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American Morning
'Minding Your Business'
Aired October 08, 2003 - 08:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about finances this morning. If you're looking to cut costs, the answer could be in the bag.
Andy Serwer is minding your business.
Clever little intro, though, it looks like, yes?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, clever. And not giving it away. Right. That's interesting.
So what's going on here is that because of diet and dollars, more and more people are bringing their lunch to work. And, you know, they ran the numbers this morning, the "Wall Street Journal." Actually, a great Web site called Dinkytown.com, where they have one of the things where you can put the numbers in yourself.
So let's check it out. If you bring your lunch to work, you will save a lot of money each day. And over time, you will save $50,000. Now, what they've done is they -- so you would invest the $3 every day, Jack, and they have it at five percent.
Now, I also did this. The real one where you save money, though, is with cigarettes. And I ran this -- I mean you've probably seen this before, but...
CAFFERTY: Look at that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.
SERWER: ... over 30 years, never mind the health problems you will avoid...
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: ... but you will get, it's $200,000, almost $200,000 in the bank by not smoking.
CAFFERTY: That's just what you would spend buying the cigarettes, right?
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
CAFFERTY: That's incredible.
SERWER: I mean it's just, you know, it's money, people. I mean it's real, real money. CAFFERTY: Now, if you feel like you're working too hard, maybe France is the answer. They've got a much shorter work week there than we do. But is it working?
SERWER: It's probably not working. This is the problem for the French. And I feel very sorry for the French. I really, really do. I like the French a lot. I'm kind of out on a limb here.
But the French had changed their work week in 2000 from 39 hours a week to 35 hours a week. Guess what? It didn't do much for the economy at all. It hurt the economy, Jack. I mean it's kind of hard to fathom that, but now they're thinking about moving the work week back to 39 hours.
CAFFERTY: Don't even get me started.
SERWER: I'll get you. I like French food...
CAFFERTY: I...
SERWER: I like French movies. I like French...
CAFFERTY: I let it go the first time.
SERWER: I like French -- is that a Jean Paul Gaultier that you're wearing?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: I like, see, I like all this stuff. But they made a mistake. They really did.
CAFFERTY: Yes, another mistake is the way we would phrase that.
SERWER: All right, I'll let you go.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 8, 2003 - 08:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about finances this morning. If you're looking to cut costs, the answer could be in the bag.
Andy Serwer is minding your business.
Clever little intro, though, it looks like, yes?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, clever. And not giving it away. Right. That's interesting.
So what's going on here is that because of diet and dollars, more and more people are bringing their lunch to work. And, you know, they ran the numbers this morning, the "Wall Street Journal." Actually, a great Web site called Dinkytown.com, where they have one of the things where you can put the numbers in yourself.
So let's check it out. If you bring your lunch to work, you will save a lot of money each day. And over time, you will save $50,000. Now, what they've done is they -- so you would invest the $3 every day, Jack, and they have it at five percent.
Now, I also did this. The real one where you save money, though, is with cigarettes. And I ran this -- I mean you've probably seen this before, but...
CAFFERTY: Look at that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.
SERWER: ... over 30 years, never mind the health problems you will avoid...
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: ... but you will get, it's $200,000, almost $200,000 in the bank by not smoking.
CAFFERTY: That's just what you would spend buying the cigarettes, right?
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
CAFFERTY: That's incredible.
SERWER: I mean it's just, you know, it's money, people. I mean it's real, real money. CAFFERTY: Now, if you feel like you're working too hard, maybe France is the answer. They've got a much shorter work week there than we do. But is it working?
SERWER: It's probably not working. This is the problem for the French. And I feel very sorry for the French. I really, really do. I like the French a lot. I'm kind of out on a limb here.
But the French had changed their work week in 2000 from 39 hours a week to 35 hours a week. Guess what? It didn't do much for the economy at all. It hurt the economy, Jack. I mean it's kind of hard to fathom that, but now they're thinking about moving the work week back to 39 hours.
CAFFERTY: Don't even get me started.
SERWER: I'll get you. I like French food...
CAFFERTY: I...
SERWER: I like French movies. I like French...
CAFFERTY: I let it go the first time.
SERWER: I like French -- is that a Jean Paul Gaultier that you're wearing?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: I like, see, I like all this stuff. But they made a mistake. They really did.
CAFFERTY: Yes, another mistake is the way we would phrase that.
SERWER: All right, I'll let you go.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
