What The Sims Taught Me About Money

In 2000, I was 11 years old. I had a clunky and slow Dell PC in my bedroom, where I spent most of my time. At this point in my life, video games played an outsized role. I am sure my parents would have wished it differently, but I was a well-mannered kid who rarely caused trouble. I tended to stick to my handheld and PC games in my free time. During this particular year, a new franchise called The Sims came out for the computer.  

Overwhelmingly, The Sims was precisely as its name insinuates: a life simulator. You did everything from working a job to building a home and growing a family. Why a scrawny 11-year-old from the rural Southeast would want to play a game simulating life, I do not know… but it was fun. As I constantly seek to provide fun and educational ways to educate my children about money, I have reflected on my early interactions with finance through gaming. 

Here is what The Sims taught me about money. Can you relate?

What The Sims Taught Me About Money

Budgeting and Planning Matter

The idea behind The Sims was straightforward. You created a character, were given a small amount of money (currency in the game was called the simoleon), and were forced to build a life. You could create a small home for yourself, and as your income slowly grew, you had the opportunity to purchase items and improve your home. This process took time and patience.  

The attention span of an 11-year-old is not necessarily receptive to this concept. However, I tried to play the game as directed. If I wanted to buy that jukebox and disco ball for my character’s bathroom, I would need to save and not spend so lavishly. There would be items I would have to hold out for. I also had to learn what took priority, like food and drink, and not a home theater. 

I learned that using the money I generated daily, I could calculate when I could afford certain things. This game did not delve deeply into accounts, interest rates, or debt. Because of this, it was simple arithmetic that allowed me to forecast my future expenditures. This was cool! I could plan when I would make bigger purchases or upgrade my home. I was learning that budgeting, planning, and self-control are critical to building wealth and expanding one’s lifestyle.  

It is Important to Prioritize Your Spending

Did I mention that I was only 11? Because of this, I would often have wild and unexpected interests within the game itself. I would randomly get attracted to having a luxurious backyard but forget to feed the dog. Or I would decide I needed a dance floor in my home and sell my only bed to achieve this goal.  

Though these escapades seemed fun at the moment, over time, I learned that some of my purchases were outright ridiculous. Even as a youth, I understood the comedy in how I was prioritizing my money. The game was a simulator, and thus experimentation was encouraged. Believe me, I tried to break the game as often as possible. However, the more time I spent playing, the more I wanted to see if I could find success and monetary wealth ‘the old-fashioned way.’  

I started to create a routine, work regularly, and save. I would have my character make a habit of performing all daily living requirements first before I would allow myself to splurge a bit. I would constantly browse the shop and calculate how much more I needed to purchase my ‘wants.’ I reached my goals slowly but steadily through habit, savings, and a little frugality.  

It is Easy to Forget Your Small Steady Wins

These small wins were just the dopamine kick my former self needed. Though it sometimes felt cool to spend all my money building a massive house, it felt pointless to live in after I ran out of money. If I spent it all on my house, I had a huge home… but no money to furnish it. Or only keep the furnishings from my smaller home that did not match.  

Further, I may build the most enormous backyard in the neighborhood, but if my house didn’t have the amenities needed to live, it seemed a little absurd. Instead, I found myself learning to celebrate the small daily wins. Could I update the lamp? Could I paint the walls another color? Is it time to rebuild the fence? Can I periodically make these upgrades without significantly impacting my finances? Eventually, yes, I could!  

I learned that building a lavish mansion was not the only way to define ‘winning’ in this game. You could also win by making small regular purchases that improve your quality of life. Now, I likely did not define it as ‘quality of life’ at that time, but in a sense, I was learning the concept. How to spend wisely, not rush monetary decisions, invest in yourself, etc. These were novel concepts to a boy who essentially made his money doing chores and then pleaded for his parents to meet him halfway when he couldn’t afford what he wanted.  

What I was learning was self-control and the value of a dollar, the value of a job, and the small, steady wins that eventually resulted in more significant lifestyle changes. Celebrating these wins reframed my view of the game and my view of success. 

Infinite Wealth Ruins the Fun

(Spoiler alert) Rosebud. That was the cheat code to give yourself infinite money. After a few months of playing the game, I stumbled across a cheat code that you could enter into the game and automatically become a zillionaire. Of course, I used it and made myself filthy rich. I lived in this fantasy for a day or two and realized it wasn’t as much fun as I had thought.  

Initially, after giving myself unlimited resources, I did what most players likely do: I created my dream house and lifestyle immediately. I built a massive home and furnished it with every high-end piece available. I had pools, water fountains, and even a moat around my estate. I had grand entry halls lined with suits of armor, indoor pools, bowling alleys, endless bedrooms, and that home theater I always wanted.  

I created multiple iterations of this experience until I grew tired of it. I learned a valuable lesson from this. Though chasing that dream of wealth beyond our wildest imagination is fun, suddenly having it was anticlimactic. All of a sudden, the joy of achieving these riches was meaningless. Since I cheated, the virtual life I had created seemed meaningless. I found myself deleting these games and starting from scratch. However, there was a sense that there was no turning back. Now that I knew the cheat to give myself more money, I always knew I had a crutch if I got into a monetary bind… and it kind of ruined it for me.   

The Journey is the Best Part

After about a year or so, I moved on from The Sims. In 2004, the same publishers released The Sims 2. I purchased it but learned that my old Dell PC could not meet the technical demands of the game. Given that I still had my old CDs for the original Sims video game, I re-installed it and played it briefly. By now, I was in high school and garnering more of an outdoor appreciation alongside a growing group of friends.  

I found myself treating the game with a newfound sincerity. Suddenly, I recalled the obstacles I had met in the past and had both virtual and real-life experiences to help me better navigate them. I knew that cheating for more money ultimately siphoned joy from the game. I also learned that playing it as intended and celebrating small wins was pivotal to building momentum. Many of these lessons were now becoming more applicable to my life.  

I worked a real job and got paid under the counter until I turned 15. I started to apply some of the lessons I learned from The Sims to my everyday life. I carried the importance of an actual budget. I knew that there are ‘wants’ and ‘needs.’ If I wanted to have a social life, then money for transportation was a necessity. If I liked to go out on dates, I needed to save for this occasion. Purchasing another video game ultimately took a backseat to other priorities. Important lessons for a young man.

Ultimately, it is about the journey of wealth building, not the ultimate number. Making slow and steady gains is the true reward, not winning the lottery. Even now, as I climb out of educational debt and obtain a positive net worth, some of my greatest financial victories have only been achievable from the monthly decisions to pay myself first and never compromise on these goals. The journey is the best part!

Take Home Points

This may sound crazy, but to this day, as a 34-year-old man writing about personal and physician finance, I still think about the lessons I learned more than two decades ago…from a video game. Now, with two young children, I often ponder ways to educate them on the meaning of money, how to manage it, and how to make it benefit your life but not define it. The Sims (and many other interactive games) can use novel and entertaining ways to educate us about finance, spending, saving, and the appreciation of the process.   

So many of the lessons mentioned above remain applicable to my everyday life. I have no cheats to make myself immediately wealthy. It is dumb to build a pool if that means I cannot put food on my plate or maximize my retirement savings. Lastly, day in and day out, we make hundreds of small decisions that affect our money and our happiness. Celebrate these small daily victories as these are the slow and steady paces that will move you closer to the mountaintop. To all my fellow parents out there, it turns out you can learn a few things from video games. Who knew?!

Interested in more content like this? Check out What MrBeast Taught Me About Business. Cheers! As always…

Stay motivated!

The Motivated M.D.

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