who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.
us born into a rapidly changing world. No longer can I simply say to my children,
"Go to school, get good grades, and look for a safe, secure job."
I knew I had to look for new ways to guide my children's education.
As a mother as well as an accountant, I have been concerned by the lack of
financial education our children receive in school. Many of today's youth have
credit cards before they leave high school, yet they have never had a course in
money or how to invest it, let alone understand how compound interest works on
credit cards. Simply put, without financial literacy and the knowledge of how
money works, they are not prepared to face the world that awaits them, a world
in which spending is emphasized over savings.
When my oldest son became hopelessly in debt with his credit cards as a
freshman in college, I not only helped him destroy the credit cards, but I also
went in search of a program that would help me educate my children on financial
matters.
One day last year, my husband called me from his office. "I have someone I
think you should meet," he said. "His name is Robert Kiyosaki. He's a
businessman and investor, and he is here applying for a patent on an educational
product. I think it's what you have been looking for."
Just What I Was Looking For
My husband, Mike, was so impressed with CASHFLOW, the new educational
product that Robert Kiyosaki was developing, that he arranged for both of us to
participate in a test of the prototype. Because it was an educational game, I
also asked my 19-year-old daughter, who was a freshman at a local university, if
she would like to take part, and she agreed.
About fifteen people, broken into three groups, participated in the test.
Mike was right. It was the educational product I had been looking for. But
it had a twist: It looked like a colorful Monopoly board with a giant well-
dressed rat in the middle. Unlike Monopoly, however, there were two tracks: one
inside and one outside. The object of the game was to get out of the inside
track-what Robert called the "Rat Race" and reach the outer track, or the "Fast
Track." As Robert put it, the Fast Track simulates how rich people play in real
life.
Robert then defined the "Rat Race" for us.
"If you look at the life of the average-educated, hard-working person,
there is a similar path. The child is born and goes to school. The proud parents
are excited because the child excels, gets fair to good grades, and is accepted
