From the Wealth section of The Australian in December Be careful about the fine print in balance transfers, reports Ed Charles
journalism
In The Black: The house always wins
For In the Black in December 2005. Ed Charles tells why reverse mortgages should be handled with care, and vetted by professionals. This is a story about how a new car or a cruise might cost pensioners their home. It’s about the lucrative reverse mortgage, where banks will lend up to 45 per cent of a home’s value and compound the interest over a pensioner’s lifetime. It’s about the gap between compounded interest rates and increasing property values. And about […]
The Australian: The fat of the land
From the Entrepreneur supplement. David Blackmore is a farmer with a difference – he’s prepared to outsource, writes Ed Charles
Religion: tread carefully in business overseas
Commissioned for an advertising report on The Australian that didn’t go ahead. Already companies investing is Asia have had to be savvy recognising whether they are working with the aggressively entrepreneurial Chinese or supposedly laid back Buddhist cultures. Asian is a cultural melting pot in terms of race and religion. About 88 per cent of Indonesians are Muslim. In Malaysia the figure is 56 percent, Singapore 14.9 per cent and Thailand 4.6 per cent. Thailand is dominated by Buddhists (88 […]
Super insurance: Do you need it
Commissioned by The Australian for an advertising report that was spiked. Insurance and superannuation are two of those necessities that most of us choose to ignore. We are baffled by the concepts let alone the detail in the small print. In short, these products are not friendly to the average consumer. Yet it is the average consumer that needs to know most about both of these topics. Since the introduction of super choice on July 1 this year it has […]
The Australian: Snobbery goes with the terroir
Snobbery goes with territory when it comes to wine price – AGRIBUSINESS – SPECIAL REPORT By Ed Charles
Snobbery comes with the terroir
Stephen Shelmerdine: prices influenced by the tangible and the intangible I’d link to this story I wrote for The Australian but can’t find one. So here is the unedited version: Take two wines from the same region, a few kilometres apart. Both are top-notch drops. One costs $30; the other nearer $50. Stephen Shelmerdine, managing director, Shelmerdine wines, with vineyards in Heathcote and the Yarra Valley, says it’s a marketing decision. “But it’s informed by a range of factors some […]
In The Black: Share and share alike
When workers own shares in their companies they are motivated and loyal. So why are Australian companies failing to catch on? From In The Black November 2005 Power to the people. Get them to buy shares. Even better, give them shares in the company for which they work. The staff are no longer revolting. They’re quite nice now, work harder and everybody is richer. That’s how it works in the UK and the US, where employees are raking it in. […]
The Australian: Emitch
Original unsubbed copy for The Australian. October 2005. In business timing is everything. During the dot.com boom it seemed like the best idea ever to launch agency specialising in buying advertising space online. Emitch, a spin-off from real world media buyer Mitchell & Partners, listed on the ASX in March 2000, and soon after the market crashed. Its shares fell 27.5 per cent to 87 cents then plunged. The next three years were spent with its share price bumping along […]