Finally, I grabbed two of the orange slices of real estate. They were the last two pieces that were vacant on the board. My wife had the third. Everyone else was in a similar situation; they all had one or two from each color, but not three. And if you know the rules, three is the magic number (except some select plots that only have two of a kind). You need all of the like-colored plots to build houses.
Besides this, most people don’t read the rule book so they don’t know some other important strategy-driven rules. And if they did read the rule book, even fewer read all the way to the back of the book, so they never realize that a player is permitted to trade their real estate with other players and make deals.
So during the game I made a deal with my wife that if she sold me the deed that I needed for half the price she paid, I would only charge her 1/10 of the rent on all future landings. Hesitating, she handed me the two-million dollar deed for one-million dollars. Now I had three deeds of the same color and began building as fast as I could.
As it turns out, my sister-in-laws boyfriend owned half the deeds on the board, but he did not hold three of a kind, which was necessary to build and compete. As we played on, I went from being laughed at for not having any property to being hated since I was able to charge nine to ten million dollars in rent each time someone landed on my properties.
I’m unsure of the statistics, but it seems to me that the orange real estate is landed on more often than any other color. Keeping this in mind, fast forward to the end of the game: I owned every piece of property on the board and had three mortgages out to the other players, as well as loans on future earnings from community chest and “pass-go” pay outs.
What is the moral of this story? Strategy and education pays off in the long run! When you are in your twenties it is very important to develop multiple strategies. Short term, long term… even as far as retirement.
My grandmother was married for almost fifty years. I recall her saying that those fifty years goes by in the blink of an eye. In your twenties, you will probably be spending a lot more than you save, but that is ok because you have a large buffer (approx 40 to 50 years) before retirement. However, once you hit your thirties, you will need to save more per month, so the earlier you start the better!
Every so often, Kiplinger or Money magazine runs an article entitled “How much you need to save while…” which will have focus groups for people in their twenties, thirties, and so on. When you are young, you have years ahead of you. But as the years fall off the calendar, the amount you will have to save per year increases almost exponentially due to lost interest (or percent return for a portfolio of stocks) and the loss in value due to time (due to inflation).
Also, it will be in your best interest to figure out where you stand financially. Gather up your account information and piece it all together. There is a great piece of developing a financial plan here. But you also need to think long term. Does your employer offer a 401k plan? If not, start investing in your own IRA – never wait for your employer to offer a retirement plan.
And don’t forget about creating a stock portfolio. I read an article on MSN about a gentleman who did not earn much, but he started investing little by little, year over year. After forty years of investing in the market, he had surmounted an amazing amount of money. Even if you invested $100 each month, over forty years the stock markets ups and downs would average out to a decent return. It would certainly be better than the meager return you would get in a garden-variety savings account and it will set you up for a nice contribution towards your retirement. Just remember the power of compounding interest!
Aside from seeking financial freedom, planning for emergencies and working towards becoming rich, many Americans are facing the reality that all the planning they did is turning out to be insufficient. People are living longer: the average life expectancy for a healthy individual has increased about ten years since the 1950’s, from 68 years old to 77 years old. And yes, you may think that is far away, but remember what my grandmother said: “fifty years goes by in the blink of an eye.” As the quality of life gets better and medical science keeps us alive longer, where do you think we will be in another fifty years when we are all in our seventies? When you are building your strategy, you must also consider longevity as another important factor.
With that said, I give you a few items to consider:
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