#The game of life money drivers

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If you’re not careful in real life and file too many claims, your insurer can drop you, too. Being Careless Can Hurt Your FinancesĪfter shelling out thousands of dollars for insurance, it hurts when you land on the space in “The Game of Life” telling you to turn in your fire insurance because you were too careless, or turn in your auto insurance because you were a reckless driver. The average monthly premium a healthy 30-year-old non-smoker would pay for a 20-year term-life policy with a $500,000 benefit is only about $23, according to ValuePenguin. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot to get a lot of coverage. In real life, your loved ones are the losers if you die without life insurance and they depended on you financially. However, you can get payouts of $25,000, $30,000, $50,000 and $100,000 along the way if you have life insurance and land on the right spots. It can be a tough choice to make if your pay is just $5,000 - and because there are no penalties for not having life insurance as there are for not owning auto insurance. You have the option to shell out $5,000 in “The Game of Life” on life insurance after your first payday. Owning Life Insurance Can Pay Big Dividends The cost of homeowners insurance is small in comparison with the cost of uninsured disasters. The answer is yes - that is, if you don’t want to pay more later for disasters such as a fire or cyclone. Immediately after landing on the space that forces you to buy a house (apparently home ownership isn’t a choice), the next space asks if you want to buy fire insurance for $5,000. You Have To Protect Your House With Insurance You quickly learn that buying auto insurance can save you a lot of money - forgive the pun - down the road.

#The game of life money drivers

Unlike in real life where almost all states require drivers to have a minimum amount of auto coverage, it’s an optional purchase in “The Game of Life.” But if you don’t pay the $500 upfront, you could end up paying as much as $25,000 for an auto collision. Story continues No Matter How Safe You Think You Are, You Always Need Auto InsuranceĪt the beginning of the game, you have to decide whether you want to buy auto insurance for $500. Women with a bachelor’s degree earn $630,000 more over their lifetimes than those without one. According to the Social Security Administration, men with a bachelor’s degree make $900,000 more in median lifetime earnings than men with only a high school diploma. Over the course of the game, my daughter earned $255,000 more than my husband because she went down the college path.Īlthough a GOBankingRates survey found that 42% of graduates said their college degree wasn’t worth the student debt it created, having a college degree can result in substantially higher earnings over your lifetime. My husband chose the business route, and my daughter was lucky enough to land on the “doctor” space (ironically, I landed on “journalist”). One of the first things you have to decide before you spin the wheel in “The Game of Life” is whether you want to take the shorter route to business and get a salary of $5,000 on each payday or go down the longer college route - which could lead to an income as high as $20,000 if you become a doctor. Going To College Can Pay Off in the Long Run That’s why I prefer the original edition of “The Game of Life.” Find out what great money lessons you can learn from this classic board game. But real life is tough, especially when it comes to financial matters. My 7-year-old claimed he liked the new version of “The Game of Life” we also own better because the classic version is harder. Even my 7-year-old son beat me - which was pretty disappointing because I’m a financial journalist and “The Game of Life” is all about making smart money decisions.Īctually, there’s a lot of chance involved, too, which explains why my economist husband and I both lost to our kids. My 12-year-old daughter actually walked away the winner with more than $800,000 when my family played this classic board game recently. I was a loser in “The Game of Life.” The instructions on the reproduction of the original 1960 board game my family has say, “you too can be a millionaire in this game of life.” But I ended up broke at the “poor farm.”