Jim Cramer, on second thought...

Like a lot of people with a professional education in finance, my first impression of Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money was... well, I'd prefer to keep my posts 'clean', so I'll keep those thoughts to myself. I have to admit, however, that I've watched the show for the past couple of days and it's forced me to rethink my admittedly elitist (read: snobbish) opinion. Mr. Cramer provides a valuable service to the investment community, and I'll tell you why.

In one sentence, he makes finance and investing exciting for the average joe.

I don't mean to demean the proverbial average joe. I sincerely mean it in a good way. A lot of people shy-away from personal finance - so much so that many people cringe at the very thought of opening a bank statement. Mr. Cramer, like him or not, has a knack for getting you excited about the mundane performance figures that you can get in any newspaper and on any financially-oriented website. The difference is that Cramer's associated explanations and opinions (right or wrong) make them more tangible. Rather than just seeing a 2, 3 or 4-letter combination ticker symbol, he makes you see beyond the facts and figures to what underlies the stock... the business.

A lot of people forget that these ticker symbols actually represent going concerns. Yes, it's true. When you buy a stock, you're actually buying a share in the business. The fact that Mr. Cramer makes people more aware of that fact deserves recognition. 

My Name is Nicholas Osinski and I'm a Mad Money convert.