Companies Making Money

Yet Another Study Shows Musicians Making More Money

from the well,-look-at-that dept

We've made the argument repeatedly that saying unauthorized file sharing is hurting the music business lacks evidence. Instead, what we've seen, over and over again, is that more money is pouring into the music business, more music is being produced and (most importantly) that more musicians who embrace this new world are doing better than they would have otherwise. Now, we've pointed to research in the UK, Sweden and the US that have all shown aggregate growth for the music business, with some of the numbers suggesting more money going directly to musicians, rather than gatekeepers.



The latest study, highlighted by TorrentFreak takes a similar look at the Norwegian music market to show very similar findings and (of course) that musicians are, indeed, benefiting:



Like the UK and Swedish studies, this study, covering Norway, found that the aggregate amount going to the industry is up slightly (4% in real terms), mostly thanks to live shows more than making up for the decline in music sales (it's important to note that these researchers appear to have modeled their research on both the UK and Swedish studies, and made only slight changes, which they explain (and justify) in the report. The key finding is that musicians appear to be making significantly more these days than in the past:

Total artist revenues have gone from NOK 208 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, which is an increase of about 162%. Excluding state subsidization, the income from 1999 to 2009 has increased with NOK 229 million, or 147%....



According to this, Norwegian artists have seen an increase in all four of their income sources during the past eleven years. This goes contrary to the common belief that artists have seen a decline in income because of the digitalization of the industry.



The loss of record sales because of consequences of the digitalization of the industry has not affected the Norwegian artists in the same brutal way as it has the record companies. Artists earn in general 20% or less from record sales, and a decrease in record sales would most likely be compensated by an increase in one or more of the other three income sources.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- as I learned when I attended Nordic Music Week last year -- that the Norwegian music industry is heavily subsidized by the government, which is one of the four revenue streams discussed above. However, that only represents about 30% of artist revenue in 2009. The largest single component -- again similar to what we've seen elsewhere -- is live revenue, which continues to grow. Even if you exclude state subsidies, the report found that Norwegian artists doubled their income in the past 11 years:

Adjusted for inflation, total artist revenue has gone from NOK 255 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, an increase of about NOK 290 million or 114%. Excluding state subsidizations, the increase has changed from NOK 192 million to NOK 386 million, which is an increase of NOK 194 million or 101% This goes to show that the artists themselves, as a group, have seen tremendous more growth than the industry as a whole.

And, yes, there are more musicians out there to split the pie, but the growth rate in the industry has increased more quickly than the growth in musicians.

Since the total number of artists in 1999 and 2009 are available to the authors, it is possible to calculate an average income from music for artists in Norway. With 3200 artists in 1999 the average income from music would be about NOK 65 000. With 4100 artists in 2009 the average income from music is about NOK 133 000, creating an increase of NOK 68 000 or 105%. Adjusted for inflation the income has increased with from about NOK 80 000 to NOK 133 000, an increase of NOK 53 000, an increase of 66%.

Overall, the results, like those in Sweden and the UK, seem to clearly debunk the repeated claims from recording industry folks (and some musicians) that artists are somehow suffering under this new setup. Now, there may absolutely be cases where artists who fail to adapt are struggling, and there's no doubt that some labels that failed to adapt are struggling -- but there's increasingly little evidence that the overall music industry or artists as a whole are suffering. All of the evidence seems to suggest that it's not file sharing that's a problem at all. More money is going into the music business. The only problems are from those in the industry too stubborn or too clueless to adapt to capture the money that's flowing in.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..

innovation, funds, startups

University of Michigan Social Venture Fund Comes Out of Stealth, Aims to Invest in Companies at the Nexus of Public and Private

Erin Kutz 9/27/10

“Social shouldn’t be viewed as soft,” says University of Michigan finance professor Gautam Kaul. “Unfortunately, soft and social tend to go together in people’s perceptions.”

But Social Venture Fund, a new investing vehicle out of the University of Michigan that came out of stealth mode just last week, is taking a hard look at social inequality—and is out to prove that investments targeted at ameliorating it can make money. “We want to use rigor in measuring social impact and making investments that are real,” says Kaul, the managing director of the fund.

A handful of students approached him a year and a half ago with the idea for a social venture fund, as a new business model to help solve real-world problems, he says. He made the team formally pitch the idea to him (much in the same fashion entrepreneurs present to investors), to prove the concept went beyond a philanthropic idea, and had the potential to also generate returns.

Social Venture Fund’s team, which is now expanding and could reach a total of 30 students, has been working over the past year to develop the vision for the project and the types of companies it will invest in, Kaul says. The fund adds to the university’s group of student-run funds—the Frankel Commercialization Fund and Wolverine Venture Fund, which has had four successful exits, including an IPO. Unlike the other student-run funds at the university, Social Venture Fund didn’t start with money, Kaul says. “We felt that this was too important to wait on trying to raise money for something.” The 2010 MBA class at the school has already pledged its gift to the Social Venture Fund, which is also working on a big fundraising push.

Broadly, Kaul’s team envisions its investments falling into a handful of sectors: education, food and nutrition, health, finance, the environment, and urban revitalization. He says the team is particularly interested in looking at companies that fuse the latter two concepts, and work on solving problems that are often left to the government.

“We want to create a new type of organization that does not worry only about money making, but worries about policy and impact on society,” he continues. To do that, Social Venture Fund is looking at companies that …Next Page »

Erin Kutz is an Assistant Editor for Xconomy. You can reach her by e-mail at ekutz@xconomy.com or by phone at (617) 252-0700.

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Media companies invest in <b>news</b> startup, Ongo - Lost Remote

The New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett have each invested $4 million in a yet-to-launch startup called Ongo, described as a “consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers.” ...

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Yet Another Study Shows Musicians Making More Money

from the well,-look-at-that dept

We've made the argument repeatedly that saying unauthorized file sharing is hurting the music business lacks evidence. Instead, what we've seen, over and over again, is that more money is pouring into the music business, more music is being produced and (most importantly) that more musicians who embrace this new world are doing better than they would have otherwise. Now, we've pointed to research in the UK, Sweden and the US that have all shown aggregate growth for the music business, with some of the numbers suggesting more money going directly to musicians, rather than gatekeepers.



The latest study, highlighted by TorrentFreak takes a similar look at the Norwegian music market to show very similar findings and (of course) that musicians are, indeed, benefiting:



Like the UK and Swedish studies, this study, covering Norway, found that the aggregate amount going to the industry is up slightly (4% in real terms), mostly thanks to live shows more than making up for the decline in music sales (it's important to note that these researchers appear to have modeled their research on both the UK and Swedish studies, and made only slight changes, which they explain (and justify) in the report. The key finding is that musicians appear to be making significantly more these days than in the past:

Total artist revenues have gone from NOK 208 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, which is an increase of about 162%. Excluding state subsidization, the income from 1999 to 2009 has increased with NOK 229 million, or 147%....



According to this, Norwegian artists have seen an increase in all four of their income sources during the past eleven years. This goes contrary to the common belief that artists have seen a decline in income because of the digitalization of the industry.



The loss of record sales because of consequences of the digitalization of the industry has not affected the Norwegian artists in the same brutal way as it has the record companies. Artists earn in general 20% or less from record sales, and a decrease in record sales would most likely be compensated by an increase in one or more of the other three income sources.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- as I learned when I attended Nordic Music Week last year -- that the Norwegian music industry is heavily subsidized by the government, which is one of the four revenue streams discussed above. However, that only represents about 30% of artist revenue in 2009. The largest single component -- again similar to what we've seen elsewhere -- is live revenue, which continues to grow. Even if you exclude state subsidies, the report found that Norwegian artists doubled their income in the past 11 years:

Adjusted for inflation, total artist revenue has gone from NOK 255 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, an increase of about NOK 290 million or 114%. Excluding state subsidizations, the increase has changed from NOK 192 million to NOK 386 million, which is an increase of NOK 194 million or 101% This goes to show that the artists themselves, as a group, have seen tremendous more growth than the industry as a whole.

And, yes, there are more musicians out there to split the pie, but the growth rate in the industry has increased more quickly than the growth in musicians.

Since the total number of artists in 1999 and 2009 are available to the authors, it is possible to calculate an average income from music for artists in Norway. With 3200 artists in 1999 the average income from music would be about NOK 65 000. With 4100 artists in 2009 the average income from music is about NOK 133 000, creating an increase of NOK 68 000 or 105%. Adjusted for inflation the income has increased with from about NOK 80 000 to NOK 133 000, an increase of NOK 53 000, an increase of 66%.

Overall, the results, like those in Sweden and the UK, seem to clearly debunk the repeated claims from recording industry folks (and some musicians) that artists are somehow suffering under this new setup. Now, there may absolutely be cases where artists who fail to adapt are struggling, and there's no doubt that some labels that failed to adapt are struggling -- but there's increasingly little evidence that the overall music industry or artists as a whole are suffering. All of the evidence seems to suggest that it's not file sharing that's a problem at all. More money is going into the music business. The only problems are from those in the industry too stubborn or too clueless to adapt to capture the money that's flowing in.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..

innovation, funds, startups

University of Michigan Social Venture Fund Comes Out of Stealth, Aims to Invest in Companies at the Nexus of Public and Private

Erin Kutz 9/27/10

“Social shouldn’t be viewed as soft,” says University of Michigan finance professor Gautam Kaul. “Unfortunately, soft and social tend to go together in people’s perceptions.”

But Social Venture Fund, a new investing vehicle out of the University of Michigan that came out of stealth mode just last week, is taking a hard look at social inequality—and is out to prove that investments targeted at ameliorating it can make money. “We want to use rigor in measuring social impact and making investments that are real,” says Kaul, the managing director of the fund.

A handful of students approached him a year and a half ago with the idea for a social venture fund, as a new business model to help solve real-world problems, he says. He made the team formally pitch the idea to him (much in the same fashion entrepreneurs present to investors), to prove the concept went beyond a philanthropic idea, and had the potential to also generate returns.

Social Venture Fund’s team, which is now expanding and could reach a total of 30 students, has been working over the past year to develop the vision for the project and the types of companies it will invest in, Kaul says. The fund adds to the university’s group of student-run funds—the Frankel Commercialization Fund and Wolverine Venture Fund, which has had four successful exits, including an IPO. Unlike the other student-run funds at the university, Social Venture Fund didn’t start with money, Kaul says. “We felt that this was too important to wait on trying to raise money for something.” The 2010 MBA class at the school has already pledged its gift to the Social Venture Fund, which is also working on a big fundraising push.

Broadly, Kaul’s team envisions its investments falling into a handful of sectors: education, food and nutrition, health, finance, the environment, and urban revitalization. He says the team is particularly interested in looking at companies that fuse the latter two concepts, and work on solving problems that are often left to the government.

“We want to create a new type of organization that does not worry only about money making, but worries about policy and impact on society,” he continues. To do that, Social Venture Fund is looking at companies that …Next Page »

Erin Kutz is an Assistant Editor for Xconomy. You can reach her by e-mail at ekutz@xconomy.com or by phone at (617) 252-0700.

benchcraft company scam

3DS Super Monkey Ball out next year 3DS <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

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Media companies invest in <b>news</b> startup, Ongo - Lost Remote

The New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett have each invested $4 million in a yet-to-launch startup called Ongo, described as a “consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers.” ...

Murata Seisakusho Robot Learns New Skill « Akihabara <b>News</b>

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3DS Super Monkey Ball out next year 3DS <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

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Media companies invest in <b>news</b> startup, Ongo - Lost Remote

The New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett have each invested $4 million in a yet-to-launch startup called Ongo, described as a “consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers.” ...

Murata Seisakusho Robot Learns New Skill « Akihabara <b>News</b>

To pursue its growth Akihabara News is seeking for several more editors via an intership program for 6 to 9 months. Please send us a mail @ jobs@akihabaranews.com. Message. We are moving away from Feedburner, please update your RSS ...

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3DS Super Monkey Ball out next year 3DS <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

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Media companies invest in <b>news</b> startup, Ongo - Lost Remote

The New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett have each invested $4 million in a yet-to-launch startup called Ongo, described as a “consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers.” ...

Murata Seisakusho Robot Learns New Skill « Akihabara <b>News</b>

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managing your personal finance

A lot of people are unemployed in this country, 14.9 million as of the latest BLS release a couple of days ago, and for some of those people, this has become what is coyly referred to as ‘the entrepreneurial moment’, the ‘ah-ha’ light-bulb realization that if they don’t create a job for themselves, there will be no job, no income, no mortgage payment, no groceries, no light, no heat, no gas for the car, nuthin’. Since 2008, over 5 million jobs have been lost, many of which will never, ever come back.

Welcome to Labor Day, 2010.

Some of these ‘lost’ jobs have been outsourced overseas. Some have just been cut. Some companies are using their cash to invest in technologies which will insure that they will never have to hire these folks back, at least not with the skills that they had when they were given a cardboard box and five minutes to empty their desks and get out the front door.

If there are people out there who have or are considering building their own ‘life raft’ it would surprise absolutely no one; though for some folks, entrepreneurship is so scary, they can’t imagine anything other than hiring on to someone else’s deal, no matter how horrible it is.

Sometimes, though, you don’t have any choice. One thing to remember, is that many of the most successful entrepreneurs in this country have not invented fuel cells, high tech photovoltaic films, high speed transit, a cure for cancer (or the common cold), or the answer for peace in our time. They are cleaning houses, making pizza, fixing computers/ipods/iphones/cars/furnaces/plumbing/household electric, managing other people’s systems, giving advice, making clothing for people who are outside the common size ranges in the stores.

Not exactly operating a basement boiler room financial situation, doing crazy financial stuff, or stirring up the pot on international finance.

At its most basic, it’s local; at its most interesting, it might even be regional. But it is still person to person; it’s still me doing business with you. Face to face. My hands and brain doing stuff to help you. Some of this is amazingly low tech – some of it is almost medieval.

This week’s fascinating story comes from the New York Times about a family of knife sharpeners who have thrown a new curve on this ancient of trades by providing two sets of knives to butchers, restaurants, food services (in Yankee Stadium, for heaven’s sake), and calling on a weekly basis to pick up the used set and providing the newly sharpened set.

Anyone who does any real work in a kitchen at all knows that your most important tools are a good set of knives and a good frying and sauce pan. With those three things, you can do almost anything (and yes, I have made cookies in the bottom of a frying pan; thank you for asking), but if your knives are dull, cutting anything becomes horrible work and you can injure yourself badly. “Every week, the company visits more than 800 clients and collects more than 8,000 knives to be replaced with freshly sharpened blades. The service costs $2.50 to $3.50 per knife.

The business started servicing mainly butchers and meatpackers, in territories handed down from father to son. To preserve the business for his children, Mr. Ambrosi expanded it to restaurants and even Yankee Stadium, in some cases deviating from long-held tradition. Many cooks and chefs take personal pride in their knives and their ability to maintain them, and would hesitate to release them to anyone else’s care. But sharpening a knife takes time and skill — and not every chef has both.”

Having a skill and honing (sorry) that so that you can provide something that someone else can not (or will not) do, whether it is being an electrician, a plumber, a welder, a knife sharpener, a shoe repair shop, a hair dresser, whatever it is – can make the difference in today’s international economy between being able to make a living for your family and holding your head in your hands. One of America’s biggest mistakes as far as education is concerned (and others might just argue with me) is that we “jumped the shark” in terms of absorbing people coming out of colleges.

Since the 1980s, kids coming out of college have had fewer and lower level opportunities. Jobs which absorbed high schoolers, now require a 2 or 4 year degree; job that required a college degree started to require a masters degree; some jobs which required a college degree and some internal training, now require advanced degrees – I even know of jobs that now require a legal degree to be hired which 30 years ago required a college degree and passing a test. So much emphasis was placed on going to college – and vocational training and the trades were so downgraded and derided that any family with a kid with two brain cells to rub together would not even THINK of encouraging that kid to go into the trades, unless the family was already in the business.

We’re now at a situation where companies, which shot themselves in the foot by sending skilled jobs overseas and now want to bring them back because costs overseas have risen and/or they are tired of their intellectual property being stolen and sold to others, can’t find the skills they want. Not to put too fine a point on this – those same companies have not done any training themselves; nor are they willing to do so. They got into the habit a long time ago of pushing the investment in training off on others. The government for one.

The other, which has willingly and consistently provided training in the trades for years are the unions. Organized labor. The Great Satan of the industrial world. The guys everyone loves to hate. The organizations which, according to many employers, stand in their way of succeeding in business.

But still, the organization which has kept skills alive in this country despite outsourcing, overseas sourcing, attacks from business and government, and general antipathy from great swaths of the American population in certain parts of the country.

So. On this frankly very sad Labor Day, 2010, I’d like to thank the American Labor Movement for remembering what America and Americans do best and what we need to do on an increasing basis if we are to put people back to work – or if we are to have businesses to call our own: Do stuff with our hands.

Thanks folks. You’re not perfection, but you’re willing to invest in Americans.

Happy Labor Day

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Understanding the Forbes redesign « Talking Biz <b>News</b>

Dvorkin had founded True/Slant, an online news network. Previously, he had been executive editor at Forbes magazine, where he spearheaded an earlier redesign, managed the annual Forbes 400 Richest Americans list and created the ...

Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting | Updated <b>News</b>

LATEST NEWS � Plane off runway in Sicily, 20 slightly injured � Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting � Small-town mayors targeted by Mexican drug gangs � Fla. bank robbers strap bomb to abducted teller � Belgian skydiver on ...

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

Understanding the Forbes redesign « Talking Biz <b>News</b>

Dvorkin had founded True/Slant, an online news network. Previously, he had been executive editor at Forbes magazine, where he spearheaded an earlier redesign, managed the annual Forbes 400 Richest Americans list and created the ...

Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting | Updated <b>News</b>

LATEST NEWS � Plane off runway in Sicily, 20 slightly injured � Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting � Small-town mayors targeted by Mexican drug gangs � Fla. bank robbers strap bomb to abducted teller � Belgian skydiver on ...

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

big white booty

Understanding the Forbes redesign « Talking Biz <b>News</b>

Dvorkin had founded True/Slant, an online news network. Previously, he had been executive editor at Forbes magazine, where he spearheaded an earlier redesign, managed the annual Forbes 400 Richest Americans list and created the ...

Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting | Updated <b>News</b>

LATEST NEWS � Plane off runway in Sicily, 20 slightly injured � Arab move to censure Israel stymied at UN meeting � Small-town mayors targeted by Mexican drug gangs � Fla. bank robbers strap bomb to abducted teller � Belgian skydiver on ...

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

personal finance budgets

If you walked into the average bookstore, you'd think that women rule the roost when it comes to personal finance. From Suze Orman's now-classic Women and Money to the more recent (and more colorfully titled) Bitches on a Budget, there's no shortage of do-it-yourself financial advice tailored to women.



Apparently, though, when women make the momentous move from self-help to seeking professional advice about investing and retirement, things go rapidly downhill. A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group revealed that women perceived themselves as receiving wealth management services at a level of quality that is inferior to that received by their male counterparts.



According to the study, women are the key decision-makers when it comes to 27% of the wealth worldwide: that's $20 trillion! But despite the massive chunk of power they wield, 55% of the women surveyed in the study said they felt their wealth manager could do a better job of advising them. Almost a quarter of the respondents said private banks needed "significant improvement" in the services they offer to women.



"The dissatisfaction stems from the unshakable perception that men get more attention, better advice, and sometimes even better terms and deals," according to study co-author Peter Damisch. "We heard this sense of subordination time and time again in our interviews."



This perceived disparity in service arose from several key disconnects in the relationships and communications between women and their financial advisers. Manisha Thakor, Chartered Financial Analyst and women's financial literacy advocate, offers some steps savvy female investors can take to avoid being under-served by their wealth managers and investment advisers:



1. Find your adviser and get your financial education from women-run resources.



The financial services industry is dominated by males and therefore the "DNA is structured around the male experience," Thakor explains, adding that she sees many firms making an effort to change this. Most financial advisers are men, who may not inherently understand the whole-life nature of the average woman's financial plans and needs. They also may have very different communication styles than their women clients.



Thakor recommends women use women-created resources like LearnVest and DailyWorth to educate themselves in order to avoid the intimidation factor when talking about investment products with their advisers. She also encourages women to consult Garrett Planning Network, founded by Certified Financial Planner Sheryl Garrett, to locate a local certified financial planner who works on an hourly-fee-only basis. Taking these steps, Thakor explains, may alleviate the concern expressed by many women in the BCG study that they were not being taken seriously or talked to on the same level as male clients by their financial advisers.



2. Expressly state your ideal career trajectory, then ask how you should alter your investment plans accordingly.



In the BCG study, women stated that their investment advisers fundamentally misunderstood what was actually important to them, and recommended a too-narrow range of inappropriate investment vehicles as a result. Many said their advisers assumed they had a lower risk tolerance than they actually did, or that their advisers focused on short-term results and disregarded their long-term goals, which often included time out to care for a child or parent.



Thakor offers women a script of sorts to remedy this communication disconnect. "Go in and say: "I want to be a mom and I may take X amount of time out of the work force," she advises. Then ask, "How do we adjust how much I need to save and how I should invest to compensate for this?"



3. Start saving early.

Behold: the most profoundly pessimistic attack ad of 2010. Meg Whitman has delivered unto us a masterpiece of dirty politics.

What is most striking about this already-infamous ad isn't the boldness of its mendacity--though it certainly has that--but the cynicism of its timing. It's the sort of unabashedly nasty hit that one would expect just days before an election, and even then only from an outside interest group. Yet here it is, delivered to us in early September with Meg Whitman's name right there on the card. By not only producing so brazen a piece of misinformation but also airing it with more than enough time to effectively rebut, Whitman is betting the house on the politics of personal animosity.

If you live in California or happen to be a political junkie, you've no doubt seen it already and can skip the next paragraph. But for those of you who have avoided it (probably due to a weak stomach or some lingering, endangered shred of personal or political optimism) here's a recap:

Bill Clinton, in a 1992 debate, sits face-to-face with Jerry Brown. Brown looks at Clinton like a kid called to the principal's office. Clinton blasts Brown as a tax-raising liar: "CNN, not me, CNN says his assertion about his tax record was, quote, 'just plain wrong.' He raised taxes as Governor of California. He doesn't tell the people the truth." That's two levels of surrogate Whitman is hiding behind, for those of you keeping track. On its own, the ad is devastating.

There's just one little problem: That CNN report turned out to be "just plain wrong," and Whitman's campaign--like all interested parties--has been fully aware of that for some time. From what the San Jose Mercury-News has been able to piece together, the CNN report used the wrong years both in determining the base of comparison and in identifying the budgets Brown had control over. This made it seem Brown was responsible for a sizable tax increase during Reagan's last year in office and failed to give him credit for tax cuts later in his tenure. The LA Times and California Department of Finance also revisited the numbers and found them to be outright wrong, for the same reasons, in the same ways. Brown was telling the truth. He had cut taxes as Governor of California.

Whitman knew full well that the story was a lie, but she wanted to repeat it all the same. The excuse her communications director offered the Mercury-News: "Bill Clinton, not me, said Jerry Brown 'doesn't tell people the truth.'" Sound familiar?

But this ad is so much more perverse than any simple repetition of untruths. It practically baits a popular former president into entering the fray on the side of Whitman's opponent, yet rests comfortably on the belief that personal grievances and misgivings will trump ethics and ideology to prevent any serious intervention by Clinton or one of the nation's most popular fact checkers.

Yes, in case you missed it, there is yet another personality being ironically misused by this ad. Brooks Jackson, the reporter responsible for this particular "oopsie," now heads FactCheck.org. If you didn't already know that, give yourself a moment to let it sink in: The man whose erroneous report is still fueling factually-incorrect campaign advertisements nearly two decades later is also the guy we all run to when we question the veracity of claims in a political advertisement.

For his part, Jackson acknowledged the error on FactCheck.org in a manner only slightly more embarrassing than admirable. Unlike other political ads targeted by FactCheck, the correction has yet to warrant an actual article on the site. Jackson did, however, post a blog entry on the topic on one of the site's secondary pages. It fails to even mention the Clinton ad and generally reads more like a lengthy rationalization than a correction. He even works in the astonishing insinuation that Prop 13 was a reaction to Brown's high taxes. (Prop 13, patently a reaction to soaring property values and their impact on property tax rates, was not included in the figures used to correct Jackson's report.) After muddying the waters for seven paragraphs, he concludes that state taxes "increased during four of Brown's eight years, and during six of those years they were higher than before he took office. But they were lower during his final two years."

The Mercury-News, State Department of Finance and Associated Press see things a little differently. By about $16 billion in tax cuts during Brown's first seven years in office, and $4 billion in savings per year between 1978 and 1982. Not counting the savings from Prop 13. So much for a gentleman admitting he was wrong.

Not that Jackson matters much to Brown's campaign. Both Brown and Whitman know that only one man can make this ad backfire on Whitman: former president Clinton. Whitman is betting (perhaps unwisely, given Clinton's general election campaigning for Barack Obama,) that 18 years after their bitter battle for the Democratic nomination, Clinton still hates Brown so much that he will refuse defend him with any real conviction.

Exactly how acrimonious was the Clinton-Brown contest? The clip in Whitman's ad might be called one of its more friendly exchanges.

In what was widely taken as an allusion to Brown's onslaught of attacks on Clinton's character, Jesse Jackson opened one debate by chastising the candidates for getting too caught up in "attacks and counterattacks." It didn't slow Brown down. Later that evening, he accused Clinton of racial insensitivity for playing golf at a whites-only country club and using black prisoners as campaign props.

At the final debate, when Brown (not without his own, similar conflicts of interest,) accused Clinton of "funneling money to his wife's law firm," Clinton shot back, "You're not worth being on the same platform as my wife."

The highlight (or low point) of that debate was when Clinton said, "I feel sorry for Jerry Brown... He asked me to support him for President once." When a moderator asked if he did, Clinton didn't miss a beat before shooting back, "Of course not." Footage circulated from the night appears to show gathered reporters roaring with laughter. Whitman probably has that ad already in the can.

In an email blast from Brown's campaign the morning the ad came out, Brown was quick to let Clinton off the hook. The former president had "later learned" that the numbers were incorrect, according to the letter to supporters. But it's a lot easier for Jerry Brown to play nice for the sake of his own campaign than it will be for Bill Clinton, who doesn't need any favors, to come riding to Brown's rescue.

Is Clinton still unable to put the past behind him?

Pundits have pointed to his early support for Gavin Newsom over Brown as proof that he still holds a grudge. But was Clinton's support of Newsom the result of his decades-old feud with Brown, or of a more recently developed loyalty? Newsom was a very vocal, enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries.

Ironically, that support might have been born out of the former San Francisco Mayor's own feud with another Democratic president. In 2007, Newsom implied to Reuters that Obama, "As God is my witness, will not be photographed with me, will not be in the same room with me." At issue was Newsom's having granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Obama-Newsom feud was verified in early 2008, when Willie Brown (backed by several Newsom staffers) gave a much more detailed account of the disputed incident to the San Francisco Chronicle. Obama's campaign denied the accusation, telling Politico that the incoming president was so "pissed" over the stories that the new administration "may give San Francisco to Canada."

Newsom might well have supported Hillary Clinton just as enthusiastically regardless of his personal feelings about Obama. Still, it's tempting to imagine that his feud with the current president might have, just as much as Bill Clinton's animosity toward Jerry Brown, circuitously earned him the former president's support. In politics, there is seldom a single reason for anything, and with so many personal feuds and vendettas driving the nation's politics, it's more than a little difficult to keep straight which one is motivating whom and when.

Will Clinton step in? If he wants to keep that "team player" image he so carefully rebuilt during the 2008 general election, he'll have to. But will he do so looking like an angry, misused Brown supporter or a fellow Democrat forced by party allegiance to go through the motions? I don't know.

What I can say with certainty is that Meg Whitman doesn't even take seriously the possibility that Bill Clinton would rather campaign for Jerry Brown than be seen as the man responsible for costing Democrats the California governor's mansion.

Update: Around the time that this posted, stories about Brown's remarks about Clinton at a campaign event Sunday were beginning to spread. So it seems that Whitman was probably right. "No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up." - Lily Tomlin.

And another update: Clinton issued a statement to several news outlets today. In it, he endorsed Brown, said that the CNN report had been inaccurate and specifically cited Gavin Newsom's support of Hillary Clinton as a reason for his having received Clinton's early primary endorsement.

big white booty.com

Apple&#39;s MobileMe <b>News</b> details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk

The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the ...

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Digital <b>...</b>

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Photokina 2010: Pentax has announced its 645D medium format digital camera will start shipping globally from December 2010. The camera will sell at a retail price of $9999.99 for ...

<b>News</b> Roundup: &#39;Modern Family&#39; Wins the Ratings, Lifetime Renews <b>...</b>

Last night's big ratings winner also won big at the Emmys last month: The 'Modern Family' topped the night with its season 2 premiere, which.

Apple&#39;s MobileMe <b>News</b> details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk

The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the ...

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Digital <b>...</b>

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Photokina 2010: Pentax has announced its 645D medium format digital camera will start shipping globally from December 2010. The camera will sell at a retail price of $9999.99 for ...

<b>News</b> Roundup: &#39;Modern Family&#39; Wins the Ratings, Lifetime Renews <b>...</b>

Last night's big ratings winner also won big at the Emmys last month: The 'Modern Family' topped the night with its season 2 premiere, which.

big white booty

Apple&#39;s MobileMe <b>News</b> details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk

The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the ...

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Digital <b>...</b>

Pentax announces price and availibilty for 645D camera: Photokina 2010: Pentax has announced its 645D medium format digital camera will start shipping globally from December 2010. The camera will sell at a retail price of $9999.99 for ...

<b>News</b> Roundup: &#39;Modern Family&#39; Wins the Ratings, Lifetime Renews <b>...</b>

Last night's big ratings winner also won big at the Emmys last month: The 'Modern Family' topped the night with its season 2 premiere, which.

Ways of Making Money

Fundraising is a key component for most social good campaigns and projects. Thanks to the the Internet and the social web, raising money for a non-profit, community project or charitable organization or relief effort is easier than ever before.

The web makes it possible to get your message across and collect money from people all over the world and to include your social graph in the process.

If you have an idea or a cause that you want to bring awareness to and raise funds around, there are lots of great online tools to help get you started. Whether you want to raise money for a local community center or help fundraise as part of a broader social good campaign, these tools make it easy to get the word out and collect the funds you need./> id="more-380180">

1. FirstGiving

The U.S. subsidiary of JustGiving.com, FirstGiving lets users raise money for any non-profit in the GuideStar database.

It’s free to create a basic account, but if you pay $300 you can fully customize your donations page and link them back to your own website. FirstGiving lets you create fundraising around upcoming events, marathons and walk-a-thons too, which is a nice touch. The processing fee for donation is 5% plus another 2% for credit card transactions.

2. Crowdrise

We mentioned Crowdrise in a recent post about alternatives to Facebook Causes and it is a great tool for both charities and general purpose fundraisers.

Once you start a project, you can share your project’s link via Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and e-mail. You can also earn points from the community based on your project and your overall campaign. Crowdrise also has an ongoing series of promotions and sweepstakes that you can add to your project to sweeten the incentive to give.

3. Kickstarter

Kickstarter is most often used by aspiring creatives to fund projects but it can also be used for great effect for local social good community efforts.

Kickstarter is unique in that if your goal amount isn’t reached, none of the money is collected. This “all-or-nothing” approach often leads to Kickstarter campaigns being more active and more involved than a traditional “donate widget.”

A great part of Kickstarter for the social fund creator is the ability to reward donors at certain levels. Much like PBS and NPR offer trinkets if you give a certain amount, Kickstarter lets its project creators do the same thing. You can get really creative with your different donor levels to drive people to give more.

4. WhatGives

WhatGives offers a great widget you can use on Facebook or on your personal webpage to collect donations for your non-profit. WhatGives is nice because aside from integrating well with Facebook, all donations are handled through PayPal.

You need to be a registered non-profit with an approved PayPal account, and all donations are channeled directly into that account. You can customize the platform and embed it as a Facebook app or on your blog or website.

5. Change.org

Change.org lets users create programs to generate actions from others. This can be as simple as signing a petition or writing a letter, or as generous as donating money. For non-profits in the GuideStar database, you can create your own donation pages to collect funds and also draw attention to other action items.

Change.org is very focused on making it easy to virally spread a message, and the site itself also acts as a portal to different organizations and awareness campaigns.

6. Chipin

Chipin is one of the most popular donation widget tools on the web and it’s a great way to collect money for a good cause. We love the Chipin widget because you can see instant progress on donations, and it accepts many forms of payment.

Unlike many of the services on this list, Chipin isn’t just for non-profits or community organizations. You can use it for any project you want.

7. Razoo

Razoo has options for individuals, non-profits, foundations and corporations to raise money for their causes. Individuals can choose to create a fundraising page for any registered non-profit that Razoo recognizes (they have a database of about a million) and non-profits can create custom pages for their organizations and connect with supporters and encourage them to create their own fundraising pages.

What we love about Razoo, in addition to its simple interface and great UI, is that it also offers donation matching for corporations or foundations looking for an easy way to raise money.

8. Convio

Convio offers software for online fundraising and membership, and while its target audience is probably bigger groups or organizations, it’s still worth a look.

For example, Convio’s TeamRaiser lets organizations make it easy for volunteers to create their own websites for tracking and attracting donations.

If you’re organizing a social good fund for a big charity walk or event where volunteers go door-to-door to get donations, check out Convio because it makes managing that process much easier.

9. Facebook Causes

Causes is an increasingly common way for individuals to raise money and start their own funds that are tied to a non-profit. Because Causes is so well-integrated into Facebook, it makes getting the word out and raising awareness and funds for your cause that much simpler.

10. StayClassy

A newer player in the arena of online giving, San Diego’s StayClassy is focused not just on helping non-profits collect donations online, but also manage events and campaigns, track their fundraising results and plug-in.

The world of online fundraising is vast and diverse. What tools have you used when starting your own social good funds? Let us know in the comments.

Brought to you by the class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit

This post was brought to you by the groundbreaking Social Good Summit. On September 20, as global leaders head to New York for United Nations Week — including a historic summit on global issues known as the “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) and the annual General Assembly — Mashable, 92nd Street Y and the UN Foundation will bring together leaders from the digital industry, policy and media worlds to focus on how technology and social networks can play a leading role in addressing the world’s most intractable problems.

Date: Monday, September 20, 2010/> Time: 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET/> Location: 92nd Street Y, New York City/> Tickets: On sale through Eventbrite

/>

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, PinkTag

For more Social Good coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Social Goodclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Social Good channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

It seems that one of Google’s latest doodles, a homage to the 25th anniversary of the discovery of Buckyballs was, as we suspected, too clever by half. Two, presumably, unintentional consequences have emerged: costing Google’s users money, while making a heck of a lot of cash for the maker of the Buckyballs desktoy overnight.

The way the doodle itself had been designed put a very heavy load on users’ computers, increasing power consumption at a cost to those users, as well as causing many a browser crash. That’s kind of clumsy and, arguably, irresponsible when you consider how many people have Google as their browser’s default start page.

But more bizarrely was another side effect, which surely Google must have anticipated: sending a massive amount of traffic to GetBuckyballs.com, a site that sells the Buckyballs desktoy, described as “a set of building spheres containing 216 powerful Rare Earth magnets that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and snapped together in unlimited ways.”

That’s because clicking on Google’s doodle brought up search results for “Buckyballs”, and GetBuckyballs.com was one of the top results, sending over 2,000,000+ unique visitors to the site and generating 10,000 unit sales in a single day. Which translates to more than $250,000 in revenue, at least according to the announcement the online retailer distributed today.

That’s one way of making your search engine positioning efforts pay off – but it’s certainly a rare occasion to see Google lending such a big virtual hand.

Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...

Stock Market <b>News</b> Briefs: Goldman Sachs Group, McDonald&#39;s, Mylan <b>...</b>

Bed Bath & Beyond ] reported better-than-expected earnings after the close of markets yesterday. Fiscal second quarter earnings beat estimates by 7.

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

robert shumake

Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...

Stock Market <b>News</b> Briefs: Goldman Sachs Group, McDonald&#39;s, Mylan <b>...</b>

Bed Bath & Beyond ] reported better-than-expected earnings after the close of markets yesterday. Fiscal second quarter earnings beat estimates by 7.

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

Fundraising is a key component for most social good campaigns and projects. Thanks to the the Internet and the social web, raising money for a non-profit, community project or charitable organization or relief effort is easier than ever before.

The web makes it possible to get your message across and collect money from people all over the world and to include your social graph in the process.

If you have an idea or a cause that you want to bring awareness to and raise funds around, there are lots of great online tools to help get you started. Whether you want to raise money for a local community center or help fundraise as part of a broader social good campaign, these tools make it easy to get the word out and collect the funds you need./> id="more-380180">

1. FirstGiving

The U.S. subsidiary of JustGiving.com, FirstGiving lets users raise money for any non-profit in the GuideStar database.

It’s free to create a basic account, but if you pay $300 you can fully customize your donations page and link them back to your own website. FirstGiving lets you create fundraising around upcoming events, marathons and walk-a-thons too, which is a nice touch. The processing fee for donation is 5% plus another 2% for credit card transactions.

2. Crowdrise

We mentioned Crowdrise in a recent post about alternatives to Facebook Causes and it is a great tool for both charities and general purpose fundraisers.

Once you start a project, you can share your project’s link via Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and e-mail. You can also earn points from the community based on your project and your overall campaign. Crowdrise also has an ongoing series of promotions and sweepstakes that you can add to your project to sweeten the incentive to give.

3. Kickstarter

Kickstarter is most often used by aspiring creatives to fund projects but it can also be used for great effect for local social good community efforts.

Kickstarter is unique in that if your goal amount isn’t reached, none of the money is collected. This “all-or-nothing” approach often leads to Kickstarter campaigns being more active and more involved than a traditional “donate widget.”

A great part of Kickstarter for the social fund creator is the ability to reward donors at certain levels. Much like PBS and NPR offer trinkets if you give a certain amount, Kickstarter lets its project creators do the same thing. You can get really creative with your different donor levels to drive people to give more.

4. WhatGives

WhatGives offers a great widget you can use on Facebook or on your personal webpage to collect donations for your non-profit. WhatGives is nice because aside from integrating well with Facebook, all donations are handled through PayPal.

You need to be a registered non-profit with an approved PayPal account, and all donations are channeled directly into that account. You can customize the platform and embed it as a Facebook app or on your blog or website.

5. Change.org

Change.org lets users create programs to generate actions from others. This can be as simple as signing a petition or writing a letter, or as generous as donating money. For non-profits in the GuideStar database, you can create your own donation pages to collect funds and also draw attention to other action items.

Change.org is very focused on making it easy to virally spread a message, and the site itself also acts as a portal to different organizations and awareness campaigns.

6. Chipin

Chipin is one of the most popular donation widget tools on the web and it’s a great way to collect money for a good cause. We love the Chipin widget because you can see instant progress on donations, and it accepts many forms of payment.

Unlike many of the services on this list, Chipin isn’t just for non-profits or community organizations. You can use it for any project you want.

7. Razoo

Razoo has options for individuals, non-profits, foundations and corporations to raise money for their causes. Individuals can choose to create a fundraising page for any registered non-profit that Razoo recognizes (they have a database of about a million) and non-profits can create custom pages for their organizations and connect with supporters and encourage them to create their own fundraising pages.

What we love about Razoo, in addition to its simple interface and great UI, is that it also offers donation matching for corporations or foundations looking for an easy way to raise money.

8. Convio

Convio offers software for online fundraising and membership, and while its target audience is probably bigger groups or organizations, it’s still worth a look.

For example, Convio’s TeamRaiser lets organizations make it easy for volunteers to create their own websites for tracking and attracting donations.

If you’re organizing a social good fund for a big charity walk or event where volunteers go door-to-door to get donations, check out Convio because it makes managing that process much easier.

9. Facebook Causes

Causes is an increasingly common way for individuals to raise money and start their own funds that are tied to a non-profit. Because Causes is so well-integrated into Facebook, it makes getting the word out and raising awareness and funds for your cause that much simpler.

10. StayClassy

A newer player in the arena of online giving, San Diego’s StayClassy is focused not just on helping non-profits collect donations online, but also manage events and campaigns, track their fundraising results and plug-in.

The world of online fundraising is vast and diverse. What tools have you used when starting your own social good funds? Let us know in the comments.

Brought to you by the class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit

This post was brought to you by the groundbreaking Social Good Summit. On September 20, as global leaders head to New York for United Nations Week — including a historic summit on global issues known as the “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) and the annual General Assembly — Mashable, 92nd Street Y and the UN Foundation will bring together leaders from the digital industry, policy and media worlds to focus on how technology and social networks can play a leading role in addressing the world’s most intractable problems.

Date: Monday, September 20, 2010/> Time: 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET/> Location: 92nd Street Y, New York City/> Tickets: On sale through Eventbrite

/>

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, PinkTag

For more Social Good coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Social Goodclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Social Good channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

It seems that one of Google’s latest doodles, a homage to the 25th anniversary of the discovery of Buckyballs was, as we suspected, too clever by half. Two, presumably, unintentional consequences have emerged: costing Google’s users money, while making a heck of a lot of cash for the maker of the Buckyballs desktoy overnight.

The way the doodle itself had been designed put a very heavy load on users’ computers, increasing power consumption at a cost to those users, as well as causing many a browser crash. That’s kind of clumsy and, arguably, irresponsible when you consider how many people have Google as their browser’s default start page.

But more bizarrely was another side effect, which surely Google must have anticipated: sending a massive amount of traffic to GetBuckyballs.com, a site that sells the Buckyballs desktoy, described as “a set of building spheres containing 216 powerful Rare Earth magnets that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and snapped together in unlimited ways.”

That’s because clicking on Google’s doodle brought up search results for “Buckyballs”, and GetBuckyballs.com was one of the top results, sending over 2,000,000+ unique visitors to the site and generating 10,000 unit sales in a single day. Which translates to more than $250,000 in revenue, at least according to the announcement the online retailer distributed today.

That’s one way of making your search engine positioning efforts pay off – but it’s certainly a rare occasion to see Google lending such a big virtual hand.

robert shumake

Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...

Stock Market <b>News</b> Briefs: Goldman Sachs Group, McDonald&#39;s, Mylan <b>...</b>

Bed Bath & Beyond ] reported better-than-expected earnings after the close of markets yesterday. Fiscal second quarter earnings beat estimates by 7.

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

robert shumake

Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...

Stock Market <b>News</b> Briefs: Goldman Sachs Group, McDonald&#39;s, Mylan <b>...</b>

Bed Bath & Beyond ] reported better-than-expected earnings after the close of markets yesterday. Fiscal second quarter earnings beat estimates by 7.

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

Kids Making Money

At what age should you begin giving your child an allowance? How much should you give them (or spend on a present) for their 16th birthday? When should they get their first credit card? Finally, if you could go back 10 years and give your younger self a lesson about money — what would it be?

We recently featured the children and money topic on Mint Answers – and similar questions haven’t stopped pouring in ever since. So this week, we are rounding up Part 2, with the questions above and some of the suggestions shared by Mint’s experts and community members.

To read more answers or to chime in with your response, click on the links below.

How much should I give my daughter for her birthday?

I have no idea what my daughter wants for her birthday, so I want to give her cash.  She is turning 16 next month and I need to know what would be an appropriate amount to give her on this occasion. I earn about $30,000 a year.

Answers:

1. The goal here is to create a balance. If you give too much then they may expect it every time or not value it as time goes on. Too little and it may seem like you’re cheap. We all know this to not be true as you are a mint user.

I would give her an amount equal to a gift she would normally receive. For example, iPod shuffle=$50. A dinner=$25. Etc.

More answers to this question>>

Too young for a credit card?

My daughter is turning 18 in two months. She wants to start building her credit. Should she get a traditional credit card or a student credit card?

Answers:

1. Well, she can’t get a credit card thanks to the CARD Act unless she has a job or a co-signer.  Can I suggest you add her as an authorized user to a card you already have?  That’s still a viable alternative. 

Just make sure to always properly manage that card so your daughter’s score doesn’t suffer

2. Adding your child to your credit card can be risky if they have a tendency to be irresponsible. I would make them hold off until they have a job. Without income it would be hard to pay it off unless you’re the one doing it for her.

To answer the original question though… a traditional card is what I started with and it’s worked out great. In case you were wondering, it was a Citibank card. I have switched to AMEX since then, but I will always remember that $500 credit limit.

More answers to this question>>

Say you could go back in time ten years and give your younger self a lesson about money.

What would it be?

Answers:

1. 1) Before making a purchase, ask yourself, is this more than I need? Living with what you need instead of always trying to fulfill your wants will leave you more satisfied (and wealthier) in the long run. 2) Start investing now. Don’t wait a minute longer.

2. I’d tell myself to get a job and start a Roth IRA. I can’t go back and invest money at low tax rates for all those years I missed.

3. Definitely would’ve invested more (Google stock baby) and just taken more risks.  Oh, and just to be more secretive with your money: when people know you have money, they always want a piece of the pie and try to take advantage of you.

More answers to this question>

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance?

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance? How much should I give them? I have a five year old and a seven year old. I have heard to start at about 5 years of age and give $1. Then give $1 more at each birthday after that. What do you think is appropriate?

1. The New York Times did a good column on this subject a couple years ago. An excerpt:

“A good rule of thumb, they say, is either: 1) $1 for each year of the child’s age — so a 7-year-old would get $7 weekly and a 15-year-old would get $15 or; 2) Half of that.”

These are kind of New Yorky numbers, perhaps. Our six-year-old still gets $1.

2. Never.  You shouldn’t ever just give your kids an allowance.  What message are you teaching them?  That it’s ok to mooch?  My 3 yr old (yes 3) gets one dollar when he helps to pick up his toys.  Why $1?  Because he can’t swallow it like he can swallow change.  Then we put it in his piggy bank and when he gets a few bucks I’ll take some out and re-use them. 

More answers to this question>>

Do you have a money question that you feel has no black-or-white answer? Go to Mint Answers and ask away! While you’re there, feel free to answer questions from other community members. Come back often, as we introduce new enhancements to this feature.

Happy Birthday, BriStelt!

charitini:

Brian Stelter recently celebrated two big milestones: He turned 26, and he lost a whopping 75 pounds - carefully, healthfully, and in full view of all his colleagues, friends, peers and beyond, to be impressed and inspired by his accomplishment.

Tonight he’s celebrating his birthday - and that accomplishment - Charitini-style, by encouraging his friends and fans to celebrate by making a donation “in lieu of another round of drinks” to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, “one of the pre-eminent groups tackling childhood obesity.” (Endorsed by the Big Dog no less!). According to the Alliance:

• Students often consume up to 50% of their daily calories at school.


• Young people today are eating on average 8% more than they were less than 30 years ago.


• Nationally, 83% of elementary schools, 97% of middle/junior high schools, and 99% of high schools sell food and beverages through vending machines, school stores, or a la carte in the cafeteria.


• Poor nutrition during childhood can have lasting effects and impair cognitive development and school performance.

The obesity stats are scary, and between nutrition and exercise kids these days are being massively shortchanged. BusinessWeek called childhood obesity “a major public health concern,” leading inexorably to an increase in cardiovascular disease. Kids should be able to eat right and play hard. Brian and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation want to change that - with your money! So donate here.

And hey, if you don’t want to donate for Brian, you should donate for your COUNTRY - because no less an authority than THE PRESIDENT has proclaimed September National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2010 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.  I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all of our Nation’s children.

So be aware! And help support healthy kids for a healthy future. Alcohol adds calories, anyway.

Photo of BriStelt and his healthy friends taken from The Deadline.

A great guy and a great cause. Happy Birthday Brian!

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At what age should you begin giving your child an allowance? How much should you give them (or spend on a present) for their 16th birthday? When should they get their first credit card? Finally, if you could go back 10 years and give your younger self a lesson about money — what would it be?

We recently featured the children and money topic on Mint Answers – and similar questions haven’t stopped pouring in ever since. So this week, we are rounding up Part 2, with the questions above and some of the suggestions shared by Mint’s experts and community members.

To read more answers or to chime in with your response, click on the links below.

How much should I give my daughter for her birthday?

I have no idea what my daughter wants for her birthday, so I want to give her cash.  She is turning 16 next month and I need to know what would be an appropriate amount to give her on this occasion. I earn about $30,000 a year.

Answers:

1. The goal here is to create a balance. If you give too much then they may expect it every time or not value it as time goes on. Too little and it may seem like you’re cheap. We all know this to not be true as you are a mint user.

I would give her an amount equal to a gift she would normally receive. For example, iPod shuffle=$50. A dinner=$25. Etc.

More answers to this question>>

Too young for a credit card?

My daughter is turning 18 in two months. She wants to start building her credit. Should she get a traditional credit card or a student credit card?

Answers:

1. Well, she can’t get a credit card thanks to the CARD Act unless she has a job or a co-signer.  Can I suggest you add her as an authorized user to a card you already have?  That’s still a viable alternative. 

Just make sure to always properly manage that card so your daughter’s score doesn’t suffer

2. Adding your child to your credit card can be risky if they have a tendency to be irresponsible. I would make them hold off until they have a job. Without income it would be hard to pay it off unless you’re the one doing it for her.

To answer the original question though… a traditional card is what I started with and it’s worked out great. In case you were wondering, it was a Citibank card. I have switched to AMEX since then, but I will always remember that $500 credit limit.

More answers to this question>>

Say you could go back in time ten years and give your younger self a lesson about money.

What would it be?

Answers:

1. 1) Before making a purchase, ask yourself, is this more than I need? Living with what you need instead of always trying to fulfill your wants will leave you more satisfied (and wealthier) in the long run. 2) Start investing now. Don’t wait a minute longer.

2. I’d tell myself to get a job and start a Roth IRA. I can’t go back and invest money at low tax rates for all those years I missed.

3. Definitely would’ve invested more (Google stock baby) and just taken more risks.  Oh, and just to be more secretive with your money: when people know you have money, they always want a piece of the pie and try to take advantage of you.

More answers to this question>

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance?

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance? How much should I give them? I have a five year old and a seven year old. I have heard to start at about 5 years of age and give $1. Then give $1 more at each birthday after that. What do you think is appropriate?

1. The New York Times did a good column on this subject a couple years ago. An excerpt:

“A good rule of thumb, they say, is either: 1) $1 for each year of the child’s age — so a 7-year-old would get $7 weekly and a 15-year-old would get $15 or; 2) Half of that.”

These are kind of New Yorky numbers, perhaps. Our six-year-old still gets $1.

2. Never.  You shouldn’t ever just give your kids an allowance.  What message are you teaching them?  That it’s ok to mooch?  My 3 yr old (yes 3) gets one dollar when he helps to pick up his toys.  Why $1?  Because he can’t swallow it like he can swallow change.  Then we put it in his piggy bank and when he gets a few bucks I’ll take some out and re-use them. 

More answers to this question>>

Do you have a money question that you feel has no black-or-white answer? Go to Mint Answers and ask away! While you’re there, feel free to answer questions from other community members. Come back often, as we introduce new enhancements to this feature.

Happy Birthday, BriStelt!

charitini:

Brian Stelter recently celebrated two big milestones: He turned 26, and he lost a whopping 75 pounds - carefully, healthfully, and in full view of all his colleagues, friends, peers and beyond, to be impressed and inspired by his accomplishment.

Tonight he’s celebrating his birthday - and that accomplishment - Charitini-style, by encouraging his friends and fans to celebrate by making a donation “in lieu of another round of drinks” to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, “one of the pre-eminent groups tackling childhood obesity.” (Endorsed by the Big Dog no less!). According to the Alliance:

• Students often consume up to 50% of their daily calories at school.


• Young people today are eating on average 8% more than they were less than 30 years ago.


• Nationally, 83% of elementary schools, 97% of middle/junior high schools, and 99% of high schools sell food and beverages through vending machines, school stores, or a la carte in the cafeteria.


• Poor nutrition during childhood can have lasting effects and impair cognitive development and school performance.

The obesity stats are scary, and between nutrition and exercise kids these days are being massively shortchanged. BusinessWeek called childhood obesity “a major public health concern,” leading inexorably to an increase in cardiovascular disease. Kids should be able to eat right and play hard. Brian and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation want to change that - with your money! So donate here.

And hey, if you don’t want to donate for Brian, you should donate for your COUNTRY - because no less an authority than THE PRESIDENT has proclaimed September National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2010 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.  I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all of our Nation’s children.

So be aware! And help support healthy kids for a healthy future. Alcohol adds calories, anyway.

Photo of BriStelt and his healthy friends taken from The Deadline.

A great guy and a great cause. Happy Birthday Brian!

robert shumake

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