Kasparov advertises bank

Everyone needs money. I need, you need, they need. Chess players also need money. If you are the world champion you need much more money.

If you have a "good" surname, it's very easy to earn. Good example is Garri Kasparov. One of the best player in the history of our sport adverts the bank. It's hard to imagine how much does he earn for that, but it's a lot of money.
Important is that this advert is funny. It shows that even chess players have sense of humor.
In general chess doesn't appear too often in the TV. Sometimes in films. Rarely in adverts. As far as I remember last time I saw the advert of pills with chess in background.

FIDE organization earns on us

Do we really need an Elo ratings? If so, why do we need it? Are we more happy having four digits close to our name?

I think we don't need it at all, but some people need. Who? Of course people from FIDE organization.
The thing is that they decided to decrease elo rating, because it is perfect opportunity to earn a lot of money. This is simple: more players have licenses, more money is on FIDE account.
Funny thing is that Polish organization PZSzach. did realize it and decided to go the same way. If you want to achieve Polish category or title, you don't need to count Elo rating (which is usually smaller than Polish). They take into account Polish rating and you have more chance to get the title or category. Especially central categories are important for Polish chess organization, because in case you have the title or category, you need to pay them for that.
In last year they lost a lot of money due to the situation the title or category have been counted from Elo rating.
But what does it mean for us? If we have a title or category, does it mean that we are strong? Or do we play better?

Expensive game

Chess is the game which is expensive. Even if you think it isn't expensive, you are wrong.

I was thinking how much do I need to achieve a success in this sport (whatever it means...).
What is my conclusion?
First of all, I would need a couch. The person who will be teaching me is most important cost in my career. Not everyone can be a teacher, so if I want to have a good person I need to spend a lot of money.
I need to have also rich parents. They should be able to pay for everything you need.
I cannot work at all, because I need a lot of time for trainings (let's say 6 hours per day).
I need money for tournaments. I don't mean the ones with poor player. I need to play in strong tournaments with high ratings. There is no sense to play againts opponents with the same level like me.
As you can imagine, life of chess player is not easy. The problem may be if you spend a lot of money and immediately you realize you don't like this game or... you don't have talent? What then?
Try to imagine if chess is really the sport you want to train.