My finance view

Tesla Motors Inc. has shown potential investors "freaking bad ass" plans for electric SUVs, cabriolets and vans to follow its planned sedan.

The potential new models are shown in a road show given by CEO Elon Musk leading up to the expected $185 million initial public offering by the company on June 29. Toyota Motor Corp. has pledged to buy another $50 million in Tesla stock after the IPO.

"Freaking bad ass" is how he describes the variations on the Model S sedan the Palo Alto expects to start making in 2012 at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont. To see the Tesla IPO presentation click here.

Unlike the company's only existing electric car that it has actually delivered, the Roadster, the sedan and other models shown in the road show would be completely built by Tesla. The sports car body and frame is now produced by Lotus, whose British factory is closing for renovations before Tesla can produce its sedan, causing a gap during which the company will be delivering no cars.

Tesla last week discussed in a blog posting how it plans to build the sedan at the NUMMI plant.

If the Toyota-Tesla partnership proceeds as outlined, the companies could also be producing electric vehicles together in Fremont, with speculation centering on an all-electric version of the hybrid Prius.

Toyota's announcement last week that it plans to restart a plant in Mississippi to build Corollas has fueled further speculation that hybrid Prius manufacturing could happen at the plant the Japanese auto maker abandoned in April. The Mississippi plant had once been touted for Prius production as well.

To read more of the Business Journal's in-depth coverage of Tesla, click here.

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You retired. But that was then. Now things have changed, and you want — or need — to return to the workforce. Jumping back in may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be, says Age Wave CEO Ken Dychtwald, an expert on boomers and aging. The challenge of finding a job — again — isn’t just about the mechanics, like writing a résumé for the first time in years or convincing a potential employer that you’re a better hire than the perky young college grad he just interviewed. It’s also about altering your mindset and realizing that this may be a new beginning. Here’s Dychtwald’s advice on how to make your way back onto a company payroll without too much stress.

Reframe what work means

Having to go back to the office when you dreamed for years about puttering in your garden or volunteering can be frustrating, even depressing. But retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. For most productive, well-educated men and women, an average of 25 years of "leisure" can be terribly isolating and boring; returning to work may turn out to be a blessing after all. Remember that work is good not only for the cash flow but also keeping the mind and spirit sharp.

Don’t play the youth game

This is an area where people make a lot of mistakes Payday Loan for Bad Credit. They dye their hair (if they have any), get some hip, new, young clothes — even though they might not fit — and try to use the jargon and style of youth. That doesn’t work. A better idea: Go on the offensive and sell yourself as a mature person. Stress your capacity to make smart decisions, your good judgment in managing people, your contributions in brainstorming and business development, and your lifetime connections. This is your advantage.

Target industries with older clients

70% of all money in banks is held by people over 50. That’s an example of an industry that’s finally coming to realize that a 60-year-old client might actually appreciate dealing with a 60-year-old banker. Other sectors likely to welcome a more mature approach: adventure travel, luxury cars, lifelong learning, or retail.

–A psychologist, gerontologist, speaker, and author of 16 books, Ken Dychtwald, CEO of Age Wave, advises large companies on developing products and services for the aging population. 

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LSI Industries announced Tuesday that it will close its LSI Greenlee Lighting plant in Dallas and consolidate the operations in Cincinnati.

The Dallas plant employs 40. The closing will take place in phases over six months, with about five to six engineering and sales employees remaining in Dallas, said Chief Financial Officer Ron Stowell. The plant manufactures outdoor architectural and landscape lighting, he said.

LSI said in a news release that it is consolidating the operations to centralize its manufacturing operations, lower costs and improve how it uses space in its Cincinnati plant. Besides its Dallas and Cincinnati plants, LSI has 13 other facilities in the U payday advance low fees.S. and Canada.

The company said it will try to sublease the 40,000-square-foot Dallas plant. Its lease on the building extends to February 2012.

LSI Industries (NASDAQ: LYTS), headquartered in Blue Ash, designs and manufactures lighting fixtures and graphic elements for the retail, specialty niche and commercial markets. The company posted sales of $53.5 million and a net loss of $2.5 million for its fiscal third quarter.

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The Wichita school board on Monday will consider a list of more than $7.5 million in proposed budget cuts that would include laying off 117 workers.

USD 259 Superintendent John Allison announced the possible cuts Thursday as the district wrestles with cutting $25 million from its 2010-11 budget. The district has been notifying affected personnel this week of the possible jobs cuts.

“This has been difficult as we have informed employees that they may no longer have a job because it not only affects them, it affects their families and the economy,” Allison said in a statement. “We can’t make these kinds of cuts without cutting positions or affecting programs. Each cut that we make has a direct impact on students, teachers and our schools.”

The district is proposing to eliminate 44 learning services staff positions, 15 facilities staff members, five safety services personnel and three human resources positions, among others.

Other proposed cuts include eliminating the district’s drivers’ education program, eliminating job sharing positions at the elementary level and closing the Metro-Midtown Alternative High School, which was announced April 14 and could save $1 million.

To date, the district has recommended $14.2 million in cuts, which leaves another $10.7 million to slash.

Allison notified district employees of the proposed cuts in an e-mail Thursday afternoon.

“It is with great sadness that I share with you the next phase of budget reductions,” Allison wrote.

Allison said the proposed cuts were not taken lightly.

“I said from the beginning of this very difficult budget process that we would make necessary cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, and I can assure you we have worked to do just that,” Allison wrote. “However, we have now reached the point that people and classrooms are directly impacted.”

The district will be finalizing its list of cuts in the coming weeks as it prepares to adopt its budget for next year.

Proposed phase one budget cuts include changing start and end times at eight schools beginning next year, which represents $2.5 million in savings.

Phase two reductions include reducing overtime, eliminating the remaining four school resource officers at the district’s middle schools and suspending the Grow Your Own Teacher program. Those proposals equal $4.2 million.

Allison’s recommendations Thursday represent two additional phases of cuts, one totaling $5.2 million and the other $2.3 million.

Additional cuts will be shared in May, along with recommendations concerning the reductions schools must make. The district won’t know the total amount it has to cut until the Kansas Legislature finalizes its budget.

USD 259 is Wichita's third-largest employer with 9,343 employees district wide, according to a Wichita Business Journal list that published in January.

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The National Federation of Independent Business is backing U.S. Sen. John McCain in his primary race against former Scottsdale Congressman J.D. Hayworth.

NFIB represents small businesses and tends to take a conservative stance on taxes and regulations.

NFIB likes McCain’s position on taxes and opposition to union-backed efforts to make it easier to organize.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry also backing McCain in the senate race.

“Small businesses are the engine and lifeblood of our economy, providing the vast majority of jobs and opportunities for people across Arizona, and I am proud to have the support of the NFIB,” said McCain in a statement. “I fight every day to get government out of the way of our dynamic private sector and get our economy moving again. I admire the important work of the NFIB, and look forward to partnering with them to ensure that our small businesses thrive and become engines for job creation once again.”

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Greece’s unions will shut down hospitals, airports and schools today in the country’s second general strike this year to protest Prime Minister George Papandreou’s latest round of budget cuts to curb the European Union’s biggest deficit.

An air-traffic controllers’ walkout will force the cancellation of flights, including 479 from Athens International Airport, the country’s largest. Bus and subway drivers, doctors, power workers, journalists and teachers will stop work to protest 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) of wage cuts and tax increases that have been praised by investors and the European Union. Policemen and firemen will don their uniforms to join a march to parliament.

“The measures taken so far are unjust, demanding sacrifices from workers that aren’t being demanded from the employers, businessmen and bankers that created this crisis,” said Stathis Anestis, spokesman for the GSEE union, which represents 2 million workers in the private sector.

Today’s 24-hour strike is the latest protest against the government since the announcement of a third package of budget measures last week. On March 5, striking workers shut down transport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakers passed the cuts that Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said will show EU allies and investors that Greece is making good on its deficit pledges.

Road Show

Papandreou returns to Athens today after visits to Germany, France and the U.S. to underline the government’s efforts to trim the deficit and drum up support for his call to regulate derivatives. He says the securities have deepened the Greek fiscal crisis, driving up borrowing costs for the country.

Investors and EU officials have ratcheted up pressure on Greece to do more to ensure it meets its deficit target of 8.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, from 12.7 percent in 2009, as the country sinks deeper into recession. Greece will announce final fourth-quarter GDP today after a preliminary report on Feb. 12 showed the economy contracted 2.6 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier.

The Athens benchmark general index has gained 6 percent since the latest measures were announced on March 3, outperforming other western European benchmarks. Bonds have rallied. The yield on the new Greek 10-year benchmark due June 2020 fell 5 basis points yesterday to 6.25 percent, according to EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA prices. The two-year note yield fell 11 basis points to 4 instant credit report.76 percent.

Euro Suffers

Concerns about Greece’s ability to tame the budget gap prompted speculation that the country would need a bailout and could be forced to abandon the single currency. The euro has declined almost 5 percent this year as Greece’s financial woes raised questions about the strength of monetary union.

Greece on Feb. 12 revised down its GDP data for the first three quarters of 2009, with the economy shrinking 2 percent last year compared with a government forecast of a 1.2 percent contraction. Economists say that the tax increases and wage cuts, while necessary, are likely to be a further drag on growth this year, echoing arguments from the labor unions. The Finance Ministry said yesterday that the economy may contract more than 0.8 percent this year, compared with a 0.3 percent contraction forecast in the January deficit plan.

Bank Earnings

Eurobank and National Bank of Greece SA may report their lowest quarterly profit in at least five years as loan losses mount during the economic slump. Eurobank, the country’s second- largest lender, may say today that fourth-quarter net income fell to 3.7 million euros, according to the average of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Papandreou’s approval rating slipped more than 10 percentage points over the last two months as he unveiled the raft of budget measures, a poll showed on March 9. He still commands the support of a majority of Greeks, with 52 percent having a positive opinion of him, according to the survey by GPO pollsters for Mega Television.

Almost 60 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the latest budget cuts and more than 65 percent said the measures were “unfair.” In a Kapa Research poll for To Vima newspaper on March 7, which also showed Papandreou with majority support, 86.9 percent said the measures would provoke social unrest.

“The protests, unrest and violence all this time are instigated by those who are attempting to preserve for their own benefit all the ills that resulted in the Greek people being beggars to international markets,” Dimitris Daskalopoulos, head of the Athens-based Federation of Greek industries said in a speech yesterday. “Who are they calling on us to protest against and demand from? Is it maybe against ourselves?”

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Call it financial literacy for the rich.

Bank of Montreal’s private banking division will start offering cross-Canada seminars next month specially designed for affluent adults, including those who marry into money.

The invitation-only program enables a high net-worth client to enrol a spouse or another adult relative in a financial boot camp of sorts that teaches the basics of money management and keeping the family fortune intact.

BMO’s "Financial Focus" part-day seminars tackle a variety of day-to-day issues such as budgeting, mortgages, banking, cash-flow management, credit, investing and estate planning.

It launched the program at the urging of its well-off clients. Many believe a spouse or an adult family member lacks experience with personal finances, said Sara Plant, vice-president and national director of wealth services with BMO Harris Private Banking.

"We’re often having very personal discussions with them about their families. And in those discussions, it comes to light that our clients are experiencing some kind of change or transition," Plant said.

"There may be a marriage, a divorce, a death in the family, an inheritance or selling a business, a retirement – these are sort of transitional changes that we find our clients up against."

A high net-worth client is someone with investable assets of at least $500,000. The new spousal seminars are the latest evolution of a program the bank launched last year to educate rich youth, aged 18 to 25, on money management.

Its staff had received a flood of requests for training. Some clients worried their children would squander inheritances, while others believed their offspring were "under the influence" of an untrustworthy person such as a devious spouse or business partner.

"Individual clients have said, `I know you’ve got one for young people, but do you have one for adults to deal with the issues that we face?’" Plant said.

The bank held a pilot version of its new adult course in Toronto on Nov. 3. Women mostly attended but the seminar is geared toward both sexes. Sessions will be held in major cities from February to April cash advance payday loans.

BMO is not the only bank coaching clients on coping with the pressures of being rich. TD Waterhouse Private Client Services offers special seminars for wealthy women called "Securing Your Future" and a guide book for the children of prosperous clients.

Its high net-worth planning group, meanwhile, provides a "Monte Carlo" analysis to clients – a computer simulation that outlines the trade-offs between short-term wants and long-term capital preservation.

"The first million dollars seems like it will last forever, which isn’t true," said Dave Kelly, group head of the Private Investment Counsel at TD Waterhouse Private Client Services. "For anyone who is new into wealth – whether that’s a lottery win, inheriting or marrying into – … the concept of $5 million, $10 million, $20 million is awfully hard to appreciate when you haven’t had it before."

Last month, RBC Private Banking launched a financial literacy kit for clients’ children, in addition to individual education sessions. "One of their top concerns is preserving wealth for future generations," RBC says.

The Bank of Nova Scotia’s Private Client Group, meanwhile, held a one-day money management pilot program called "Let’s Talk $" for its clients’ adult kids, aged 22 to 27, in November. It will hold at least two more seminars this year and one will be in Toronto.

A number of foreign banks, including Citigroup, JP Morgan and UBS, are also offering so-called "affluenza" courses. Those programs teach skills such as distinguishing between gold diggers and true friends, according to press reports.

Barron’s, meanwhile, ran a 2005 story stating the "Brat Patrol" was the new "battleground" for private bankers. "Among wealthy parents and their bankers, the rallying cry is: `Don’t let the kids become the next Paris Hilton,’" the article said.

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Personal income posted its largest gain in half a year in November and spending by individuals rose for a second straight month, according to government data released Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said income climbed by 0.4%, or $49.7 billion, during the month, after an upwardly revised 0.3% rise in October. That was the biggest gain since May, when it rose 1.5%. The figure was still below a consensus estimate of a 0.5% rise collected by Briefing.com.

Spending by individuals rose 0.5% last month, or $47.9 billion, below analysts’ expectations of a 0.7% hike. Personal spending was up 0 emergency payday loan.6% in October.

Personal savings totaled $521.1 billion in November, or 4.7% of disposable income, compared to $516.7 billion in October.

The report came one day after the government said that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew 2.2% in the third quarter.

Tuesday’s report showed that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economy, was weaker than previously thought. 

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Home building is picking up once again in the St. Louis region.

The number of permits for new single-family homes jumped 69 percent in November from the same month last year, according to new figures from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis.

The sharp jump was due in part to better weather, and to an exceptionally slow November last year, but it was the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year gains and echoed a national increase reported last week.

The numbers add to the growing sentiment that the market for new homes has bottomed out and that the supply of new construction is coming back into line with demand, after overbuilding in recent years. That has some market-watchers predicting a home building rebound in the spring.

Still, the market has a long way to go to return to past heights. For the year through November, local permits were running 17 percent behind last year’s pace and two-thirds off their peak in 2005.

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Return policies aren’t what they used to be in the days of Timothy Eaton’s "goods satisfactory or money refunded."

Leon’s Furniture Ltd. has a policy that all sales are final on appliances and electronics products, as Bryan Richards found when he brought back his mother’s Toshiba TV within two weeks.

"The channels would not change, the screen would go blank and the controls would freeze," he said.

While he was told the return policy was printed on the back of the invoice, he said it wasn’t displayed prominently in the store or explained to him before the purchase.

Leon’s spokesman Bruce Bergeron said the store succeeded in getting a replacement through Toshiba.

"Thanks for your intervention," Richards said.

"We have learned a valuable lesson, which I will pass along to friends and relatives."

Peter Coutts was helping his parents with a Sealy mattress bought at Leon’s last year.

"I successfully got Sealy to replace one mattress because the defect met their criteria (a measured amount of sagging)," he said.

A few months later, the replacement was also sagging. His parents couldn’t get a good night’s sleep.

Bergeron said Sealy had agreed to "look after the consumer and offer a reselection," even though the second mattress did not meet the terms for replacement.

Coutts said his parents would follow through on the exchange of the old mattress, even though they had lost confidence in Sealy products.

"I would rate Leon’s a five out of 10 in after-sale service," he said. "They don’t provide direct numbers for service representatives (you must go through the main switchboard), nor do they provide email addresses."

Sandeep Nigam wrote to me when he was denied a refund of a $20 prepaid Rogers card that he purchased at a No Frills grocery store quick guaranteed personal loans.

The cashier had scanned the card – thereby activating it – after it had fallen onto the conveyor belt in error.

He did not want a Rogers card and did not notice the charge on his grocery bill until after he got home.

Although he came back within a half hour, No Frills said he had to deal with Rogers.

Meanwhile, Rogers said the prepaid cards were nonrefundable and he had to take it up with the store manager.

Things were resolved quickly when I forwarded his email to Loblaw Cos. Ltd., which owns No Frills.

"We have offered the customer a $20 gift card and he is returning the Rogers card," said spokeswoman Karen Gumbs.

Anne Hamilton asked for help with Air Miles.

Her father had booked a free flight to Phoenix this Christmas, but did not realize that he had a conflict with his curling team’s final games.

When he called to reschedule, he was told he’d have to pay a $209.50 change fee to the airline and declined to do so.

"Given that he has a personal commitment that cannot be moved to another date, Air Miles will absorb all the change fees charged by the airline so he is able to attend his event," said Shawna Rossi, a spokeswoman for the loyalty program.

Before you buy, always ask: Can I return this? Is there a deadline? Will I get a full or partial refund? This can help avoid surprises later.

Write to onyourside@thestar.ca or check the On Your Side blog at www.ellenroseman.com

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