Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Employee Financial Literacy

As every manager knows, an employees personal issues often get dragged into the work place. Studies show that one in three full-time employees have money worries that negatively impact their productivity at work. If you are an employer, a cost effective way to improve employee performance, is by offering a financial literacy program to staff covering basic topics like debt, budgeting, saving and retirement planning. Increased financial knowledge, can make employees better at managing their own affairs, and also help them become more savvy with corporate funds as well. 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 Clever Scam

The most sophisticated internet scam I have recently seen, involves a fake email or text supposedly from your financial institution notifying you that money has been illegally taken out of your account. Of course, they need to contact you, to work on getting it back. You, obviously being too smart to be taken by this, call your bank directly. Typically, the bank never answers the phone, so you leave a message. The scammer knows that banks seldom return calls promptly, so they phone you shortly after you opened the email. Thinking it is a legit call, you give them all your information. You only figure out the scam, when your real financial institution calls back later. 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 - Carney’s Aggressive Strategy

Negotiations on our trade free trade agreement with Mexico and the US will start in just over a month. The stakes are enormous for Canada and Mexico, but much less so for America, so Trump feels he can play hardball with us. Mexico’s president, has chosen to turn the volume down and not react to Trump’s insults. Mark Carney’s strategy is to be much more aggressive in his response, and in hockey terms - go into the corner with his elbows up. I hope Carney knows what he is doing, by escalating the rhetoric. If he gets it wrong, we have a lot more to lose than the US does. 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 - Private Equity Lack of Liquidity

Private-equity funds set limits on how much cash investors are allowed to withdraw at any given time. Because they hold illiquid assets, such as private company shares or debt, these funds typically let investors cash out only once a quarter. A problem occurs when requests to sell reach more than 5% to 7% of total assets. The fund will restrict withdrawals and only fill a portion of each request. A problem for Canadian investors comes when they fill plans like Registered Retirement Income Funds with private equity. RRIF’s require withdrawing a certain amount from the plan each year and if those investments are illiquid, the RRIF might not be able to generate enough funds to meet those withdrawals in cash. 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 -Deficits Are Solvable

If you found out your spending was 5% higher than your income, it wouldn’t take a lot of economic fine tuning to get things back in balance because the difference between what’s coming in and what’s going out isn’t that large. On a bigger scale, 5% is also the ballpark deficit gap most western governments face when they prepare their annual budgets. Yet, somehow, our elected officials find the task of budgeting and living within their means, impossible to do. A twenty or thirty percent spread between income and expenses would be a tough gap to close. But 5%. That should be very doable. 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 - Dot-Com Comparisons

Caution is a word investors should include in their current tech strategies. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is a good proxy for the global computer chip industry. It recently experienced its largest 25-day rally since the 2000 dot-com bubble. In 25 trading sessions, the benchmark advanced 54%. This was its best 25-day performance since March 2000, when it rose 56% at the peak of the dot-com bubble. What investors forget - is the aftermath. Between March 2000, and September 2002, the index sank 80%. We are at a point in the cycle, where risk has to be included in any investment calculation, and not just reward. 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 - Surprising Iran War Shortages

When the 40 km wide Strait of Hormuz, just off Iran’s south west coast, is closed to shipping, we get a lesson on just how interconnected global supply chains really are. Most people know that 20% of the world’s oil passes through this strategic waterway. But there is so much more. Roughly 1/3 of all internationally traded fertilizer and 20% of its Liquified Natural Gas starts here. Helium is used in the manufacture of computer chips and other advanced electronics. 30% is produced in this area. Sulphur makes sulphuric acid, which, in turn, is essential to processing critical minerals like copper and nickel. 50% of sulphurs seaborne trade, transits through the Persian Gulf. 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 - Good Times Never Last

Most current investors have only known markets with rising stock prices. Equities bottomed after the Great Financial Crisis in 2009 and have been on a tear ever since. The concept that markets can go sideways or down for extended periods is beyond most investors comprehension. Yet history is full of examples. Stock markets went nowhere between 1929 and 1954, again from 1964 to 1982 and recently between 2000 and 2013. Those periods lasted 26 years, 18 years and 13 years respectively. This doesn’t mean investors should curl up in a fetal position and suck their thumb. But, they should realize that good times don’t last forever and invest accordingly. 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 - The Best Time To Invest

Great investors seem to intuitively know when to invest aggressively and when to back off. Risks are elevated when markets keep hitting new highs, so this group typically moves to the sidelines and patiently waits. The rewards for investing when assets are overvalued and priced to perfection, just aren’t high enough to make it worthwhile. After securities drop down to levels that reflect reality, this is when great investors shift gears from passive to aggressive. They start putting money to work buying securities that are fairly priced or if lucky, undervalued. When all the bad news is reflected in current stock prices, risks are the lowest and the probability for big gains the highest. 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 Retirement Side Business

For a lot of people, retirement brings up two big questions. How can I constructively fill my time and how can I afford it. Both can be answered by launching a home based business or side hustle. It can be fun to do and provide extra cashflow. To make this work, you want to start this business before you retire - the earlier the better. That will give you enough of a runway to get the project off the ground and make it profitable. Working out the details in advance, will ensure that when it is time to transition away from the 9-5 routine - it will be a smooth one. For more information listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.