quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a rolling new york times thread

Hahah that wouldn't surprise me at all.

haha... well here's a cache

this woman basically needs to die

Alexa von Tobel is the Founder and CEO of LearnVest. Alexa received an A.B. in Psychology Honors with a citation in Romance Languages and Literature at Harvard College. She was awarded Magna Cum Laude Plus for Harvard’s first ever senior thesis on Bhutan. Upon graduation, she worked as a trader at Morgan Stanley in New York in their Global Proprietary Credit Group. Alexa went on to become the Head of Business Development at Drop.io, a technology focused-start up, backed by RRE ventures and DFJ Gotham Ventures. In the fall of 2008, Alexa enrolled in Harvard Business School. When LearnVest received national recognition and was selected as an Astia 2008-2009 company, she took a leave of absence from Harvard Business School in order to launch LearnVest. The concept of LearnVest came to her when she realized she was graduating from Harvard College without ever having taken a single class on the topic of personal finance. In 2009, LearnVest raised $1.1 million in seed funding and was selected as a TechCrunch50 Company for 2009. Despite the recession, Alexa was able to get LearnVest off the ground and in April of 2010, LearnVest raised $4.5 million from Accel Venture Partners, the same investors in Facebook, Etsy, Kayak, Groupon, and more.

The concept of LearnVest came to her when she realized she was graduating from Harvard College without ever having taken a single class on the topic of personal finance.

nice

from the LearnVest comments:

I go to town once every 1-2 weeks to do all shopping. The other days I spend no money, although I have a tendency to give modest donations online, so I do spend some on those days.

Since town's an hour away, there's no sense in going back for that thing you forgot. You learn to plan ahead and do without when you fail. You make lists, even of obvious things.

I outright own my property, and hand-built my house from alternative recycled materials (papercrete) paying as I went. No mortgage, no rent, no debt. I live on a solar system. I harvest rainwater and grow some of my own food. I have satellite connections. My fixed monthly expenses (food, gas, insurance, phone, net) amount to under $1000/month. I live very well.

This is almost more annoying than the article itself. "I'm a desert hermit. My life is ideal, I can't believe all you suckers who don't want to live an hour from your nearest neighbor haven't caught on yet."

What would be it like to go a day without spending any money? How would I get from A to B? What about food? Turns out, a day of living expense free is very easy to do.

actually kill yourself

A self-proclaimed female A.J. Jacobs

go step in front of a train

I knew I had a coffee maker and some Holder's House Blend coffee in my cupboard somewhere so it was about time I tried it out. Honestly, the coffee wasn't so bad. I was so used to my morning corner-coffee shop routine that I forgot how much I enjoyed a simple cup of joe in my apartment before I left for work.

take this pot of coffee and pour it on your face

I poured myself a bowl of cereal, adding banana slices on top. Not so bad.

how is this a real human being? someone detonate a car bomb in 'flatiron'

"It was time to get creative" *links to own retarded website*

I rummaged through my cupboard and fridge and sure enough, I had a box of unopened penne and an unopened can of tomato vodka sauce hidden behind some cans of soup. Penne vodka -- perfect.

this is the most un-self aware and embarrassing article i've read in my entire life

i know your last name is "von Tobel" but good christ

I recognize that this experiment is unsustainable for a long period of time

you are literally the worst person walking the face of the earth

sarge otm

http://www.digischool.nl/kleioscoop/guillotine.jpg

I'm not saying we use these right away

but it would be nice to have some around

i would like a list of names of people with "von" in their names who aren't total and utter assfaces

full name - Alexa Leigh Marie von Tobel

it's taking all my will not to tweet at her telling her that she's the biggest dickhead in the world

do it

well i already told her to kill herself

i guess i could delete that one

But the background images oh wait

http://twitter.com/alexavontobel

also plz note that this woman is creating a company to help ordinary people w/ their personal finance problems

"Well, looking at your expense records, I see that you spend roughly $60 a day on food and coffee. Now, I would suggest that you make some food for yourself at home, or maybe even bring a lunch to work, but I know as a financial planner that that is an unreasonable request, as one can only sustain such a life for a maximum of one day, assuming a co-worker has brought some crackers to the office."

are there people who really take taxis to work every day

are there people who admit they're a 20 minute walk from work who take a taxi every day

you guys,

people are giving this woman's company millions of dollars

to teach people about personal finance

hey max, i hope you're reading, and i hope you eviscerate this woman on gawker 2nite

PLEASE

von Tobel = vom Teufel = of the devil.

Jordan S you are on fire

maura posted something about it on the awl yesterday

yesterday I had some time to spare and I poured myself a bowl of cereal, adding banana slices on top. Not so bad.

"however i discovered this meal is much improved by adding milk"

By the way is "Holder's House" coffee made up? I have never heard of it and Google returns nothing. She mentions it twice.

Please Sarges, don't hurt 'em

Ha, the first results from a search for "Holder's House coffee" are from other websites mocking this ridiculous woman.

I have a monthly transit pass, eat breakfast and dinner at home, keep a box of granola bars in my desk drawer, and have been packing my lunch lately. I think I am pretty qualified to start my own financial management advice company and write articles about how awesome I am for not spending money. I even have a box of penne pasta in the kitchen cabinet!

save money by making up new foods in your imagination and eating those instead of expensive "real" food

Penne pasta with unicorn sauce for dinner tonight!

jenny I am a venture capitalist, would like $4.5 million dollars? I was going to use it to order take-out tonight, but your idea sounds revolutionary.

i think i spend $0/day about 4-5 days a week, but i hate vodka sauce

are there people who really take taxis to work every day

uh

I'm really lazy and hate the transfer from my neighborhood to work plus it's faster and still way cheaper than owning a car in the city ok ok ok I'm an asshole

7 miles though not 20 minutes

maura was a bit too nice

has there been anything public about why the piece is no longer on the huff?

presumably she learned about how many people were mocking her?

or possibly the NYC government took down her money saving secrets to prevent the local economy from collapsing

it makes sense that people have invested $4.5 million dollars in her company -- much like the bank bailouts, it always makes sense to give significant amounts of money to people to do things that they are absolutely the worst at -- sound strategy

the link to the article on her twitter now redirects to "FlickmationLite", a 12 frame flickbook iphone app.

man I should have invested my $4.5 million in that instead