This is totally random, but very totally true.
On Friday I see the following tweet:
I'm giving away a Meet & Greet w/ @JustinBieber and concert tix this weekend. #SanDiego #LosAngeles http://t.co/ntNAtDDjrm HONESTLY!
— Stefanie Mullen (@StefanieAMullen) June 21, 2013
I think I’m pretty funny, so I write back:
“@ooph Nice! I’ll enter only if @JustinBieber tells me he budgets and thinks they’re sexy ;) Deal?”
Now, two things before I continue:
- I had no idea who was sponsoring this giveaway other than my friend “ooph” (Stephanie Mullen)
- I also didn’t care if I won a chance to meet Justin or not, though I did enter cuz it would be funny. I just thought it would be fun to get a response from either of them acknowledging how witty I am ;)
(Note: I did not win, nor did Justin respond to my awesome tweet (probably because I keep referring to him by first name as if we’re friends), so if that’s the ending you’re wishing for you can stop here ;))
Okay, so I click on the giveaway link to go see what the fuss is about and to waste a few more minutes procrastinating, and it turns out that Justin is, indeed, in a video there talking about – wait for it, wait for it – BUDGETING!! And responsible money management!! Holy Cow! What are the odds???
You can see for yourself here: (It’s only 50 seconds)
If you’re at work, or don’t want to get caught watching the Biebs, here are the takeaways:
- He didn’t have a lot of money growing up
- He had to save for stuff he really wanted
- He had to learn how to make a budget
- If you have $100 or $100 Million dollars, if you spend more than you have you’re gonna go broke
- Have a talk with your family about money.
- Managing your money is important
Pretty pimp stuff!!!! Now granted it was in partnership with a company promoting a financial product I’ve never heard of before (SpendSmart – makers of prepaid cards for teens?), but if it’s good enough for the Biebs it’s good enough for me. Just kidding… Kind of.
Regardless, I find this entire thing to be magnificent. I’m all about “making it rain” with my fellow rappers out there, but as an adult I know all about responsibility and when things are appropriate to do and when not. For kids and fans of Bieber I guarantee this holds a lot of weight with them, and to use his fame for good is just beautiful. Who knows how many people will go out and do that cuz Biebs told them to? And why do I keep calling him “Biebs” as a 33 y/o male? ;)
Anywho. I thought this was prime blogging material and I hope you got as much of a kick out of it as I did. If not, well, I just wasted an hour of my life :) I just hope I’ll continue passing on the good word about money too when I’m rich and famous one day… I’m not sure how long it takes to become a world renown treasure hunter, but if you ever catch me forgetting where I came from I give you full permission now to bitch slap me on national television. If Justin can keep his head on right, so can I.
Happy Bieb-udgeting!
UPDATE: My friend Bill over at FamZoo.com just sent me this link on how the Biebs is getting $3 MILLION+ for partnering up with SpendSmart. Now THAT’S how to get paid for talking about budgets! Haha… I’ll have to give him a ring and get some pointers… I don’t get nearly as much for doing so;)
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[Photo by Joe Bielawa / Truth by J$]
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Using your celebrity to promote a good cause is pretty cool. I just wonder how much this company/card really helps people vs how much profit it makes. Use caution in whatever you are signing up for. Budgeting and saving are not that difficult, it just takes a little discipline.
I think this is great! I didn’t watch the video, but I do know that the kids love the Biebs and kids need financial literacy!!! I’m super active in the Girl Scouts and the Girl Scout Research Institute put out this recent report on financial literacy and young girls which I’m sure applies just as well to young boys http://www.girlscouts.org/research/pdf/GSRI_having_it_all_report.pdf How are you going to teach Baby J$ to be a smart spender/saver?
Cool! That way when they become Woman Scouts they’ll be all financially set ;)
No idea how I’ll be teaching Baby J$ yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure out something…
I’m still going to read this blog despite this post. ;-)
I can see it in 20 years on “Where Are They Now.” Justin Bieber broke trying to get a job at McDonalds. Don’t believe me? Watch some TMZ. It’ll explain everything.
hah! that would not be good.
Hahahaha. Maybe I should have shown this video yesterday at my meeting for our big youth summer trip we had yesterday. I talked to the kids about budgeting for meals… sigh. That didn’t go over well.
I almost fall asleep just reading that ;)
Haha, that’s awesome. We need more people and commercials like that because it might actually sway some people into managing their money properly. We have all these commercials about quitting smoking, but none (or not very many) about proper money management.
This is actually pretty funny. Good for him to lay it out and be real like that. A lot of people need to hear it.
Hopefully the Beibs remembers those frugal roots throughout his life. It’s very easy to unlearn financial skills as time wears on and I’d hate to have someone who has such potential to be a positive influence on the financial literacy of kids end up not following his own advise down the road.
I’m sure he slips here and there like all of us, but yeah – who knows what time and fame brings as the years go by. At least he’s spreading the good word at the peak of his success then!
That is some funny stuff right there. I hope it gave you some budget enthusiast validation. ;)
I think you should record clips of all the people that think budgets are sexy and make one big video.
Have a great day.
I SHOULD! Though sadly not one person has said it yet except for me, haha… Although I believe Jean Chatzky has :) Not that non-finance people would know her though…
If this gets Bieb’s followers to embrace budgeting, it’s all good. However, looks like SpendSmart may go poof soon the way they’re managing their own money… http://banktalk.org/2013/06/12/never-say-never-spendsmarts-bieber-card-to-bounce/
Pretty crazy that he’s making $3 Million + off it too! But as you say – as long as it’s a positive message he’s relaying that works for me.
A while back someone gave an example of Ed McMahon – sidekick to Johnny Carson. He was making close to $6 million. Even after Johnny, Ed kept on making as much. Towards the end of his life, he came on TV essentially begging for money. It surely depends on how much you make to live debt free but more than that it’s how well you spend the money. I have read somewhere, ED and his wife used to partying a lot and spending money like there’s no tomorrow.
I bet. There’s def. some truth to Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems!
Don’t think Bieber practices what he preaches…remember some story of him letting his friends drive ONE of his ferraris but I guess it is all relative if he is making that much cash.
Maybe he buys one Ferrari for ever Million he makes and banks the rest? ;)
I guess it is good that someone is talking about money management and with the following he has, I am sure there were some kids that listened in. I doubt any of it actually stuck, but at least it was mentioned. Sorry you didn’t win your chance to budget with Bieber!
Glad to hear he’s spreading those lesson! Now, if only he could make actual music.
Bah dum-ching!
Hilarious article…I never thought you would post about Bieber on here…I thought this blog was safe! It’s good that he’s doing something positive, though he is getting paid millions for it. Wish I could see him practicing it in his every day life, that would help his generation a lot more than one video. He’s a pretty big influence and it would help them become more financially literate hopefully.
Well I think he’s doing a lot more than the 1 video cuz he seems to be plastered ALLL over SpendSmart’s site, haha (check it out –> https://spendsmartcard.com), but yeah. I’m sure he’s having quite the fun blowing plenty of money in the real world ;) I probably would too if I were him.
It’s nice to see young celebrities advocating for financial literacy and success. Everyone wants to be as rich as them, yet they aren’t getting there by spending more than they earn. Way to go Justin Beiber!