EA's Five Tips For The Next Three Years, If You Want To Make Games And Money

Times are tough in gaming these days, for the people making what we play. That's a common theme at the DICE Summit, as studio shutdowns and declining sales have darkened the mood here. But EA today offered some survival tips.

Recognize the stakes, before you read on. The EA man talking this morning at DICE, chief operating officer John Schappert, certainly make it sound tough to be a video game publisher. Talking about game sales rankings, he said: “If you're not in the top 30, arguably the top 20 you could even say the top 10, you're probably not making money.”

OK. So, how to survive, according to EA? Five suggestions from Schappert:

1) A commitment to quality: People read blogs, Schappert said (properly displaying several logos including that of Kotaku), so consumers know what's good and follow that. EA believes that its FIFA series fell behind Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer because EA lost sight of quality — and believes FIFA achieved its recent comeback for regaining the quality lead.

2) Get more from your marketing: Schappert's slide entitled “Marketing can't sell questionable games” showed EA's Catwoman and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, two bad games from a few years back. He said that, a decade ago, you could get away with convincing gamers a bad game was good through effective marketing. Not anymore, because of point number one. Marketing, however, is still important, maybe more so. “Some games deserve more” was the next slide, which showed Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Schappert said EA “could have done better” marketing those games. He pointed to Dante's Inferno's Super Bowl commercial last month as a sign of EA's improved marketing commitment.

3) Invest in the future – get online: Schappert called online gaming the new platform of this gaming cycle.”People are buying fewer games now but want to play those games longer,” he said, arguing that publishers need to take advantage of online-connected consoles to extend the life of a game. EA's aggressive plans with downloadable content, promising DLC for all of its games, is surely a part of that.

4) Don't abandon your consumer base: He argued that disc-based games are not going extinct any time soon. “Don't forget the shiny disc.” In other words, Facebook gaming, online gaming, and other non-physical gaming is not the whole future.

5) Illegitimi Non Carborundum: Translated from Latin, according to Schappert is “Don't let the cynics get you down.”

Schappert's speech was supposed to be the pick-me-up. Of course, it also essentially articulated EA's current strategy. Will it work? Well, it's hard to imagine that whoever does survive this rough patch not saying that most or all of those five tips — the disc idea is the most debatable — are the ideas that helped them get through it.

Send an email to Stephen Totilo, the author of this post, at stephentotilo@kotaku.com.

Ghostbuddy @ Feb 19th 2010 5:48PM

@ christian ————8. Don't buy good developers (Bioware) and them force them to rush short or unpolished games to market (ME2 was way too short, graphics on Dragon Origins was not polished). ———————

I played through Mass Effect 1, five times. I did almost every side mission, in 3 of the playthroughs. One of those playthroughs was played on Insanity, the hardest difficulty in the game. This playthough took the longest, to complete.

My first Mass Effect 2 playthrough, on Veteran, the third highest difficulty in the game, took 10 hours longer, than my longest ME 1 playthrough.

Before you even say it. No, I did not spend 10 hours scanning planets. I used a scanning shortcut for the vast majority of the game. Where I very quickly jump in and out of scanning mode, while moving my cursor around the planet. Increasing my scanning speed by at least 50%. I purchased the scanning speed, ship upgrade, as soon as I could. Well before the first disc swap, I didn't bother to scan, planets unless they had rich amounts of resources. So I didn't spend very much time scanning at all.

Meanwhile with the First Mass Effect, I often spent an excessive amount of time, exploring the unmarked corners of the map, on uncharted worlds. Looking for anything to mine. I would even go so far to say, I spent a comparable amount of time in resource acquisition, if not more time, while playing the first Mass Effect.

To highlight the significance of this. The second Mass Effect is a longer game, than the first Mass Effect. But the first Mass Effect was already gold, when EA bought Bioware.

EA's Five Tips For The Next Three Years, If You Want To Make Games And Money

Times are tough in gaming these days, for the people making what we play. That's a common theme at the DICE Summit, as studio shutdowns and declining sales have darkened the mood here. But EA today offered some survival tips.

Recognize the stakes, before you read on. The EA man talking this morning at DICE, chief operating officer John Schappert, certainly make it sound tough to be a video game publisher. Talking about game sales rankings, he said: “If you're not in the top 30, arguably the top 20 you could even say the top 10, you're probably not making money.”

OK. So, how to survive, according to EA? Five suggestions from Schappert:

1) A commitment to quality: People read blogs, Schappert said (properly displaying several logos including that of Kotaku), so consumers know what's good and follow that. EA believes that its FIFA series fell behind Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer because EA lost sight of quality — and believes FIFA achieved its recent comeback for regaining the quality lead.

2) Get more from your marketing: Schappert's slide entitled “Marketing can't sell questionable games” showed EA's Catwoman and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, two bad games from a few years back. He said that, a decade ago, you could get away with convincing gamers a bad game was good through effective marketing. Not anymore, because of point number one. Marketing, however, is still important, maybe more so. “Some games deserve more” was the next slide, which showed Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Schappert said EA “could have done better” marketing those games. He pointed to Dante's Inferno's Super Bowl commercial last month as a sign of EA's improved marketing commitment.

3) Invest in the future – get online: Schappert called online gaming the new platform of this gaming cycle.”People are buying fewer games now but want to play those games longer,” he said, arguing that publishers need to take advantage of online-connected consoles to extend the life of a game. EA's aggressive plans with downloadable content, promising DLC for all of its games, is surely a part of that.

4) Don't abandon your consumer base: He argued that disc-based games are not going extinct any time soon. “Don't forget the shiny disc.” In other words, Facebook gaming, online gaming, and other non-physical gaming is not the whole future.

5) Illegitimi Non Carborundum: Translated from Latin, according to Schappert is “Don't let the cynics get you down.”

Schappert's speech was supposed to be the pick-me-up. Of course, it also essentially articulated EA's current strategy. Will it work? Well, it's hard to imagine that whoever does survive this rough patch not saying that most or all of those five tips — the disc idea is the most debatable — are the ideas that helped them get through it.

Send an email to Stephen Totilo, the author of this post, at stephentotilo@kotaku.com.

Ghostbuddy @ Feb 19th 2010 5:48PM

@ christian ————8. Don't buy good developers (Bioware) and them force them to rush short or unpolished games to market (ME2 was way too short, graphics on Dragon Origins was not polished). ———————

I played through Mass Effect 1, five times. I did almost every side mission, in 3 of the playthroughs. One of those playthroughs was played on Insanity, the hardest difficulty in the game. This playthough took the longest, to complete.

My first Mass Effect 2 playthrough, on Veteran, the third highest difficulty in the game, took 10 hours longer, than my longest ME 1 playthrough.

Before you even say it. No, I did not spend 10 hours scanning planets. I used a scanning shortcut for the vast majority of the game. Where I very quickly jump in and out of scanning mode, while moving my cursor around the planet. Increasing my scanning speed by at least 50%. I purchased the scanning speed, ship upgrade, as soon as I could. Well before the first disc swap, I didn't bother to scan, planets unless they had rich amounts of resources. So I didn't spend very much time scanning at all.

Meanwhile with the First Mass Effect, I often spent an excessive amount of time, exploring the unmarked corners of the map, on uncharted worlds. Looking for anything to mine. I would even go so far to say, I spent a comparable amount of time in resource acquisition, if not more time, while playing the first Mass Effect.

To highlight the significance of this. The second Mass Effect is a longer game, than the first Mass Effect. But the first Mass Effect was already gold, when EA bought Bioware.

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Eric Alterman: Think Again: On TV <b>News</b>, &quot;Right&quot; Makes Right

o ABC <b>News</b> apparently thinks it's appropriate to invite former political advisor to George W. Bush, Matthew Dowd, to guest host ABC's "This Week" next week. Dowd found himself on the outs with Bush when he joined ABC in 2007, …

<b>News</b> Of The Day

"I know of no other time where it's been alleged by what is basically a police agency that the governor lied under oath," said NYPIRG's Blair Horner. Asked if he had indeed lied, Gov. David Paterson replied simply: "No." "The…

MetsBlog.com – <b>News</b>: Jose Reyes scratched from Lineup

“I'm fine,” Reyes told Adam Rubin of the Daily <b>News</b>. “Nothing serious.” Does that mean that there is something bothering him? Man, with the Mets you can never tell whats up. Log in to Reply. MetsIsHotChief March 4, 2010 at 9:28 am …

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When it comes to personal finances, there are plenty of times when users “can't get no satisfaction.” Especially when they are dealing with banks that have little concern for them being able to connect their bank accounts to personal finance tools like Mint.com. But, thanks to a new partnership with Get Satisfaction, Mint users will soon be able to get their questions answered by community members and Mint employees without leaving the Mint tool.

Get Satisfaction is a customer service tool that has been adopted by many companies and allows them to better serve customers and answer questions without complex Frequently Asked Question Pages and byzantine contact forms that have more drop-down choices than a FAFSA form.

“Mint.com's integration with Get Satisfaction is a natural fit,” said Thor Muller, chief technology officer at Get Satisfaction in a the press release announcing the partnership. “We're both committed to creating friendly and compelling online user experiences and we're delighted to be able to provide Mint.com with a way to scale up and serve their customers with a tight integration of Get Satisfaction.”

Index Funds, Dowdy to Some, Get a Notable Endorsement [NY Times] “The wealthiest would have fine returns without the volatility and high fees if they simply used indexes to diversify their money across asset classes.”

It's property tax assessment time. Here's what homeowners need to know. [The Washington Post] “Even if a homeowner's property tax assessment declines, the tax bill may not.”

Questions to Ask Before Buying Disability Insurance [Bucks Blog] “Starting the list with a few dozen questions [you should answer before buying disability insurance."

What's the best use of the energy tax credit? [Smart Spending] “For most homeowners, insulation gives you the best bang for your buck, but you might want to start with an energy audit.”

Which Tax Form to Use “Use the simplest form to meet your needs and avoid errors.”

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

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The ads for Domino's new sub sandwiches have been all over TV the last couple of months. My family occasionally orders pizza from Domino's and we like Domino's pizzas better than Papa John's or Pizza Hut. When my wife was gone to a birthday party recently and my son was at his cousin's house, I thought I'd try something different for dinner. I came across a flyer that had come with our last Domino's pizza order advertising the new Domino's sub sandwiches, so I called in an order for a chicken parmesan sub sandwich and picked it up 20 minutes later.

Domino's new subs come in four choices, chicken bacon ranch, chicken parmesan, Italian, and Philly cheese steak, selling for $4.99. According to the flyer, “Domino's beats Subway 4 to 1″ as sited by Washington D.C's NBC affiliate. Like so much that comes out of Washington D.C., this report was so much hot air.

The sandwich is a decent size, oven baked at 450 degrees. It comes in a rectangular, pizza style box and the bread is kind of like a pizza crust. I dug in and it tasted fine, but was nothing special. There are limited options for the new Domino's subs. I confess to not knowing whether Domino's would put vegatables on the new subs or not, mine was plain with only chicken and parmesan sauce.

In contrast, at Subway, one can have just about any kind of vegatable put on the sub sandwich, can have either the bread or the entire sandwich toasted, and get a foot long sub for $5, one cent more than the new Domino's subs. That makes Subway a better buy in my book, than the new Domino's subs. In a tight economy, getting the most bang for your buck is an important factor when deciding on what to buy. While I would possibly eat the new Domino's sub sandwich again, there are several Subway sandwich shops in my town, most more conveniently located than the nearest Domino's Pizza place.

Since I didn't have the Domino's sub delivered, I don't know about the cost of delivery. I'm sure in many workplaces, Domino's will do lots of delivery business with these new sub sandwiches. At my workplace, it just isn't practical to order food, then traipse out to the guardshack and pick it up, so I doubt that I will take advantage of that feature. I'm sure many workers would like that option and since Subway doesn't deliver, around here anyhow, so the new subs could sell well in some markets.

However, I don't have to try all the other three types of Domino's new subs to tell you that if you are out and about and not needing delivery, there are plenty of Subway sandwich shops around. Subway, while not offering delivery, does deliver a better product, in my opinion, for a better price considering the size of the sandwich.

There are a couple of Quiznos sandwich shops in our area, Firehouse Subs and others, but when it comes to subs, Domino's is “sub-par”, While I like Domino's pepperoni, sausage or beef pizza, their new subs are only adequate. Quiznos is too expensive for what you get, Firehouse is okay, nothing special.

As far as I'm concerned, Subway is the best buy of all the local franchise sandwich shops. You might try the new Domino's subs, but it's probable that you will go back to Subway next time

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What an exciting (and long and intense) few weeks it’s been.

When we got back into the office here at Sunlight on January 4th, we knew 2010 was the year we needed to build a national campaign of people calling for an open, transparent government everywhere across the country. We’ve known for months in fact, but honestly, we had no idea how people would respond when we put the word out.

Now, only three weeks later, a few very big events have unfolded, and each new event has created new opportunities – as well as more need for our collective action than ever before. In other words, it’s abundantly clear that we’re on the right track.

It’s time to start putting the pieces together, and we’ve updated our initial sign up page with a statement of need for a national campaign and our next 4 steps to launch it in March.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/campaign

As for big events, here’s what’s been keeping us up at night thinking about why we need a campaign and why now is the right time:

1) The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision last week means there is a need for more disclosure of money in our political system than ever before. In addition to lifting limits on political contributions, the Court also called for online disclosure of those contributions quite clearly, and now we need to build the technical systems and get the laws passed which make online, real-time disclosure a reality. ASAP.

2) The President of the United States spoke about transparency – even about things as wonky as a “single, online Web site for earmarks” – in his State of the Union address (the most visible time the President can endorse anything), and we need to hold him, and Congress, to it.

3) In December, the Open Government Directive laid forth the boldest plan we’ve ever seen from government on how to become more open with its data and information. Again, this is great to read and hear, but we need to hold those words and plans accountable for being translated into action.

Our campaign will help to answer the call these opportunities put forward, as well as determine how they apply locally.

Making things better; on top of the real, immediate need for a campaign, the national climate for a campaign is also ripe.

The media is putting a ton of attention on never before covered topics like “How transparent are conference committees?” and even the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart is covering how to improve stimulus data with Vice President Biden. Seriously. The Vice President of the United States is being taken to task on national TV about data quality. This is great news.

If the media really cares about transparency in politics, then our message is starting to get through, and we can amplify it even more.

Most importantly, we’ve actually talked to dozens of you, and several hundred more have already signed up to say that you’d want to be part of a national campaign for transparency – in ways that range from “I’d pass information to my friends” to “I would make phone calls and demand more from my representatives” to “I would host an event in my city and contribute money.”

You, as leaders of this campaign, represent every point along the political spectrum from “very conservative” to “very liberal” to “none of the above;” you come from over 30 states, and you are clearly passionate about creating an open government. That means we have a real chance to build a successful movement.

We have financial resources to start, we have the tools and expertise, and we are building leadership. As I said above, now it’s time to start putting the pieces together.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/campaign

On this initial page, there’s a wiki and a Google Group to collect and share the resources we all have – and most importantly, get to know each other.

So let’s start kicking the tires. We’ll communicate primarily through the Google Group, but I will also send a weekly update via that you can typically expect on Wednesday or Thursday.  You can keep up with the campaign on Twitter as well at http://twitter.com/sunlightnetwork

This is going to be fun.

Levi Johnston needs to maximize his media opportunities in the wake of his pitiful Playgirl spread. The 19 year-old dad invited Entertainment Tonight along as he celebrated his son Tripp’s first birthday. Tripp was born on December 27, 2008, so Levi is really pushing it by celebrating his son’s birthday over a month after it happened. Maybe Levi was busy promoting his Playgirl spread and this is his first chance to sell the rights to his son’s birthday. Tripp is of course the son of Johnston and Bristol Palin, the daughter of former VP candidate and babbling political lightning rod Sarah Palin. Levi’s once potential in laws can’t be too pleased that he’s pimping out their cute grandchild to the press, but they did the same thing and it’s not like they’re trying to shield Tripp from the press. Tripp appeared in a birthday video for ET along with his paternal grandmother, who is on house arrest for dealing prescription narcotics, and his aunt.

Levi Johnston is a first-time dad experiencing the joys of fatherhood, and he’s invited ET along to Alaska to help celebrate his baby Tripp’s first birthday!

The father of Sarah Palin’s grandson was surrounded by his side of the family, including aunt Mercede and grandma Sherry, who loved every minute of her time with her grandson. Sherry must spend almost all her hours confined to her own home — the result of her guilty plea on a drug possession charge. She is allowed just four hours a week outside her house.

“I feel very bad for that, but the only thing I can do is make up for it,” she says.
It wasn’t long until the little boy was enjoying his first birthday cake to the fullest, and having covered himself in birthday cake, that means the last part of their time together was spent cleaning him up right in the kitchen sink — and grandma is more than happy to do it.

[From ET Online]

I have to say that Tripp is so adorable! Even though the Palins and Johnstons are kind of tenuous celebrities, I still love to see their babies. It just reminds me of that time in my special guy’s life when he was little like that. It goes by so quickly. There’s a cute part of the clip in which the Johnstons are singing “Happy Birthday” to Tripp and you see him looking around all confused like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on. Is he thinking “what’s going on?” or “didn’t we do this a month ago?” That said, I wonder if the Palins will try to slap Johnston with an injunction against making media appearances with Tripp. You can see that coming around the corner.

Johnston is currently being sued for increased child support for Tripp. He has separated from Tripp’s mother, Bristol Palin, who asserts that she’s only received $4,400 from Johnston since Tripp was born. She’s asking for $1,750 a month, or 20% of Levi’s estimated $100k + earnings last year. He’s not going to be able to keep that money coming in for long, especially if he’s resorting to celebrating his son’s birthday six weeks after it happened.

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I first started researching and developing my knowledge of personal finance just a few weeks before starting my blog. Since then I have gathered and put much information to practice in relevance to the subject. I started off knowing not much more than just how to start a bank account and keep a checkbook. Being 20 years old I decided that if I was going to learn how to manage my money and be successful in doing so, I would have to learn the ropes and use what I learn.

Unfortunately there are many people in the world who are still in the same state that I was. In times of financial hardship and a failing economy, this can be disasterous.

In this article I am going to share a few essential basics that I have learned about personal finance.

First and foremost, if you don't know it already, the principle concept of success in personal finance is something we all know, but few follow.

SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN!

It's a simple concept, but most of us find out that it is easier said than done. Don't believe me? The article I found this life changing lesson in is located on TheSimpleDollar.com. This is a great blog by the way. I've found it very informative and useful.

On top of living the idea of spending less than you earn there are a few other hot tips that you should follow to keep yourself in check financially. Some of these include:

• Living Frugal – This means cutting back. If there is a cheaper alternative to your current cell phone plan, cable bill, internet bill, or anything else, take the cheaper deal. If you really don't need it, cut it out altogether. If you go out to eat a lot, start making more meals at home. It's truly amazing how much a few simple concepts can drastically change your monetary status. Even just cutting back a little on quite a few bills can wind up saving you big money.
• Shop USED – This is something that a lot of people have a lot of trouble doing for one reason or another. Americans, especially, have become a people of possesions. Not used possessions, but new. Next time you go to shop for clothes or books, look around and find used deals. A lot of places sell quality condition used items and for a lot cheaper than you would pay new. This applies to pretty much anything whether it be clothes, books, cds, or even big ticket items like cars.
• Use Generic Products – Yet another concept that people struggle with. Everyone gets stuck on using brand name products because they are what's been around for years and burned into the back of our minds through advertising. The cold, hard truth is these products are the exact same as generic products, just with a well branded name attached to them. Generic products cost much less, start using them!
• Build An Emergency Fund – This is a huge essential especially in current times. People are losing jobs left and right without notice. Don't be one to be put into a bind if this happens to you. Building an emergency fund will allow you to be more at peace. Knowing you will be OK whether you lose your job or your car breaks down is a psychological need that you should meet. Otherwise, if you get put into these situations, you could sink into financial stress and depression. Emergency funds, in the past, were suggested to have just a month or two of living expenses covered. In today's economy it is suggested that you have AT LEAST 6 months or living expenses saved in an emergency fund. Start putting money away ASAP!
• Drink More Water - This not only helps you save money by cutting out sodas and energy drinks, but it also boosts your health. You're investing in yourself two ways that are both hugely beneficial!

These are just a few simple ideas to keep in mind when beginning to try to balance yourself out financially. You should also keep track of all expenses and budget yourself. Just doing these simple things can help bring you out of a financial rut and progress yourself in many ways.

Just don't ever forget that finance golden rule:

SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN!

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It appears they have kissed and made up… for now.

<b>News</b> to know: Server wars; Windows 7; GMail; China hacker arrests <b>…</b>

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It appears they have kissed and made up… for now.

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<b>News</b> to know: Here are today's notable headlines. You can get <b>News</b> To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates are BNET's.

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It appears they have kissed and made up… for now.

<b>News</b> to know: Server wars; Windows 7; GMail; China hacker arrests <b>…</b>

<b>News</b> to know: Here are today's notable headlines. You can get <b>News</b> To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates are BNET's.

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Remember the epic divorce settlement Heather Mills got from Paul McCartney? It was around $50 million dollars in cash, property and assets, plus an extremely generous monthly child support check. And remember how Heather made such a big deal about how she was giving so much money to charity and how she could support herself, et cetera? Yeah… not so much. The Daily Mail has an exhaustive report that starts out as a sort of editorial about why people hate Heather (she won’t shut up, she’s a narcissist, she’s a liar, she’s a famewh-re), and then it turned into some kind of hard-hitting expose on how Heather has run through more than half of her divorce settlement already, and how the charities Heather works with are in ruins. Here’s the whole article, and here are the highlights (it’s still pretty long, I apologize):

Heather’s divorce settlement gave her two homes and other assets worth £7.8million, a lump sum of £14 million and a further £35,000 a year to help bring up Bea, her daughter with Sir Paul. Surely this huge sum would be enough for the Tyneside-born former underwear model who was once so poor she stole food just to have enough to eat? Apparently not.

According to friends, Heather, 42, is already complaining that she is running out of money. And when it comes to her charities, astonishingly, she is also pleading poverty.

The charity Heather has always been most associated with is No More Landmines. It was her work with it which first led to her introduction to Sir Paul McCartney at a charity event, and he donated £1 million to it soon after they married.

But, I can reveal, No More Landmines folded eight months ago. The charity, which in 2007 held more than £200,000, reported an income of just £285 last year.

In interviews to publicize herself, Heather says many of her charities have suffered because of her poor public image and the best she can do for them is dissociate herself. However, despite the fact No More Landmines has been wound down, it is still heavily plugged on her website as the charity she is most involved with.

Blaming negative media coverage on GMTV earlier this month, Heather – who bizarrely refers to herself in the plural – said: ‘Well, we were in a situation where our charity was virtually destroyed by all of that. We were the largest landmine-clearing prosthetic charity in the world and it got completely destroyed. I can only fund it so far with all of our other charity commitments. So I had to get out and say: “OK, let’s see how this goes.”‘ Not very well for No More Landmines, it seems.

She offered to provide $1million of vegan food to the charity which works in America’s most poverty stricken urban ghetto. Mills became involved with the New York community group when she befriended its founder Maryann Hedaa at a charity function. When she announced the donation, she was given an honorary congressional award. But the charity is still waiting for much of its money. ‘So far, I would say we have been given about $150,000 in cash and another $200,000 of food products,’ says Maryann. ‘I would say we have been given about a fifth of the money so far.’

But Maryann holds faith in Heather: ‘When she offered to help, everyone warned me not to get involved. They said she does not follow through. But I have to say that so far she has really rolled her sleeves up and got involved. She has been pretty amazing.’

But, by her own account, Heather has struggled to pay for what she has promised. Writing on Twitter in August, she said she was renting out her plush £2.5million New York apartment – where Nicole Kidman and Calvin Klein were neighbours -’to fund free café in the Bronx for kids’, adding ’sad to see it go’.

Heather’s divorce from Sir Paul also showed she had a history for not giving as much to charity as she claimed. During the bitter divorce proceedings, Heather claims she was a millionaire before she met Paul and had always donated 80 to 90 per cent of her earnings to charity. But Mr Justice Bennett, who accused her of being ‘less than candid’ in her evidence, said this appeared to be unlikely.

Heather had been unable to produce records of money sent by her to any charity between 1997 and 2000. He added: ‘Moreover, her tax returns disclose no charitable giving at all.’

His judgment revealed that, although she had promised that her £110,000 Dancing With The Stars fee would go to the animal rights charity Viva!, she actually gave them only £50,000. The reality is that Heather has found more interesting things to spend her money on than charity.

First, there are her homes. Heather got two houses in the divorce settlement. Her main home is a stunning six-bedroom house on Brighton’s millionaire’s row. It was bought for £750,000 in 2001, courtesy of a loan from Sir Paul. It is now worth more than twice as much. She also owns a £3.2 million seven-bedroom house near Paul’s home in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, which was, again, included in the settlement.

From her £14million lump sum, she bought her two-bedroom New York apartment and a £2.4million flat on one of London’s most exclusive roads, The Bishops Avenue, in North London. She recently put the three-bedroom flat back on the market for £3.75million.

Then there is her entourage. Many of Heather’s closest friends have fallen away over the years. All tell the same story – one Sir Paul may recognise. Invariably, Heather is utterly charming at first and her determination in the face of adversity is something to be admired. She is a pro at portraying herself as a do-gooder. But Heather is, undoubtedly, also a fantasist. She is seemingly unable to stop lying – and believing the lies that she tells.

[Meanwhile Heather’s] former hairdresser David Paul is . He started working with her in 2005 and, after she told him she was waiting for Sir Paul to give her a bigger income, David did her hair for free on the understanding that she would pay him when she could. But during the divorce proceedings it emerged she received £350,000 a year from Sir Paul. Plus, he paid all her bills.

David was shocked, as he tells me: ‘I was seduced by her charm. But she was lying to me. I was shocked when I discovered how much money she had coming in when she met me. She hardly paid me anything. What was disturbing to me was that she was pleading poverty at a time when my brother was dying of Aids – and she still lied to my face about not having any money. She has no conscience.’

Many of the friends Heather has left are on her payroll. After winning her divorce settlement, she took 20 of them on a £250,000 holiday to Richard Branson’s Necker Island. Heather’s sister Fiona is the director of many of her companies. Heather’s boyfriend, Jamie Walker, who was a holiday representative, appears to have no other source of income and works as her odd-job man.

She has got rid of her £3,000-a-week security guard, but sports trainer Ben Amigoni is still an almost daily visitor to her house and she has a personal assistant. Beauty therapists and hairdressers are constantly on hand.

Says one acquaintance: ‘Since the trip to Necker, Heather has not made any grand gestures. But there is a drip, drip frittering away of money. A lot goes on flights – she doesn’t get upgraded any more. Hotels are always five star, her houses are always filled with fresh flowers and she has a team of people to support her. I know it sounds ludicrous, but she has started complaining that she doesn’t have enough money – that it is running out. I think Heather thought she would make millions after the split – that she would be the new Larry King with her own chat show. But she is living in a dream world. Heather is a nobody. And that is why she is back in the UK.’

Heather’s biggest expenditure has been her purchase of the successful vegan food company Redwood. Although details of the sale were never released, Redwood’s net worth was £3.1million at the time she bought into it last year. And she already has big expansion plans. At present, although Redwood has a £3million turnover, its profits are pretty modest – in the last accounts they stood at £309,000. Not really a yearly sum that can keep Heather at the rate she is spending.

[From The Daily Mail]

Heather is currently a contestant on Dancing on Ice in the UK, and apparently she’s already promised her winnings to various charities too. She’s also given multiple interviews claiming that she is not, in fact, a gold digging fantasist, but at this point, who believes her? I tend to think that there’s a lot of truth in this report, and I had been wondering who long it would take for Heather to run through her divorce settlement. I’ll tell you something else – money is wasted on Heather. Do you know what I would do with that kind of insane settlement? The mind boggles, for sure, but I would also think it’s really, really tough to spend that much money so fast. You really have to try to spend that money every damn day.

Heather outside the RTE studios in Dublin on January 29, 2010. Credit: WENN.

UPDATE: Is Wyclef Jean's Charity the Best One to Help Haiti?

There's no doubt Wyclef Jean — who has raised $1 million since the Haiti earthquake — wants to help his homeland. But a look at his personal foundation's finances raises questions about whether it's wisely managing the donations it's collecting.

UPDATE: Go here for more on why Jean's charity may not be the best way to help Haitians right now.

The Smoking Gun took a look at the finances of Yele Haiti, the foundation Wyclef Jean founded to help his homeland—and it's ugly. Jean founded Yele Haiti in 1998, according to TSG, but didn't file any tax returns until five months ago, in August 2009. And the returns filed so far—for 2005, 2006, and 2007 only—reveal that Yele directed huge sums of money to commercial entities that Jean and his business partner Jerry Duplessis own stakes in.

The most eye-popping expenditure is $250,000 that the foundation paid in 2006 to Telemax, S.A., a Haitian television company that Jean and Duplessis own a controlling interest in. The payment for “airtime and production services” appears to have been related to a telethon of some sort that Yele Haiti produced in the country—its chalked up to “outreach”—and amounts to one out of every five dollars that the foundation took in that year. The return claims the fees were “below market” and constituted the “most efficient” way for Yele Haiti to conduct outreach.

The foundation also paid Platinum Sound, the production company that Jean and Duplessis co-own, a $100,000 fee for Jean's performance at a Yele Haiti fundraiser in 2006.

And Platinum Sound charges Yele Haiti more than $31,000 in annual rent for office space at its Manhattan studio. UPDATE: A tipster familiar with Platinum Sounds' set-up just e-mailed to say that the “office space” that Yele rents from the studio consists of one staffer who works out the kitchen, at a cost of $2,600 each month paid from the charity to Jean and Duplessis.

All told, TSG says, Yele Haiti has paid out $410,000 in the three years for which it has provided tax returns to businesses owned by Jean and Duplessis.

Which makes it even more stunning that the foundation ended 2007 with a $489,000 deficit. That year it took in only $79,000 in direct public support—not much more than the $54,711 it spent on travel—and reported $503,000 in cash with $956,000 in liabilities, including a “30-day demand note” in the amount of $500,000 borrowed from a foundation controlled by music impresario Lou Adler. Its only charitable activity that year was a $270,000 grant to Yele Haiti's Haitian operation, which presumably then distributed the funds to recipients there.

When we called a contact number for Duplessis listed in Yele Haiti's tax return, a receptionist at Platinum Sounds answered the phone and referred us to a public relations firm. We haven't heard back from the publicist. We also tried to contact Hugh Locke, the head of Orsa Consultants, a firm that Yele Haiti paid $82,000 in 2006. According to this 2005 press release, Orsa is a “corporate social responsibility consultancy” that managed Yele Haiti's programs; we couldn't find any public references to Orsa independent of Yele Haiti, and the firm's web site is no longer operative. When we called Lock, he immediately handed the phone to someone identifying herself as “Mrs. Lock,” who referred us to the PR firm. When we asked her about Yele Haiti's expenditures, she said, “Our finances are totally straightened out. We have filed, and are up to date on everything.”

None of this means that Jean, Duplessis, and Yele Haiti aren't doing important work in Haiti, or that they can't play a constructive role in responding to the earthquake crisis. It does mean that, if the past is any guide, they are unlikely to wisely manage any of the money they are currently collecting from concerned Americans on behalf of the victims in Haiti.

Send an email to the author of this post at john@gawker.com.

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PostSecret: PostSecret <b>News</b>

PostSecret <b>News</b>. The German version of PostSecret – PostSecretDeutsch – opened an exhibit of cards yesterday at the Tübingen City Museum, in Germany. The KSU PostSecret Exhibit opened last week in the Sturgis Gallery. …

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Red Eye Celebrates Third Year By Topping CNN Prime Time Last Week <b>…</b>

MSNBC's David Shuster became a fan of Fox <b>News</b>' late-night comedy/<b>news</b> hybrid Red Eye just in time for its three-year anniversary. And it's coming at a time when the 3amET show is seeing big ratings in the A25-54 demographic – even …

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1. @rww there's a new UK personal finance site in beta called @MoneyDashboard http://www.moneydashboard.com/

    Posted by: Steven Renwick |
   January 7, 2010 12:22 PM

2. Also don't forget freeagent http://www.freeagentcentral.com/ – it's great for the self employed in the UK, with built in invoice tracking and self-assessment.

   Posted by: Andy B |
   January 7, 2010 2:21 PM

3. I have used mint off and on. I love how the design and user interface, but I wish it would work with the bank that holds my checking account. Perhaps i'll try out some of your other suggestions. Thanks for the info!

   JG
   loanpointusa

   Posted by: Joe |
   January 7, 2010 2:35 PM

4. I've been very happy with Xpenser. I can setup a budget and record expenses with email and sms (it also does twitter and im and a few other things). The main thing for me is ease of use so I stick with it, and this is the only one simple enough to stay with.

   Posted by: Paula |
   January 7, 2010 3:33 PM

5. For those looking for a more proactive approach to managing finances and budgeting (versus the reactive reporting approach supported by most tools), check out the Easy Envelope Budget Aid, built natively for Android and the mobile Web. It's based on the envelope budgeting approach of setting aside cash for particular expenses–in advance–and then spending out of those categories on a declining balance basis. Stop before you run out of your balance as opposed to find out after-thefact that you overspent.

   EEBA lets you check your envelope balances and record transactions at point of sale allowing you to carry your virtual “envelopes” with you.

   We're in open Beta right now, website at www.eebacanhelp.com

   Posted by: Chi-Ming @ EEBA |
   January 7, 2010 5:27 PM

6. Where is Mint's mobile site? I've never seen it.

    Posted by: Sivan |
   January 7, 2010 6:08 PM

7. There is also Serbian money management web application Slamarica . It's oriented not just for Serbia, but for all Adriatic region. There's more info on Digg http://digg.com/business_finance/Serbian_No_1_money_management_home_finance_web_application

    Posted by: Nemanja Djordjevic |
   January 9, 2010 1:04 AM

8. Thanks for this article. I'm looking forward to the rest. I find it interesting that http://moneycenter.yodlee.com doesn't show up more often in personal finance software reviews. It's free as well, and is quite feature rich. Part of the problem is Yodlee doesn't do that much to market the consumer side. (For good reason, they give it away.

    Posted by: Philip Eoute |
   January 9, 2010 9:54 PM

9. @Chi-Ming thanks for telling us about EEBA. I'm definitely trying that out!

    Posted by: Philip Eoute |
   January 9, 2010 9:55 PM

10. @Philip, you're welcome. We're iterating quickly, so let us know what you think!

    Posted by: Chi-Ming @ EEBA |
    January 9, 2010 11:01 PM

11. I just love Mint… simple and easy to use… user friendly.. what can I say! Thumb up!

    Posted by: RichDadWisdom |
    January 10, 2010 6:46 AM

12. But with any of the above: (1) can you manually add accounts not on their automated list; (2) multiple currency feature; (3) mobile/iPhone app?

    I've tried Mint and Wesabe. Mint is US-only. Wesabe has dreadful import (all tags/categories are lost) and doesn't believe in account reconciliation (”Why would want that feature?” was their reply; perhaps b/c it's the oldest accounting feature in the book and I don't trust a bank's statement.)

    I'm with MoneyWell (which uses envelope accounting), and is serving me well enough. But everyone's been waiting well over a year for a promised iPhone app.

    I would pay handsomely for any online financial programme that satisfied all 3 feature requests above.

    Posted by: Mr Ulster |
    January 11, 2010 6:22 AM

13. In the uk theres http://www.inniaccounts.co.uk, but it's more for contractors

    Posted by: Toby |
    January 11, 2010 11:47 PM

14. I started using Mint but quickly realized that its sponsors and partners, the big banks, don't want you to use cash. Most of these “free” sites to manage your money encourage one thing – card use. Whether it's credit cards or debit cards, they make using and tracking them easy, and using and tracking cash difficult. This is because the banks all make money on card transactions, whether they are debit or credit based. They make no money on cash transactions. One of the best ways to save money and control spending is by using cash, and none of these services encourage that, by their design.

    Posted by: B |
    January 13, 2010 11:54 AM

15. Interesting article – what is the revenue model for sites like Mint, Kublax, MoneyStrands if the resource is free?

    Posted by: Ciaran O'Reilly |
    January 14, 2010 7:05 AM

16. Mvelopes also offers online personal finance management. It isn't free but I like the envelope based budgeting which forces you to cut down on spending. It also offers mobile access so you can track your spending while you're out shopping.

    Posted by: Valerie @ Finance Software Store |
    January 14, 2010 5:28 PM

17. I wonder how Cloud computing will influence online financial transactions. I am waiting to see what security issues evolve first.

    Posted by: Stop Home Foreclosure |
    January 18, 2010 5:53 PM

18. Does anyone have any recommendations for Australia?

    Posted by: Marksin |
    January 21, 2010 2:07 PM

19. How do users of these web-based financial programs feel about having their financial data available to these companies and the problematic privacy issues?

    Posted by: Jeff |
    January 23, 2010 3:38 PM

20. Yes, but does Mint allow you to export all your data (including tags/categories) so that you could port it into another program? As far as I can tell, it doesn't. I have several years of data built up using Quicken for Mac. This represents not only a lot of work on my part, but an important resource for understanding my spending patterns (not to mention for calculating capital gains/losses on stock transactions come tax time). I've gotten sick of Quicken's sucky user interface (and the fact that it doesn't run natively on an Intel/Leopard mac) and I'm going to switch either to iBank or Moneywell (haven't decided yet). These are both desktop programs. iBank already has an iPhone app that synchronizes with the desktop version, and Moneywell is building one. Importing all of my old data from Quicken into either of these programs will be a piece of cake, as will exporting from these programs should I change my mind later. They also talk with my bank, just as Mint does. With my data synchronized to my iPod touch, I'll have continuous access to it, all without losing control over it. The problem with Mint is that once you start spending time customizing your data, adding tags, etc, you can't leave the Mint interface without losing your work. I'm not going to use any platform that attempts to hold me hostage like that.

    Posted by: Sarah |
    January 24, 2010 11:33 AM

21. In the UK we've been developing the new one on lovemoney.com – be good to know what you think of that too. https://www.lovemoney.com/onlinebanking/

     Posted by: emma davies |
    January 29, 2010 3:31 AM

Focus on Spending More Time, Not Money, on Things You Enjoy

As we prioritize the things that are important to us, you'd think the things we spend the most money on would get the bulk of our attention. That's often not the case, and recognizing this is a step toward serious savings.

Photo by gerlos.

Trent, the personal finance blogger over at The Simple Dollar, says one way to figure out how to budget your time is keep a log of how much time you spend doing things you want and need to do. At the same time, track how you spend your money. Compare the lists at the end of one month and see if there are any areas where you're spending a lot of money, but not a lot of time. That's probably an area where you need to trim your spending.

For instance, if you're dropping $75 a month on a health club that you only visit once in a blue moon, that's some wasted cash right there. Instead consider channeling that money into the areas of your life where you spend the bulk of your time and, presumably, bring you the most satisfaction. Love to cook? Invest in a good set of pots and pans. Enjoy reading into the wee hours of the night? Get a comfy chair and a great book light. Over time, you may discover your spending habits are dwindling.

Quite often, areas of your life where you spend a lot of time without spending a lot of money are the areas that truly bring you the most enjoyment because you don't require a constant influx of new things to be able to enjoy yourself. I argue that those are the areas of your life that you should accentuate, while learning to let go of the areas that offer much less bang for the buck.

What brings you the most enjoyment? Trying out new gadgets, learning a new skill, or something else? And does your spending reflect it? Share in the comments.

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MrSun tracks the sun's position | iLounge <b>News</b>

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Brian Williams Slow Jams The <b>News</b>, Jokes About NBC's Late Night <b>…</b>

NBC Nightly <b>News</b> anchor Brian Williams appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Friday for an interview segment as well as a cameo with The Roots and Fallon on Slow Jam The <b>News</b>. Brilliams talked budget in song form, and joked about …

Affiliate programs, where a content site can link to a commerce site like Amazon and eBay and receive a commission on resulting sales, are potentially a big source of money for content publishers.

But they can also be pain to set up, meaning that many sites that might benefit from affiliate links don’t use them. And when they do use links, more than half the time they aren’t even encoded correctly, according to VigLink, a startup hoping to change that.

The San Francisco company wants to automate the process of creating affiliate links. It’s making its own deals with many affiliate programs, then it offers content sites a service where they just add a few lines of JavaScript to their site, then all possible affiliate links are automatically transformed into actual affiliate links. For example, if VentureBeat linked to a book listed on Amazon, that could automatically become a link where we get a commission every time a reader clicks through and buys the book.

VigLink just announced $800,000 in seed funding raised from First Round Capital and Google Ventures as well as prominent individual investors including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, former Google executive and current LinkedIn Vice President of Product Dipchand Nishar, Niel Robertson, Hadi Partovi, Ali Partovi, Carlos Cashman, and Micah Adler.

Co-founder and chief executive Oliver Roup acknowledged that VigLink isn’t the first company to offer something like this — it’s competing with a London startup called SkimLink. But Roup argued that there are some key differences, such as VigLink’s Silicon Valley location and connections, plus the fact that content publishers don’t suffer if VigLink’s infrastructure goes through the occasional startup hiccups — if the company’s servers go down, its links still work.

Roup compares the service to Google AdSense, in that it can be a good fit for both large and small websites. For now, VigLink is in private testing, but interested content sites can also get an estimate from the company’s web site of how much money they might make from affiliate programs. For kicks, I entered VentureBeat.com, and it turns out we aren’t talking about a huge boost in our income — this month’s estimated VigLink revenue would have just about paid for my recent trip to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. But hey, if the service is as hassle-free as Roup says, why wouldn’t we install it and make that extra cash?

“We monetize the ordinary hyperlink,” Roup said. “By buying and selling small items that didn’t seem to be worth a lot initially, we could create a real link economy here.”

Next Story: PBworks launches template store to help companies collaborate Previous Story: Big Fish Games and PlayFirst team up for online game distribution

Homunculus,

How exactly is someone making a statement that white people prefer black hearses and black people preferring white hearses racist?
Same vehicle, just a different color.
The statement is correct as far as I have seen for myself and even if it was not, it still would not be a racist statement.

If someone said black people prefer contemporary homes and white people preferred traditional homes, is that a racist statement? No, it is not.

People in this country have been trained to be so hyper sensitive to race, they won't say what is really on their minds.
If you see an 80's Monte Carlo with big chrome rims, tinted windows and loud music coming from it, it is usually a black person. If you see a newer stock Buick with a handicapped plate driving slowly, it is usually an old white person, usually an old white lady.

Sometime things are not racist, just statements of truths.

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Affiliate programs, where a content site can link to a commerce site like Amazon and eBay and receive a commission on resulting sales, are potentially a big source of money for content publishers.

But they can also be pain to set up, meaning that many sites that might benefit from affiliate links don’t use them. And when they do use links, more than half the time they aren’t even encoded correctly, according to VigLink, a startup hoping to change that.

The San Francisco company wants to automate the process of creating affiliate links. It’s making its own deals with many affiliate programs, then it offers content sites a service where they just add a few lines of JavaScript to their site, then all possible affiliate links are automatically transformed into actual affiliate links. For example, if VentureBeat linked to a book listed on Amazon, that could automatically become a link where we get a commission every time a reader clicks through and buys the book.

VigLink just announced $800,000 in seed funding raised from First Round Capital and Google Ventures as well as prominent individual investors including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, former Google executive and current LinkedIn Vice President of Product Dipchand Nishar, Niel Robertson, Hadi Partovi, Ali Partovi, Carlos Cashman, and Micah Adler.

Co-founder and chief executive Oliver Roup acknowledged that VigLink isn’t the first company to offer something like this — it’s competing with a London startup called SkimLink. But Roup argued that there are some key differences, such as VigLink’s Silicon Valley location and connections, plus the fact that content publishers don’t suffer if VigLink’s infrastructure goes through the occasional startup hiccups — if the company’s servers go down, its links still work.

Roup compares the service to Google AdSense, in that it can be a good fit for both large and small websites. For now, VigLink is in private testing, but interested content sites can also get an estimate from the company’s web site of how much money they might make from affiliate programs. For kicks, I entered VentureBeat.com, and it turns out we aren’t talking about a huge boost in our income — this month’s estimated VigLink revenue would have just about paid for my recent trip to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. But hey, if the service is as hassle-free as Roup says, why wouldn’t we install it and make that extra cash?

“We monetize the ordinary hyperlink,” Roup said. “By buying and selling small items that didn’t seem to be worth a lot initially, we could create a real link economy here.”

Next Story: PBworks launches template store to help companies collaborate Previous Story: Big Fish Games and PlayFirst team up for online game distribution

Homunculus,

How exactly is someone making a statement that white people prefer black hearses and black people preferring white hearses racist?
Same vehicle, just a different color.
The statement is correct as far as I have seen for myself and even if it was not, it still would not be a racist statement.

If someone said black people prefer contemporary homes and white people preferred traditional homes, is that a racist statement? No, it is not.

People in this country have been trained to be so hyper sensitive to race, they won't say what is really on their minds.
If you see an 80's Monte Carlo with big chrome rims, tinted windows and loud music coming from it, it is usually a black person. If you see a newer stock Buick with a handicapped plate driving slowly, it is usually an old white person, usually an old white lady.

Sometime things are not racist, just statements of truths.

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As for Congress, the <b>news</b> is even worse — just 22% approve of the job it is doing, including 39% of Democrats, 11% of Republicans and only 16% of independents. That's the lowest mark Congress has received in this poll in more than a …

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There you were, going through your daily life, minding your own business. Family life was ok. When suddenly – wham! No matter what the reason, you have now become a lone parent with major responsibility for looking after your offspring.

It could be that for the benefit of the family, the decision has been reached that mum and dad need to divorce, leaving one adult with prime responsibility for the offspring.

This is very likely a time of indecision. There is the distress of the split itself, which however cordial is still a distressing time for all. There is the worry of ensuring the children suffer as little as possible at this difficult time. On top of this is the anxiety over money! How will you cope? What sort of job can you do now, that will have capacity for your commitments to the youngsters?

If you were not working before the split, it is probably fair to assume that you will now need to find a job to meet the household bills. If you were working, it could be possible that you will no longer be able to do this role and care for the children. How will you get by? What alternatives do you have which will benefit you and your children?

Most alternatives for childcare mean you need to collect your kids from this facility by early evening. Childcare can cost a lot of money too, and this would need factoring into any career decision you make.

You may view options to Make Money From Home. First thoughts for most people are that these roles are not exactly Careers In Demand. Distributing the free weekly newspaper will not cover the bills. There are also home wares or cosmetic catalogue delivery, order collection and goods delivery, but again these may not pay well. Perhaps a job in local parcel transportation may help, but the chances are you would find it necessary to do a combination of these jobs to be able to meet your bills. Combine with this the paper work and you would almost certainly be working very long hours, just to keep going.

So, if you did decide that to Make Money From Home was your best way forward, how could you investigate Careers In Demand in this area? It could be that if you were to begin your own Internet Business, you could continue with a similar role to that which you were doing before this big life change happened. This may be something which you could research if you have a laptop at home.

If you were not working before the split, or not working in the Internet Business, this may be a scary prospect for you. You may not relish the idea of doing computer Make Money From Home, but you still need to find those Careers In Demand for people to perform from home.

If you can overcome your aversion to all that Internet Business, and use the search facilities available on the web, you will find many alternative types of job available to you. You will be able to see which are Careers In Demand and what tempts you individually. Consider the franchise opportunities, some of these are specifically aimed at those who want to Make Money From Home.

See if you can catch sight of a trend for an up and coming market where getting in early will be beneficial to you. Perhaps these are not Careers In Demand right now, but you can see the ability for them becoming so in the near future.

Whatever conclusions you make, I wish you luck in your search for employment to complement with your new lifestyle.

When real economic growth finally takes hold and unemployment rates begin to fall, it might be a lot easier to believe that the American workforce can actually return to business as usual. But positive numbers alone will not be enough to predict future success. The re-set of the global economy has magnified the real challenge facing U.S. business. Unless our nation adopts a strategy for the ongoing education and training of our workers, their prosperity – and America's business leadership – will be at risk, even after the economy recovers.

It's clearly time to make education – with a major focus on lifelong learning – a top priority.

American workers are the most productive in the world, but they are losing their education advantage. Globally, America ranks second to last – behind only Italy – among developed nations in postsecondary completion rates.

America's declining education level is on a collision course with a growing global demand for more skilled workers. More and more of today's jobs require ever-higher levels of education and skills – not only jobs in high technology or other traditionally white-collar industries, but all jobs. Nearly three quarters of the occupations that are expected to grow over the next six years, notably registered nurses, teachers, accountants, computer software engineers and auditors and business operations specialists, will call for credentials beyond a high school diploma. Meanwhile, demand for lower-skill jobs is falling. For example, it is estimated that by 2016, U.S. employers will need 200,000 fewer stock clerks and cashiers than in 2006.

Clearly, we are not doing enough to help and encourage our workforce to keep up. If fact, we make it difficult for people to develop the skills they need to advance in their careers. Education and training demand a worker's time, money, commitment and follow-through. They mean sorting through a deluge of advertisements for training, continuing education, distance learning, online courses and trade schools–and making sense of what these programs really offer. They also require an understanding of what you should study and how your investment will pay off.

Over the past year, I have chaired an independent commission convened by Business Roundtable charged with finding fresh ideas for how Americans can better obtain the knowledge and skills they need to compete and succeed in the global economy. Our group of experts–entrepreneurs, labor leaders, educators, governors, researchers, social networking experts and foundation leaders–came up with a short list of urgent recommendations.

As a first step, we need to do a better job communicating the value of education so that we can raise our country's abysmal graduation rates. We believe our recommendations can drive a double-digit increase in postsecondary graduation rates over the course of the next two decades.

We also need incentives to help build a better workforce. Eighty-one percent of workers we surveyed say they are interested in pursuing education or training outside the workplace, but such obstacles as inconvenience, cost and concerns about customization and accreditation hold them back. We must reward students who complete education and training programs. Schools that have a track record in getting students to graduate and secure a job should receive more funding than schools that just excel in attracting students.

We should unlock the value of community colleges and two-year institutions, which have enormous potential for advancing workers' earning power, revitalizing local economies and providing an “on ramp” to higher education.

And we must invest in more cost-effective models of higher education. With its skyrocketing costs, the current system is simply not sustainable. It is time to develop a variety of convenient, affordable and flexible education and training models that better meet students' and workers' needs. Online education is a promising move in this direction.

Every sector of our society has a role to play. Employers should communicate more clearly their labor needs and which skills and credentials they seek so that workers know which investments to make. Businesses can also take the lead in developing national standards for credentialing programs and accepting these certificates so that workers who pursue them can increase their earnings and build a career path. Government can do a better job making information about emerging industries, job growth and education and skill requirements more easily accessible and up-to-date.

On average, today's typical worker will change jobs or careers an astonishing 10 times in a lifetime. A national commitment to lifelong learning will be the springboard that can help workers get ahead and stay ahead as they navigate a rapidly-changing marketplace. All of us must do all we can to foster lifelong learning. For starters, business can help by placing a greater value on training and supporting employees who seek to upgrade their skills. And government can create tax-free lifelong learning accounts to which workers and employers can contribute. The possibilities are endless.

Although it will require a major cultural shift, ensuring a well-educated, well-trained workforce is imperative if our country is to stay competitive globally and if Americans are to continue to prosper in the coming decades.

William D. Green is Chairman and CEO of Accenture. He serves as Chairman of Business Roundtable's Education, Innovation and Workforce Initiative and as Chairman of The Springboard Project, an independent commission on workforce issues.

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