Do you have to be a finance geek to invest wisely? Well, you don’t have to know anything about financial markets or capital markets and still end up making a good sum of money. It is just by knowing the facts of how much money is in your hand and how much you are losing without even realizing that you are losing it. Investment is just a way for most of the people to keep up with the inflation. The value of money is cut down by 4.2%. So people have to earn more to have the same level of lifestyle. There are few basic things that could be followed which could help saving exponentially.

This starts with paying credit card bills on time. This is technically not investment because we are not getting any securities or stocks. It would not be smart if we are expecting returns from an investment whereas we are losing money from the interest of credit cards. The best returns that can be expected from an investment can be 10% to 12% whereas the interest due for credit card lies at an average of 18%. We are easily earning 6% by paying our dues on time.

Lending it to others who are in need of it is also a wise investment. It would be better if it was somebody we had known before and is in need of money for a genuine reason. This will be a help and also it yields high margin interest as the there is a huge risk undertaken by the lender without any pledging of securities by the borrower. This has encouraged the trend of peer to peer lending practice which is an online service whose goal is to bring together the lenders and the borrowers.

My personal opinion is to invest in the methods one knows very well about. Some people may be used to investing only in real estates and it will be difficult for them to be made understand about cryptocurrency. Though they will be interested in the returns, they would not know when to take the important decisions. They will end up losing a lot more money. Thus, as per the consumer decision journey, one will have to stay in the field they have good knowledge and good experience of watching the market trend. Making Porter’s 5 forces also will give an idea how the future trend might be in a particular investment. Predicting and acting early would earn more returns as the demand would have not even arisen in that current situation.

References:

http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PCPIPCH@WEO/OEMDC/

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/01/17/5-best-investment-ideas-for-2017.aspx

http://www.businessinsider.com/investing-basics-young-people-5-2014-9

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/inflation-concept-hamburger-vector-illustration-604039352?src=P17nzb3DDMRW5JN9GkvQVA-1-4

https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ba4696acc0415ef24c12d0737aa32321-c

Mathew Remodio’s blog post on “Should Vancouver further increase its current minimum wage of $11.35/hr to reach the NDP’s campaign promise of $15/hr by 2021?” is a good choice of topic to write on the current issues. Increase in wages is one way that the government can make the life more affordable in British Columbia (Bains, 2017). I find this blog very informative and interesting to read. Mathew covers most of the issues and benefits on the topic by providing his opinion. I would like to further express my views and analysis on this pressing issue.

(https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2968960.1467326620!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg)

I do agree that raising the minimum wage would reduce income disparity but it would not increase the spending power of the employees because small business who are barely breaking even would not be able to afford the wages and with no other options, they would have to increase the price of their products. People who had bought the products with the previous income would have thought that they could increase the spending power but it is possible only with the assumption that prices remain same. Now with the increase in wages, the businessmen would increase the price to cover the increased profit margin as well as their costs. There will be an increase in profit margin because they need more profit to buy products for their consumption at the higher new price. Ultimately, the employees would have to lose more money and as a result lesser spending power.

British Columbia has seen five increases to the minimum wage since 2011 after it was frozen at $8 for a decade under former premier Gordon Campbell. BC Chamber of Commerce President Val Litwin said while businesses are open to seeing wages reach $15, the four-year deadline the government has set is too soon. It is not that what works elsewhere would work in British Columbia too. Alberta will be the first province to reach the $15 per hour rate next year, while Ontario plans to reach that rate in 2019. “Just because they’re doing it doesn’t mean it’s going to be done well,” Litwin said, adding that studies out of the U.S. found increasing wages too quickly results in businesses reducing hours or cutting staff.

(http://www.policynote.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ccpa-bc_MinimumWage2016.jpg)

Hence, I would like to restate that increase in minimum wages at present would decrease the income disparity but would not increase the spending power. The government would have to take it slow, considering the after effects of establishing the law. I agree with Mathew’s opinion that a mixture between both sides must be met in order to meet equilibrium between the demand for workers in relation to the costs for their employers.

References:

Chan, C. (2017, August 16). B.C. to raise minimum wage by 50 cents an hour and promise $15 an hour by 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-to-raise-minimum-wage-by-50-cents-an-hour

Sustainability has become the most popular trend for the businesses to take up. Each of the business has a role to play in the improvement of the environment and dealing with climatic change. There are a few businesses which take sustainability as their value proposition just to make it more attractive to their political leaders, investors, and customers. They see it as a way to earn more profits. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached the milestone of 400 parts per million for the first time in 2015 and surged again to new records in 2016 (World Meteorological Organization’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin). These records will be broken again and better unless we take it to a personal account and deal with it.

Charles Eisenstein’s blog titled “Let’s be honest: real sustainability may not make business sense” depicts the major dilemma among the many: sustainability vs profit. Initially, he talks about the advantages of businesses taking Pro-environmental practices which develop positive brand image, efficiency, innovation and higher morale of employees. The writer delicately asks a question of what would happen to a company’s bottom line if it switched over to a green electricity supplier at twice the cost, making the readers contemplate deeper. He then answers by approaching each side of the case. He concludes by stating “Go green because you’ll make more profit,” which is affirmed by businessmen that profit is the right motive giving the choice of solution to the reader. Charles makes it more interesting to read by taking it to a more personal account. He opens up facts very openly and says few companies are going to adopt significant environmental ethics based on profit-driven reasons.

I find this blog to be complete as the writer also offers a completely functional and measurable solution, asking the businesses to answer questions like “Who are you, really?”, “What do you care about?” and, “What do you serve?” He hopes for a future where there is a business environment to end the opposition between profit and ecological well-being and also an introduction of Green taxes (shifting taxation away from sales and income onto pollution and resource extraction) and laws against ecocide.

Personally, I feel sustainability is a good goal for a business to look forward but has many challenges tied with it. Sustainability doesn’t necessarily be a huge change, it can be anything from Starbucks using reusable containers for their products to Levis spending years researching to reduce water consumption in the production of clothes. The huge cost and the change in the traditional way of thinking and practices make it difficult but looking at the long-term savings: A Sustainable Generation, I think it is worth the struggles.

Bibliography:

Eisenstein, C. (2014, January 08). Let’s be honest: real sustainability may not make business sense. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/sustainability-business-sense-profit-purpose

Plummer, L., & McGoogan, C. (2017, September 04). 11 terrifying climate change facts. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://www.wired.co.uk/article/climate-change-facts

Like it or not, sustainability is now core to your business. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2015/09/24/sustainability-practices-in-business-intel-unilever-wal-mart-dupont/

Hi everyone,  I am Kaartik, a first-year undergraduate student in Sauders school of business, University of British Columbia. I am aspiring to do a decent career in finance where I can play with numbers. I like going out for a jog and experience the relishing beauty of the Vancouver’s mountains and the waters meet.

STARBUCKS DOMINATION?

“Ethics is knowing the difference between the right to do and what is right to do” by Potter Stewart enlightens us the narrow distinction between what the business can do but are they supposed to? Our human minds are always programmed to innovate and create but do the aftermath of the invention worth its consequences should always be a question. A good business is a business which keeps the social welfare over the profits as its primary objective.

The basic business ethics revolve around the fair competition among other competitors in the market.  It should nurture a healthy competition, but is this being followed in the reality? Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain store with more than 12000 stores around the world, has been facing many lawsuits. The most recent one was filed by Simon Property Group owner of shopping centers across the country against Starbucks for the closing of its Teavana stores in the pretext that they have been underperforming and would continue to be the same. The underlying truth is that they have been performing well that they never lost money but not well enough for satisfying Starbucks.

The issue is that only two of the Teavana store’s lease expires out of 78 stores in the Simon Property Group. Simon says that Starbucks is breaching the lease obligations and fails to serve the people and the community in need of that. This was not the first time Starbucks took up unethical decisions. Previously it had been sued for using unhealthy competitive methods to eliminate competitors. Penny Stafford, owner of Belvi Coffee and Tea Exchange filed a lawsuit that it was using its monopoly power and paid the leases the excess of the market value if the landowner would refuse to provide occupancy for its competitors. Stafford also added it used very aggressive marketing strategies like providing free samples in front of the local coffee stores to attract the customers.

Starbucks is unethical, focusing on only the profits and not the benefits of the society. They are selfish to try to dominate the entire market with its unrestricted aim of monopoly by destroying small business in the place and increasing the consumer’s expenses by pricing high for just a cup of coffee. This goes to the wasteful disposable expenses of a consumer. Instead of paying more for the landlords to prevent other competitors, it could have productively used the money. I think Starbucks should consider little more of the society into consideration to emerge as world’s pioneer in coffee distribution.

Bibliography:

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/starbucks-sued-over-unchecked-ambition/

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/26/news/companies/starbucks/

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/retail/mall-owner-simon-sues-starbucks-over-teavana-chains-shutdown/