Monday, June 16, 2008

Get Rich Slow

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, whose mission is to “provide decision makers in the public and private sectors with critical information to better understand the issues facing an aging population,” has developed a game called Get Rich Slow. The game is designed to “motivate active engagement in retirement planning,” and is meant for a seminar-type setting (though it is also useful for an individual to play alone). A less exciting, but more informative, version of The Game of Life, Get Rich Slow follows a fictional couple from mid-career to death. Along the way, the player is instructed on the merits of investments in stocks, bonds, annuities, reverse mortgages and the perils of inflation rates. It isn’t a terribly exciting game, but helpful and informative nonetheless. If the universities fail to include basic financial planning in their breadth requirements, perhaps games like Get Rich Slow are part of the answer.

Addressed throughout the game are the following six key elements of retirement planning:

  • How much to save
  • How to allocate your assets
  • How long to remain in the labor force
  • How to draw down your assets
  • How to use your house
  • How to care for your spouse

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