Do you have a sense of humor? Do your friends? Do your friends have a sense of humor about their own behavior?
Well, here is a new sweepstakes with a great idea, Help your friends. That is, help one of your friends who has some trouble with her/his finances, especially spending.
Now, the page introducing “Help a friend” clarifies that we all make mistakes and waste money. But, the one you “help” would merit, as they say,” an Olympian gold medal in money squandering.” So, the argument on the site goes, do your friend a favor and enter this friend into this sweepstakes. (At the same time you enter yourself into the sweepstakes). If you win, you get…… money.
There are videos associated with this program, and they tend to feature young, college age folks discussing the varied ways they spend money on “stuff” –memorial swords that are probably plastic, ugly designer jeans, myriad internet purchases, parties, taking a girlfriend to the “Jersey Shore” …………You get the point.
I decided to see how this works. So I pressed the HELP A FRIEND BUTTON and sent the email to myself. (I chose not to send a photo to post on the FACEBOOK page of the site. It would show my friend posing with at least one incriminating impulsive purchase.)
I did receive an email. The email is well worded and raises some really good issues to consider. When I clicked on the link, I was really pleased with the quiz that you can can take. It raises “your consciousness” on some spending habits that can be problematic. The site itself has wonderful tools, such as calculators that help you budget, pay off debt, etc.
Now, I am a big great fan of NEFE—the National Endowment for Financial Education that created the site, and the Help a Friend sweepstakes. And I am a great fan of using humor to make a point. And this Help A Friend Campaign uses humor to accomplish an important goal, help friends who waste money.
What I don’t know, is how my friends would respond. I mean, how would this work with “women of a certain age and distinction?” Would my friends be offended if I entered them into this sweepstakes? Or would they take it in stride, see that you can use humor to make some important points, and change your behavior?
What do you think?
