General Finance News

Strawberry Frappuccinos are a summertime favorite at Starbucks (SBUX). Too bad word’s out that the lovely strawberry color is actually derived from “cochineal extract” — dried, crushed bug carcasses. Talk about a buzzkill.

A Change.org petition has helped spread the word that cochineal extract poses a major problem for vegans, since consuming crushed bugs certainly doesn’t adhere to the vegan diet.

Starbucks has owned up to the whole “Barista, there’s a bug in my frappuccino” brouhaha, defending cochineal extract as a natural ingredient. According to Gannett News Service, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said, “… the strawberry base for our Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino does contain cochineal extract, a common natural dye that is used in the food industry, and it helps us move away from artificial ingredients.”

That’s definitely not Red Dye No.

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First there was Earth Day, now for the time-crunched there’s Earth Hour, which takes place at 8:30 PM Saturday when people around the globe are asked to turn off the lights. Earth Hour began in Australia in 2007 and by last year almost two billion people in more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries had flipped the switch to call attention to climate change, according to its sponsor the World Wildlife Fund. Whether or not you join the collective effort, there are plenty of things you can do at home to save energy and money, if not the planet.

Most Americans say they turn off the lights, television or other appliances when not in use, according to a new Harris poll. And one in two people say they replace incandescent lightbulbs with fluorescent ones, use power strips, look for Energy Star when replacing appliances and reduce hot water use by taking shorter showers or doing cold water washes.

But energy-saving behaviors start to decline as the effort and expense to make them goes up.

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Over the next few posts, I will be discussing what I view to be the three primary systems of an advisory business. Just as the body has a circulatory system, a nervous system, and many others, a business can be parsed in similar fashion. As an independent advisor, the challenge is to spend an adequate amount of time on each. The three systems are: marketing, service, and operations. In this post, I will briefly cover each with the intent of taking a deeper dive over the ensuing weeks. I hope to bring you some very actionable steps which will help you in your practice. 

Primary System No. 1: Marketing

Many view this as the most important system. Truth is, you can be the best practitioner in the world, but if you don’t continue to add new clients, you have a good chance of failing.

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Real Estate Market Update

A real estate question was just ask to a group of realtors by a potential buyer prospect. The reason for the phrase potential buyer is because of the question he asked. He wanted to know if listing agents just give their listings to investors, because he cannot win a home. Now, this question surely must have some weight to it, since all realtors are not the same. However, most of the homes for sale in Casa Grande AZ get put out on the MLS and all buyers get an equal chance, yet all buyers are not equal in many aspect.

The way a buyer thinks will cause great success or great harm to them in this market. If they want the seller to take a cent less than asking the odds they will not get the real estate offer accepted. Thi

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Major indices were slightly down today, as negative economic data was released. Consumer confidence was reported to fall this month, from an indexed value of 71.6 in February to 70.2 in March. House prices fell in January, according to the Case-Shiller index. In corporate news, BP announced that it would be leasing 84,000 acres of land in Ohio for the purposes of oil and gas production. Walgreens had a rough Q2, due mostly to its split from the Express Scripts pharmacy network.

Word on the Street

• Home prices fell in January.
• While the EPAs new proposed carbon rule drew criticism, relevant stocks did not react.
• US consumer confidence fell in March.
• BP will lease a large tract of land in Ohio for the production of oil and gas.
• Walgreens Q2 earnings fell by over 7 percent.

Interesting Tidbits

Enterprise Bargaining negotiations have now concluded and a copy of the proposed new agreement should have been sent to you from the Bank along with a comprehensive document highlighting the changes that have been made.

This is the first time the FSU has been involved in bargaining at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. On your behalf the union has helped secure some important improvements to your working conditions.

At a time when other banks are cutting costs and jobs we have been able to secure for the next 3 years across the board increases to salaries for all Collective Agreement staff.

We thank our members who have engaged in the process and given feedback to inform discussions at the bargaining table.

The agreement also includes the following improvements.

In the current climate we believe this is a good deal but there is still work to be done in the next agreement, for example the bank could not be persuaded to increase its superannuation contributions despite this being an important issue to members at the bank.

The best way to make sure we achieve greater improvements in the future and secure the entitlements that have been won this time, is through the collective strength of your union.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for manufactured goods rose less than expected in February and a gauge of future business investment also fell short of forecasts, Commerce Department data showed on Wednesday.

Durable goods orders rose 2.2 percent last month, only partially reversing Januarys revised 3.6 percent decline.

Economists had forecast orders rising 3.0 percent last month.

Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.

Excluding transportation, orders climbed 1.6 percent. Economists had expected that reading to increase 1.7 percent.

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Communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) has agreed to acquire privately held BroadLight Inc. for $195 million in a transaction that is essentially all-cash except for certain unvested BroadLight options. There is an additional $10 million earn-out provided certain performance conditions are met.

BroadLight, which is incorporated in the US and operates in Israel, makes “highly integrated networking and fiber access PON (Passive Optical Network) processors.” Broadcom believes the acquisition puts the company in a better position to take advantage of the forecast for explosive growth in demand for high-bandwidth communications.

Broadcom expects the acquisition to be revenue-neutral in the 2012 fiscal year. Bro

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