| Higher deposit rates a silver lining
HIGHER interest rates translate into hip-pocket pain for borrowers but can also mean higher yields for deposit accounts - however, you do have to shop around. Banks have already proven sluggish in raising rates on deposit accounts, while showing no such hesitation in hiking mortgage rates when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the official cash rate in August and November. Figures published earlier this month by the RBA show rates on a variety of savings account products offered by the five major banks have failed to keep step with lending rates, and in some instances have actually fallen. After the November rate rise, rates for bonus savings accounts with minimum balances of $10,000 rose by 0.15 percentage points and online savings accounts by just 0.1 percentage points.
Family businesses need to avoid favoritism
This will permit them to gain a perspective on how the business world works outside a family setting. Problems and differences of opinion are common in a family business. It is important to keep the lines of communication clear. Weekly meetings to assess progress and air differences work well for many family firms. Drawing some lines between business and family life will also help. Limit business discussions outside the office. Save them for an appropriate time - not at a family get-together. .
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT: Rhodes floats land plan Homebuilder sets ...
KINGMAN, Ariz. -- It's apparently going to take more than a sluggish economy, a mortgage loan crisis and a housing market that's been put to sleep to keep Southern Nevada homebuilder Jim Rhodes off the radar in northwest Arizona. Some 300 people crowded into a Kingman middle school cafeteria on Thursday for the unveiling of the master-planned community Rhodes wants to develop on 5,000 acres in nearby Golden Valley, about 110 miles south of Las Vegas. Eight hundred people hold reservations for lots in Pravada, which could total as many as 25,000 homes at full build-out, roughly four times as many as Rhodes has built over the years in Las Vegas. Rhodes Homes Arizona Vice President Chris Stephens expressed confidence that about 2,000 homes will be built there within five years.
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