Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Copper Miner Reluctance

If copper usage is expected to increase dramatically, why aren’t miners doubling or tripling their efforts to find and develop the resources necessary to keep up with demand. The answer is simply profit. Miners need the price of copper to stay above $11,000 a tonne on a sustained basis to break even on new mines. Currently the orange metal is trading at 20% above that, but miners worry how sustainable that level is. Copper is notorious for its volatility. Soaring prices seldom stick. Copper miners need higher prices for longer before being convinced to invest billions of dollars on what could be a losing bet. For more information listen to our Making Money Podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CWCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Federal Debt

Last year Canada enjoyed hitting a number of financial records. The stock market, residential real estate and household wealth reached all time highs. The one crown we shouldn’t be proud of, is our Federal Debt. That wall of red ink, according to the Fraser Institute, climbed to an inflation adjusted 2.35 trillion dollars last year.

This is the highest level of Federal debt in our history, increasing 4.2% over the previous year. In dollar terms, this works out to $56,432 of Federal debt per person

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Next time you talk to someone younger, thank them in advance for paying for something they didn’t create or benefit from. For more information listen to my Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Recycled Silver

Investors are continually bombarded with stories that metal production is not meeting demand and as a result, big shortages and skyrocketing prices are the future. Silver is a good example. The amount of product coming out of the mines has not kept up with demand for the last 5 years. The problem with these numbers, is they conveniently leave out the heavy influence that recycled silver has on the supply/demand equation. It accounts for 20% of total supply. As prices rise, more and more people are pulling out grandma’s old silverware and cashing them in at the local scrapyard. When you include recycling in the equation, metal shortages are less bullish for prices than often portrayed. For more information listen to our Making Money Podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Beyond the Magnificent Seven

All investors want to talk about is Artificial intelligence, data centres and computer chips. It is like nothing else exists….but it does. European banks, for example, have outperformed America’s Magnificent Seven over not just one, but the last five years. Many markets in Asia, Europe and even South America beat the US last year. People think American technology is the centre of the known universe and limit themselves to a very small investment pool of securities. There are lots of unnoticed global companies that have done extraordinarily well, and are far less expensive than the Magnificent Seven. They are worth a look. For more information listen to our Making Money Podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Silver Profits

If you want to understand why silver stocks have gone crazy, just look at the math. Last year silver prices averaged about $28 an ounce, and it cost about $20 an ounce to pull the metal out of the ground. At those prices, silver miners were making money, but no one was getting rich. Fast forward one year, and we find that production costs haven’t changed much, but the selling price of silver has tripled. Companies who kept their costs in line, have seen profit margins increase by 9 times. This is an industry that has gone from so so - to printing money … and silver mining stocks have moved right along with them. For more information listen to our Making Money Podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Sport Betting Fraud

One of the risks of sports betting is fraud, and it has just raised its ugly head. The US recently charged 20 people for operating a betting ring that fixed US College and Chinese Professional basketball games. This group bribed players between $10,000 and $30,000 to deliberately underperform in order for their teams to lose and for fraudulent bets to pay off. This point-shaving scheme involved 17 NCAA Division I programs, 39 players, and 29 games that prosecutors say were fixed or attempted to be fixed from 2022 through 2025. If you sports bet, fraud is always a risk. For more information listen to our Making Money Podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Gambling Is Not Investing

The lines between gambling and investing are becoming more and more blurred. In the US there are now platforms that let you bet on the outcome of a football game and then with the proceeds turn around and trade your favorite stock - all on one site. Yet gambling and investing are very different activities. Betting on who will win the next election or whether the Oilers become Stanley Cup champions is entertainment. Investing is putting money into wealth building assets that generate cashflow and profit over the longer term. Mixing the two and blurring their distinction is a very bad idea. For more information listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Currency Risk

The Trump administration has made it very clear that one of its major economic goals is to lower the value of the US dollar against other countries currencies. Devaluation is often used by nations to reduce the cost of their exports and make prices more competitive on global markets. So far Trump’s strategy seems to be working, as the US greenback is down about 10% over the last year. For Canadian investors who own US assets - this is another risk. As the US dollar drops, so does the value of those American investments. Diversification outside the Canadian economy is a good idea, but large currency loses can certainly blunt those advantages. For more information, listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - 24 Hour Stock Trading

If you are a working stiff who likes to manage your own investment portfolio, one of the drawbacks, has always been the hours the stock and bond markets are open for trading. That 6 1/2 hour window generally coincides with when most us are at work. This makes it difficult to access markets on a timely basis, when we are distracted by, or busy with, work related tasks. This will soon change. The Nasdaq Index in the US, is applying for permission to trade 23 ours a day on weekdays starting later in 2026. Expect other exchanges to follow shortly. For more information, listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Natural Gas & Data Centres

When data centres were just starting to roll out, the strategy was to determine a location and worry about the energy needed to run them later. Well that dynamic has changed. Growing demand for electricity means you have to secure supply first and build near it. Your billion dollar data centre will sit idle if it doesn’t have the juice to run it. This is where Alberta has a huge advantage. We have a surplus, of the ideal fuel for data centres. Natural gas can provide consistent low cost power. This can be a huge economic win for the province. For more information, listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.