160 | The Game of Money

Have you ever played a game where you sit for turn after turn not able to move forward on the board? The same thing is happening with many people with their finances.

In this episode, let’s talk about how your finances are like playing a game and how you can make sure you’re moving forward with each turn you get.

• thinking of money as a game
• why many people don’t move forward on their turn during the game
• a recent client conversation that illustrates the game concept
• using your income to move yourself forward in the game
• the key to money

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If you’re ready to learn the mindset and strategies to master your money, let’s schedule a call.

You’re listening to Wealthyesque. We are a community of lawyers who believe that true wealth is having control of our time. I’m Rho Thomas, and as a busy wife, mom, and former Biglaw associate, I know all too well the tension between the culture of the legal profession and pretty much everything else you want to do in life. That’s why each week, I’m bringing you the information and tools you need to improve your money mindset and manage your money to create true wealth. Because ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the freedom and flexibility the money affords.

Hey friend. Welcome back to the show. I hope you’re doing well and having an amazing day so far. Today we are talking about the game of money. So this was a concept or an analogy or something that is kind of brewing in my head and I’m hoping that I can articulate it well enough that it makes sense. So I’m thinking about money as a game. And if we think of it that way we can think of each time we get paid as a turn in the game. And then the money that we keep is like our points in the game. And the key is to maximize each turn that we have to move us forward on the game board and to earn more points, but many of us aren’t doing that. Many of us are staying stuck in the same place turn after turn. So my kids love playing trouble. And if you’ve ever played you know that you have to roll a six to even get out of your home space to get on the board and start moving around. So you can sit there for turn after turn, bowling, everything but a six and it can feel really frustrated because you’re not moving forward. Like you’re just sitting there, there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s exactly how many people are approaching the game of money. You’re sitting there turn after turn, not moving forward, feeling frustrated, and you think there’s nothing you can do about it. So you’re not doing anything about it. You get paid and then you go and spend it all on DoorDash or Amazon or trips or whatever the thing is for you and then at the end of the month, we end up in the same place that we started, right, haven’t moved forward in the game, haven’t saved anything, haven’t paid off any debt. staying stagnant, doesn’t feel good. It feels really frustrated. And to be clear, I’m not saying not to spend on those things. I’m just saying I want you to spend in a way that still allows you to move forward on the game board. With your finances to earn some of those points. I had a conversation recently that I think helps to flush this out a little bit. So I was talking with one of my couples clients where one spouse is a lawyer and the other spouse is in a position where he can work overtime. And in the year before we started working together. He had worked so much overtime that he made $60,000 above his base salary. And he was saying that overtime just wasn’t worth it. He was away from home or they didn’t want to do that anymore. And here’s what I asked them if they had used that $60,000 To move themselves forward. If they had paid off $60,000 of debt where they had saved up $60,000 Would it still feel like the overtime wasn’t worth it? And he was like, Well, yeah, if that was the case, then it deftly would have been worth it. And so the only reason that they were thinking overtime wasn’t worth it was because they didn’t use it to move themselves forward. They didn’t use that money that they made from the overtime to move themselves forward. They spent the money, right so they had some cool experiences. But at the end of it all they have is the memories of those things that they did. They sat turn after turn in the same place for a year, even though he was working longer, even though he was away from home or they didn’t make the most of those turns. And so it feels like overtime was a waste. Do you have to use your income for your benefit. So each time you get paid is one of your turns in the game. And you want to look at where you’re going to be at the end of that term. Are you still gonna be sitting in the same place waiting to roll the right number? Or are you gonna be moving forward along the game board? And I know this isn’t a perfect analogy because there’s no real winning in the game of money. Like I guess if there was a winning, that would be like the ability to retire or to do something else because you’re financially in a position to do that. But the main point that I’m trying to make here, which I’ve said many times before, is at the end of each month, I want you to be able to see that you’ve moved yourself forward financially, you’ve paid off some debt or you’ve invested or you’ve saved, you have something to show for the money that you made you built on what you did the previous month. That is the key to money so no more staying stuck in the same place month after month turn after turn. It’s time to make the most of your paychecks it’s time to make the most of each of those terms and move yourself forward. Because if you don’t, you’re just gonna stay in the same place and feel frustrated. And if you don’t know how to do that, let’s talk about how we can work together just head to rho thomas.com/call and schedule your consultation. All right, that is it for this week’s episode. Come connect with me over on social media. You can find me on LinkedIn rho Thomas and Instagram at I am rho Thomas. Subscribe to the show and leave a review both of which help more people to find it. And please think of a friend who could use this information and share the episode with them. As we close out friend I pray that you take the information you learn here, apply it in your life and open up to the realization that wealth is available to you. As you do that consistently. Week after week. You’ll continue to take steps to regain control of your time, goodwill and live a life of freedom and choice. You deserve. Talk to you later.