All posts tagged 'Hicks on Biz'
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Posted @ 3/26/2012 1:37 AM By Graham Hicks
How complicated can credit-card comparisons get?
It was a simple exercise in personal finances — I thought.
Out of all those credit cards, those thousands of credit cards, which ones offer the best value for loyalty program points?
Travel points are addictive. To qualify for trips, you end up packing every purchase possible onto your credit card.
Which is what the credit card issuer wants. Even if you never pay a dime of interest, they collect a 1% to 3% fee from the merchant as a transaction fee.
Complicated!
To keep things simple, I only compared travel-point cards to travel-points cards, and cash-back cards to cash-back cards.
At least I thought it would be simple.
To calculate the value of travel-point cards, I'd measure the number of points needed for the equivalent of a seat sale to Vancouver, say $400 excluding taxes.
And cash-back cards, what could be simpler? If you're packing $30,000 a year, or $2,500 a month onto your credit card, how much cash do you get back?
(Assu ...
Posted @ 3/16/2012 2:04 PM By Graham Hicks
A friend of mine had a kid finishing high school.
He was a smart, practical young man with a good attitude, but he didn’t have a clue what he wanted to do.
They made a practical decision.
They looked at the projected earnings for grads from NAIT’s technology programs. Off he went to enroll in the course with the highest earning potential.
Good decision. Three to four years after graduation, he’s an electrical engineering technologist.
Now 24, this young man is pulling down $100,000 a year in base salary, half that again in overtime. Plus benefits.
Welcome to Alberta, 2012, where young adults – with the right diploma and a willingness to work – are often making $100,000 a year.
There’s cause for concern – too much money, too fast, too young, unrealistic expectations, and so on.
But as long as the building boom continues in the oilsands (and it will continue, with $20 billion being spent on construction alone in 2012) , skilled ...
Posted @ 2/28/2012 9:00 PM By Graham Hicks
Now I know why Edmonton has to fight to change its own perception of itself. My first business column for the Edmonton Sun, published on Sat. Feb. 25, was about Edmonton's need to blow its own horn, to recognize that we are so darn lucky compared to just about every other mid-sized city in the world, for wages, employment, value housing, educational opportunities and so on. You would not have believed some of the negativity expressed in the "comments" section of the online story! Edmonton-deadmonton; a dark, depressing, boring, crime-ridden city; nothing to be proud of; a general population of delusional, angry, sociopathic, aggressive, antagonistic, self centered, disillusioned people; boring as hell; homelessness; price-gouging; high rents; high cost of power .... What is with these people? How have they allowed themselves to enter into such a downward spiral of negativity about the city they live in? Why, as some other readers asked, do they continue to live here? I'll tell you what. It's about them, not t ...
Posted @ 2/28/2012 8:56 PM By SuperUser Account
By Graham Hicks ,Edmonton Sun
First posted: Friday, February 24, 2012 05:10 PM MST | Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012 05:13 PM MST
I’m sick and tired of Edmonton being Canada’s forgotten city.
Every time, on every national newscast, it’s about Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
Where’s Edmonton in the national consciousness? Where’s our hustle and bustle?
Welcome to Hicks on Biz, the new weekly Edmonton Sun business column with one overriding objective — to let you, and the rest of the world, know that Edmonton is the most dynamic, fastest growing, best-quality-of-life, best-positioned-for-the-future city in Canada. And, if any of our cylinders aren’t firing as they should, constructive commentary will be offered to stay on course.
We’ll do this mainly through looking at Edmonton’s economy in cold, hard numbers.
Numbers can be manipulated, but they don’t lie. Nothing makes the case for prosperity like the number of jobs, amount ...