July 31, 2025 • 13 mins
Subscribe to Simplify My Money: https://www.debtfreedad.com/newsletters/simplify-my-money
In this episode of the Debt-Free Dad Podcast, host Chris Hawkins discusses how the game of Monopoly can teach valuable financial lessons. Using Robert Kiyosaki's concept of reframing assets, Chris highlights the importance of accumulating income-generating assets and managing finances effectively. By following the original rules of Monopoly, players can learn essentials of saving, investing, and the impact of debt. Tune in to discover how this classic game can help you and your family achieve financial freedom.
The Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner https://www.debtfreedad.com/planner
Connect With Brad
Website- https://www.debtfreedad.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thedebtfreedad
Private Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/debtfreedad
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/debtfreedad/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@debt_free_dad
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bradnelson-debtfreedad2751/featured
Thanks For Listening
Like what you hear? Please, subscribe on the platform you listen to most: Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Tune-In, Stitcher, YouTube Music, YouTube
We LOVE feedback, and also helps us grow our podcast! Please leave us an honest review in Apple Podcasts, we read every single one.
Is there someone that you think would benefit from the Debt Free Dad podcast? Please, share this episode with them on your favorite social network!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Hawkins (00:00):
So right now it's summertime and maybe you have
the kids at home and you'retrying to figure out what to do
with them.
Maybe you're on vacation andyou need something to kill some
time.
Maybe you've got friends orfamily in town and you're
looking for something cheap todo one evening.
Well, in this podcast episode,I want to share with you a game
(00:20):
that I think you should beplaying, and play it as often as
you can, and you just mightfind you learn a few things
about how to manage yourfinances.
So let's find out what gamethat is and talk about it in
today's episode of the Debt-FreeDad podcast.
This is the Debt-Free DadPodcast, where we help normal,
(00:46):
everyday people like you takecontrol of your finances so you
can live a happier, lessstressful life.
My name is Chris Hawkins and Iwill be your host for today's
episode.
From 2005 until 2008, my wifeand I we paid off just under
$100,000 in debt and we havebeen debt free except for our
(01:09):
house now for well over almost20 years now.
Let me give you a little bit ofbackground into today's podcast
episode.
Back when I was learning how toget out of debt, how to manage
my money, I did a lot of readingand you've probably heard me
mention this multiple times onthis podcast that I love to read
(01:30):
, that I'm a lifelong learnerand so I read a book and I have
to admit up front, the vastmajority of it I'm not extremely
a fan of, but there were a fewvery good golden nuggets that I
took from the book that I stilluse today, and the book was by
(01:51):
Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad PoorDad, and one of the things that
he mentioned or mentions in thatbook is the idea of reframing
how we think of the term asset.
By textbook definition from anaccounting perspective, an asset
is something that you own thathas value, and in the book the
(02:15):
Rich Dad Poor Dad, he talksabout reframing the definition
such that an asset is somethingthat you own that makes you
money.
Let me say that again, hewanted just to think about an
asset as being something we ownthat makes us money, and further
(02:40):
in the book he goes on toexplain that how wealthy people
will actually accumulate assets.
They will accumulate thingsthat make them money and then
let those assets buy stuff forthem, and that's been a
(03:01):
principle that I have tried touse ever since I read that book
and again, I'm not a big fan ofthe overall book, but that is
one takeaway I think isabsolutely a gem.
So he encourages people toaccumulate assets again, things
that make you money, and thenuse those assets, or the money
(03:22):
that I guess is generated fromthose assets, to then buy you
things.
So what does that have to dowith playing games?
Well, he mentions that hethinks the game of Monopoly is a
game that you should teach yourchildren to play.
(03:42):
The game of Monopoly is a gamethat you yourself should play.
So let's talk about why I wantto encourage you to play the
game of Monopoly and what youcan learn from it to help you in
your daily financial lives.
First of all, the game isalmost 100 years old and in some
accounts maybe older than that,but officially it's going on
(04:04):
almost 100 years old, and it wasmade and printed and sold
during the Great Depression.
And if you think about that dayand age, if you wanted to pay
for a piece of property or payfor a house, you had to save up
(04:25):
the money and pay cash.
And so I want to begin thisstory on why you should be
playing the game of Monopoly byreminding you of a couple of
things, or I should say,encouraging you on a couple of
things.
First of all, play the originalversion, the one that has paper
money.
Don't get these new versionswhere they've got the little
(04:45):
debit card and the electronicbanking.
Go and get you a copy of theoriginal game that has the paper
money and then read the rulesand follow the rules of the game
exactly as they're written,meaning no house rules.
I know a lot of people like toplay rules where you can't buy a
(05:08):
piece of property until you'vegone all the way around the
board once.
Nope, that's not the way theoriginal rules are written.
In fact, what it says as thefirst person goes, when they
roll, if they land on a propertythat is not owned by anyone
else right off the bat, firstroll, buying that property at
the value that's on the board,or the bank will auction it off
(05:32):
to any player in the game, andit can include the person who
landed on it.
So imagine if you roll firstand you land on a property and
you choose not to buy it, thebanker is going to put that up
for auction.
That's the original rules andyou can't end up buying that
property for less than the valuethat's on the board.
So get the original versionwith the paper money.
(05:56):
Read the rules, play exactly bythe original rules.
No free parking money, none ofthose things that you typically
see that are house rules.
So, with that said, think abouthow you start the game.
You start the game with $1,500,money that supposedly you saved
(06:17):
up.
So if you think about, almost100 years ago, a board game
that's created that valueshaving money in the bank at the
beginning of the game, thatmoney is what will allow you to
then invest and buy things,things that are going to make
you money.
Now, if you notice carefullywhen you pass go, if you
(06:38):
remember, you get paid $200.
Well, what is that $200 called?
It's a salary.
If you look at the board, itactually says collect $200 in
salary.
So the idea of the game was youstart off with savings as you
go around the board.
Every time you go around, youcollect $200 in income.
(06:59):
The whole goal of the game wasto take your savings and your
salary that you earn every timeyou go around the board and
invest it.
So what are the things that youcan't invest in?
Well, we just said a piece ofproperty, and if you own that
property and somebody else landson it, what do they have to pay
you Rent?
So, by owning a space on themonopoly board, you now have an
(07:25):
asset, something in the gamethat makes you money when other
people land on it.
Now how do you make that landmore valuable?
Well, one way is to create amonopoly where you have all two
or all three of the same colorgroup.
If you own all two or all threeof the color group, you get
(07:48):
paid more in rent.
How else can you improve thevalue?
You can build a house on it,develop the land and then
eventually you can build a hotelon it.
And every time that you build ahouse when somebody lands on it
, the rent goes up.
And then, of course, if you canget to where you have a hotel,
(08:08):
somebody lands on it, the rentis even higher.
So the whole game is aboutbuying assets, things that make
you money, whether it be onepiece of property or all of a
color group, or then puttinghouses and then eventually
(08:28):
hotels on it.
It's a way to invest,accumulate more assets, so that
it pays you more moneythroughout the game.
But that's not the only thingthat you can invest in.
Well, there are businesses, and, particularly at that day and
age, railroads were still reallybig, and so there are four
(08:48):
railroads, and the morerailroads that you own, the more
businesses that you own, themore you get paid anytime
somebody lands on that space.
So there's a value or a premiumof collecting more than one
railroad.
What else can you invest in?
There are two utilities, theelectric company and waterworks,
and again, owning those, ifsomebody lands on it, you get a
(09:10):
multiple of their role.
So the whole goal of Monopolyobviously to win the game is to
own everything, but the lessonto be learned is savings is
important, and then taking yoursalary and using that to invest,
and continue to invest, whetherit's in properties, continue to
(09:33):
invest, whether it's inproperties, homes, hotels,
railroads, businesses, utilities, things that are going to make
you money.
And as you make more money inthe game, you have more money
available to invest more, which,down the road, creates even
more income.
So it's a form of compounding,and so there's so many lessons
(09:56):
to be learned.
So let's go back to you land ona space and you decide not to
buy it and the banker auctionsit off and you are able to pick
up that piece of property forless than what's on the board.
Well, you paid a little bitless for that asset, but when
somebody lands on it, they stillhave to pay you the same amount
(10:17):
of rent.
So what happens to your rate ofreturn?
It went up.
So I could go on and on and onabout all the various things
dealing with monopoly, but I'mgoing to share one more here to
show you how this can evenfurther help you manage your
finances.
(10:39):
In the game of Monopoly, debt isbad.
Debt is bad.
If you're to the point in thegame where you're having to
mortgage your properties,meaning take out a loan, that's
bad.
You're probably not doing aswell as you would hope to.
There is a couple of spacesthat have debts.
(11:00):
There's certain some communitychess cards, some chance cards,
that have debt components tothem, but the game is largely
about accumulating assets,things that make you money.
So go out and play the game.
Play it with your kids.
Play it with your kids.
Play it with your friends whenthey come over.
Maybe you're on a family reunion.
Sit down and play a game.
(11:21):
Maybe you're on vacation, oryou're on vacation with friends
and family.
Break out a game of Monopoly.
Yes, it takes a while, but asyou play the game, think about
the things that I've shared withyou the old-fashioned way of
managing money, the concept ofaccumulating assets, assets that
are things that make you money,and when you get out of debt,
(11:45):
you will then be in a positionto get a larger emergency fund
to begin to invest forretirement and maybe, just maybe
, maybe, start accumulating someadditional assets, things that
you can convert your savings andor your income into rather than
spend them, so that the assetwill generate money and you can
(12:11):
use that money to go on vacation.
You can use that money to buy agood used car over a few years,
you can use that money to add toyour home or improve your home.
You can use that money to maybepay cash for some rental, real
estate ie monopoly and begin togrow your wealth in a way that
(12:35):
you value buying things thatmake you money, so those things
can then buy you things that youwant.
I hope this makes sense and Ihope it encourages you to break
out one of those originalMonopoly game boards and have
some fun this summer and, heck,any time of the year is a good
(12:55):
time to play Monopoly.
Brad Nelson (12:58):
Now listen if you're ready to break free from
living paycheck to paycheckwhich, if you're listening, I
hope you are.
You want to reduce financialstress.
You want to build savings.
You want to finally pay offdebt for good, but you're not
sure where to get started.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered here at Debt Free Dad.
Simplify my Money is sent eachSunday to your email.
We make it easy and Simplify myMoney.
(13:19):
It's your step-by-step roadmapto better financial control, and
you're also gonna learn easy tofollow strategies to manage
your money effectively.
You're gonna get stress-freemoney decisions that will help
you simplify your financial lifewith proven tips that actually
work.
You're also gonna gain thetools and the confidence to
tackle your financial goals headon.
You can sign up for Simplify myMoney by clicking the link at
(13:40):
the top of the show notes.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys on the next episode.
So right now it's summertime and maybe you have
the kids at home and you'retrying to figure out what to do
with them.
Maybe you're on vacation andyou need something to kill some
time.
Maybe you've got friends orfamily in town and you're
looking for something cheap todo one evening.
Well, in this podcast episode,I want to share with you a game
(00:20):
that I think you should beplaying, and play it as often as
you can, and you just mightfind you learn a few things
about how to manage yourfinances.
So let's find out what gamethat is and talk about it in
today's episode of the Debt-FreeDad podcast.
This is the Debt-Free DadPodcast, where we help normal,
(00:46):
everyday people like you takecontrol of your finances so you
can live a happier, lessstressful life.
My name is Chris Hawkins and Iwill be your host for today's
episode.
From 2005 until 2008, my wifeand I we paid off just under
$100,000 in debt and we havebeen debt free except for our
(01:09):
house now for well over almost20 years now.
Let me give you a little bit ofbackground into today's podcast
episode.
Back when I was learning how toget out of debt, how to manage
my money, I did a lot of readingand you've probably heard me
mention this multiple times onthis podcast that I love to read
(01:30):
, that I'm a lifelong learnerand so I read a book and I have
to admit up front, the vastmajority of it I'm not extremely
a fan of, but there were a fewvery good golden nuggets that I
took from the book that I stilluse today, and the book was by
(01:51):
Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad PoorDad, and one of the things that
he mentioned or mentions in thatbook is the idea of reframing
how we think of the term asset.
By textbook definition from anaccounting perspective, an asset
is something that you own thathas value, and in the book the
(02:15):
Rich Dad Poor Dad, he talksabout reframing the definition
such that an asset is somethingthat you own that makes you
money.
Let me say that again, hewanted just to think about an
asset as being something we ownthat makes us money, and further
(02:40):
in the book he goes on toexplain that how wealthy people
will actually accumulate assets.
They will accumulate thingsthat make them money and then
let those assets buy stuff forthem, and that's been a
(03:01):
principle that I have tried touse ever since I read that book
and again, I'm not a big fan ofthe overall book, but that is
one takeaway I think isabsolutely a gem.
So he encourages people toaccumulate assets again, things
that make you money, and thenuse those assets, or the money
(03:22):
that I guess is generated fromthose assets, to then buy you
things.
So what does that have to dowith playing games?
Well, he mentions that hethinks the game of Monopoly is a
game that you should teach yourchildren to play.
(03:42):
The game of Monopoly is a gamethat you yourself should play.
So let's talk about why I wantto encourage you to play the
game of Monopoly and what youcan learn from it to help you in
your daily financial lives.
First of all, the game isalmost 100 years old and in some
accounts maybe older than that,but officially it's going on
(04:04):
almost 100 years old, and it wasmade and printed and sold
during the Great Depression.
And if you think about that dayand age, if you wanted to pay
for a piece of property or payfor a house, you had to save up
(04:25):
the money and pay cash.
And so I want to begin thisstory on why you should be
playing the game of Monopoly byreminding you of a couple of
things, or I should say,encouraging you on a couple of
things.
First of all, play the originalversion, the one that has paper
money.
Don't get these new versionswhere they've got the little
(04:45):
debit card and the electronicbanking.
Go and get you a copy of theoriginal game that has the paper
money and then read the rulesand follow the rules of the game
exactly as they're written,meaning no house rules.
I know a lot of people like toplay rules where you can't buy a
(05:08):
piece of property until you'vegone all the way around the
board once.
Nope, that's not the way theoriginal rules are written.
In fact, what it says as thefirst person goes, when they
roll, if they land on a propertythat is not owned by anyone
else right off the bat, firstroll, buying that property at
the value that's on the board,or the bank will auction it off
(05:32):
to any player in the game, andit can include the person who
landed on it.
So imagine if you roll firstand you land on a property and
you choose not to buy it, thebanker is going to put that up
for auction.
That's the original rules andyou can't end up buying that
property for less than the valuethat's on the board.
So get the original versionwith the paper money.
(05:56):
Read the rules, play exactly bythe original rules.
No free parking money, none ofthose things that you typically
see that are house rules.
So, with that said, think abouthow you start the game.
You start the game with $1,500,money that supposedly you saved
(06:17):
up.
So if you think about, almost100 years ago, a board game
that's created that valueshaving money in the bank at the
beginning of the game, thatmoney is what will allow you to
then invest and buy things,things that are going to make
you money.
Now, if you notice carefullywhen you pass go, if you
(06:38):
remember, you get paid $200.
Well, what is that $200 called?
It's a salary.
If you look at the board, itactually says collect $200 in
salary.
So the idea of the game was youstart off with savings as you
go around the board.
Every time you go around, youcollect $200 in income.
(06:59):
The whole goal of the game wasto take your savings and your
salary that you earn every timeyou go around the board and
invest it.
So what are the things that youcan't invest in?
Well, we just said a piece ofproperty, and if you own that
property and somebody else landson it, what do they have to pay
you Rent?
So, by owning a space on themonopoly board, you now have an
(07:25):
asset, something in the gamethat makes you money when other
people land on it.
Now how do you make that landmore valuable?
Well, one way is to create amonopoly where you have all two
or all three of the same colorgroup.
If you own all two or all threeof the color group, you get
(07:48):
paid more in rent.
How else can you improve thevalue?
You can build a house on it,develop the land and then
eventually you can build a hotelon it.
And every time that you build ahouse when somebody lands on it
, the rent goes up.
And then, of course, if you canget to where you have a hotel,
(08:08):
somebody lands on it, the rentis even higher.
So the whole game is aboutbuying assets, things that make
you money, whether it be onepiece of property or all of a
color group, or then puttinghouses and then eventually
(08:28):
hotels on it.
It's a way to invest,accumulate more assets, so that
it pays you more moneythroughout the game.
But that's not the only thingthat you can invest in.
Well, there are businesses, and, particularly at that day and
age, railroads were still reallybig, and so there are four
(08:48):
railroads, and the morerailroads that you own, the more
businesses that you own, themore you get paid anytime
somebody lands on that space.
So there's a value or a premiumof collecting more than one
railroad.
What else can you invest in?
There are two utilities, theelectric company and waterworks,
and again, owning those, ifsomebody lands on it, you get a
(09:10):
multiple of their role.
So the whole goal of Monopolyobviously to win the game is to
own everything, but the lessonto be learned is savings is
important, and then taking yoursalary and using that to invest,
and continue to invest, whetherit's in properties, continue to
(09:33):
invest, whether it's inproperties, homes, hotels,
railroads, businesses, utilities, things that are going to make
you money.
And as you make more money inthe game, you have more money
available to invest more, which,down the road, creates even
more income.
So it's a form of compounding,and so there's so many lessons
(09:56):
to be learned.
So let's go back to you land ona space and you decide not to
buy it and the banker auctionsit off and you are able to pick
up that piece of property forless than what's on the board.
Well, you paid a little bitless for that asset, but when
somebody lands on it, they stillhave to pay you the same amount
(10:17):
of rent.
So what happens to your rate ofreturn?
It went up.
So I could go on and on and onabout all the various things
dealing with monopoly, but I'mgoing to share one more here to
show you how this can evenfurther help you manage your
finances.
(10:39):
In the game of Monopoly, debt isbad.
Debt is bad.
If you're to the point in thegame where you're having to
mortgage your properties,meaning take out a loan, that's
bad.
You're probably not doing aswell as you would hope to.
There is a couple of spacesthat have debts.
(11:00):
There's certain some communitychess cards, some chance cards,
that have debt components tothem, but the game is largely
about accumulating assets,things that make you money.
So go out and play the game.
Play it with your kids.
Play it with your kids.
Play it with your friends whenthey come over.
Maybe you're on a family reunion.
Sit down and play a game.
(11:21):
Maybe you're on vacation, oryou're on vacation with friends
and family.
Break out a game of Monopoly.
Yes, it takes a while, but asyou play the game, think about
the things that I've shared withyou the old-fashioned way of
managing money, the concept ofaccumulating assets, assets that
are things that make you money,and when you get out of debt,
(11:45):
you will then be in a positionto get a larger emergency fund
to begin to invest forretirement and maybe, just maybe
, maybe, start accumulating someadditional assets, things that
you can convert your savings andor your income into rather than
spend them, so that the assetwill generate money and you can
(12:11):
use that money to go on vacation.
You can use that money to buy agood used car over a few years,
you can use that money to add toyour home or improve your home.
You can use that money to maybepay cash for some rental, real
estate ie monopoly and begin togrow your wealth in a way that
(12:35):
you value buying things thatmake you money, so those things
can then buy you things that youwant.
I hope this makes sense and Ihope it encourages you to break
out one of those originalMonopoly game boards and have
some fun this summer and, heck,any time of the year is a good
(12:55):
time to play Monopoly.
Brad Nelson (12:58):
Now listen if you're ready to break free from
living paycheck to paycheckwhich, if you're listening, I
hope you are.
You want to reduce financialstress.
You want to build savings.
You want to finally pay offdebt for good, but you're not
sure where to get started.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered here at Debt Free Dad.
Simplify my Money is sent eachSunday to your email.
We make it easy and Simplify myMoney.
(13:19):
It's your step-by-step roadmapto better financial control, and
you're also gonna learn easy tofollow strategies to manage
your money effectively.
You're gonna get stress-freemoney decisions that will help
you simplify your financial lifewith proven tips that actually
work.
You're also gonna gain thetools and the confidence to
tackle your financial goals headon.
You can sign up for Simplify myMoney by clicking the link at
(13:40):
the top of the show notes.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys on the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.