Deals & People February 17, 2011

Legacy Executive Benefits Joins RPAG

David Harper and Bill Straub of Legacy Executive Benefits have become members of the Retirement Plan Advisory Group (RPAG).  
Reported by

Based in Atlanta, Harper is the President and CEO of Legacy Executive Benefits and Straub is Executive Vice President of Client Services.  

Legacy specializes in qualified and non-qualified consulting and the firm recently completed a re-branding campaign, summed up in a new tagline, “Creating Corporate Retirement Solutions.”  In announcing the alliance with RPAG, Straub said it is “the logical evolution of our firm to deepen the investment due diligence, fiduciary guidance and RFP benchmarking services we deliver to customers on a daily basis.”

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Harper and Straub started their careers in the 70s and eventually joined forces in the late 90s to form ERI Advisors, LLC. After undergoing several changes over the years, the rebranding to Legacy Executive Benefits was completed earlier this year.  

With its transition to RPAG, Legacy Executive Benefits will receive broker/dealer support from Financial Telesis, Inc.  

Diversions February 17, 2011

Getting Rid of Cheating Bankers…in Monopoly, at Least

Wall Street–watch out. At this week’s Toy Fair in New York City, Hasbro is introducing a completely computerized version of Monopoly–no “banker” necessary.  
Reported by

The squares along the edge of the board are the same and you still get $200 for passing “Go.”

And that’s where the similarities end between classic Monopoly and Hasbro’s new “Monopoly Live.” There are no dice, no paper money–oh, and there’s a giant, infrared computer-tower in the middle of the board.

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According to The New York Times, the tower’s digital voice instructs players every step of the way. Instead of rolling dice, you cover your game piece with your hand and the tower will tell you how many squares to advance. If you land on a square where someone owns property, the tower will tell you how much to pay. And instead of handing that player your hard-earned cash? All transactions are made on “bank cards” that are inserted into ATM-like slots at the base of the tower. (Sneaking a grab from the cash bank will be a thing of the past.)

The New York Times spoke to the creators behind the game, who said Hasbro is trying to attract a younger generation of players who have grown up amidst video games. The goal of Monopoly Live is to blend the video game experience with the board game experience, while keeping things social.   

Whether younger people will be attracted to computerized Monopoly is yet to be seen, but it has certainly succeeded at attracting critics.

“Being able to negotiate with others, make up your own rules, argue with other players, that, to me, is part of what makes [Monopoly] a successful social game,” said Joey Lee, who studies games as an assistant professor of technology and education at Columbia University, to the paper. The tower is “more of that blind adherence to following orders, versus being able to figure out and learn the game for yourself,” he said.

Hasbro told the Times that the new Monopoly is more social because players will have to spend less time reading the instruction manual.   

“Getting rid of the instruction book encourages a lot more face-to-face interaction,” said Jane Ritson-Parsons, global brand leader for Monopoly. “If you’re not having to read as much, you are all chatting more,” she said to The Times.

Chatting…between computerized instructions, that is.  But traditionalists can breathe one sigh of relief at least–classic Monopoly will be sold on shelves along with Monopoly Live.   

 

 

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