own lives” — for better or worse. “I hated it at first,’’ she says, adding that her initial experience was a rude awakening. “I was so confronted with my crap.’’ At the time, she was a single mother of two children with about $250,000 in bills.

After educating herself by reading everything she could about finances, she gave the game another chance, and now says she learns something new each time she plays. “It’s an eye-opening experience. It’s changed my life and that of everybody I have dragged in with me,’’ she says. She has since paid off her debts and has invested in eight rental buildings.

TAKING CONTROL THROUGH INVESTING
The popularity of Cashflow 101 clubs is indicative of the growing number of women who are learning about, and taking control of, their personal finances. Whether it’s through board games, investment clubs, or simply meeting with financial experts, women are discovering that saving money and paying their bills is not enough to plan for the future.

“As the baby boomers get older and the divorce rate continues, more women are facing the investment world on their own,’’ says Christine de Ruiter, an independent certified financial planner and co-owner of FSFinancial Strategies, LLC in Edmonds. “They are alone and right at the edge of retirement — a horrifying position to be in, especially if you haven’t been in the investment world.”

De Ruiter, who also is president of the Women Business Owners of Seattle, has been educating and encouraging women for the past 25 years to rise to a higher financial level. The first thing she tells her clients is that no questions are stupid. She advises women to seek out a financial planner they can understand and trust. “If you have any kind of itchiness about your finances, do something about it now,’’ she says. “That discomfort is part of your psyche and everyday life; don’t just sit on it. You need to stick with what’s right and fix what’s not.”

Karen Goodgame, a certified mortgage planner with Goodgame Lending Solutions, says she is seeing a trend toward single women investing in real estate. In addition, more women are “flipping” properties, meaning they buy a home or building, fix it up and resell it for profit. “It’s exciting to see single women who are not afraid to do something that is typically a male-dominated area.”

INVESTMENT CLUBS ATTRACT WOMEN
In addition to Cashflow clubs, which focus more on real estate investments, traditional investment clubs, which teach people how to invest in stocks and mutual funds, also are attracting women. Men traditionally have dominated investment clubs, in which groups of six or seven people pool their money and invest it in designated stocks or bonds.

“Women see these clubs as a great learning vehicle,’’ says Bob O’Hara, senior vice president of development for Detroit-based BetterInvesting, a nonprofit organization made up of investment clubs and individual investors. About 75 percent of the 160,000-member organization are women, O’Hara says, noting that there are 16,174 investment clubs nationwide, including 593 in Washington state. Having a majority of women members is a huge shift from 20 years ago when 85 percent of the organization’s members were men.

The bottom line, experts say, is that women are no longer relying on men to help them through the challenges they face throughout their lives. And deciding to invest, whether it’s through real estate, stocks, or other strategies, is an important first step toward building one’s own nest egg.

Karen West is a freelance writer who lives on Bainbridge Island.

©2007 Caliope Publishing Company