Author(s): Charmaine Ting, Corrine Tan (20th Corporate Communications subcommittee members)
Great Eastern Centre
National Cashflow Competition (NCF) is an event that aims to promote financial literacy among the younger generation. It is a one-of-a-kind competition that imparts financial knowledge in a fun manner using board games and is open to the public.
In NCF 2019, this was achieved through participants learning and pitting their skills against each other via the “L Cube board game”, an educational tool suitable for anyone seeking to pick up fundamental financial management skills. The “L Cube board game” provides a simulation of real-life financial situations and decisions such as career planning, investing and saving in Singapore. Important financial literary concepts are also introduced in this board game, such as Singapore’s CPF schemes and SkillsFuture Singapore.
Prior to the actual event commencement, regional mass training sessions were conducted in various locations to introduce the “L Cube board game” and equip participants with some tips that could be useful for the actual event.
The actual event day
After months of planning by our committee members and multiple training sessions, the day participants had been waiting for finally arrived. Held at Great Eastern along Pickering Street on 23 March 2019, the annual National Cashflow Competition opened its doors once again for all its participants.
The competition area was abuzz with anticipation and excitement as large groups of participants streamed into the competition venue where rules and tips for the competition were re-emphasised before the timer started its countdown, and participants started the first roll of the dice.
As the day sped by, the first and subsequent preliminaries for the other categories also ended, and the time for the Grand Finals finally arrived. Tension started building up in the competition venue as finalists from all categories gathered to pit their skills against each other in the final showdown. During the final round, one of the participants even told us that he had been looking forward to NCF for months, which we really appreciated after having spent much effort to make NCF 2019 a success for the participants.
As the timer started ticking down to its last minutes, the tension in the atmosphere became palpable as participants started making their moves at a faster pace in an attempt to increase their points before the official end of the competition.
Finally, the clocked ticked down to its last second, signifying yet another successful year of hosting the NCF.
Our thoughts as part of the NCF 2019 subcommittee:
After playing the board game, we ourselves also learnt a lot more about wealth management and smart investing. This is especially in relation to starting a business, looking at the behaviour of stocks as well as the timing and condition of the economy, whether it is in recession or expansion. Having gathered some opinions and feedback from the participants, here are some insights we would like to share.
“In this game where some people aim to buy and start the most businesses or get the best education and the highest paying job, the one who wins in the end is usually the one with the most happiness.” Happiness is the multiplier in this game where the final score is one’s net worth multiplied by one’s happiness. And truly, we believe that this applies to real life as well. Not only must we diligently plan our life, regardless of buying insurance, starting businesses or investing in stocks to earn more money, we should always remind ourselves to stay happy.
“A life of wealth or success in career is nothing if you are not happy”, one of the secondary school participants asserted. After playing the board game, she not only learned more about financial literacy, she was also once again reminded that being happy is important and life is not just all about achievements.
As integral members of NCF 2019, and as part of a team of passionate members who have participated in the entire process from preparation to facilitation, we deeply feel that NCF has been a fun-filled and meaningful event where everyone enjoyed themselves and learnt something in the process. Looking forward to NCF 2020 with more “happiness”!
If you are interested to join NCF 2020, do follow NCF on Instagram and Facebook for more information:
Follow us @ntu_iic_ncf (www.instagram.com/ntu_iic_ncf)
Like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/joinNCF)
You can also email ntu-iic.ncf@e.ntu.edu.sg if you have any questions.