Students learn about finances with new game

Creator developed the game to teach his own son about money and budget

Staten Island Advance - February 7, 2005
 

Learning finance is truly fun and games at the Francis School, a private nonsectarian high school in Great Kills.

Playing the new board game, "All Around Spending," is part of the curriculum in the students' Money Management class.

The game's wheel-shaped board contains 16 spaces marked with such life necessities as salary, school, taxes, supermarket shopping, transportation, barber/hair care, and even entertainment costs for movies, ball games, computer games -- and board games.

"It's a fun, motivational way of learning wise budgeting and the value of money," said Josephine Lopez, who teaches the money management class at the Francis School.

Each player starts out with $600 in play money -- a loan that must be paid back, with interest, when anyone lands on Bank. Students have to decide how to spend their money, taking into account their earnings and expenses incurred while moving around the board.

"Basically, it teaches the understanding of budgeting, and the pitfalls of credit," said Ms. Lopez, who is also an adjunct professor in continuing education at the College of Staten Island, and who has been teaching business and computer classes for more than 25 years.

"The game also shows the interconnection between education and better jobs," added Trevor J. Ollivierre, who came up with the idea for "All Around Spending" three years ago, inspired by his son, Trevor Jr. (T.J.), then 8 years old.

"T.J. was always asking how much things cost, and how much people earned as barbers, grocers, doctors, lawyers, and sales people," Ollivierre said during a recent visit to the Advance. "We did research, going to all these businesses, and asking them how much they make."

For instance, landing on the Doctor's space costs $100, while stopping at Law Office costs the player $200. Barbershop/Hair care visits cost an estimated $24 a week, while cleaner and laundry expenses amount to about $30.

Each player has two "just looking" cards, which they can budget to avoid the fee for landing on a business or professional space. "It's best not to use these cards right away. Wait until you get low on the cash flow," Ollivierre advised.

Thomas Cahill, a senior, who was in charge of helping his classmates understand the rules, explained: "All Around Spending is a real-life-imitating game . . . . Money is what makes the world go round, and, today, almost everyone has a need for credit," Cahill said.

"For a young player, this game will teach the principles of money, the use and pitfalls of credit, and the high price of paying it back to the lender, or the bank," Cahill said.

"When you land on the bank, the loan of $600 you took at the beginning of the game has to be paid off with 5 percent interest, meaning the player has to pay back $630," he said. "If the player cannot pay the loan, or chooses not to, the next time the player lands on Bank, the interest will be 10 percent, or $660. If you cannot repay the loan when you land on Bank, you're out of the game."

The All Around Spending game board is handmade by Ollivierre, on his time off from his job as a cleaner in the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Manhattan subway system.

He has lots of help from his son, T.J., now 11, and daughter, Monae, 13, including their help using their computer to print the game's text. A color copy shop is used to print the paper money, and cardboard tax, salary and lottery cards.

The clay figures that players move around the board are hand-formed, fired and hand-painted by the Ollivierres.

"We are committed to using the money we make in selling the games, to funding donations of free or discount games to schools, hospitals day care centers, shelters, churches, libraries, where children and their families can play an education game with an underlying moral," said Ollivierre. He donated the game to the Francis School, after Ms. Lopez wrote that she was interested in using the game in her Money Management class.

Ms. Lopez had seen one of the many reports about the game, and "It looked interesting," she said.

Among schools purchasing the $40 game at a discount, was Community School 287, Brooklyn.

"Not only is this a wonderful way to 'bond' with a child, but you are also making the real life connection that is necessary at an early age for children to understand the complex problems of finance," wrote John R. Khani, principal.

Ollivierre believes All Around Spending is more educational than, say, Monopoly. "We played Monopoly, but ended up fighting over mortgages and fines. I thought, instead of paying a fine to other players, why not pay a bill to a business, or a doctor or lawyer, the way it is in real life" Ollivierre said.

While the game differs from Monopoly in its philosophy, All Around Spending shares the fact that Ollivierre's game was turned down by Parker Brothers, which initially had also turned down Charles Darrow's Monopoly. Only after Darrow, an unemployed salesman during the Great Depression in the 1930s, sold his game to such retail giants as F.A.O. Schwarz, did Parker Brothers buy the rights in 1935.

At the Francis School, Jay Lovari, a senior who is currently applying to colleges, where he plans to study psychology, was the winner with $850 at the first table.

Mike Valenzo won the game at table 2, after raking in $2,750, mostly from buying winning lottery tickets.

Was buying lottery tickets a good way to learn lessons in finance?

For Valenzo, a senior who plans to attend Berkeley College in the fall, it was the perfect lesson.

"To have good luck, sometimes you have to take a chance in life," Valenzo concluded.
 

By Carolyn Rushefsky
Reprinted here with permission from the