Cashflow 101 Gametime Report

I arrived late to yesterday's game at the library and took over for G, a librarian, who needed to go back to work. AK was a doctor. She struggled with continually picking up duplexes and large down payment houses in the Big Deal pile, which only added to her passive income a few hundred dollars at a time. Because she was a doctor, she had about $10 000 in expenses, which is a lot of passive income to build up.

I won the game by landing on my cheese/dream, fishing in Montana, after I had gotten another $20 000 positive cashflow on the fast track from a few businesses. I got out of the rat race with two high ROI (return on investment) businesses--a coin telephone business, and a pinball machine arcade. Do people achieve 96% ROIs in real life? However, getting out of the rat race took me more than an hour, even after coming late and taking over for G. So, I am back to the beginning of the cycle in aiming to get out of the rat race in under an hour three times in a row.

After the game, LL scrambled to get to the self-storage facility before it closed to store the game over night. I stuck around at the library and found another RichDad Advisors book. It is The ABCs of Getting Out of Debt: turn bad debt into good debt and bad credit into good credit. It is by Garrett Sutton. Robert Kiyosaki provides the forward. Robert must be making a fortune of passive income from his whole series of "advisors" books; every time I turn around, I notice a new title in the series!

Cast Iron Enameled Pot

I was thinking of starting a separate blog for objects I love, but will just add them to my primary Cashflow 101 blog for now.

This pot has oak handles, attached with screws.

The orange enamel subtly changes hue from top to bottom.

The bottom reads: "Marquis of Queensburry Design, Royal Hunt, Gourmet Cookware, Made in England." There is a small horn between "royal" and "hunt"

This is one of my treasured finds at a local thrift store =)

I checked online and found this particular Marquis of Queensburry was involved in a design consultancy. It was at a time when people would buy things because an aristocrat designed it. However, the page also said the consultancy's objective was to bring good design to more people. I have no idea if this was sold in N. America.

I've been interested in cast iron for awhile. Our household has always used cast iron skillets, but I learned of dutch ovens from my wonderful fanatic professor. I'm interested in old companies like Copco.

Reminder: this is a doodad!

Current Status

Initially, I though this blog would cover my experiences playing Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 boardgame. I've played about 20 games since last August, and it might be too much to try and recount all of it. Let me try and bring readers up to speed with the relevant and important points.

I think I stumbled upon Rich Dad Poor Dad in 1999 at Borders. I ordered the game a year or two later and played with my Mom once or twice, but she wasn't that interested. The game sat unused for a number of years. I went away to Boston after 9/11 and got an Associate of Arts.

In mid-2006, LL posted on craigslist asking for Cashflow 101 players, and I responded right away. We met at the library a few days later and would continue to meet weekly. Because he was still trying to recruit other players, and I wasn't sure I could make all his desired gametimes, I offered to let him keep the game so that he could have on hand should there be a game I couldn't attend. Getting the game to LL took some back and forth. He never called me and it all had to be arranged through email. When I met him at the library and saw his layers of Walmart plastic bags, I put two and two together. I asked if he was homeless, which he confirmed. Since this time, LL has stored the game in his storage locker, which he visits morning and evening to get the appropriate items for daytime or nighttime homeless life.

I am frustrated with LLs procrastination, as well as my own. I see much of myself in him, which scares me. I started this blog in October, and he was talking about startin one way before that. In fact, LL is the one who gave me the idea in the first place. LL is still "studying" magazine articles on blogging and a book called Blogwild, for small business blogging.

Every so often, we will meet several times in one week for games, as we did last week. I especially went for this after LL read the letter from Robert included in the game saying that getting out of the rat race in under an hour three times in a row is a good benchmark to shoot for. This was something specific and measurable to shoot for. Specific and measurable is criteria frequently cited as very necessary for success in goal-setting and project management literature. After playing every week with no progress in the real world, I started to press LL about where we were going, and he did finally say that we should be playing less than once weekly by the end of 2007, and spending more time on application. When LL found Robert's letter with the getting out of the rat race 3x in a row in under an hour recommendation, it made it much less vague, and me more satisfied.

I have been able to get out of the rat race (GORR) in under an hour two times in a row. Then, I broke the cycle and had to start again. I was able to GORR an additional time in under an hour before the next game which took more than an hour. So I'm at the very beginning again.

Right now, I just want to avoid LL. I sense so many hypocrisies in him and it's driving me nuts. We had some arguments which I might try documenting later and were practically flaming each other on the email. I've been told by friends before and LL himself, that I'm way too sensitive about these things. It's true that LL thinks arguing is "fun" and he's always "joking" because he thinks I'm "hillarious."

Casey Serin and Robert Kiyosaki

This is a truly amazing blog and story. Casey Serin is younger than me--he's 24 and I'm almost 28!!! He has bought several houses. It appears two deals were good, and the others were bad. These houses are available on his website. Casey's blog has his extensive story about how he got in over his head. Here is a recap of his actions covered by an amazing USA Today article. Wow!!

Casey Serin has also had the opportunity to meet Robert Kiyosaki at his Arizona offices! I found these photos from his flickr photostream with a creative commons search.

Even after all that's gone wrong, Serin still has a gutsy 2007 goal--that is, $5000 is positive cashflow by the end of the year! Wow!

Secondhand doodads and the fastest game of Cashflow 101 ever!

This afternoon I spent $17 on doodads at Savers and learned I could have saved 20% if had brought in some donations as I entered the store, so I could have saved $3.40 if I had been more mindful, plus I shouldn't have gotten these doodads anyway!

It turned out to be the fastest game I've ever played--less than one hour from start to finish. I got a positive cashflow house on my first small deal even including borrowing the down payment from the bank! I borrowed the down payment for the second house and made a $65 000 capital gain on the first one. This let me get a plex and a pinball arcade on my next two turns so I could get out of the rat race. I won by rolling a 6 on a cookware infomercial investment which got me an additional $50 000 positive cashflow in the fast track to win.

I can't believe I didn't have any kids and was downsized only once!

Robert Kiyosaki's Father

Robert Kiyosaki has quite a bit of acclaim, but also critics such as John Reed who has also published real estate investing books and has a site devoted to his analysis of other real estate gurus. His criticisms of Robert Kiyosaki are found at this link.

Some wonder about Kiyosaki's "Poor Dad," Ralph Kiyosaki. Something interesting I found were this plate and father Ralph's introduction in the Index to the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin 1929-1967 (in five volumes). It was published by the Office of Library Services in Cooperation with the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and the Hawaii State Department of Education in 1968.



I just thought I would try harnessing the power of blogs to share information by posting these scans since I know it wouldn't be easy for everyone to find these newspaper indexes that don't even have ISBN numbers. I'm hoping to get some interaction with my audience soon so that I can witness and experience the social/collaborative/community power of blogs as well. Please comment and let me know what you think!

"Flipping" from worst to first in the creative process and in project management

Watching Top Chef and Project Runway on Bravo network has provided illumination into the creative process and project management. Top Chef season two's Elia had a disappointing result and was criticized by judges. She was very down about this while working on the succeeding challenge and even started painting chocolate on her face in frustration. She spoke frankly with the judge of the previous challenge and realised he had a different palette. She went on to win the next challenge with her mushroom soup.

Project Runway season three contestant Laura had done well, but in Paris for the couture challenge, her creation did not wow the judges. Part of the problem was a handmade ruffle that was crushed in transit and did not show well in front of the New York judges. Depressed about this, she wondered if she could make it. With some resolve, she put her all into it, broke out of her comfort zone, and won the next challenge with a stunning cocktail dress.

Creative people sometimes appear to gain strength from a down moment. It may take some thing to reduce the stress and disappointment--perhaps a listening ear, doing something crazy like Elia's chocolate facepainting, etc., but it's clear one can achieve a drastic 180 degree turnaround flip in these initially disappointing situations.

PMA Positive Mental Attitude

A wonderful article on page 9 of the December 5, 2006 Financial Times newspaper recounts author James Altucher conversation with venture capitalist John Pappajohn. Altucher is 39 and contrasts depressing examples of items he recently was exposed to in the worlds of professional baseball, chess, and financial trading. In all cases, the industry literature or friends cited shockingly lower and lower ages for practitioners considered in their "prime." Joe DiMaggio was "breaking down" at 34; Boris Gelfand is an "oldtimer" at 37 on a list of predominantly younger chess stars; a trader is hired by the seat of his pants at 29 by a firm that doesn't hire over 30s.

This article immediately reminded me of my friend ^ and our interactions since 2000. We both shared uncertainty post high school and fretted over being "behind" peers of our age group who had already decisively gone onto graduate schools or employment at famous companies. ^ got over this sooner than I and began to staunchly believe it was still possible for us laggards to make something of ourselves, no matter how old. I admired her as she stuck with a dead-end job at an unprofessional firm yet continued to believe. Of course, she still got massively discouraged at times, but ^ could always call me for shared chats, analysis, and agreed renewals. So, even though ^ was not perfectly productive all the time, several years later, she has obtained a new position at a big and famous firm that's not under the table and includes health insurance! Her attitude eventually worked and she got this position even though she didn't have perfect grades, wasn't an overachiever at an ivy league school, graduated after 22, and didn't go into the workforce immediately afterward.

Altucher is also encouraged after calling John Pappajohn. We learn that Pappajohn was 41 in 1969 when he started his new heatlhcare venture capitalist career, after being rebuffed by Warren Buffett and right before interest rates went to 16 percent--certainly not "good timing" for becoming a VC!!! However, he and his wife continued with their "PMA--positive mental attitude," and have returned 60 percent annually since then starting over 50 companies.

There is more information about John Pappajohn at his website. What an uplifting individual to think about--very useful for those of us who get caught up in worry that we haven't got it perfect early enough. Pappajohn was 41 when he started and ^ and I are 27! Combined with increasing life expectancy, we could be fine, but we must defend, maintain, develop, and grow that Positive Mental Attitude!


The photo above is a sculpture of a thinking hare a la Rodin by Barry Flanagan. Pappajohn and his wife donated this statue to the Smithsonian. I wonder if the hare is summoning up his PMA to continue on despire the discouragement so he can go on to great things!

Jasper Johns and Karen Kingston -- Clearing Out the Clutter

A recent issue of Investors Business Daily featured painter Jasper Johns in their "Leaders and Success" column. It starts with: "At 24, Jasper Johns destroyed all his previous artworks. It was the only way, he knew, that he'd achieve his life's goal"--pretty dramatic eh?

This reminded me of Karen Kingston, the clutter-clearing and feng shui expert who divides her time between the UK and Bali, Indonesia. Sometimes, the physical things we hold onto keep us from getting where we want to go. Kingston says this is because there is no space for the new to come into our life.

I doubt Jasper Johns knew of Karen Kingston, as she has become famous more recently, and he has had renown for quite some time. It's amazing they may have jumped onto the same ideas on their own.

As I clear out things in my room and at my Grandmother's, I try to think: "Why am I keeping this? Is it relevant to what I want to do now--acquire true assets and develop positive cashflow so I can get out of the rat race? Does it represent what I want to be?" More often than not, the answer is no. I try to remember the reasons I initially held onto it, and the reasons sometimes give insight into my personality--for example, holding onto a section of an old Financial Times because I loved the writing quality, had a crush on the author, hadn't been to the place that was written about so interestingly etc.--in other words, the article represented something I aspired to be, see, experience, or participate in. I try to have compassion for myself and my original reasons for keeping the item, remind myself that my security and life do not depend on keeping the object around, and physically hug and kiss the item into a donation box for the cat sanctuary white elephant fundraisers, or to the trash.

If any of these items are holding me back from getting out of the rat race and getting assets with passive income, then I'd much rather get rid of them, because they are liabilities of the mind, even if their cost in money has been paid off long ago. For the Financial Times example, I no longer put out for it at the newsstands, but read it in the library and take mindmap notes. This way I avoid holding onto them forever and avoid them as a Robert Kiyosaki doodad.

Wouldn't it be awful if Jasper Johns never achieved all that he did just because he "held on" to those early paintings? What a tragedy that would be!

$60 closer to getting rid of BAD DEBT and getting out of the rat race

Today I spent time putting up Christmas decorations in the public areas of a hotel. It is a temporary gig, and I'm expected until Wednesday. Today, I put in seven hours, but our lunch hours (and they are an hour) are not covered. At $10 per hour, that is $60 before taxes.

I'm very excited because last year I did this, but my mind wasn't focused toward eliminating my BAD DEBT, but instead zeroed in on wanting to hang out with Boss 1 whom I had a crush on. I hadn't been playing Cashflow 101 regularly back then. In fact, when I was decorating lobbies last year, I hadn't played Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 for several years. This year, the gig was easier because I had done it before, I was more comfortable with the weird world of Boss 2, my esteem for Boss 1 was reduced and I no longer suffered the intense crush, and most importantly, I had a clear purpose: raise funds to eliminate bad debt--what a difference this change in mindset makes!

Procrastination to Progress Barking Up the Wrong Alley

After playing Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 Boardgame on Thursday, I finally got it in me to call the owner of the small parcel I was interested in for developing a small house. I had been procrastinating on this task for several months. The conversation was smooth and I realized I had nothing to fear but myself. The seller's response was mostly negative, but at least I found out what he was thinking. Playing on Thursday also motivated me to finally find the specific zoning rules for the zone applicable to the lot. I had the entire zoning ordinance on my computer, but had not yet found the specific rules of this zone. Well, it looks like this lot would be too small to get zoning approval! Even if the zoning was changed to less restrictive zone, developing the house would not be allowed in that zone either!

Well, it took five months of procrastination, and then one hour to make the phone call, get the answer, then find the specific zoning information. I got negative responses for both, but it felt great, because now I know the answer and can move onto something else! It is a task completed, and no longer hanging over me. Contunually playing Cashflow 101 is helping me gently tackle these various steps.

YT, my fellow Cashflow 101 player, noted I obtained information that I was "barking up the wrong alley," which I thought was a great way to look at it, although not completely true. I actually realised I was lying on the sidewalk in front of the alley, sniffing around, but mostly hoping something would pop out of the alley and take charge, or that the pound, humane society, or friendly dog-lover would come and rescue me from the misery of peering into the alley. Finally on Thursday, I went into the alley, and barked. This was a shift from waiting/hoping/yearning for something external to come along and "take care of it" to internally initiated action toward gaining a result. I went from looking at the alley, to finally barking up the alley. The negative response from the seller and the zoning is irrelevant; I needed that information so I can move onto finding other alleys and opportunities. Hopefully, it won't take me five months after finding the alley to bark up it.

The Pleasures of Discovering Postman Pat

I have just discovered a wonerful kid's show called Postman Pat. It plays on HBO from 9-9:30am every morning. Postman Pat is the mailman for a British town called Greendale. The postmistress is Mrs. Goggins. Jess, the cat, always accompanies Postman Pat on his rounds. Dr. Gilbertson is a single Mom that Police Constable Selby has a crush on. I guess in the UK english, I should say Police Constable Selby fancies Dr. Gilbertson. Ajay Bains maintains and drives the Greendale Rocket--the town's train to the larger town of Pencaster (spelling?). He is married to Nisha, and she runs the cafe in the station. Meera, their daughter, appears to be best friends with Pat's son. Another hillarious character always has his inventions backfire on him.

Anyway, the town is very close. So far, I have seen six episodes, in which Postman Pat has arranged a bowling party on the village green, a 100th birthday party for the Greendale Rocket, another general town party (in which he even helped one of the girls come up with a dress). The children are all cooperative. I adore the cat, Jess. This is all animation by the way--not drawn animation, but animation of all these beautiful handcrafted figures. What a wonderful show!

The ending credits go something like this. Pat is standing with his Royal Mail carrier in front of a large card/envelope with a stamp on it. The is the backdrop for flashing credits as the music sings:

"Postman, Postman Pat
Can you guess what's in his bag?
Is it a letter? Meow! (Jess peeks out from behind the lower right-hand corner of the envelope)
Is it a parcel? Meow! (Jess peeks out from the upper left-hand corner)
Is it a postcard? Meow! (Jess peeks out from the upper right-hand corner)
What else? Jess, the cat! (Jess pops out of Pat's lidded mail cart/trolley/buggy and gets pets and eye contact from pat)"

Looking forward to many wonderful episodes of this fantastic show.

First Post, Earthquake Experience

While sleeping yesterday morning, I dreamt I was in a large parking lot with many vehicles rumbling on the level above. The vibrations sure seemed to be strong. There was a pause, then a second round of vehicles seemed to come through. Thus ended my dream, and I awoke uncomfortably, thinking "was that an earthquake?" even though I've never felt an earthquake before. I used the bathroom and ran back to bed. I had to force myself to note the time from a cell phone--7:11am. The power went off, and on, and off, a few minutes later. Feeling more energized and less determined to sleep through everything, I helped my Mom fill containers with water and learned she was in the kitchen and had seen our hanging mugs jingle against each other.

We learned the batteries in our two radios were only to maintain correct time on the clock portion, and would not operate the radio or CD portions. We got news via landline telephone from a Kauai relative and a Honolulu friend who got his news via landline telephone from his sister in Seattle and her television. Through these means, we learned the earthquake was worse on the big island. My Mom called her friend there and left a message. Later, the friend called back. She was okay, but had to clean up lots of glass. She mentioned cast iron pots being thrown out of cabinets, books falling of shelves, and pictures falling down. Her brother was on a UA ORD-KOA flight and the flight was sent back to ORD. She was taking care of his dog, and cleaned up lots of glass at his home as well. At this point, I noticed my two carved stone Korean footsoldier bookends had toppled over, but remained on the shelf. My books definitely did not come off their shelves. This illustrates different experiences for Kona and Honolulu dwellers. Also, her power only went off for a short while as she was able to call us on a cordless phone in the early afternoon, while our power was off for about 16 hours.

Around 2pm, I went to Ala Moana Beach Park and had a good swim. At the reef, I suddenly thought perhaps this earthquake could have caused a tsunami. I calmed down because the lifeguards were there and hadn't kept people from going in the water. I tried to look toward the horizon to see if the water was pulling back, which I thought I had read was a sign of an impending big wave. Everything looked fine, but I decided to go back in anyway. I walked around magic island and observed two dead pigeons, some crabs, and the waves, before leaving. There was a large gathering in the park portion with music and tents. I am not sure which group it was, but they seemed to be from some Polynesian or Micronesian group, and I apologize that I do not know.

Our power came back on around 1130pm. Later, at 1250am Tuesday, I drove to Waikiki and noticed the Royal Iolani, Iolani Court Plaza, Terrace Towers, and other buildings along Date St. remained without power. I strolled through Waikiki on a cell phone congratulating and chatting with a friend who is starting a new job today in New York. Police cars pulled up to the Moana Surfrider and officers ran quickly to restrain a husky man. He started crying and wailing distressfully. The breeze was wonderful and power was on for the stretch of Kalakaua I walked. At 2am when I drove back, the buildings I mentioned above were still without power.

I am trying to report these things because I'm intrigued about things like google spreadsheet, blogs, people reporting the news, etc. is really "unleashing" all of this stuff. For example, my cable is still not working. When I go to status.oceanic.com, the site is down and I got confused in the first place by going to their internet network status page, and not their cable television status homepage. I thought to myself it would be great if someone else mentioned their cable was working or not in their blog, because that would give me more information than oceanic! So, now that my power is on, I am motivated to write this first post.

Busses seemed to be working fine all day. Streetlights and stoplights were not.