US News has a piece detailing investing lessons from the game Monopoly. They interviewed the author of a new book who has '30 years judging the United States and World Monopoly Championships' (who knew there were such things?) Anyway, he offers some investing advice based on what he's learned from the game. Some highlights:

I think Monopoly is the first and perhaps most significant training ground kids get in learning the importance of the art of negotiation and how to do it. It's the safest way imaginable to learn the impact of financial dealings, because you don't lose real money if you make a mistake. Along the way, you pick up how to be an appealing trading partner—meaning you don't rub people the wrong way when brokering a deal—and at the same time be able to get a little more out of the deal than your opponent does.

Monopoly first hit shelves in 1935, and since then, more than 275 million game sets have been sold, Time reported. Although the game is ostensibly about buying and selling Atlantic City real estate, there are a number of valuable money lessons you can learn from playing the ever-popular board game.

With Monopoly just having turned 80 this year, many real-life personal-finance lessons can be learned from the classic money-loving board game, which is now made in 47 languages and sold in 114. Playing Monopoly with his children one night, Adam Carroll noticed they were bending the rules. He wondered, 'What if they're playing this way because the money isn't real?' In this talk, Carroll explains the concept of financial abstraction, and how our human perception of spending changes when the idea of money becomes more or less real. His case study: a do-over game of Monopoly with his.

Monopoly is reflective of the impact of chance in real life. The game is more significant in teaching life lessons than a game like chess, where there is virtually no luck. No matter how much control we think we have over each day, or each fiscal year, in reality we don't have control over all the unforeseen events that will happen.
Timing is seldom under your control. For example, there may be a time you want to buy a new home in six months, but lo and behold, the home becomes available today and you're not in the right financial position to buy it. You have to know when the window of opportunity is closing. In Monopoly, real estate is the same way: You land at a property you may not want to buy yet, but you realize you have to put it up for auction, which may be a risk you're not willing to take.

Monopoly requires you to have diversification. You want to buy a blend of properties; don't put all your eggs in one basket. One lesson is you're going to need one color group you need to develop, but that probably is not enough to win the game. You're in good shape if you have utilities and railroads to earn cash to fund your Monopoly.

It teaches you debt can control your life. If you owe $10,000 in credit card debt, you not only owe the principal but you're paying a stiff fee for interest. Suddenly, you're not working for money—money controls you. Now, in Monopoly, you have a credit reserve in a mortgage value. Let's say you have 10 properties, so you have 10 opportunities to lean on the bank for setbacks or if you want to mortgage properties to bankroll more investments. But when you mortgage a property, you lose its income. So now you owe the bank a lot of money and you have no money coming in. The same can happen in the real world.

It's a fascinating piece and (probably) an interesting book. I have requested a copy from the publisher and perhaps I'll post more on it in months to come.

Some of you 'old timers' may recall when I published Money Lessons from Monopoly back in 2009. It has a broader but similar perspective to what's written above.

Monopoly Championships With Real Money 2019

We play a decent amount of Monopoly. It runs in fits and spurts -- a ton of games over the course of a month and then none for several months. My daughter really likes the game and plays it on her iPad quite often.

Monopoly Championships With Real Money Online

I grew up playing the game. My dad and I would start a Monopoly marathon around 9 pm on a Friday or Saturday night and end up playing until 3 am or 4 am in the morning. He won more than I did -- but just because he is the LUCKIEST man alive when it comes to rolling the dice. He'd say, 'I need a three' and he'd get it. Then he'd say, 'I need a nine' and he'd get it. It was very frustrating for me. It's one reason I took up chess. :)

Monopoly Championship Edition Rules

Do any of you play Monopoly? Do you think it's taught you anything about managing money?