How to Turn Money Management into a Game

Personal finance blogger J.D. Roth explains how his love of games has translated into an effective motivator for better money management: I am a gamer. All my life, I’ve been a fan of games of all sorts. I’ve played Dungeons and Dragons since I was in the third grade.
When we were younger, my wife and I had marathon bridge sessions with another couple every week. I used to host monthly game nights during which my friends and I played the latest and greatest European board games. For a while, I played in chess tournaments. And, of course, I’ve long been addicted to video games.
Photo remixed from an original by Korionov/Shutterstock.
No surprise then than I was happy to participate in a recent panel discussion at the IGDA summit, a conference for game developers. The topic? Practical personal finance. The other members of this panel were Courtney Stanton (of Subatomic Studios) and Mike Sellers (of Kabam). The panel was moderated by Dan Scherlis.
I didn’t know the other panel members before the conference started. Because we’d never met, we spent a couple of hours beforehand preparing our talking points. I was impressed by how my colleagues tied everything back to gaming. Over and over again, they talked about the “gamification of personal finance”.

The Gamification of Personal Finance

The “gamification of personal finance” simply means using money management techniques based on game design principles.
Think of your favourite games — especially video games. What makes them fun? What makes you want to play again and again? How can these elements be extracted from game design and used in real life? In this case, for promoting smart personal finance?
At first, I thought the idea sounded silly. But I quickly realised that I’ve subconsciously been using game design principles to help me cut spending, boost income, get out of debt, and build wealth. My own approach to money management has been game-based for the past seven years, but I hadn’t realised it until now.
During our discussion, Stanton talked about her own experience with debt repayment, about how it felt like she would “level up” whenever she paid off a credit card or a loan. This kept her motivated to continue.
Dan Scherlis, our moderator, made an interesting point. Even as you’re trying to “win” the game of personal finance, there are folks on the other side trying to beat you. The credit card companies, the transnational corporations, and even the professionals who are supposed to be on your side — they’re all trying to game you, trying to get as much money out of you as they can. (This is exactly why I’m always saying that nobody cares more about your money than you do.)

Playing the game

But how does this all relate to Real Life? For me, the answer is obvious. I can see clearly how using the debt snowball gave me game-like feedback about my progress, encouraging me to accelerate my debt reduction. I felt like I was winning.
The same is true with boosting my income. For years, it was a fun challenge to see if I could earn more money this month than last month. (Or more money this quarter than last quarter.) For me, my income was my “score”, and bringing in more money was my way of racking up the points.
Now that my financial situation is rosy, the game is a little less obvious. In some ways, it’s as if I’ve reached the final stages, and my goal is simply to maintain the position I’ve established. And I’m trying to find a way to do this while still having fun. (Actually, for you Diablo II fans, it’s almost like I’ve finished the main game and am playing the Secret Cow Level.)
For you, making a game out of money management might mean something else. For instance, you might:

• Budget $100 for groceries every week. If you spend just $85, then the remaining $15 is yours to spend on whatever you’d like.
• Make a game out of spending as little as possible on dining out. How far can you stretch your restaurant dollar? What coupons and discounts can you find? Where are the cheap eats that taste good?
• Make a paper chain representing your debt. Each time you pay off a certain amount ($100?), cut a link of the chain.
• Give yourself a “bonus” for completing a “stage”. Maybe you’re trying to pay off debt. Each time you eliminate one debt, you might give yourself some sort of small reward as a “power-up”.

Actually, a lot of the “money hacks” I’ve shared during five years of writing Get Rich Slowly are nothing more than methods for making money management into a game. Some examples:

• Pay yourself first with a personalised coupon booklet
• Use envelope budgeting to control your spending
• Use a monthly “checkbook sweep” to force yourself to save
• Use a personal escrow account to budget for non-monthly expenses
• Learn to use unit pricing to get the best deal on groceries.
• Use the drugstore game and/or “extreme couponing” to slash your spending on household items
• Use “reverse credit” to stick to a budget

To some extent, Mint uses game-design principles. It’s a money-management tool that provides game-like feedback about your progress. And tools like Bobber (a targeted-savings app) explicitly try to make money management a game.
Note: In some ways, “gamification” is just taking advantage of feedback loops. With personal finance, that means getting constant data about your financial situation, looking for ways to improve that situation, and then pushing yourself to make changes. Once the changes are made, you look at the results and repeat the process.

Game over

The “gamificiation” of personal finance isn’t new. For decades, people have been trying to use game principles to encourage others to save. In 1988, when I was 19, my father game me some financial advice. He wrote:

You used to play lots of video games. One of them had a rocket and you had an energy level you had to worry about. Energy was used to travel and to shoot at the enemy. Life is a big video game. In our society money is the energy. There are certain things you have to or should do so make sure don’t shoot so many asteroids just for the fun of it that you deplete your energy level and someone has to flash on your screen — GAME OVER — .

Dad was decades ahead of his time!

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11 Ways to Make Big Change With Small Steps

Small goals, when taken seriously and applied consistently, create significant change.
The standard behavior is to start out with the intent of doing something big, work for two weeks, fizzle out, and go back to wishing for more. What if you started with the intent of doing something small instead?
What’s the least you need to earn to break free? What’s the smallest step forward that you could take today? What is a tiny barrier you can remove to make progress?
You don’t need millions of dollars in funding to start working for yourself. You don’t need to get a promotion to become respected in your office. You don’t need to learn from a master to become a better negotiator.
You just need to begin taking small steps.

Have a corporate job?

What is a small step you can take to make sure that your boss loves you? What is a tiny thing that people one level above you are doing that you’re not? What is one thing you can do to over-prepare for your next meeting? How can you build up your co-workers and develop friendships?

4 ideas you can use right now:

1. Email a senior executive and ask them out to lunch. Talk to them about how they got to where they are. What did they do right? What mistakes did they make? Spend most of the time listening. At the end ask them what they would do if they were in your position right now? How would they climb the corporate ladder/get a raise/make a good impression on their boss?
2. Compliment a co-worker for a brilliant comment they made, a presentation they gave, or a smart suggestion they offered. Encourage them to talk more about themselves and focus on supporting what’s right instead of criticizing what’s wrong.
3. Will you cross paths with a senior member of your company soon? Do 15 minutes of research on him or her. Send an email to a friend that has met them before. Find out what they are like. Use this information to deliver a super-friendly and personal introduction when you meet them.
4. Ask your co-workers for short testimonials of good work you’ve done on projects — or better, swipe a few complimentary lines from emails that they have sent you. Put these compliments into a PowerPoint presentation and show it to your boss at your next performance review. Asking for a raise is easy when you have proof of your value.

Work for yourself?

What is a single action that you can do to bring more money in the door? Is there one person you can contact that could land you 5 new clients? What is a small thing you’ve been waiting to do to promote your business?

4 ideas you can use right now:

1. Write down the three most beneficial business moves you have made in the last 3 months. Can you do one of those things right now? Tip: If it didn’t bring money in, then it’s not beneficial.
2. Email your previous clients and ask for testimonials. Put them on your sales page. Put them in your emails. Put one on your business card.
3. Show your customers that you love them. Send them a link to a relevant article that you enjoyed. Offer any customer that has been with you over 6 months/2 years/5 years a one-time discount for their loyalty.
4. If you freelance, then send your current clients an email detailing what you accomplished last week and what you plan to do next week. Do this every Friday. Talk about a small step that will make your clients want you to hire you again.

Want to start your own business?

What’s the least you need to earn to leave your day job? What’s the first thing you can do to take you a step closer to freedom? Who is one person you could talk to that can help you?

3 ideas you can use right now:

1. Brainstorm a list of ideas for possible businesses. Email a group of ten friends and ask them for honest feedback. You can take all of the pressure off, “Hey guys, I’m kicking around some crazy ideas for a side project, but I’m not sure which ones are any good. Could you give me some initial feedback? I’m interested in all of them, but not attached to any of them, so be honest. I really want to know if people think an idea is good or bad before I start working on it.”
2. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Write out a list of things you need to do to make money. Spend 10 minutes figuring out how to do one of them.
3. Spend 30 minutes learning about something you can use right away. Starting an online business? Maybe you need to know how most people make money online or how to design an ebook or how to build an email list. Starting a brick-and-mortar shop? Maybe you need to learn about building codes and zoning restrictions or about print media options for your business or how direct mail marketing works.

What is the least you can do today?

What is the smallest step you can take today towards your goals? What is something simple and actionable that you can do right now?
Do that.
Then take another tiny step tomorrow.

PassivePanda

7 Ways To Get Over Fear and Make Big Life Changes

It’s even harder when it’s a big change — breaking up with someone you love, leaving your old job, starting your own business, or hundreds of other difficult choices.

But even if it’s obvious that making a big change will be beneficial for us, it can be tough.

We worry. How do we know if we’re making the right decision?
We wish we knew more. How do we make a decision without all of the necessary information?
We feel stuck. How do we get past fear and move forward with that thing we want to do?
Well, I certainly don’t have all the answers, but here are 7 tips that should help you move forward and make a positive change in your life.

1. You’ll never have all the information
We often avoid making important decisions because we want more information before we make a tough call.
Yes, it’s certainly true that you need to do your research … but if you’re waiting for the crystal clear answer to come to you, then you’re going to be waiting a long time. As humans, we are curious creatures and our need for information can be paralyzing.
Life is a series of guesses, mistakes, and revisions. Make the best decision you can at the time and continue to move forward.

2. You need to have enough courage to trust yourself
We make all sorts of excuses for not making important changes, but the limiting belief that often underlies many of them is that we don’t trust ourselves.
We think that if we get into a new situation, we won’t know what to do or how to react. We’re worried that the uncharted territory of the future will be too much for us to handle.
Give yourself more credit than that.
You’ve dealt with unexpected changes before right? And when your car got a flat tire on the way to work, how did that end up? Or when you were unexpectedly dumped?
In the end, you were fine.
Have enough courage to trust yourself. No matter what happens, you’ll figure out a way to make it work.

3. What’s the worst that could happen?
Like jealousy, most of your fears are created in your own head.
When you actually sit down and think about the worst case scenario, you’ll realize that there are actually very few risks that you can’t recover from.
Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Once you realize the worst isn’t that bad, you’ll be ready to crush it.

4. It’s just as much about the process as it is about the result
We’re so wrapped up in results. We worry that if we start out towards a big goal, then we might not make it to the finish line.
Guess what? You’re allowed to change your mind.
Furthermore, just because you don’t reach the final goal doesn’t mean you failed. You chose the goal in the first place. It was arbitrary. You’re allowed to choose a new goal halfway through. Failure is not a destination and neither is success.
Enjoy the process of moving forward.

5. Continue to pursue opportunity
If you’re on the fence about a big decision, then you might be worried about getting locked into a position that you can’t escape from.
Think about it a different way. New choices rarely limit your options.
In fact, new pursuits often open up even more opportunities. One of the best things about going after important goals with passion is that they open up chances and options that you never could have expected in the beginning.
If you pursue the interesting opportunities that arise along the path to your goal, then you can be sure that you’ll always have choices.

6. Effort matters, so use it
It sounds simple, but one of the of the big reasons we don’t make change is because we don’t try. And we don’t try because then it’s easy to make excuses for why we don’t get what we want.
Flunk that test? Are you stupid? “Of course I’m not stupid. I just didn’t study. I would have got an A if I actually studied.”
Stuck in a job you hate? Why haven’t you found a new job yet? “Well, I haven’t really tried to get a new job. I could totally ace that interview if I wanted.”
Why do we make excuses like these to ourselves? It’s because if we try and fail, then we just failed. But if we don’t try, well then we can chalk it up to laziness.
Get over it. Failure happens to everyone.
And the funny thing is, if you actually try — because it’s pretty clear that most people aren’t trying — then you’ll win a lot more than you think.

7. Start with something manageable
You can’t climb Everest if you don’t try hiking beforehand.
Maybe applying for your dream job seems intimidating right now. What can you start with today?
Can you talk to someone who already has that position and see what they think makes them successful? Can improve your skills so you meet one of the qualifications?
You don’t need to be a world changer today, you just need to make a small change in your own world.

LifeHack

7 Reasons To Search Online For Your Next Dream Job

 

The job hunt may be arduous and thus sometimes frustrating. In case you’re considering changing your job you should consider using an online search. It will provide help to develop your ultimate horizons and after that one’s own seek for your company’s next place of employment may well change into domain large and never restricted of anyone area.

1. If you’re eager on the inside continuing on your current line of work with say a better location or perhaps opportunities. At that point explore often the internet sites coming from all firms much like yours. Take a look at their human resources pages and profession links. Employer web pages are often placed found at sites the same as Academic360, a listing created by labor opportunities.

2. Implement a nice web search. Talk to pretty much any main search engine appreciate Bing to help you find potential managers and real job websites specializing in those field pertaining to work.

3. Explore all web pages of professional associations. Definitely being a member of an association is a good way to network because of peers and plenty of time can land you your subsequent job.

4. You can register a web based profession website such job-hunt.org or even Monster.com and additionally obtain the many benefits. They are going to send your potential opportunities to your actual e-mail, shot all of your resume within several recruitment staff everywhere in the rest of the world, give you an expert analysis involved with your resume, and as well it is possible for you to you can flick thru all the postings on top of his website furthermore use to finally vacancies that will curiosity you.

5. To choosing a web based lookup you actually could be sure ones own application is just not lost in the publish possibly courier. When you click on administer, some sort of application immediately will go on the way to the email box created by the particular attainable employer. Yet, a new service website will give you a particular confirmation belief concerning your company application.

6. Typically the convenience to on-line suggests that you possibly can store your resume as well as a number of versions of cover letter for use. The site can even maintain the new report made by you with details. Which means you’ll by no means develop the error connected with applying for the same job twice.

7. Applying on-line necessitates one reduce prices within nearly all, courier, and faxes.
Looking online in your next job would mean that you can discover a number of possibilities. Merely surfing by means of a number of workplace sites you can still consider changing your ultimate carefully thread of labor, transferring in which to a brand new nation by using several latest opportunities, or even starting your individual enterprise. Typically a new Industry Extensive Web also has brought together a number of gurus everything from different job areas n scan of new opportunity and they have actually began the right business of a their own quite successfully.

One other constructive side for the net is very much that the majority of this task means that you can analysis comprehensively on your latest superior in addition to one particular throughout deepness data the customer gather in relation to the corporate do help you in the course of the interviews.

You can deliver skilled recommendation with regard to sending on your job application but make sure that the situation does have the right very important words that will insert it’s forward having to do with thousand other companies, exactly who the entire return to parts those talents and as a result gift ideas wearing a comprehensive method your company experience.

Generally the interenet has changes the way people look for new jobs and job search has undertaken large strides.

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