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.

Making Money Minute with Ron Hiebert - Kid’s Are Expensive

In 2025, the estimated cost of raising a child in Canada from birth to age 17 reached $293,000. That translates into about $17,235 per year. This estimate is based on a middle income, two parent family. If the kid decides to live down the basement, while getting you to subsidize their post secondary education, those costs can go much, much higher. This huge price tag partly explains why birth rates are at record lows, and the age of parents who decide to have kids is at record highs. Having a family, along with paying taxes and owning a home are life’s three big expenses. Delaying a family until you can afford it, shows this generation has more financial savvy, than they are often given credit for. 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 - Canada Needs More Electricity

Canada is facing an electricity shortage. Production peaked in 2017, and since that time we have added over 4 million people to our ranks - who also consume the stuff. Canada, in its bid to get the economy humming, wants to fast track the build out of factories, mines, refineries, liquified natural gas plants and data centres among others. The bottleneck to these plans, is they all need electricity - and lots of it. In fact more than we have available to supply everyone’s current needs. This shortfall will require massive investment in electrical generation and infrastructure - an area that has been neglected for decades. Utilities, offer a back door, to profit from that shortage. 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 - Lessons From Africa

Forty years ago, the country of Zimbabwe, previously known as Rhodesia, was the breadbasket of Africa, with one of its richest and most industrialized economies. Then came decades of corruption, overspending and blatant money printing. Inflation caught fire, averaging 43 percent per year between 2009 and 2026. In 2008, things got so bad the country flooded the markets with paper currency. Each bill had a face value of 100 trillion and a street value of less than 50 US cents. I keep a number of these notes in my study. It’s a reminder of what happens when you try to solve overspending by printing money. 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 Created Our Problems

Trump can be an obnoxious bully, but we can’t blame him for the problems we created ourselves. We were the ones, who for decades, never contributed our fair share to NATO’s defence budget. Also, it was much easier to sell goods south of the border, so we neglected developing global trading partners or getting our act together with the other provinces. The auto industry is suffering from massive overcapacity. America doesn’t need to buy from us a product they are overproducing themselves. Trump is the messenger, and a nasty one at that, but many of our problems are self induced, and needed to be addressed sooner or later. Unfortunately, Trump making it sooner, is what we don’t like. 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 - Backdoor US Investing

We all know people who are boycotting the US. They won’t invest in American stocks to send a message they are upset by America’s treatment of Canada. But in doing so, investors leave money on the table. America is a more dynamic and faster growing economy than Canada. One way to get around this roadblock, is to buy Canadian companies that generate a significant portion of their revenue and profits from the US. This provides exposure to higher growth opportunities, but does so in a way that funnels profits back into Canada and to you the shareholder. In a perverse way, you are taking American profits and putting them in your Canadian pocket. 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 - Costs of Home Ownership

When comparing the cost of home ownership in the 6 biggest cities in Canada, Edmonton and Calgary come out as the most affordable. In Edmonton, the share of household income needed to cover ownership costs is 33.2 percent. Calgary comes in at 41.6%. In Edmonton’s case, home ownership costs are 1/2 those of Toronto and 2.7 times less expensive than Vancouver. Not only are home ownership costs cheaper, but Alberta’s strong employment numbers, give buyers the incomes needed to qualify for a mortgage. For families wanting an affordable place to live, with all the amenities a big city has to offer, Alberta can’t be beat. 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 Walmart Recession Indicator

When economic times get tough, people change their shopping habits and start looking for bargains. This results in a pickup among discounters like Walmart and Costco and a decrease in traffic to luxury retailers. The bigger this downward shift in consumer spending, the more likely the economy is to experience a significant slowdown or recession. One gauge that tracks these changes in consumer behaviour is called the Walmart Recession Indicator. Currently, it is flashing its highest downturn reading since the Great Financial crisis of 2008-2009. Now economic indicators aren’t always right. But in volatile times, they warn of extra 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 - AI & Crime

The advancement of Artificial intelligence will provide science, business, government and individuals with productivity tools no one thought possible even a decade ago. It will also give criminals the ability to crack the the technology firewalls used to protect our financial system. The US government is so concerned about AI’s ability to exploit these vulnerabilities, they called an emergency meeting focussing on the threat, and requested the CEO’s of America ‘s major financial institutions attend. They also delayed the launch of an AI platform that has proved to be especially good at finding chinks in our financial armour. If the banks can’t stop being hacked by artificial intelligence - what chance do the rest of us. 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 - Newbirds Crazy

In 2021 a company called Allbirds went public. They made shoes out of marino wool and other natural materials that were all the rage of the tech bros at the time. Move the clock forward 5 years, and you find a company that is on the ropes, and whose shares have lost 99.6% of their original value. But then, a couple of weeks ago, a miracle happened. The stock popped 582% in one day on news the company was pivoting from the shoe business, on which it never made money, to building out AI infrastructure and changing its name to Newbirds. When you can’t even make up stories this crazy, you know markets have gone insane. For more information listen to our Making Money podcast with Ron Hiebert and Graham Hicks at letsmakemoney.ca or CFCW.com.