cashflow 101

[Mike]

Well I just sneaked out of the rat-race before stoppage-time. But it was ladies day in our game. Three ladies got out of the rat-race before me and one of them got her dream in only her second game. Her 18 year-old daughter also got out of the rat-race in her first game.

Although time was not available to play Hybrid I did open it up and explain the game. People were interested and today's hosts are keen to have a game in the near future.

Regards, Mike

 

[Kieran]

Thanks Mike,

I didn't realise you were in the UK!

The origin of the "Hybrid" brand is simple.
I have owned and operated a group of businesses focussed solely on helping other property investors since 1996 because I am passionate about investing myself.

As the group of companies evolved I found that all property investors are investing for the purpose of creating two financial results (or goals):
a) Passive cashflow (i.e. surplus cash after all expenses and including any tax rebate)
and b) Net wealth (i.e. Equity in their property portfolio)

BUT I found that every property investor has different levels of financial resources (i.e. income,borrowing capacity,equity etc) and also different financial goals (i.e. how much Passive cashflow and Equity they ultimately require). Some investors have huge goals whilst others just want enough to get by on.

SO every investor wants the same "ingredients"of Passive cashflow and Equity but just a different "mix" of those ingredients. Hence the "Hybrid" brand represents the need to build a property portfolio that delivers a "Hybrid" result, that is a certain "mix" of Passive cashflow and Equity that suits you. When investors understand this concept then it becomes much easier for them to understand which properties they should be buying based on their specific resources and goals.

Long term investors understand that property investment is not just about buying as many properties as quickly as possible but it is about methodically accumulating properties that help take you one clearly defined step closer towards your ultimate goals (in respect of both Passive cashflow and Equity). If a property cannot give me a specific measure of both of these "ingredients" (based on my defined goals) then I will not buy it!

You will see some of these principals come to life when you play the game.

We are communicating with one other party in the UK re distribution but I am very keen on discussing the UK distribution with you. Please email me privately and we can discuss this further. [email protected]

I look forward to the feedback from your "group" game because I already know what the feedback will be. (We have had huge amounts of positive feedback here in NZ)

A typical game can take from 2-5 hours depending on how many people play it (The less players the quicker the game).

Regards

Kieran Trass

 

[brains]

Hi Kieran,

Sounds interesting.
Does your group of businesses have a web page we can check out?

 

[Kieran]

Sure,

I have now added my website address to my signature for your reference.

Regards

 

[Aceyducey]

Hey Kieran,

Did you receive my PM?

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[brains]

Thanks Kieren

Originally posted by Kieran
Sure,

I have now added my website address to my signature for your reference.

Regards

 

[Mike]

Hi Folks,

As promised, I've created a PDF containing the first 12 pages of the 23 page Hybrid Real Estate board game. I scanned each page to a GIF file first. Three pages had to be reconverted to JPG because of their file size. Then I created the PDF using pdf995 as suggested by Sunstone in a recent post.

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=58689#post58689

Unfortunately, the PDF file size is too large to upload to the forum ie 535KB. I could place it on a website somewhere and link to it but that would place it in the public domain and I don't want to do that for copyright reasons.

So, if you would like a copy, simply click the Profile button below my post and then click 'Click here to email Mike'. I'll attach it to a reply e-mail.

Regards, Mike

 

[Mike]

I recently received a promotion via e-mail from Hybrid Consultancy saying that the Hybrid game is discounted by $100 NZ for the month of July. It also said postage to Australia was $50 NZ and $90 NZ for other International locations. As yet, I'm unaware of an Australian distributor. If ordering from Australia check whether the NZ GST charge applies or not. I assume not.

Regards, Mike

 

[HermanZ]

Feedback would be good

Hi Mike,

Ive played hybrid game once and was quite impressed.
You've had it for a month, must have played it lots.
How does it rate against cashflow 101?
Still deciding whch one to buy.

Appreciate your comments so far.

cheers

 

[Mike]

Hi Herman,

I work most weekends so haven't played the game with other people yet. I have a weekend off later this month and will try and organise a game with some 101 players to get a comparison between 101 and Hybrid.

There's no doubt about the educational quality of the game but I need to see whether it can lure people to play again and again like 101 and Monopoly. Chess is a game which lures people to play over and over because it is a strategy game. If Hybrid is going to compete with these other games it has to have a good strategy element.

The strategy element in Hybrid is to buy properties and build a portfolio that will give the mix of positive cashflow and equity that is stated in the job card. Obviously, the property cycle will play a big part in how quickly people can reach their individual goals. Until I play it I'm not sure whether everyone gets an equal chance to buy into the growth phase of the cycle. People may have limited opportunities to buy the best growth properties and so it may be a cat and mouse game where getting in with something average is better than trying to hold out for that great deal and missing the growth part of the cycle.

Once I've played later this month I'll post an overview of what the players thought about the game and how it stacks up to CF101.

Regards, Mike

 

[geoffw]

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

I've ordered the game.

But a bit of feedback on the website ordering process

(Kieran, are you listening?)

1. It states the price of the game- "plus GST and freight". But it does not state the gst, gives no idea of freight, and I've no idea about how much it will cost me. I had no choice as to the method of freight, and the costs.

2. The message that "my credit card had expired" led me to call my bank. The correct message should have been something to the effect that I had not filled in the expiry date. A drop down expiry date in which you forget to drop down is not productive. I came close to cancelling the order as a result. It would have been better to have had "blank" options in the dropdown box just to ensure that people remembered to click on the fill in boxes.

3. The order confirmation message was not very obvious. It would have been far better to have a page which says only "YOUR ORDER HAS BEEN PROCESSED. CHECK YOUR EMAIL".

 

[Patosan]

G'day all,

I'm ready to order the cashflow for kids and 101.

Best price I can get from the US is kids : US$33.95, and 101 : US$123 then there's freight to Japan.
On the forum I've heard everyone saying "20% discount" from ...
But what is the price ?
I'm not interested in the sales pitch of 20% off.
To better the US price they should be kids : AU$51 & 101 : AU$ 185 or cheaper.
... then there's freight.

Hey Geoffw did the confirmation email give you the freight info ?
Will you need to pay GST even though it's going out of NZ ?

 

[geoffw]

Patosan,

The confirmation email gave a suggested delivery time, and some reviews. It did say that it would be airfreighted (not having given me an option), but other than that, zilch on other costs.

 

[Mike]

Hi Geoff,

I have a feeling you may have been charged GST as I was. This may be due to the way the automatic payment is setup.

The online payment form is at https://secure.webenz.co.nz/hpc/board_game.php

The current price is $222.18 plus GST & Freight.

According to the e-mail offer delivery charges for July only are as follows:

Auckland : Free

Other NZ : $25

Australia : $50 NZ

Other International : $90 NZ

The person who sent the e-mail was Alethea North at [email protected]

I suggest people in Australia order by phone to get the game GST free.

Telephone orders may be made to (09) 638-3350 or (0800) Hybrid. They accept Mastercard and Visa.

Geoff you may have to ring Alethea to confirm whether you would have been charged GST. If the payment has gone through already I suggest you contact your credit card company and get the total charge as you may not get the total charge on the invoice.

Regards, Mike

 

[geoffw]

I did email, and received a response.

Thanks Geoff,

I have now read your comments and really do appreciate them. We made some basic assumptions which we should not have (i.e. that gst in NZ is 12.5% and everyone would know that). We don't collect the gst on offshore orders (as they are zero rated) but we do charge a premium on offshore sales (which happens to be 12.5%) compared to local sales. That means our advertised price is the same for local and offshore sales.
I wrongly thought the email advice to those ordering included the
details of any freight charge but it appears not. (Freight to Aus is
NZ$50 so your order price was a total of $299-94)

I will get my web hosting company to attend to changing the few things around that you have kindly raised asap.

 

[geoffw]

[edited- prices are NZD]

I've received a response again from Kieran, and I'm happier,

Thanks for addressing your customer concerns quickly and effectively Kieran.

The website is clear now, information is provided upfront.

Airfreight to Australia is now $30, plus the GST "premium". Elsewhere costs $70.

 

[Jas]

Patosan,

what you said about cashflow for kids pricked my ears up. I called up the local distrubtor for the game, and was told:

a) they don't price match
b) if I tried to buy from the US site, I'd be directed to them anyway.

I called them fools and explained I could buy via amazon's zshops.

I don't often call people fools, but that attitude annoyed me.

Jas

 

[kierank]

Originally posted by Patosan
Best price I can get from the US is kids : US$33.95, and 101 : US$123 then there's freight to Japan.
On the forum I've heard everyone saying "20% discount" from ...
But what is the price ?
To better the US price they should be kids : AU$51 & 101 : AU$ 185 or cheaper.
... then there's freight.

I received an email today and was advised the following pricing:

Cashflow 101 : AU$276
Cashflow 202: AU$180
Cashflow for kids: AU$101.60

US Pricing looks better at first glance.

 

[Patosan]

What is going on in Oz with Cashflow prices ?

I find it a little sad that it's much cheaper for me to buy it from the US and have it shipped to Japan, rather than wait and get it in Oz when we visit there this xmas. especially since there would be no freight effectively.

For those who are interested the best prices I found were at www.enrichmentunlimited.com . They have a variety of packages available but found it was cheapest to buy "kids" and "101" seperately. The figures were :

Cashflow for kids .. US 33.95 --> AUD 51.44
Cashflow 101 .......... 123.95 --> AUD 187.80
freight "expediate" .... 66.45 --> AUD 100.69 ..... (US to Japan : 4 days)
Total ................ US 224.35 --> AUD 339.93

No sales or GST tax or "extra" cost to resemble a GST on foreign purchases.

In actual fact I ordered 2 of "for kids" so I can give one to my nephews for xmas. It was obvious to me that it would be MUCH cheaper from the states, then I got a bonus ... only US 11.60 extra for the freight of the extra game.

I think I might order a heap more AT RETAIL sell them in Oz and make a bucket. It would seem the Oz retailers are making a truck load of cash off these sales. More power to them I guess.

 

[kierank]

Originally posted by Patosan
What is going on in Oz with Cashflow prices ?

I find it a little sad that it's much cheaper for me to buy it from the US and have it shipped to Japan, rather than wait and get it in Oz when we visit there this xmas. especially since there would be no freight effectively.

For those who are interested the best prices I found were at www.enrichmentunlimited.com . They have a variety of packages available but found it was cheapest to buy "kids" and "101" seperately. The figures were :

Cashflow for kids .. US 33.95 --> AUD 51.44
Cashflow 101 .......... 123.95 --> AUD 187.80
freight "expediate" .... 66.45 --> AUD 100.69 ..... (US to Japan : 4 days)
Total ................ US 224.35 --> AUD 339.93

Patosan,

The price I advised in my earlier post for Cashflow 101 of AU$276 was discounted; the normal pricing is around AU$350. So, the pricing you were advised (AU$188) is a lot cheaper than this. I will still probably order thru the Aust dealer for $276 because, by the time I pay freight from US, deal with Customs, etc, etc it is probably worth paying the $88 extra.

Now, how can I claim the purchase of CashFlow 101 as a tax deduction? Can I claim it as a educational expense??