[msutherl]

You say two things:

"meditation shouldn't have anything to do with a financial worry"

I disagree with this in principle. Meditation is very much a habit and I think it's quite possible to incentivize developing the habit without somehow 'tainting' the practice. It is much like how many people learn to write or play in instrument. It begins as a painful task that they are forced to do when they are young. Once they have learned the skill, and the habit of practicing, it is more easy for them to express complex and subtle ideas and feelings. Ironically this is a tactic consistently employed with children in many East Asian cultures.

It's true that meditation shouldn't have to do with financial worry, but the cultivation of the habit and the later cultivation of the practice that depends on the habit can be decoupled.

"It's a cheap way to make money of the unsuspecting"

This may be true if the tactic is actually unsuccessful in getting people into the habit of meditating. I honestly can't be sure whether financial incentives are effective here. I know that some businesses charge their employees with $20, or some escalating amount when they are late to work and it works quite well, but that's a different sort of situation.