Lazy Man and Money

The Patriots And The Business Of Winning

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If you are one of the many people who haven’t cut the cable television, you might want to set your VCR or DVR for to tape CNBC on Sunday 7PM ET. CNBC is going to air a special called Touchdown!: The Patriots And The Business Of Winning. Regular readers of this site, know that I’ve long been a fan of the Patriots.

I hope that CNBC gets into the decision making process the Patriots had to go through with resigning players. For instance the Patriots let fan favorite Adam Vinatieri go and sign with their biggest rival, the Indianapolis Colts. There’s a lot of other things that I’m sure CNBC will touch on like the cost of building the current stadium and how they did it without requiring season ticket holders buy personal seat licenses. The Patriots are also building a new Patriots Hall of Fame complex and I’d be interested to find out how that fits into their overall business model.

I know that throughout the show they’ll touch on how the Patriots find value where other’s do not.

Did Lazy Man Hurt Erin Burnett’s Career?

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Earlier this week, a reader wrote me to tell me that the media is exploding over Erin Burnett’s Men’s Health article. I don’t know how I missed all the news, but I give many thanks go to Sam for updating me.

Regular readers may remember that I wrote Why I Would Not Impress CNBC’s Erin Burnett. Dealbreaker claims their own Bess Levin first brought attention to Erin Burnett’s desires in a man. Depending on your definition of “attention”, I would like to claim the honor of bringing the article to light. Ms. Levin’s article was published four days after mine had spent some time on various social networks.

News stories tend to spread quickly. The NY Post picked up the story and it is currently listed as their most e-mailed article. This lead to the Huffington Post picking up the article as well. When two organizations of that size pick up story and it become popular, many new organizations are going to follow. A look at a Google search for seems to show quite a few of them. While I’m disappointed to not be referenced in any of them, but happily I’m near the top of the list – even ahead of Dealbreaker’s article.

Readers of those articles only got the message that she seems to be a “material girl.” I wanted to stress that she lives in a different world than the average Joe. When you talk with Wall Street executives every day, the value of a dollar is simply skewed. Secondly, the context of the article was not mentioned. The Men’s Health article in the magazine was on a page titled, “Let Your Money Grow.” Men’s Health got off extraordinarily easily for posting something completely counterproductive to their message. It’s simply as irresponsible as advocating their readers go on an all donut diet.

Erin Burnett: Why I Would Not Impress CNBC’s Anchor

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For a variety of non-financial reasons, I like to read Men’s Health from cover to cover each month. I know it’s not as entertaining as Maxim Magazine for a lot of people, but I still like it. Though it has a ton of advertising and is one of the few magazines where it’s impossible to get cheap, the content is usually well worth the cost. I’ve even found the articles about money fairly interesting. In the Jan/Feb edition, I found one such interesting article. Unfortunately, I can’t say it’s very helpful to their target audience.

On page 123, there is an article 8 ways to impress me by Erin Burnett. Let’s go through them one by one and look at why Men’s Health would put this (with other articles) under a page titled, “Let Your Money Grow.”

1. “Any guy who can plan a trip to an exotic locale… would impress me” – That doesn’t sound pretty cheap does it?
2. “Buy me a new atlas and globe… I love to travel and hope to eventually set foot in 100 countries.” – An atlas and a globe, I can handle that. Stepping in 100 countries, well that could get pricey.
3. “…round-trip business-class tickets to Australia and New Zealand for my parents would earn you big points” – Assuming they live near NYC, that’s probably more than $5,000 gift for just the airline tickets. That sounds like a good way to “let your money grow”
4. “…I’d be impressed if you thought to send a yoga instructor to my apartment for private sessions.” – In NYC that’s got to cost at least a $1,000 a month right?
5. “Finding an exercise bike at my door would be great…” – This is something that’s a pretty reasonable one-time cost. Of course, getting exercise equipment for a woman you want to impress is always smart idea. If you can’t smell the sarcasm in that last sentence, I can’t help you.
6. “Reading is a passion of mine, so a gathering with some of my favorite authors… would make for an exceptional evening.” – When she started with reading, I thought it would surely be a way to earn some major points on the cheap. That was one big curve-ball she threw though.
7. “Hiring a personal chef to prepare meals… would be unforgettable.” – You know I really would love to do this. While I’m at it, let me get you one for your new yoga instructor.
8. “A long weekend spa getaway for my sisters and me would be perfection” – My money is multiplying just reading this…

I realize that Erin Burnett probably makes a great income. As part of her career she rubs elbows with CEOs who have multiple millions of dollars. It seems that this is poor choice for the average reader of Men’s Health – especially if you going to run the article on a page with other tips about helping your money grow.

Three Great Commericals From One Financial Institution

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Since I’ve resigned from my day job, I’ve found myself watching a fair amount of CNBC. I find that I learn something new almost every hour. However, for the second time this week, I want to focus on the commercials. In particular Lincoln Financial has a brilliant campaign going on. As opposed to this Ebay campaign that tries to glamorize people buying junk that they probably don’t need, Lincoln Financial’s campaign is designed to make you think about the future. I think these commercials are very well done, even if a couple of them do make me shed some man-tears a couple of times a day. Interestingly two of these YouTube spots differ slightly from the commercial that actually airs on CNBC.

My experience as a member of CNBC’s Fast Money live audience – Part 3

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I surprisingly had a number of people write me to finish my experience as a member of Fast Money’s live audience. I was a little surprised because I got the feeling that I was going off topic for a personal finance blog. Alas you requested and I can’t make you wait any longer, so I hope enjoy part 3 of the story. For those who missed part 1 and/or part 2, where have you been?

We last left off with my ticket not really being a ticket and despite being early, I’m a member of the standby audience to see the live broadcast of CNBC’s Fast Money.

1:10 – I finally get to the front of the line and receive my standby ticket. I’m the 14th standby person. I tell myself that’s actually not bad. There are at least a hundred people behind me, probably closer to 150.
1:12 – What is this? It is food! I thought for sure that I’d starve since this took place right through lunch. Unfortunately, it’s what my anti-PC friend would call, “fat people’s food.” I don’t care, chocolate chip cookies and regular coke (I have switched to diet years ago) will shoot my blood sugar to about a billion (or whatever is a high measure of blood sugar).
1:20 – Friends of Charles Schuab are being let in first.
1:25 – Everyone else with a regular ticket is being let in.

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