Shortcuts to Knowledge in Board Games, Books
Finance can be dull as dirt. Yet many people recognize that a basic knowledge of finance can save them thousands of dollars, open lucrative new investment opportunities and and provide a measure of protection against scams.
So how do you learn finance without submitting to trial by boredom? Is it really a question of no pain, no gain?
Fortunately, no. During the last couple of years, a number of individuals and companies have come up with games, contests and books that attempt to entertain and inform about everything from the savings and loan crisis to the stock market. A select few seem noteworthy, said Michael J. Ruggiero, publisher of Fun & Games magazine.
For those who want to learn more about banking, for example, there’s a board game called “The Million Dollar Bank Game,” which strives to do for banking what Monopoly did for real estate.
Players are given a job and $100,000 in funny money to start. They then have to handle a series of career changes and financial transactions in order to pay off all their debts and put $1 million in the bank. The first debt-free, million-dollar depositor wins.
Playing is easy and requires no real knowledge of banking, creator Kevin Montague said. But those who want to become proficient must learn how to manipulate the banking system. They can get an edge by getting a copy of the “industry notes” booklet that explains both the game and banking. (It’s a low-tech version of the Nintendo hot line.)
The game, which was named “Best Strategy Game for 1992” by Fun & Games magazine, sells for under $20 at a number of specialty toy stores nationwide.
You prefer to learn about the stock market? Wall Street Portfolios has just started the summer session of its National Investment Challenge. The challenge invites investors to “play” the stock market like the pros. Participants get a fictional $500,000 portfolio that can be invested in stocks or options. Players then trade like crazy trying to come up with double-digit returns.
The game, which is used by some investment houses to train new brokers, includes monthly statements that show the player’s account activity, trading fees and profits or losses. Participants can execute up to 100 trades during the three-month session and can call as frequently as they wish to ask questions about trading techniques.
Wall Street Portfolios’ staffers won’t give advice on which stocks or bonds to buy, but they will explain how to short a stock, how to buy a Standard & Poor’s index option, how to buy on margin and other sophisticated--and not-so-sophisticated--strategies.
At the end of three months, the top performers--those who have the most money--share $100,000 in cash and prizes.
The catch is, this isn’t cheap. Three months of play costs $99, which includes your phone calls. To sign up or get more information, call (800) 545-8808, Ext. 83. Games begin quarterly.
Accounting’s your game? Whether there are any relevant contests is a mystery, but a professor at Texas A&M; University has written a series of whodunits that strive to explain the basics of finance, tax and auditing.
The books are used at roughly 200 universities to help teach accounting, but they can be helpful to anyone who needs a little inside information about how the system works.
If you’re being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, for example, you may gain insights by reading “The Ultimate Rip-off: A Taxing Tale,” which delves into the personal and professional life of an IRS agent who handles tax fraud cases.
Prof. Larry Crumbley, who writes under the nom de plume Iris Weil Collett, has published four of these books, including the tax tome and a book called “Trap Doors and Trojan Horses,” about a “forensic” auditor. That’s one who tries to track down financial fraud.
The books are available in many college bookstores or from publisher Thomas Horton & Daughters, 2662 S. New Town Drive, Sun Lakes, Ariz. 85248, for $8.95 each.
Crumbley says he’s also written a book about insurance, but no one has been willing to publish it. Apparently, the quest for knowledge has its limits.
