Money Talks

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Thursday and Friday of last week saw Toronto invaded by hundreds, if not thousands of clean tech practitioners, inventors and investors for the 9th Clean Tech Forum. It's the sort of timing that makes you say, "Well, how can I get in on this and how can I invest in clean technology companies?"

One of the problems is that individual stocks are always risky. You can get a winner that goes up thousands of per cent, like [the stock mentioned in] my last column, Timminco. But there are other ones that are down 50 or even more per cent in the last year. So, buying one stock at a time is always a challenge for individuals.

So, a lot of people say "Why don't I buy an Index, why don't I buy an ETF" and there are such things.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Canadian oil and gas executives should spend coming days and weeks looking in the mirror. The industry’s first reaction to the new royalty regime in Alberta is going to be celebration. Oil and gas companies dodged a bullet.

Premier Ed Stelmach could have hammered some of Canada’s most profitable companies with new levies. Most Albertans would have applauded the move.

Instead, the Premier introduced a gentler regime than what experts recommended.

But after decades of being able to call the shots in Alberta, the energy companies are no longer getting their way.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

In this dog-eat-dog business world, you're always trying to be different from the competition. One way is to offer something new, or something that, while not truly new, is so much better than past products your customers will open up their chequebooks readily. For example, companies such as Bang & Olufsen and Rotel are introducing innovations that are dragging the hulking, old tech power amplifier into the 21st century, offering new levels of performance and miniaturization never seen before in high end audio.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

It is a scary move to make to head out on your own to start your own small business. The comfort and security that working for someone else can offer goes away. You become 100 per cent responsible for 100 per cent of everything involved in running a business.

The liberating feeling that comes with starting something new of your very own can soon begin to consume your life. Is the tradeoff worth it?

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Despite having wrestled inflation to the ground a decade ago, inflation in Canada remains a bit of a worry. Prices in September increased 2.5 per cent above the same month last year. In Alberta and other parts of western Canada, that rate is much higher. Of course, the Bank’s single-minded purpose is to keep price increases at “low, stable and predictable” levels. They target 2 per cent for all-items inflation.

But at the same time, there are a lot of risks to the Canadian economy that may take the bite out of inflation without the Bank having to raise interest rates. Chief among them: a soaring loonie, which has already hit levels well above the $1.03 US mark.

So what’s on the minds at the Bank of Canada? And what is likely to happen next?

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

I’ve recently been reading a piece by author and speaker Kevin Hogan. The theme of the article I read focused upon the idea that who we hang around with will have profound impact upon who we are. Well, Kevin got me thinking. If it is true about individuals, it must be equally true about the organizations we work for.

In many parts of the world today it is very much a seller’s market for talent. In other words, you can probably be quite choosy who you work for. Here is my corporate translation of Kevin Hogan’s seven suggestions for whom to hang out with:

Only associate with companies that focus upon winning. Whatever you do, don’t hang out with losers. It could rub off on you.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Oil prices continued their march towards the $100 US mark this week, climbing as much as $9 US since the rally began on October 9th.

When prices popped over $88 US on Tuesday, most traders said they were perplexed by the magnitude of the move and questioned its sustainability. It was as if everything that could possibly go wrong in terms of squeezing supply was factored into the oil price.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

You’re sitting at home when the phone rings. It’s a fraud investigator who tells you that your credit card has been compromised. A new card will arrive in the mail shortly.

How do they know? Banks have sophisticated software that picks up unusual patterns of credit card activity. A large purchase far from your home might be flagged as suspicious, for example, or multiple transactions in stores you never patronize.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).