Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I'm bad at managing my own money, I'm wondering though if a game that sneakily teaches budgeting etc might be good, maybe call it 'the American dream' and it's basically the Sims but with real expectations on how life will play out with random tragedies etc.... car breaks down. it could even include wages from statistical sites and mortgages and rent pegged to the national average, as well as healthcare.


Oh, you want to gamify managing your money?

1- Install GnuCash.

2- Import your checking account into it.

3- Another account will automatically be created called "imbalance" with the opposite balance. The goal of the game is to manipulate other accounts so that the imbalance account eventually reaches 0.

4- did you have fun and want to keep playing? Import more accounts. Your credit card account, your mortgage account, your brokerage account, etc.

5- You can play in different difficulties. Do you have a tax account? Is it broken down into federal and state taxes? If so, does it match what the state/IRS thinks you paid?

Keep doing this and you'll become as good as any accountant.

Did you enjoy the game? Support the developers at gnucash.org/donate.phtml (no affiliation, just a happy gamer)


This is a fantastic idea. I would buy it for my kids so they could learn to manage money.


where are you from? im sure someone could suggest a good website for managing money.

from the sounds of it you know what the problem is, and judging by the site this is posted on you have the skills/intelligence so open up a spreadsheet and get to work.

i found the mr money mustache site quite useful on the motivation front fwiw.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: