My challenge to the insurance industry

Posted on Monday, July 29, 2019
Shoplifting – or as it should be called, retail theft – costs Australian businesses $3.3 billion every year. That’s a staggering amount. And there’s very little business owners can do about it. I believe there’s been a shift in what people are stealing that has triggered this peak in retail theft. Previously, a crook would break into your house and steal cash or jewellery. Now with the demise of cash, thieves are looking for small, high value items that they can hawk quickly for a cash return. This has led to a recent spike in thefts of things like mobile phones and iPads from retail stores, which business owners have little choice but to write-off as a loss. My challenge to the insurance industry is to come up with a product that will allow businesses to cost-effectively insure against theft. Currently, theft insurance is impractical, given that each stolen item equates to an individual claim, and the cost of premiums and excesses often far outweigh the value of the stolen ... Read the rest of entry »

The real cost of chucking a sickie

Posted on Monday, July 22, 2019
There’s nothing more Australian than chucking a sickie after a big day at the races or a massive grand final weekend. But the cost to employers is massive and debilitating. Employee absenteeism costs Australian business $44 billion a year. That’s around $3500 per worker per annum, or around $570 per sickie. 87% of employers believe at least one employee in their business will take a day off after a sporting event each year. This is disastrous for the employer, but stacked up all those unplanned absences are also disastrous for the economy. However, most small business owners have a pretty tight relationship with their staff. When you work closely together every day, it follows that you’ll know a fair bit about each other, and what you like to do in your spare time. So instead of putting your staff in a situation where they feel they need to lie to you in order to recover from staying up all night to watch the soccer world cup or the Tour de France, why not give them the time off that th ... Read the rest of entry »

When the cashless society goes wrong

Posted on Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Around 2:30pm last Thursday, businesses across Australia were crippled by yet another Telstra outage. This time it affected credit card payments, some bank accounts and EFTPOS payments. Customers were left unable to pay for their goods and services, and businesses were left out of pocket as they couldn’t take payments. Of course, the majority of people no longer carry cash. The outage, which was blamed on a higher-than-usual level of traffic in NSW, is estimated to have cost retailers $100 million nationwide. So what can your business do to safeguard against such losses? Truth is, there aren’t a lot of options, but there are a couple. One option, which was raised by caller Louise on last night’s episode of Let’s Talk Business, is to have a system in place where you take down all of your customer’s details on a form, get them to sign it, then process the payment manually when the system comes back online. Another option would be to look at systems like Afterpay and Zip Pay, ... Read the rest of entry »

Feeling a bit richer this week?

Posted on Monday, July 8, 2019
Feeling a bit richer this week? Lots of people are, and that’s exactly how the RBA and the federal government want you to feel.   When the RBA cuts interest rates once, nobody feels any different. But a double cut is a statement.   Last week the double rate cut came through for the first time since 2012 and coupled with income tax relief, it’s having an instant impact.   Despite the fact that none of the big banks have passed on the full 0.5% cut, any mortgage-holder owing $500,000 will receive an instant benefit. There are a few hundred dollars in your pocket this month that weren’t there last month and that’ll make you feel a little richer, a little more inclined to spend and invest.   And that’s exactly the aim. The RBA is trying to get consumers to buy, and businesses to invest and employ.   The instant impact of the double rate cut and the income tax cuts is reflected in auction clearance rates, which were around 50% 12 months ago, but have ... Read the rest of entry »

Happy new financial year!

Posted on Monday, July 1, 2019
At the stroke of midnight just a few hours ago, we put last year behind us and took our first strides into the future. Overall, I think FY2019 was a good year, with significant positive momentum since Christmas, and in particular following the federal election result in May. This is borne out by the numbers, with a 10% slump in Q2 followed by 18% growth in the stock market across Q3&4. It’s been a nervy time for investors over the past 12 months, with a downturn in the property market during the first three quarters of the financial year. Therefore, investors chasing returns have had little choice but to turn to the stock market, which despite the doom and gloom, has in many cases yielded good returns. BHP is up 34% this year, Rio Tinto up 38%, Fortescue up 132%, CBA up 20%, Telstra up 56%, Transurban up 30%, and property developer Mirvac up 52%. Despite this, the RBA remains concerned about the lack of wage growth across the country with most people’s income barely keeping up with inflati ... Read the rest of entry »