Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Orbital Data Centers

Rocket companies are the next big thing among tech investors. They will provide the transportation needed to build data centers in outer space. The advantage touted by fans of orbital data centers, is that they can be powered by solar energy - which is available 24/7 in space. The disadvantages no one wants to talk about, are the incredible costs to lift all the pieces into orbit, and the complexity of carrying out repairs when parts fail. Once again, investors are looking way over the horizon, and making bets on things that are far from reality, and even farther from profitability. Hope has never been a profitable investment strategy. But maybe this time, the dreamers will prove us wrong.

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 - We The People

I recently watched a public debate on economic policy. The audience would cheer and applaud every time one of the debaters would blame politicians, the rich, or big business for the economic quagmire we are in. Over the 90 minute event, the one group that was conveniently ignored was the general public. You, me, the neighbour next door, the rest of us. We take no blame for being economically illiterate, sinking in debt up to our eyeballs and continually electing people who promise to shower us with the most economic goodies. In a democracy, solutions start when the group known as “We The People”, starts taking accountability for their own actions, instead of blaming others. 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 - Old School Economics

Current economic thinking is to narrow the tax base as much as possible and get fewer and fewer people to pay more and more. And secondly, the solution to everything involves spending lavishly and not fiscal restraint. I am obviously showing my age here, but I can remember not too far back when most nations pushed for policies that expanded the tax base. They created economic conditions that allowed its citizens to earn more, causing the tax base to expand - not shrink. They also had the discipline to cut spending to match the revenue coming in. If we want a sustainable economy, we are going to have to get back to those strategies that made us a success in the first place. 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 - A Needle In The Haystack

Some sectors of the economy are fairly easy to determine, which individual companies in it, will be winners or losers. Other sectors like technology, bioscience and junior mining are very hard. The number of companies in these areas that become successful are small in number…but for the ones that make it…the payoffs can be huge. For most investors, the way to get exposure to difficult sectors, is to buy an exchange traded fund that owns a basket of companies, rather than trying to pick individual stocks. As Jack Bogle often said, instead of looking for a needle in a haystack - just buy the haystack. 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 - Investing & Ego

Investing in stocks is no place for those who have never been wrong or can’t be bear to be wrong. Some people are wired psychologically with a need to be consistently correct. For people like that, investing will simply chew them up mentally. Investing is a messy business. You make lots of mistakes, and all those mistakes are very visible. Even the best stock pickers are wrong 20% of the time. Those who can’t compartmentalize their mistakes and move on, should seek someone more suited to manage their portfolios, or else they should stick with investments that aren’t as stressful. Life has enough challenges. Investing shouldn’t be one of 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 - Why Markets Remain High

The stock markets keep hitting all time highs in spite of tariffs, regional wars, trade embargoes and $100 oil prices. This is leaving investors wondering why stocks continue to levitate on what seems like thin air. The answer involves money flows into artificial intelligence and defence. The estimated cost to build out AI infrastructure is 7 trillion dollars over the next five years. Defence spending is increasing dramatically because of wars in Ukraine and Iran. Also, America is pushing to get its allies to double and triple the amount they budget for military purposes. When huge flows of capital are injected into the global economy, it is massively stimulative for both corporate profits and stock prices. 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 - High Auto Prices

In 2025, China built nearly as many vehicles, as the next six largest, auto-producing, countries combined. This dominance is driven not by just low prices. Advances in factory automation, car design software, battery efficiency and faster development cycles are giving the Chinese gains in productivity, variety and quality that are leaving their competitors in the dust. North American auto manufacturers survive by selling high priced SUV’s and trucks, with big gas guzzling engines to the domestic market. Can they survive in a world of $2 a litre gas, and customers, who out of economic necessity, can’t afford gas guzzlers that cost $40-$50 grand? 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 - Strait of Hormuz Solutions

Free markets have a way of sorting things out. Take for example the Strait of Hormuz. 20% of the world’s oil passes through this 40 km wide channel every day. Iran has used threats to shut it down as a political club going back almost 50 years. That will soon end. Saudi Arabia is building a pipeline which will deliver 5 to 7 million barrels a day to domestic ports on the Red Sea. Iraq is connecting pipelines, that will send its oil overland to refineries in Europe. The United Arab Emirate are building a pipeline around the strait, redirecting their oil to ports on the Persian Gulf. By late 2027, closing the Strait of Hormuz, will no longer hold the world hostage. Users, have built infrastructure to get around it. 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 HiebTechnology Pushback

People invest in technology, like robotics, self driving cars, artificial intelligence and datacentres with a view that they are an unstoppable tsunami. But we are starting to see pushback from groups legitimately worried about the impact this technology will have on their careers and lifestyles. Groups, are trying to block the use of self driving cars in their cities. Municipalities, are refusing zoning changes to build data centres. Others like the movie industry, are organizing to restrict the use of AI in their profession. People are beginning to understand the enormous changes technology will have and are starting to pushback. 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 HiebeTrade Agreements Take A Long Time

I am not sure investors have thought through, how long it could take Canada, to renegotiate the free trade agreement with the US and Mexico. The last round of USMCA negotiations officially began on August 16, 2017, and wasn’t concluded until September 30, 2018. It took 13 grinding months, regularly filled with intense political drama, before they were able to wrap up the deal. Meetings between the US and Canada haven’t even started yet, and are expected to be far tougher than the those conducted 8 years ago. Long periods of uncertainty are seldom good for the stock market or the economy. For more information listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.