How to Play Super Bowl Betting Squares

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Example fun super bowl betting board with squares and names.

Square board betting chart for super bowl party.

Super Bowl Betting Squares is a fun (mostly random) betting game for your Super Bowl party. If you’re hosting friends and family to watch the Super Bowl this year, you’ll want to include this game as part of your fun. Everyone, from kids to grandparents, and even non-football fans can enjoy the game when they participate in a Super Bowl Betting Squares game.

It may take a bit of convincing at first. But the people who toss $5-$20 into this fun Super Bowl betting game will be happy they did. And your hardcore sports betting friends won’t have an advantage. This isn’t an over-under bet. You’re not choosing sides. It’s pure, random fun.

How Super Bowl Betting Squares Work

All the money put in the pot will be distributed by the end of the game. So if you’re doing $1 per square, then all $100 that goes in will end up in participants’ pockets. This means Grandma might win $15, and niece Lily could be the big winner with $35. Big John might walk away with $5, and most people likely will win nothing.

But when you see your friend who doesn’t care about football rooting for a Chiefs field-goal in the 3rd quarter because it means they’ll win $5, you’ll know you’ve just upped your Super Bowl Party level to the next level. Here’s how to create a fun 10×10 square Super Bowl betting squares chart that’s fun for everyone who plays.

Materials

  • Poster board
  • Magic marker (black, permanent)
  • Deck of cards (or random numbers 0-9)
  • Basket, hat, or bowl (for the money)

Set-up

  1. Draw lines dividing the poster board into 11 x 11 squares (draw 10 lines horizontal, and 10 vertical).
    1. Pro-tip: Leave a little space on the top and left edge to write the team names.
  2. Write the team names. On the top edge write one Team Name (49ers), and on the left edge write the other Team Name (Chiefs)
  3. Have people buy squares for $1 each.
    1. The total pot will be $100 if you fill up the board. Participants aren’t betting on any team to win or any specific score. You’re essentially just buying a “ticket” to play (each square = a “ticket”).
    2. Pro-tip: Try really hard to fill-up the board. Buy all the empty squares leftover for yourself if you have to.
    3. Note: If you don’t fill up the board, it’s okay. If an empty square wins, then nobody gets paid. Everyone will be disappointed and maybe they’ll buy more squares next year!
  4. People write their names in any of the inner 10×10 squares (it’s random). Just write your name in any square. $1/square.
    1. Pro-tip: Fill the squares before kick-off. If people will arrive after kick-off, call them beforehand. Have them commit $5 or $10 to squares and you can write their names in for them beforehand. Remember, it’s random anyway, so there’s no disadvantage. They could still end up big winners!
  5. Add the numbers to the top row and left column.
    1. IMPORTANT: the numbers are filled in AFTER all the names are written in the squares. This keeps it random, and allows everyone to have an equal, random chance of winning. Use the deck of cards to draw random numbers for each square in the top row and left column. Fill them in with numbers 0-9 (yes, include 0). Don’t do it in order. Make it random!

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6 things you can do this year to have more money next year

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Happy New Year. With a new year comes new resolutions and new opportunities to achieve the things we didn’t last year. Aside from getting in shape, having more money is a common new year resolution for many people. But achieving this goal isn’t always easy, and it requires careful planning and consistent effort. Here are 6 things you can do this year to increase your chances of having more money next year!

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5 key points from the book The Psychology of Money

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The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel is a book that explores the psychological and emotional factors that drive our relationship with money. The author, Morgan Housel, offers timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness, drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary examples to illustrate his points. Some key points from the book include:

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How to Use an Envelope System to Budget and Save Money

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An envelope system is a personal finance management tool that helps you keep track of your income and expenses. It’s basically a budgeting technique where you give each expense category a fixed monthly amount of money, called an “envelope,” from which to spend. Interestingly, I found out that my parents used this system early on in their marriage to manage their money. So, I figured I’d share what the envelope budget is and how you can use it to save money.

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2021 is a rebuilding year

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Our family enjoying a sunset at the beach
Our family enjoying a sunset at the beach
Enjoying a Costa Rican sunset at the beach.

2020 was a pretty terrible year. If a sports team had a year like the world had, it’d be the gold standard for terrible seasons. It’d be worse than a team losing every single player to season-ending injuries, and the coaching staff to a train wreck. The silver lining has been rapid scientific developments and the amazing work of biotech companies in creating, testing, and manufacturing efficacious vaccines. As the injured heal, and we as a collective society stumble back to our feet, 2021 is clearly going to be a rebuilding year. 

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Financial silver lining of coronavirus

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Photo by Sebastian Molina fotografía on Unsplash

What’s your financial silver lining in the time of the coronavirus? The COVID-19 global pandemic caused the world to quarantine and businesses to shutdown affecting billions of people around the world. People’s lives have been upended, put on pause, and completely thrown into disarray. Now, is the time to take a moment to review your finances, where you’re spending money, and how to protect yourself for the future. When it comes to money and finances, there are three possible scenarios.

  1. You’re earning less money than before
  2. You’re earning more money than before
  3. Your earning the same as before

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The 3 Envelope Budgeting System – Your first budget

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3 envelope budgeting system

3 envelope budgeting system

The 3 envelope budgeting system is a simple way to spend less money on those troublesome categories where you tend to overspend. By using this simple money trick, you can save more cash and have enough money to pay for the things you really want. If budgeting isn’t your thing, use this simple 3 envelope budgeting system to control your spending and save more.

Other than having a job and earning money, the most critical thing you can do to improve your finances is to have (and stick to) a written budget. A budget is so fundamentally important to life that it should be taught in school. Unfortunately, how to manage money isn’t taught in school enough. So, I want to help people get started on their first budget by showing how to use the 3 envelope budgeting system. Your first budget doesn’t have to be complicated. All it takes is 3 envelopes, a pen, cash, and a little thought.

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How to Build a Money Buffer to Make Your Life Stress Free

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Piggy bank with coins scattered around it.

Piggy bank with coins scattered around it.Have you ever had an unexpected bill set you back and make you go deeper into debt? Those new tires set you back $400. That trip to the doc cost $800! Or that time your electric bill doubled in one month! It happens to all of us. So, what’s the best way to deal with an unexpected expense? A buffer month of money has prevented me from going into debt, and it could help you too. 

What’s a Money Buffer?

A buffer is something that protects you from bad things. It’s something that stands between you and trouble. Money is a cause for trouble in almost everybody’s life (sooner or later). A money buffer stands between you and money stress.

Having a money buffer means that you have a month’s worth of paychecks already in your bank account ready to pay for this month’s expenses. This means you’re paying for July’s bills using June’s paychecks. If that sounds backwards, it’s not. It’s forward-thinking, and if you build this buffer, your life will be so much less stressful. 

It doesn’t matter when any of your bills are taken from your account. A buffer month means the money will be there ready to pay all of them. And if your paycheck comes a day or two late because of some holiday, or some mistake by the HR department, it won’t affect you. Because this month’s paycheck is going to hang out in your account to pay for next month’s bills!

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Dave Ramsey’s 4 mutual fund types explained

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Image of Dave Ramsey laughing.

Image of Dave Ramsey laughing.

Dave Ramsey is a genius when it comes to inspiring people with common sense to get out of debt and to live within their means. He gets a fair bit of criticism on his investing advice though. Dave recommends people spread their investments across four types of mutual funds:

  1. Growth (25%)
  2. Growth and Income (25%)
  3. Aggressive Growth (25%)
  4. International. (25%)

Enthusiastic readers and listeners probably run off to Google to find these 4 mutual fund investments to invest like Dave and build wealth. But the answers are hidden – and followers end up having to contact an investing ELP (endorsed local providers) SmartVestor Pro that follows Dave’s rules (and pays for his endorsement).

Dave purposely shies away from giving specific investment advice to his listeners. Part of it probably has to do with the rules and regulations around giving investment advice, and part of it is probably because he’s honed his message for simplicity and maximum effect. The problem is: many debt-free followers are left wondering where to invest their retirement or extra money. I’m no ELP SmartVestor Pro, but let me help fill-in where Dave has left off when it comes to investing in mutual funds for maximum efficiency.

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