The highlights at Kids Marketplace included the Kids Entrepreneurship contest, Cashflow 101 for Kids Challenge, workshops by Yuber and a green bazaar.

A total of 39 teams comprising 78  youngsters participated in the Kids Entrepreneurship contest for the chance to win holiday packages, Yuber scholarships and the grand prize of an Asus Notebook.

Participants  who were grouped under the junior (aged 8-12) and senior (aged 13-18) categories competed for the Best Display, Most Creative and the Most Promising Young Entrepreneur Awards.

The Most Promising Young Entrepreneur, in particular, were judged based on creativity and leadership skills, as well as the ability to make the most profit from an undertaking.

The overall grand prize winner was chosen from among the various Most Promising Young Entrepreneur category winners at the end of the contest.

The one who showed the most creativity and were the most innovative in their products was picked the winner.

Siblings James and Janice Chai, aged 14 and 12, respectively, sold a variety of eco-friendly recycled handicrafts  to take home the grand prize of an Asus laptop  for being the co-winners of the Most Enterprising Young Entrepreneur  award for their  conservation efforts.

Their mother Ivy Khoo said:  “We are happy and excited to participate in this  event as it is a fun way for our children to put their living skills to practice.”

Schoolmates Dylan Tan, 10, and Mohamed Yasin Azeez, 11, sold handmade bookmarks and parachute men.

Cousins Elizabeth Mahendra, 8, and Marie Lim, 12, offered a variety of bright, beaded jewellery that they had made themselves.

Best friends Ashley Chow and Nicholas Oon, both 16, sold cards of humour, brightening the day with their cheery greetings.

Patrick Wee, managing director of Group MAD, which Yuber is a part of, said: “Our Yuber team is  thrilled to co-organise this event with HSC, as we believe that our youths need a safe and guided environment to develop their entrepreneurship skills and learn how to take calculated risks in life.

“We hope  this exercise allowed our young ones  to express their creativity and develop important life skills that will help them grow into well-rounded individuals.

“As a youth training provider, we at Yuber  aim to equip youths with soft and leadership skills.

“The curriculum of our youth camps and workshops,  are developed by youth training provider Seeds Training.

It has been designed to produce long-lasting and proven results that equip students with skills  for the increasingly competitive and ever-changing global environment,” said  Wee.

Another highlight was the Cashflow 101 for Kids Challenge that is based on Robert Kiyosaki’s educational board game.

The challenge is designed to teach investment concepts to children in a risk-free environment.

Altogether, 24 children between the ages of  9 and 12 participated in the challenge.

One of the youngest participants Chegne Eu Jinn, 9, was declared the winner.

He won an Asus laptop, a four day, three-night stay in Bali or Phuket, and a half-scholarship from Yuber to attend the upcoming Green Star learning workshop next month.

Creative workshops such as the Free Cap Make Over and Sneaker Facelift workshops were a big hit at the Kids Marketplace. The children were given a plain cap or sneaker that they could then draw and paint on, however they liked.

Illustrator and designer Kenzy Chew helped the children in creating their own masterpieces.

The free workshops kept the youngsters entertained as they drew and painted to their hearts’ content.

Children and their parents also participated in the Yuber Learning Fun Games facilitated by YUBER.

In the games they had the chance to take home some fun, educational prizes.

First, to be clear: Business war games don’t involve playing war. They’re analytical exercises that put a business through the paces of planning a strategic response to a worst-case scenario — anything from a devastating recession to the entrance of an aggressive competitor into the same market.

Admittedly, Horn makes his living in part by designing these war games. He thinks they can help us learn by simulating — albeit to a limited extent — real-world environments. The key to their effectiveness, however, lies in their design. There’s a difference between using a game to teach, and trying to learn from a game that’s designed to entertain.

What I like about Horn’s analysis, is that it doesn’t assume off the top that business is like a game, or that games can always or usually teach us anything useful about business. Instead, Horn questions that basic assumption, and concludes that business war games can, in some limited cases, with luck and careful design, be worth playing.

Horn warns that you can burn money, waste time, and make bad decisions if you play the wrong game or for the wrong reasons. Games aren’t always appropriate, he says. They work best when you face a limited range of alternatives. They may be of little use unless you can accurately represent all of the important real-world stakeholders — not an easy task if one of those stakeholders is, say, the U.S. Congress, as one defense contractor realized. He also says you need different games for operational, organizational, and strategic challenges.

Business games, of course, aren’t a new concept. Monopoly has been gratifying make-believe slumlords for three-quarters of a century. Although considerably less venerable than the real estate board game, Tradewinds, a computer game that puts players in the role of swashbuckling sea traders, draws its inspiration from TRS-80 personal computer games played circa 1985.

Monopoly and Tradewinds are just for fun. Cashflow 101, on the other hand, is an educational tool supposed to impart valuable business knowledge to players, who can then use the lessons to get real-world rich. It’s the brainchild of Robert Kiyosaki, whose “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” franchise makes him one of the most listened-to small business advisers on the planet.

How well does it work? The game has been hugely successful, spawning players and clubs around the globe. But many players say that Cashflow’s lessons are rudimentary and can be obtained elsewhere through conventional educational materials. Another criticism is that luck, in the form of dice rolls, plays a large part in the game’s own flow. Finally, it’s just too easy, with some players saying they can win almost every time. No game can be complex enough to truly model real life, it seems.

So where does that leave us? “Well-designed war games, though not a panacea, can be powerful learning experiences that allow managers to make better decisions,” concludes McKinsey’s Horn.

Should you pay McKinsey’s (or another consultant’s) stratospheric fees to set up a game for your own business? Probably not. But the article is a good read, and if you’re trying to plan ahead for uncertain circumstances, it’s a good reminder of what should go into your thinking as you run through your options.

One thing that is really interesting about the game is that it gives us insight into how markets and economies work. Most people who make the rules for an economy (politicians) do not really know the effects of their policies. They have an idea about what they think is right, or what they think will happen. However, these ideas are based on opinion, or the unproven theories of economics.

What can we learn from such a “game”?

I think we can learn a lot more than most people think from a game like this. It has a realistic and functioning market for 24 different commodities. You can submit limit orders and become a commodity trader.

Another thing that it teaches us is how psychology expresses itself in the environment and in the markets. We can see that the big producers of any given commodity come in and sell in large lots (20,000 is the maximum, at this time). Yet the consumers are buying in small lots of hundreds or a few thousand. So, perhaps the market prices are under more influence from the large sellers than the small buyers, at least in the short term.

Another interesting thing to consider is what will happen over the next few months. The game is only a few months old, and hardly known. What will happen if the number of players doubles or quadruples over the next few months? What will happen to prices? Will they go up across the board?

What about automobiles? They cannot be produced by new players due to high capital requirements. However, they are consumed by the Housing Industry, which has a very low short term ROI. I think it is fascinating to analyze these markets and their interactions, and predict what will happen.

Although this simulation does represent a simplified economy, it does give us clear analytical proof about whether our theories are correct. It seems to me that this game, or any other economic simulation of similar complexity is a powerful learning tool.

One company that’s turning lemons into virtual lemonade is an outfit called AddictingGames.com. They just released Mortgage Meltdown, a spin on the old Monopoly game.

In Monopoly, you tried to dominate the real estate market. In Mortgage Meltdown, you just try to stay above water. And, just like in real life, there are lots of things that can go wrong from property tax hikes to earthquakes. There are some good things (or less bad things) that can happen, too–just like in real life.

AddictingGames.com is doing two things.

First, they’re showing just how powerful new computer technology is. They’re able to lift the headlines from today’s papers and turn it into a computer simulation. It used to take years to bring a game to market. And, if you noticed, these games are pretty robust.

Another thing the company is doing is, I hope, creating a learning experience. As funny as it may seem, people learned lessons from those Monopoly and Life games. That’s where I learned about rent and mortgages, come to think of it.

Some other games on the company’s websites run the gamut from laundering money to the dental business.

As AddictingGames create more experiences like Mortgage Meltdown, maybe it will help us avoid the costly mistakes of the past.

Unless you’re learning how to launder money. Then you may get a go-to-jail card.

How can anyone learn financial IQ from a board game right?  I was skeptical in the beginning also.  But I was a fan of his book so I wanted to see what it was about.  It’s now my fourth time playing and I definitely picked up a thing or two.

At my first time playing, I did not land on an opportunity square for the last hour and half of playing.  I was getting shorted even though the odds of my landing on an opportunity is extremely high.  It’s every other spot!  But in life, that happens.  But you can either decide that’s your fate or you can just keep fighting. 

By the fourth time playing, I realized you could BUY other people’s opportunities.  This meant that whenever someone landed on one, they could either use it themselves or sell it to someone else.  Sometimes, that person can’t afford it because they don’t have the necessary capital.  The analogy in real life is like having a really good financial adviser who can suggest opportunities for you.  All you have to do is shell out the money.

More People Knowing The Market = More opportunities for you

Because the Market card came up so rarely, it helped when there were more players in the game.  And the Market card was the only one that can shake things up both good and bad.  So for us in real life, we need to surround ourselves with people that know the market very well.  Only then we will be able to make the right decision to make a gain or to avert a lost.

Money In Bank Does Nothing

Yes, money in the bank gets you 2% interest after inflation.  Likewise, just getting a paycheck every couple of turns and not taking risks in buying investments will get you nowhere in the game.  It will do nothing for you to get out of the rat race.  Live with the fact that some investments will make money, some will lose.  But the more you do it, the better you will become in finding the ones that MAKE you money.

People With Smaller Expenses Get Out Of Rat Race Faster

At my last game, I was generating over $2500 in passive income.  My expenses however were around four grand.  And after doing the math on whether I could just pay down some of the expenses, I realize it was better to generate more passive income.  It was taking forever.  My friend however, had something like $1500 in passive income but her expenses was around a grand.  Because of that, she got out of the rat race.  I had 4 times as many real estate holdings but it was my expenses that was holding me down.  So note to self: keep expenses low (unless I want to keep going around the board as a rat).

Buying Someone’s Opportunity Saves Time

Because I had to keep generating passive income, I snatched up every opportunity that had positive cashflow.  Not only that, I brought other people’s opportunities when they couldn’t afford it.  Doing this saved me a roll of the die.  So instead of being able to buy just 1 opportunity on one turn, I was able to buy 2-5.  And that saved me time in the game.  And that saves time in real life.

The Cashflow Formula

Finally, I figured out the formula to get out of the rat race.  The player first HAD to buy up small opportunities.  There was just not enough capital to invest in the big ones.  But these small opportunities only generated a small amount of cashflow.  So second, they need to be sold for large lump sums in order to buy the bigger opportunities. 

These bigger opportunities are the ones that was generating significantly more cashflow, 4-5 times as much.  And that’s the way Kiyosaki did it in real life.  He started buying small real estate properties, 2-3 bedroom houses.  He then parlayed that into duplex, 4-plexes, and apartment buildings.  He did it this way because the knowledge needed to make a small deal is exactly the same as a big deal.  He looked at the numbers.  After having enough confidence in making small deals, that transfers over when making large deals.

It is important for me to say that I do not think everyone has to have the same goals as me. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur or full time investor. Not everyone wants to or is willing to devote their lives to getting out of the rat race. Some people just want a little more than they’ve got now. There is help out there for all types.

So what can these people do? They say they’ve got no extra money to spend, no time to read or the don’t like reading, they just aren’t smart enough to get the principles of money or it’s all too complicated.

Books

Let’s start with the simple – books. Money should not be an issue when it comes to books. There are cheap books from used book stores and online and then there’s the free library. Reading them should not be an issue either. I know that some books are boring and painful to get through. But if a book is enjoyable and easy to read then it should take no effort. If you really don’t like reading then try an audio book and listen to it in your car on the way to work. I would recommend “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “The Cashflow Quadrant” books by Robert Kiyosaki as a good place to start. They are easy to read and enjoyable books. But there are others. It doesn’t matter, just read something and start changing your perspective on your own money situation.

Games

Games are supposed to be fun so why wouldn’t you play them? Some games actually help to teach you financial skills. Robert Kiyosaki created a game called “Cashflow 101? and it really does teach you to learn how to create and manage your own financial statement and, more importantly, the secret to financial freedom – PASSIVE INCOME. The game is actually pretty expensive, probably because it is not mass-produced, but that doesn’t have to stop you. There are Cashflow clubs all over the country that meet and play regularly. And if you can’t go that far, you can even play now for free at http://www.richdad.com so there should be no excuses.

Networking

Networking with like minded individuals is very important and it doesn’t have to be painful. Golfing, for example, is a great way to meet succesful people. I know many people who love to golf and do so regularly but do not take advantage of the opportunities that might be right in front of their faces. If this is you then the next time you’re out on the course and find yourself in a foursome with people you’ve never met, instead of talking about the Cowboys game last night, try to start up a conversation regarding money, investing or business and see who bites. You never know what you’ll find. Better yet, try to put yourself into new foursomes instead of always playing with the same group of people. You may stumble upon a great investment opportunity that you would never have known about otherwise.

How about your kids’ soccer and Little League games? You ever strike up a conversation with strangers there? Try throwing in questions about what they do for a living. Give them hints that you’re interested in learning to make more money and, again, see who bites. If they don’t bite then don’t push the subject but if they do it might lead you down a road you’ve never been. Everywhere you go you have opportunities to meet people. I’m not saying you need to become a social butterfly just that when you do get into conversations with people at parties, on airplanes or wherever you are, try to casually bring up the topic of money and see what happens.

You can go to REIAs (Real Estate Investment Associations) to meet people interested in Real Estate. You can go to financial seminars. Many of them are very inexpensive or even free because they intend to sell you on expensive things while you’re there. Don’t let that stop you. You do not have to sign up for anything if you show up, in spite of the hard sales tactics, but you may meet people there like you and you never know what that will lead to.

Get in the game

Just about everyone has some money they could use to invest in something. You never know what you’ll learn or what you’ll like until you try it. Sounds like your parents trying to get you to eat broccoli right? But it is true with investing too. Take a bite and see if you like it. You don’t have to eat the whole thing if you don’t want to, just try it. Find something you can invest in like a stock, precious metals, Real Estate, start up a small business that you can do on the side like an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing - look it up), contact me or someone like me, it doesn’t matter what you do, just do something. DO NOT think that putting aside a few dollars from your 401K is doing something. That is taking the easy way out and is a sure way to make someone else rich.

These are all things that anyone could and should do. Everyone is playing the game of money whether they want to or not. It can be fun, exciting and rewarding, but perhaps the way someone is playing it right now it is not fun but rather a struggle. Everyone should devote some time to learning to play it better so they are not always the ones at the bottom always making the ones above them richer.

So – we played Cashflow. This is a board game based around the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books by Robert Kiyosaki. In it, you are given a profession, with an income after expenses, and with that – you invest in order to get out of the rat race and fulfil your dream.

The four of us picked our profession cards: I ended up as an airline pilot with a Cashflow of $2,600. One of my friends picked the Janitor Card, with a Cashflow of just $650 a month. This is the lowest earning card in the pack. I predicted that the mild mannered Janitor would win the game: and he did.

In fact – no only did he win the game, the rest of us hadn’t even got out of the Rat Race and onto the Fast Track when he did it.

So – why is that predictable? Why do you not have to have a high income to be wealthy?

Because you do not need a high passive income to live on if your expenses are low! The Janitor may have a low income, but he has low expenses: a small mortgage, not many other debts, and when he has a child, the expenses for the child are relatively low (that game seems to assume that the high income earners clothe their children in Baby Gap and send then to private prep schools).

The janitor needed to get a passive income of just $950 to get out of the Rat Race. I needed a passive income of $6,900 to cover my expenses. So basically – if you can cut your expenses; you can retire on your investments quicker.

Not only does the game show that a High Income is not necessary in order to become wealthy – it also shows you how cutting your expenses can affect your outcome. Some expenses in the game – you cannot alter, but you can choose to pay down things like car loans, credit cards and retail debt. Doing that increases your monthly Cashflow and can have quite a positive impact on your game. It also means of course, that you do not need such a high passive income.

If you are thinking of going into investing in any way seriously – I really recommend playing this game. It’s obviously a highly simplified version of real life, but it does teach you a lot about how things work. You can buy and sell shares, property and businesses; you can get downsized; you can have (expensive) children; you get to waste money on Doodads (Rich Dad’s name for anything that wastes your money – like coffee). It is a fun way to learn the basics and to get your head round what you look for in an investment.

Cashflow is a pretty expensive game, so look around for people running games nights in your area. If you can’t find one – contact me and ill see if I can put your in touch with someone running a game.

This game is a good way to test your financial literacy and see if you have what it takes to get you out of the rat race.  It is a fun way to learn about investing smart without the risk of real money.

The game is designed to teach you how to think like the rich and learn what it takes to get out of the rat race and live a financially independent life.

There’s no software download required.  You can play right from your internet browser.  And you can play by yourself or with other players online.

All you need to do is register for free.

1. Don’t cheat. The purpose of the game Cashflow 101 is for you to learn so if you cheat you learn to cheat. Why make money illegally when it is so easy to do it legally?

2. Read the rules. You should especially read the three-hour millionaire piece on the back of the Cashflow 101 rulebook. See also Robert Kiyosaki’s Hot Tips page that comes with the game. Know the legal side of things and listen to the advice of professionals.

3. Find learners to play it with. Find people who want to learn more about investing and money to play with. It is wholly different to play with people with the same money and financial interests, than family and friends who play with you because no one else would. Some action is better than none, but better yet is someone motivated to the action for his/her own personal reasons.

4. Know there will always come another deal. If you haven’t got interest in a deal at this very moment, know that the next deal of the decade is around the corner (or the next card in the deck).

5. Investigate your options. Don’t let a shortage of cash let you out of great deals. There are other people in the game that might be interested in the deals only you’ve got access too.

6. Learn to share. Share deals – split the cost and the return if you feel the risk of borrowing the money is too great.

7. Understand the power of leverage. If that $1 deal comes along and you don’t have any cash, borrow if you must, but take it. This is just one example of how you can leverage of the bank’s money for extraordinary returns.

8. Have backup in a calculator. Yes, you might know your sums pretty well, but it does not hurt to have a calculator handy for estimating how long it will take you to get out of the rat race.

9. Understand potential of grey areas in rules. Yes, rules and laws do not cover everything so there might be some loopholes. But rather than using loopholes, set up a contract that at least two parties can agree to that is a win-win situation for both. Do not see the absence of rules as an obstacle, but rather see it as an opportunity.

For the advanced player:

10. Play it real. Change the job cards to the actual jobs that some of your Cashflow circle members has and see how different people would get out of your financial situation. Example: Job Title – Store Checkout Clerk, Salary $1,500, Taxes $300, Monthly Cashflow $150, etc.

11. Play it real II. Change the Big Deal, Small Deal, Doodad and Market cards to reflect situations that you have been in personally, or where you might land in. Example: Market Card – Lose all assets due to litigation; Doodad – Buy new computer for $1,000 monthly expenses goes up by $150; Small deal – Buy stock in a small-cap company (market card might either quadruple your money or lose your whole investment); etc.

12. Teach and learn. There is always some area where you will be better in than others – why don’t you teach them how they can get better at it. Give and then receive. Allow others to teach you in areas where they are more skilled than you.

As a truck driver, although my salary was low, my monthly expenses were also very low. Because I had  low monthly expenses, I already had a positive cashflow and all I needed to do was just get those passive income generating deals.

After each payday, I had more money to invest, and with just a few passive income generating deals, I had enough passive income that exceeded my monthly expenses, and I was able to get out of the rat race faster.

In real life, I am applying the same strategy by reducing my monthly expenses by leading a simple life. This was also described by Bo Sanchez in his book “Simplify and Live the Good Life ” and T. Harv Eker in his book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”.

My family and I lead simple lives, which explains my very low target monthlypassive income which is why I know I am going to get out of the rat race in real life very soon!

2. Start with small deals first, and the big deals will follow
In the beginning of the game, I always chose small deals even if they produced little cashflow. Later on, when the market presents good opportunities, I was able to sell or “flip” these small deals and then I used the profit to buy the bigger deals that produced greater cashflow, allowing me to get out of the rat race.

In real life, I am also following the same path. I focus on single family homes or properties which may produce little cashflow at  the very least, but can actually generate significant profits if “flipped” or sold through “rent-to-own”. I can then use the profit later when they are enough to get bigger deals that can produce bigger positive cashflow.

3. Over-leverage often leads to bankruptcy
During the game, we often encounter great deals that produce a lot of positive cashflow but require a big downpayment and it is tempting to borrow money from the bank just to be able to buy those great deals. However, there is such a thing as becoming over-leveraged which can produce negative cashflow situations because of the high monthly payments for those loans.

Even if one’spassive income is enough to cover the monthly payments for those loans, imagine if something happened and the monthly income of one’s investment properties were affected, suddenly the monthly payments for the loans cause a negative cashflow and can lead to bankruptcy. The same can also happen when one is downsized. This is the reason why one should avoid deals that lead to too much exposure or over-leverage.

Applying this is real life is a no brainer. I would not dare buy those multi-unit apartments unless they were in the same price range as the single family homes I focus on. As mentioned in lesson number 2 above, I can go for those bigger deals later when profits from my small deals are enough.

4. It is better to wait for a good opportunity than settle for those not so good deals
In the game, good opportunities come in the form of deals that have big ROI potential, and can be bought with little or no downpayment, while producing positive cashflow. If any of these elements are missing, I consider a deal as “not so good” and I pass them up and just wait for the good deals.

In real life, I do the same and patiently wait for good opportunities. If a not so good deal comes my way, I can either look for ways to make it into a good deal, or I just pass it up and wait for another more worthwhile deal to pursue.

5. Learn how to spot a good deal and grab it
One of the biggest challenges one faces in the game is how to spot those good deals so that you can grab them. Sometimes a good deal is right under your nose and it slips away because you didn’t realize soon enough that it was a good deal.

I believe spotting good deals is a skill and you can only learn this skill by continuously analyzing deals. Once you get the hang of it, you will start seeing those good deals more often. Normally those deals would have normally slipped away without you knowing it. If you see good deals often, it’s just logical that you will eventually grab one of those deals right?!

6. Learn how to protect your investments
I distinctly remember games where apartment buildings getting toppled by mud and all the cashflow generated by these properties are gone, unless I am covered by insurance.

Does Ondoy and Pepeng ring a bell? Who would have thought that a game like cashflow 101 actually teaches us to protect our investments from such disasters and calamities. Better get your investments insured with “Acts of God” coverage pronto!

7. Net worth is worth less, cashflow is king
Once you play cashflow 101, you will notice its emphasis on the importance of cashflow over one’s net worth. You will see that it really is more important to have positive cashflow frompassive income. What is the use of having a big net worth if you don’t have any positive cashflow?

In real life, we should apply this by focusing on building our positive cashflow with income generating assets. Even if we have to use leverage to buy these assets, it really is okay. We call this good debt. Don’t be afraid to have good debts that buy real assets that produce the cashflow we need to get out of the rat race for real!

Get out of the rat race in the game, and in real life!

So you got out of the rat race when you played cashflow 101. So what?! That’s useless if you don’t take action and apply the lessons you have learned from the game in real life. But playing a game is one thing, doing it in real life is an entirely different thing… or is it?

I can truly say that Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 game is a “life changing” game because my life has really changed ever since I decided to apply in real life the lessons I have learned from it. Take note that I only listed the top 7 lessons I have learned and I can assure all of you that there are more lessons one can learn from this game.

People may find it hard to believe that one can learn so much from a game and can have such a huge impact in life. I guess you just have to play the game and experience it for yourselves.

How about you, have you played Rich Dad’s cashflow 101 game? What did you learn? Are you applying them in real life?