The article by Tom Mcllroy in last Friday’s Financial Review entitled Manufacturing key to recovery from Virus hit1 may have seemed extravagant even by the current standards of grand political soundbites.
As one of the last of the baby boomers, born in 1964, and now having been in business for 38 years (anniversary was 21st September), I was reflecting - an activity that seems to be increasing with age! My life expectancy in 1964 was 67.6. To prove the point when I was just 6 my grandfather on my Dad’s side, John McGrath, tragically died suddenly from a heart attack age 66, a few months after retiring!
Richer, Older and Lonelier: How we have changed – an article from the AFR shines a light on the changing attitudes and behaviours of many Australians.
A report out of Melbourne indicates that Australians are working well into their 60’s and delaying retirement. Michael Read in the AFR reported that “in 2003, almost 70 percent of men and close to half of all women aged 60-64 were retired. In 2023 these figures had fallen to 41 percent and 27 percent respectively.”
Sometimes the best business stories start with a simple "why not?"
That's exactly what happened when Luke Petherbridge, a Sydney-raised finance guy, got asked if he'd consider moving to Cleveland, Ohio. Fast-forward a few years, and he's now running Link Logistics - one of America's largest logistics operations with 1,100 staff, 3,500 buildings, and a staggering statistic: roughly 5% of US GDP flows through their facilities.
Australia is getting older! Next year 22% of Australians will be aged 65 or older. This is up from 16% in 2020, this was double the 8% in 1970s. The reasons for the spike are the spike in the birth rate after the war (the baby boomers), as well as falling birth rates, however, on a positive note Australians are living 30 years longer than they were a century ago!
Businesses in the Australian mid-market, of which there are 300,000 have a combined annual revenue of 41.trillion dollars making average of 10.4% net profit before tax. However, 20% of all operating businesses in Australia don’t make any profit! In this blog we address the very real question facing those owners who are not making any profit, is my business worth anything?