5 July 2018
Question: According to MSN:Money, what are 8 common mistakes parents make with their kids?
Israeli entrepreneurs fight to lure foreign talent – Pg. 3
– …skills shortage squeezes Israeli high-tech groups and pushes up salaries…
– The tech sector has been one of Israel’s fastest-growing industries and an object of national pride as it has become an incubator for brands such as Waze, the GPS app sold to Google for about $1bn in 2013
– Indian and Chinese engineers, who make up the bulk of tech-industry immigration to the US and UK, rarely consider Israel as an option, turned off by the difficult visa process, safety perceptions or salaries that lag behind western standards, …
– Average annual wages across the sector have gone up from $61,000 in 2012 to $72,000…
– The shortage is most acute when it comes to senior engineers…
Eurozone wages climb steadily as workers feel financial benefits of regional recovery – Pg. 4
– While the eurozone’s recovery has been under way for several years and unemployment fell into single digits in the summery of 2016, workers across the 19 member states have been slow to benefit
– But hourly wage costs rose by 2% between the first quarter of last year and the first quarter of 2018, the biggest increase since the start of 2013,…
It is a mystery why bankers earn so much – Pg. 9
– Goldman Sachs will be paid $58m by 21st Century Fox for its advice on Fox’s planned $71bn asset sale to Walt Disney (and the bank stands to gain another $47m for financing the remainder of Fox)
– ..today’s dealmaking boom is the most rewarding time in history to be a global M&A banker. It is especially lucrative for those in the top league of advisers who run many auctions
– The secret to a bulging “success fee” is less to obtain the best possible deal than to make the chief executive and the board believe they got it
– The M&A adviser’s job has three qualities that put its practitioners in a powerful bargaining position over their own pay. First, the stakes are very high. Second, advisers are paid with other people’s money. Third, M&A advice is a black box. The last is the most valuable
– Deals can be brilliantly executed at the time without adding to a company’s long-term value and many are unwound – …
Answer: (1) They don’t plan for unpaid maternity leave (Prof Note: While the amount of time necessary to be off is a variable, the amount of time paid-off should be a known. Am I missing something?); (2) They spend money on unnecessary things (Prof Note: My friend’s mother, growing up, always would tell us, “Oh, we have that in the basement. Go and look when we get home.” There was NEVER anything in the basement!); (3) They set a bad example (Prof Note: As the article acknowledges, my own father use to say, “Do as I say, not as a do.” Not the best example. When he passed (Naval Captain and Wharton MBA) I discovered a train wreck called his financials. In order to set a positive example one must understand. I truly wonder, if my father (using him as an example of all others) truly understood personal finance and estate planning); (4) They spend what they don’t have (Prof Note: I was just in South Beach looking at condos this past weekend. Talk about excessive spending!); (5) They avoid talking about money (Prof Note: So few families, for which I am familiar, discuss finances. I get that revenue can be a personal number, but how are children to learn? I often say if blessed with a child(ren) I would pay them monthly to be my child(ren). From the monthly stipend I would deduct rent, utilities, Insurance, etc. Also, they would NOT be paid for household chores though I would encourage a side hustle at the appropriate age(s)); (6) They don’t change their pre-baby habits (Prof Note: The article discusses reducing expenses now that there is a child); (7) They pay for chores that should be expected (Prof Note: Bravo! Are children not free labour?!); (8) They let their kids know how much they worry (Prof Note: Childhood is a special time. It seems to me that, ideally, childhood should be free of financial worry. Just like the goal of retirement.)