Does Money Make You Stupid?
Like many of you, I woke up yesterday to the news that Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was caught on camera accepting money in exchange for access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, who also happens to be the British trade representative. Looking as disheveled as you’d expect someone who had no idea she was being filmed to look, Fergie said, “If you want to meet him in your business, look after me and he’ll look after you … you’ll get it back tenfold.” Looking after Fergie, it turns out, costs $730,000, though you can get through the door with an initial down payment of 40 grand.
Of course, the whole thing came crashing down around her. The person on the other side of the transaction was an undercover reporter who apparently specializes in getting the rich and famous to do stupid things. More…
I got an e-mail message from Amazon.com last week. Seems the order I placed for a t-shirt – one of those screened to look like a tuxedo – had been canceled. “Damn it,” I muttered to myself. “Somebody got me.” I found my way to the “Contact Us” section of Amazon, put the order number in the subject line and typed a quick note along the lines of: “Regarding this order, I didn’t place it. And I didn’t cancel it. Suspect identity theft and fraud.”
In a recent New York Times story, reporter Tara Siegel Bernard calls for more personal finance education in the nation’s high schools — understandable as only 13 states currently require it.
Nine out of ten women find asking for money – i.e., a raise – embarrassing, according to a survey out this morning from Sheconomics.com. This compares to six out of ten men. And women are two and a half times more likely than men to find negotiating for pay humiliating.
This is my heavy-duty travel season. Last week, I flew from New York to Ithaca to Kansas City (with a stop in Detroit) before heading home. This week, it’s New York to Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale then home again. I’m not complaining. Being busy, particularly in economic times like these, is a good thing. But I did do a double take at Spirit Air’s announcement a few weeks ago that it would begin charging $45 for carry-on bags that wouldn’t fit under the seat; my luggage of choice. Just the itineraries of the past two weeks would cost me more than $300. And I breathed a sigh of relief at Chuck Schumer’s announcement Sunday that five carriers more major than Spirit had pledged not to follow suit. 
Recently, my husband and I spent a week in Argentina. We traveled from the fabulous city of Buenos Aires to an estancia, or ranch, in the Pampas to the wine country in Mendoza. It was a fantastic vacation (a belated honeymoon, actually). The food throughout the country – particularly the famous Argentinean rib eye – was as good as I’d been told. (Hot tip: Keep an eye out for Francis Mallmann, the Bobby Flay of Argentina. He has cookbooks, restaurants and a television show. I fully expect to see him soon on “Iron Chef.”) The people, who stopped us on street corners whenever we consulted a map to see if they could help, were as friendly as reported. And the strength of the dollar made spending money on everything from dinner ($65 for two including wine) to fantastic designer handbags (about $80 each) a kick. 
