Tag Archives: financial advisors

Grexit and Findependence

Posted By |

Group of People Discussion about Greek Debt Crisis

By Jonathan Chevreau,

Financial Independence Hub

Thus far, the Hub has not commented directly on the ongoing crisis in Greece. Since we’re in something of a pause mode until the Referendum on Sunday, it seems as good a time as any to venture into this issue.

I am as transfixed as anyone by the images of Greek pensioners lining up almost daily for their 60-euro ATM infusions. Those who follow my Twitter feed — which also runs to the right of the Hub’s home page — will know that probably every second tweet or retweet concerns Greece in some way.

The world’s major newspapers and broadcast media seem to me to be doing a more than adequate job in reporting on this crisis. For instance, in Thursday’s Financial Post, Gluskin Sheff’s David Rosenberg wrote a useful piece about Why he still isn’t worried about Grexit. And the cover story in this week’s just-published The Economist nicely lays out the possible near future in Europe’s Future Lies in Greece’s Hands.

There’s little point in adding to the discussion if I can’t provide some unique perspectives. I’m no expert on Greece so I cannot: I’ve never even visited the country, although last fall we were right next door in neighbouring Turkey.

I can say that I’ve not made any changes in our family’s investments in response to this ongoing drama. I briefly owned a tiny position in a Greece ETF in 2014, thinking the worst was over but jettisoned it for tax-loss selling purposes late in 2014 and it will be a long time before I’m tempted to re-enter that position. If ever.

Cash is the furthest thing from Trash right now

Continue Reading…

What’s on the Menu? Engineering a better outcome for investors

Posted By |

Depositphotos_50578301_xsBy Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

When I worked in the hospitality industry our hotel group placed a large emphasis on the profitability of its restaurants and catering departments. Considerable effort was made to drive overall food costs down while at the same time creating a sales culture that pushed the highest margin items in order to boost revenue.

One of the most effective ways to do this was through a process called menu engineering. Before hitting it big by turning around struggling nightclubs in the reality show Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer was a highly sought-after speaker and consultant in the hospitality industry. At the top of Taffer’s legendary revenue growth plan for restaurants and bars is the concept of menu engineering. Here’s how it works:

Restaurant owners divide their menu items into four main categories:

  • Stars – Stars are extremely popular and have a high contribution margin. Ideally Stars should be your flagship or signature menu items.
  • Plow horses – Plow horses are high in popularity but low in contribution margin. Plow horse menu items sell well, but don’t significantly increase profit.
  • Puzzles – Puzzles are generally low in popularity and high in contribution margin. Puzzle dishes are difficult to sell but have a high profit margin.
  • Dogs – Dogs are low in popularity and low in contribution margin. They are difficult to sell and produce little profit when they do sell.

Continue Reading…

5 things your advisors should be doing to protect you from identity theft

Posted By |
Rick Hyde pic Mar 2015
Rick Hyde

By Rick Hyde

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Most articles about identity theft will offer practical insights and steps that you can take to protect your self. But what about all the other people that handle your personal data – the financial advisors, accountants, lawyers and health professionals, to mention a few – what are they doing to protect YOUR privacy?

Identity theft and fraud is growing

As the use of digital systems for storing personal financial and health data has grown, so has the problem of fraudulent access to that information.

Identity theft and fraud has been growing steadily in the past 10-20 years, according to reports in the US and Canada. So far in 2015, the US-based Identity Theft Resource Center reports almost 300 incidents involving data on over 100 million individuals.

You are your account numbers

Continue Reading…