【正文】 od grades and find a safe job or career They learn nothing about money except from those who profit from their na 飗 et and work hard all their lives The process repeats into another hardworking generation This is the Rat Race The only way to get out of the Rat Race is to prove your proficiency at both accounting and investing arguably two of the most difficult subjects to master As a trained CPA who once worked for a Big 8 accounting firm I was surprised that Robert had made the learning of these two subjects both fun and exciting The process was so well disguised that while we were diligently working to get out of the Rat Race we quickly fot we were learning Soon a product test turned into a fun afternoon with my daughter talking about things we had never discussed before As an accountant playing a game that required an Ine Statement and Balance Sheet was easy So I had the time to help my daughter and the other players at my table with concepts they did not understand I was the first personand the only person in the entire test groupto get out of the Rat Race that day I was out within 50 minutes although the game went on for nearly three hours At my table was a banker a business owner and a puter programmer What greatly disturbed me was how little these people knew about either accounting or investing subjects so important in their lives I wondered how they managed their own financial affairs in real life I could understand why my 19yearold daughter would not understand but these were grown adults at least twice her age After I was out of the Rat Race for the next two hours I watched my daughter and these educated affluent adults roll the dice and move their markers Although I was glad they were all learning so much I was disturbed by how much the adults did not know about the basics of simple accounting and investing They had difficulty grasping the relationship between their Ine Statement and their Balance Sheet As they bought and sold assets they had trouble remembering that each transaction could impact their monthly cash flow I thought how many millions of people are out there in the real world struggling financially only because they have never been taught these subjects Thank goodness theyre having fun and are distracted by the desire to win the game I said to myself After Robert ended the contest he allowed us fifteen minutes to discuss and critique CASHFLOW among ourselves The business owner at my table was not happy He did not like the game I dont need to know this he said out loud I hire accountants bankers and attorneys to tell me about this stuff To which Robert replied Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of accountants who arent rich And bankers and attorneys and stockbrokers and real estate brokers They know a lot and for the most part are smart people but most of them are not rich Since our schools do not teach people what the rich know we take advice from these people But one day youre driving down the highway stuck in traffic struggling to get to work and you look over to your right and you see your accountant stuck in the same traffic jam You look to your left and you see your banker That should tell you something The puter programmer was also unimpressed by the game I can buy software to teach me this The banker however was moved I studied this in schoolthe accounting part that isbut I never knew how to apply it to real life Now I know I need to get myself out of the Rat Race But it was my daughters ments that most touched me I had fun learning she said I learned a lot about how money really works and how to invest Then she added Now I know I can choose a profession for the work I want to perform and not because of job security benefits or howmuch I get paid If I learn what this game teaches Im free to do and study what my heart wants to study rather than study something because businesses are looking for certain job skills If I learn this I wont have to worry about job security and Social Security the way most of my classmates already do I was not able to stay and talk with Robert after we had played the game but we agreed to meet later to further discuss his project I knew he wanted to use the game to help others bee more financially savvy and I was eager to hear more about his plans My husband and I set up a dinner meeting with Robert and his wife within the next week Although it was our first social gettogether we felt as if we had known each other for years ps their number to me appeared countless though not in reality exceeding eighty they were uniformly dressed in brown stuff frocks of quaint fashion and long holland pinafores It was the hour of study they were engaged in conning over their tomorrows task and