Many personal finance sites run contests and giveaways to give something back to their readers. I’ve been hesitant to do this for three major reasons:
- I’m extraordinarily stingy
- I hate to put something in the mail system without a name and return address. At the same time, I don’t want to use my own to protect my anonymity.
- I’m fearful that one bad egg will point out that missed some technicality required to run contests that I missed.
I’ve been given an opportunity that solves most of these problems. The kind people at Warner Books want to promote The Last Chance Millionaire by Douglas Andrew
I know what you are thinking… “enough with this, get to the prizes already…” Here you go:
Grand Prize – A high-end leather briefcase from one of the Sideways Media’s partners (who include Tumi, Jack Spade, Latico Leathers, and Landmark Luggage) – retail value of $200. You’ll also get a copy of The Last Chance Millionaire to fill up that briefcase.
Runner up Prizes – A copy of The Last Chance Millionaire. Three of these prizes will be awarded.
How do you enter to win? There are two ways… The first way is to simply leave a comment here. To encourage some interesting comments, I’ll give two entries for comments that:
- Make me laugh (keep it clean though)
- Tell me why you should win (even though it’s a random drawing)
- Anything else that seems interesting to me (my wild card, catch-all)
The other way to enter is by writing an honest review of Lazy Man and Money on your website/blog/etc. linking to the homepage or this contest page. It doesn’t have to be a positive review. I don’t mind negative reviews, especially if there’s something constructive I can learn from the review. After you’ve published your review, send me an e-mail with the URL of it I’ll record your entries. You’ll receive FOUR entries for this. If you don’t send me an e-mail, I won’t know about your review and you won’t get credit.
The Rules
– Only one comment entry per person – I’ll delete repeat comments.
– Reviews must be 100 words minimum.
– Reviews be a stand-alone – the entire post/page/etc. must be devoted to just the review, not sharing space with another topic.
– Reviews must come from established websites with substantial content, not your MySpace page or anything like that.
– Contest is open to the United States residents and mail addresses only. This is a limitation based on the shipping of prizes.
– One prize per person
– Prizes are awarded by Warner Books and their public relations company Sideways Media. If there are problems with the awarding of prizes, I will work to try resolve the issue with Sideways Media. I do not take responsibility for any problems with the prizes.
– I hold the right to add more (or eliminate) conditions to these rules.
At midnight PST on July 27th (they requested a minimum 30-day contest), I’ll close the contest. I will then assign everyone a number (or numbers) based on their entries and pick winners using Random.org.
On a serious note, I’m not that “extraordinarily stingy.” I’d just rather give my money to charity than buy a briefcase and give it away.
I’d like to win because this book sounds interesting and useful. I’m really tired of financial advice articles that tell me I ought to start saving and investing in my 20s. My 20s are long gone, that bird has flown, and some bad luck and bad decisions ate up what savings I did manage to acquire back then.
I’m not a Boomer, but if this guy can help 50-somethings prepare for retirement, surely there’s some info in there a 30-something can use. (Unless, of course, his advice is of the “here’s what to do with the $10K you’ve got stuffed under the mattress” ilk.)
I should win b/c I’m Lazy Man’s biggest fan!
So, I guess that was a funny post too? ;)
I don’t want to win the prize. Don’t bother sending it to me. The book sounds like the same old rhetoric.
My methodological reverse psychology is working. Oooh, I can feel it.
I almost didn’t enter cause I’m lazy, but I guess just leaving a comment is easy enough.
Come on, Mike, I’m Lazy :-). Plus right now you have a 25% shot at a $200 prize. It’s better than a pile of bricks!
1. Hopefully this is good for a laugh, I know it gave me numerous chuckles:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5/Skorp88/EmoStudent/CrayolaEmo.jpg
2. Also, I should win because I’m awesome. That and my briefcase is about 10 years old and weighs a ton, so I could use something more modern to accentuate my unbelievable good looks.
3. Fun fact: In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry said, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Apollo 11 landed on the moon carrying Neil Armstrong, Gaylord Perry hit his first home run.
Dear Mr Nice Lazy Man
I think I should win this contest because I’m a fellow software engineer. And you know how we suffer in this industry.
1 – you have to put up with project managers that can’t tell right from left.
2 – if the project goes well, it’s kudos to your boss, if it tanks, it’s your *** in the line
3 – there are no girls in this industry
In addition to my suffering, I’d also like to point out that the book would work as a wonderful monitor stand.
Thank you for your time.
J2R
I think I should win just because I said so. That’s good enough for Bush, right?
My blatant attempt to make LazyMan giggle like a school girl:
Here are the last 5 unsuccessful pickup lines I’ve used:
1. Do you have a map? Because I’m lost in your eyes
2. Was your father an alien? Because there’s nothing else like you on this planet!
3. Will you give me a hug so I can tell my friends that I’ve been touched by an angel?
4. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?
5. If you stood in front of a mirror and held up 11 roses, you would see 12 of the most beautiful things in the world.
Anyway, This is my entry. Oh, and I should win because I just had the privilege of paying $950 in car reparis.
How I’m going to win:
I’m in ur Random Number Generator, Hackin’ teh Dataz!
Boo!!!
I should win because right now i’m so broke, i’ll be lucky to even live till 65, much less be able to retire someday :*(
One entry FTW!
my anti-spam word was taxes…
By winning this prize I will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how by saving pennies I can invest those saved pennies in something and earn a great return. How? Well, by NOT spending my hard earned money to buy a new briefcase or the book offered in this contest I can enter this contest and win them both FOR FREE. Therefore the money I save can be invested in a no-load index mutual fund which, over the next 10 years, will earn me an average of 10% and help fund my second honeymoon to fabulous Tahiti. While relaxing on the beach, I’ll notice that Bill Gates, also on vacation, has gotten a muscle cramp while swimming. I’ll jump into the ocean and save him whereupon he will gift to me $100 million dollars cash out of gratitude and I will be able to comfortably retire on the spot and never work again. And my wife and I live happily ever after. The End.
You want a laugh, so here’s your guide to understanding engineers:
Two engineering students were walking across a university campus when one said, “Where did you get such a great bike?” The second engineer replied, “Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, “Take what you want.” The second engineer nodded approvingly and said, “Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit you anyway.”
To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, “What’s with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!” The doctor chimed in, “I don’t know, but I’ve never seen such inept golf!” The priest said, “Here comes the greens keeper. Let’s have a word with Him.” He said, “Hello, George! What’s wrong with that group ahead of us? They’re rather slow, aren’t they?” The greens keeper replied, “Oh, yes. That’s a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.” The group fell silent for a moment. The priest said, “That’s so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.” The doctor said, “Good idea. I’m going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there’s anything he can do for them.” The engineer said, “Why can’t they play at night?”
What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers? Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.
The graduate with a science degree asks, “Why does it work?”
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, “How does it work?”
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?”
The graduate with an arts degree asks, “Do you want fries with that?”
Dude I already have like 20 links to your site on my sites (http://www.rateladder.com and http://www.proprosper.com ). You want more? I suppose a slow newsday will be coming up soon… Maybe a satire. Nah that would that too much effort.
I stumbled across this randomly, but I want to win a prize! :)
I never won anything before, but won’t stop trying my luck. Most importantly, I really need a briefcase :)
Chicago is known as the Windy City, and Montana is called the Big Sky State, so I think that we should somehow combine the two to create the ultimate kite-flying experience.-Mitch Hedberg
What did the cross eyed school teacher say to his disruptive children? – “I can’t control my pupils.”
I get nervous every time Tim Wakefield takes the mound! I deserve to win because I was born in Malden, MA and am a huge fan of the Sox and Patriots. Now live in Tulsa, OK. No one is allowed to make fun of OK unless you have visited the state.
I am proud to say I am a baby boomer that reads your site regularly. I try to be as lazy as possible but my wife keeps putting me to work around the house. I am creating passive income from dividend investing. I don’t think I will go the Prosper route.
Congrats on the first contest! …Very cool you got Warner to help with the details.
I need a new briefcase. And I read the blog frequently.
I need the briefcase for a contest I plan to run on my blog. There are two ways to enter my contest. The first way is to simply leave a comment at http://bripblap.blogspot.com. To encourage some interesting comments, I’ll give two entries for comments that:
1. Make me laugh (keep it clean though)
2. Tell me why you should win (even though it’s a random drawing)
3. Anything else that seems interesting to me (my wild card, catch-all)
The other way to enter is by writing an honest review of Brip Blap on your website/blog/etc. linking to the homepage or this contest page. It doesn’t have to be a positive review. I don’t mind negative reviews, especially if there’s something constructive I can learn from the review. After you’ve published your review, send me an e-mail with the URL of it I’ll record your entries. You’ll receive FOUR entries for this. If you don’t send me an e-mail, I won’t know about your review and you won’t get credit.
So hopefully you’ll award me the briefcase so I can run my original concept contest. Just hope no-one tries to steal my idea.
Here are the top frugal things 5 to do with a briefcase.
1. using to bring your groceries home. Environmentally friendly and frugal!
2. auction it off on ebay, and invest the money in roth IRA.
3. open it up and use it as a vegetable garden patch. Save on the groceries.
4. upgrade your lunch brown bag to a briefcase, eat in style!
5. give to me so that I don’t have go and buy one.
Seriously, if I win, could you auction the bag and donate the money to one of your favorite charities.
I should win because I’m actually at work today and not waiting in line for an iPhone (probably because I can’t justify spending $600 on a phone when I talk maybe 10 minutes a day max on it).
If you send me a briefcase, I’ll send you a box of bricks. :)
I’ll enter because I don’t want to be the “last chance millionaire.” I want to have the first chance of being a millionaire, at least in my family! Plus add one more book to my library.
if i win, i will stop being lazy… !! sigh** who am i kidding :)
Lazy Man,
Nice contest. Good luck on increasing traffic.
Here via Golbguru’s Sunday Review.
Good luck to everyone! (I’m not entering but let me know if I win!)
I’d like to win because my backpack just broke – and I have to start seeing patients soon anyways, and they might not like their doctor using the same (now broken) backpack she’s had since college. So… do it for the sick children!
I’d love to win…..the briefcase would be a gift to my future son in law! He’s
in desperate need of one……
Also since it’s Sunday, here’s some Sunday humor….can’t remember where I heard
this but it’s cute…and clean.
Some people show up at church only 3 times in their life
Once when they’re hatched
Once when they’re matched
And, once when they’re dispatched!
I like prizes and I’m merely a poor young college student that could use anything to get ahead. It’s always best to get assets early, no?
i should win b/c i promise i will do good with the winnings. all the other people are lying.
I enjoy reading your site. The content is good and the layout makes it very readable. Thanks!
I’d like to enter, and I’d like to win because I need a briefcase. My “dakine” messenger bag isn’t exuding the gravitas that I need at the office. Although it does make me look sweet on my scooter!
Thanks.
Seriously, this is a great blog.
Rich
Contest Entry : I would like to win, because I want my son to think I have a real job. I will look all professional and stuff with a briefcase. I have a 9-5 job now, but I am working towards moving some or all of my hours from home. Sitting around in my boxers all day without a briefcase would just look like I am lazy. And nobody likes to be known as lazy! Do they?
-Frank (The Happy Rock)
Alright… I’ll take a crack at it.
The briefcase might just save my life. As a resident of the Western Addition, I’m feeling more than a little wary these days (Rev. Jackson’s visit notwithstanding). The only shoulder bag I’ve got is a nice little laptop bag. Thing is, I don’t have a laptop. So rather than worry about getting robbed for my “laptop”, I can now walk through the neighborhood with a nice briefcase that shouts “unimportant papers”.
So do a fella a favor, and save a life.
Oh, and I can save you on shipping by picking up in person. That is, unless you’re worried about protecting your identity. In which case, I won’t pick up.
(Makes Obi-Wan Jedi hand movement) These are not the comments you’re looking for.
I should win because my pink heart schoolbag just isn’t making the desired impression at executive board meetings.
And I need something to carry Marsellus Wallace’s soul in.
Here goes nothing: Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig does whatever Spider-Pig does…
I’m a very lazy guy so I hope you appreciate the effort – two jokes.
There’s a blind guy sitting on a park bench and a Jewish guy sits down next to him and starts eating his lunch. As his mom taught him to be friendly with strangers he offers the blind guy a matzo. The blind guy feels it for a minute then says “Who wrote this s— !?”
A reflection on mortality : When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa, not screaming in terror like his passengers.
I would like to win because I love free stuff!
The Cubs will be next to win the World Series.
That was supposed to make you laugh, but if it didn’t, I’ll also tell you why I want to win. Because free stuff makes me happy.
Today’s billionaires are yesterday’s millionaires. A million dollars today will get you a modest house and a year’s worth of Starbuck’s coffee.
FORGET ALL THE OTHERS PICK MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU WANT ME TO WIN BECAUSE IT WILL BRING YOU GOOD KARMA AND I WILL SEND YOU ELECTRONIC HUGS FOR GOOD LUCK!
Id love to win this because im always losing things.. mainly lighters.. and if i had a breifcase id be able to keep it in there.plus any important paperwork of what not i might need safe keeping.
My 18 year old son recently died and at the funeral I had journals that asked people to write something they remember about my son. One girl wrote that the first time she met my son he had come up to the group of friends she was with. He introduced himself and asked her name. She told him. He then noticed the strawberry shortcake t shirt she was wearing and asked if it was a scratch and sniff one.
Sure I would like to win who wouldn’t.
I think I would make a great cantidate to win your contest. You see, I’ve never been one to request charity. Even after I lost my leg in an freak accident with a nerf football, I never asked for the ball back. When I lost my right eye sleeping on an air-matress, I didn’t even bother to mail-in the rebate I obtained with its purchase. No, I’ve never been one to ask for a hand-out. I believe in a hand-up. So if I receive the grand prize, I will consider it an investment in me. I plan on setting up a chocolate pudding franchise. If I win, expect to see Puddin’s Perfect Pudding on every street corner. It will be a great day, as I am able to feed orphans, dolphins, and puppy dogs. I will be able to fight for world peace, one desert at a time.
I should win. No specific reason, I just…should. Kind of like your blog. It’s awesome, no specific reason, it just is. Also, I could use a new briefcase.
I should win because even though I’m in my 20s, maybe there are some ideas for my parents
I’d like to enter your contest twice with this one entry. If I can manage to type one hundred words about you on my blog, then that’ll be an added bonus for us all, although I’m pretty sure nobody actually reads my blog.
My wife would probably be encouraged by my winning of the book, because it hopefully will give us a warm fuzzy that we’re on the right track for our retirement savings.
The blog I write is mostly about me keeping track of my fuel economy. I drive a Toyoya Corolla, and although I think it’s a nice car, most people see it as just basic transportation. It’s no hybrid, but it averages over 37 miles per gallon for me, which I believe is better than many “hybrids.”
I also painstakingly track my commuting time on my trip home from work, and have established that Tuesdays are my fastest trip home, followed by Wednesdays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Sadly, I have not yet made any correlations as to the time I leave to go home and the time it takes me to get home. But days of the week count.
Here’s my attempt to make you laugh and get another entry:
What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence?
Time to buy a new fence!
What time is it when an elephant sits on your car?
Time to buy a new car!
What time is it when an elephant sits in your chair?
Time to get a new chair!
Please check out my puny blog to see if I got up the gumption to write 100 words about you.
Two muffins are in a hot oven, a few minutes from being fully baked.
The first muffin looks around, notices his neighbor, sees the glowing metal inside the oven, and remarks to his neighbor, “Kinda warm in here, isn’t it?”
The other muffin turns and exclaims, “Oh my god, a talking muffin!”
I’d like to win because I’m lazy and cheap and need to get my hubby a birthday present. The briefcase would be perfect and I won’t have to leave the house to go get it!!!!
So let’s hope the Random gods pick me!!!
Thanks!
How exciting! Please count me in.
I hope this makes you laugh:
A letter from a college student
The parents of a Northwestern student who just headed back from holiday received this letter:
Dear Mom and Dad:
Univer$ity life i$ $o wonderful! Cla$$e$ and $e$$ion are intere$ting, my cla$$mate$ are the be$t! But after $pending all my ca$h on Chri$tma$ pre$ent$, I am in a little need for $ome $pending money for book$ and $uch. But I don’t want to $end the wrong $ignal$ home.
Love,
Your $on
I should win because I’m scratchin’ my butt while I’m eatin’ gizzards and my left [edited] is resting on my laptop as I type this…
Lazy Man,
When you send out the prize, use:
Lazy Man
111 any street
anytown, USA
Your address will be available, but at least not your name. :)
(I already entered, so don’t count this post!)
Frugal tip: buying really good chocolate (preferably in bulk) and just eating a little, at a set time every day, is better for your body and better for your wallet than loading up on mass-market candy bars at the supermarket or gas station
random comment! :P
Man, you are lazy.
Hello- I want to win because this sounds like a really useful, informative book, and ive never won anything before and I would really like to win this!
I’m so lazy I had my wife type this!
“Yea, and his IOU list to me (wife/slave) would break the Nations Debt Records!”
I also am stingy, I keep records of my kids allowance, THEY WILL PAY ME BACK WITH INTEREST, I should know they sign an agreement every week!
I should win so I can bore my friends silly by bragging about it at work from now till the end of time..yea you know the type.
Anonymity…what’s that?? Have you been living in the dark ages. They are monitoring your telephone calls and everything you do on the computer!! They probably know How Many Time a Week My Wife Gets A Headache (coincidentally her migrane kicks in at bedtime tee-hee me).
Hey Lazy, I came upon your site through your postings about prosper.com and have come back religiously since. Thanks for diligently writing, it has helped me with my financial plan. I should win because I love reading all things financial and the book will not go to waste!
Your blog is usually an interesting read in the morning when work is slow. But I digress…pick me!
My briefcase collection needs some serious work, but hey: if you’re not professional, why not at least look it?
I’m supposedly to receive a copy of the book as well, but maybe the marketing company saw my absolutely scathing review of Douglas Andrew’s Missed Fortune 101, and decided that I would be less than complimentary of LCM. No other post on my blog has so many comments — almost 200!
Anyway, thanks for running the contest!