8 Personal Finance Lessons Learned From Monopoly

Remember those cold winter nights when your family stayed up late and fought to bankrupt each other? Recall the number of times you cheered a little metal dog (or hat or thimble) to move around a square board quickly? Recollect regularly screaming “come on seven!” only to roll a six? Who knew that all that time you were really learning about personal finance? Well, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity now knows this was the case. He’s detailed eight personal finance lessons he learned from Monopoly.

Much of his learnings could be classified as personal finance 101, but lesson #2 is something you don’t hear about much in money management circles — the power of luck. Blueprint describes it as follows:

So you hit a few doubles and fly around the board, take advantage of it by snatching up as many properties as you can. In life, you’ll often catch lucky breaks, be sure you’re in a position to capitalize on those lucky breaks. Sometimes you’ll have an opportunity that requires a particular skill, try expanding your horizons beforehand and polishing up on those skills that are related to your current job but not necessarily applicable at the moment. You don’t need to become an expert but when the opportunity presents itself you can at least claim brief experience so that it can get you in the discussion.

Luck often plays a role in many areas that impact personal finances including career advancement, investing, health, disability, and more. One lucky break can turn a pauper into a wealthy person. One unlucky event can humble the rich in the blink of an eye. Yes, sometimes the difference between a major opportunity and a financial hit can be as small as rolling a six instead of a seven… and chance favors the prepared mind.

8 Personal Finance Lessons I Learned From Monopoly [Blueprint for Financial Prosperity]

FREE MONEY FINANCE

(Photo: R80o (Mark Strozier))

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