Category: General news

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, the global phenomenon that enables people to bypass the banks and borrow online directly from each other, is taking off in Australia thanks to SocietyOne. Australia’s only P2P lending platform, SocietyOne today announced the expansion of its plans to help more Australians save on personal credit, starting with a new personal loan rate for prime borrowers that’s more than 5% lower than the major banks.

Reduced rates and lower fees are only part of SocietyOne’s mission, which empowers both borrowers and investors by cutting out the banks and offering everyone a fairer deal.

Two years ago, SocietyOne began attracting investors who wanted a share in the slice of the banks’ $27.4 billion profits while offering a better deal to borrowers. It is now expanding with personal loans of $5,000-$30,000 available to qualifying borrowers via its easy-to-use website, offering a rapid response and a better deal.

SocietyOne has introduced a special discount interest rate of 1.25% below its standard rates for fixed unsecured personal loans. The result is a market-leading headline comparison rate of 9.80%pa for borrowers with excellent credit. This rate applies to A-rated customers and is a full 5.48%pa lower than the average personal loan rate from the big four banks*. Unlike the banks, this special limited time offer comes with no application fee, monthly maintenance fee or early pre-payment fee, demonstrating the power of P2P lending to provide transparency and fairness to all parties.

“Borrowers used to have few choices in consumer finance. Now there is another, better option if you’re a creditworthy borrower. We can offer you a cheaper loan through risk-adjusted pricing and a 100% online application process,” said SocietyOne co-founder and CEO, Matt Symons.

“Our advanced technology platform allows us to shift the power to regular Australians and totally change the way you apply for and receive a loan. This means a simple online application and the best possible interest rate which is based on your circumstances, not one-size-fits-all,” he said.

P2P lending has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry around the world, fuelled by people who are tired of the power of the big institutions and are looking for a better deal. SocietyOne is Australia’s only active P2P lender, and like other P2P companies around the world, it lets qualified investors compete for parts of a loan.

As a P2P lender, SocietyOne connects investors directly with creditworthy borrowers in a way that is simple, secure and confidential. It takes the complexity out of applying for a traditional bank loan whilst its lower operating cost advantage means it can reward borrowers with good credit with better rates through risk-adjusted pricing.

Successful borrowers on SocietyOne have included people looking to fund their wedding, car loans, and young medical graduates looking to fund an overseas holiday.

To learn more, please visit http://www.societyone.com

About SocietyOne

SocietyOne is Australia’s leading Peer-to-Peer technology platform where high credit quality borrowers can connect directly with sophisticated investors to get a better deal. The SocietyOne ClearMatchTM platform reduces the cost of originating and managing a consumer loan portfolio. SocietyOne is able to share this operating cost advantage with borrowers and investors. SocietyOne’s unsecured personal loan has been recognised as one of the Top 10 most Innovative Banking Products of the year in Australia and its SmartLoan mobile app was awarded “Best of Show” at Finovate Asia in November of 2012. To learn more about SocietyOne, go to http://www.societyone.com.au

Baby boomers rate companionship higher than government assistance, says Red Cross.

A survey of more than a thousand Australians has shown that baby boomers are our first generation to rate companionship higher than government assistance.

According to a recent survey by Red Cross, baby boomers not only expect to live longer, but they plan to live in their own homes with a partner well into their eighties, and want regular visits and phone calls.

A third of all people over 55 (31%), rate a regular visitor higher than extra assistance from government, or access to a retirement community.

Young people rate companionship even higher than their parents.

Looking ahead to when they are older, 40% of 30-34 year olds think a regular visitor will be more important to them than extra government assistance, or moving into a retirement community.

The survey also shows friends and family can’t always be relied on to stay in touch.

Nearly half of the survey respondents (44%) admit they do not ring an elderly friend or relative more than once a month; and 22% said they never ring and older friend or relative at all.

Only 5% of people surveyed rang an elderly relative or friend on a daily basis.

According to Red Cross Chief Executive, Robert Tickner ‘There’s growing desire for older people to stay at home.

‘Red Cross provides a free, daily phone call to thousands of elderly people in Australia just to check they’re OK’ says Mr Tickner.

‘Our ability to maintain and grow this phone service will be vital to ensure that the increasing number of older people living alone will not go unnoticed in an emergency.

‘We also have a range of companionship programs using trained volunteers to regularly visit isolated, older people to ensure they stay connected with their local communities and services.

‘All of these programs rely on the generosity of people who donate to Red Cross.

‘We all trust Red Cross to be there during disasters but now, more than ever, we need to be working in local communities every day to help elderly people who are doing it tough on their own.

Red Cross is asking everyone to dig deep before the 30th June to support the everyday work of Red Cross.

To make a tax deductible donation by June 30 call 1800 811 700, visit our mobile enabled web site at redcross.org.au or text ‘Help’ to 0448 DONATE (366283).

Ever wondered, why is it hotter in summer and colder in winter? Does the Sun move further away this time of year? No, the Sun doesn’t move, it’s us that changes position. Now, this once seemed to make sense because the Earth is furthest from the Sun in the middle of the Aussie winter but in fact our temperature is not really affected by distance from the Sun.

While it’s true that the Earth-Sun distance varies during the year, the difference in distance is not enough to account for the temperature swing between the summer and winter seasons, and vice versa. Although Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t quite circular, the difference between the farthest and nearest separation is only three percent.

As we all learned in school, the seasons are due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the imaginary line passing through the Earth’s north and south poles. So in winter, Australia is pointing slightly backwards from the Sun and folks in the Northern hemisphere are pointing forward. By the way, the earth isn’t a perfect sphere. It spins, so it’s a flattened at the poles a little bit. That difference of 43 kilometres.

It’s June, and if we can keep the clouds and rain away this will be an incredible week to enjoy some peaceful and relaxing time under the Moon and stars. The skies are clear and yes it’s always cold this time of the year but have you noticed, the stars seem to tinkle a whole lot more? They do, but stars don’t really twinkle! It’s an optical illusion.

If you were in space stars would be just bright, unblinking points of light. It’s our atmosphere which scatters the starlight before it reaches your eye, causing that ‘twinkling’ effect. Astronomers use this twinkling effect to calculate what the seeing is going to be like from one night to the next.

When you see a star low down on the horizon twinkling like crazy you can bet it’s not going to be a good night for the telescope. We’ve been having a lot of bad weather lately and the atmosphere is unsteady outside. If a star halfway up the sky twinkles a lot it’s time to watch that video you’ve been putting off.

By the way, all the stars you see in the night sky are all within our own Milky Way galaxy, you can’t see any outside it except with the world’s most powerful telescopes. The next time you stare up and try to count them remember this, there are more stars in the Universe than heartbeats for every human being who ever lived! True, that’s a big number and it’s a pretty big place.

While you’re stargazing don’t forget to have a seat. You’ll see more if you sit while viewing. For one, this allows you more time to relax and examine the field of view. Your body is not concentrating on balancing in the dark. Relaxing while viewing lets you mind concentrate more on the view. Take the strain off your body so your brain can fully enjoy the wonders of the heavens.

Hey, most people will be amazed that, under the right conditions, you can see the planet Venus in daytime. The planet appears as a tiny white dot, which often seems to ‘pop’ out at you once you find it. The contrast between planet and sky is much lower during the day, making the planet hard to see, but most smart phones have apps now that let you find planets in the sky anytime. Try it.

Westender’s recent story about Paul Judd recovering his lost super had a twist in the tail. His insurance policy disappeared while when his superannuation was rolled and it took a bit of juggling to get himself properly covered again.

Branch Manager of Yellow Brick Road West End, Suzy Butterworth explained that insurance is one of the most sensitive areas around superannuation. “We’ll often leave an old super account open, and just drip feed it, to maintain a valuable insurance policy,” she said.

The challenge is that people’s circumstances change. As you age you become a greater insurance risk and people with chronic illness often find it difficult to get the policy they need, at a premium they can afford. Superannuation funds can pay for life insurance and income protection insurance among other things. Insurance companies have to honour their policies even when your circumstances change, as long as you maintain the policy.

By rolling your superannuation over, you will generally cancel the insurance policy and be subject to new conditions based on the current insurance market and your age and state of health. This could be a significant disadvantage.

Ms Butterworth said people suddenly wake up to the challenges of superannuation and can react too quickly.

At 41, Paul is beginning to calculate the amount he can save over the years that he will enjoy working.

“I want to retire before seventy,” he said.

His mistake, though, was to respond to an email that offered to consolidate his superannuation money, automatically.

“I was uninsured, I did not know where my super was and I did not have any idea how my money was invested,” said Mr Judd.

Ms Butterworth helped Paul find his super, sort out the insurance and invest more aggressively than the average managed fund, that matched his appetite for risk, to yield a higher return and give him a better lifestyle in his retirement.

“You have to choose between spending less now, spending less later, or working longer,” she said. As we age, the options begin to narrow, so the key is to start early.

“If Paul had come to me ten years ago, he would be in a completely different position,” said Ms Butterworth.

She told Westender that some of the people in the worst position with their super took their money out of managed funds after the Global Financial Crisis, and have missed out on the subsequent bounce. That, though, is a story for another day.

Building on last week’s challenge set by Matthew Snelleksz to delegate tasks, Westender’s Business Voice followed up by looking at some of the challenges we face when delegating. This article from Beyond Philosophy’s Colin Shaw, generated some animated discussion about how to create an environment where staff meet challenges on their own without coming back to the boss all the time.

Change is the only certainty in this world today and the pace of change is ever increasing. We all know that change isn’t easy. Every day that passes we need to deal with an increasing amount of ambiguity. Ambiguity creates complexity and means decision making is difficult. Ambiguity creates uncertainty and stress. However, to be successful in business today you need to be good at dealing with ambiguity. How well do you deal with it?

Are you like me? I have a structured mind. I like things in order. I like things to be black and white. But over the years I have learned that life isn’t like that. I always remember a number of years ago when I was working in the corporate world I was discussing with my boss the latest in a series of reorganizations. I had just been promoted into senior management and I was trying to understand what my responsibilities would be. With my personality, as you can imagine, I wanted it to be clear, black and white… I always remember my boss looking at me and saying “Colin, in a senior position you need to deal with ambiguity”. At the time, the feedback hurt a bit, but as I reflected on this conversation I realised he was 100% right and over the years I have learnt to deal with ambiguity.

I know I am not alone in this struggle as people like certainty. People like a definitive yes or no; right and wrong; many people like to paint by numbers, to have it laid down in front of them…. You need to do A, then B, etc.

Increasingly, though, the business world isn’t like that. Business today is becoming more and more complex. For example, matrix organizations often blur the lines of responsibility and leadership. There are many internal complexities in corporate life and there are many more external complications. We now deal with a growing number of multi-channels with customers, each with their own set of priorities and responsibilities. Even the relationships you have with your competitors aren’t cut and dried. There are some companies that you compete with in one market but collaborate with in another. And any single item mentioned here could change tomorrow with little warning, replaced instead with a new challenge.

Recently I have reflected on the fact my clients also feel the pressure of managing a complex business world. For example, I have just finished a Customer Experience Management Certification course with one of the largest companies in the world. Their people were looking for a ‘recipe book’ of things to tell them how and when they must do things; a step-by-step guide for the customer experience that is broken down in the same way a Lego set explains how the pile of plastic bricks can be constructed into a fire engine or the Death Star. They wanted to be told, do this then that.

To this client I was deeply empathetic but sadly unable to comply!

I told them that improving the Customer Experience is not like that. It is complex. There is no set guide for it. If there was, everyone would be doing it already. Over the weeks in our training we gave them a series of tools, the ingredients they need to progress and we told them they now have to apply these tools in the best way. Sometimes they don’t fit exactly and you have to adapt them to the situation. We made the point that this means they need to think about it and decide which tool is best for each occasion. In other words, they have to make a judgement call. I have to say they were initially concern but after coaching became comfortable in this new environment.

This is why in a world where your competition can also be your partner, where we have worldwide matrix management, where a company’s goals can be conflicting, a major skill that everyone needs to learn is dealing with ambiguity. So how well do you deal with it?

Melanie Allen, a Life Coach who specializes in Career Development, has an interesting article called, “Dealing with Ambiguity and Developing Resilience” that covers this topic well. She advises that the best leaders are those that rise to the challenge of ambiguity and respond with confidence and adaptability.

I agree with Melanie but what she suggests doing and actually doing it can be more challenging than it sounds.

Here are my 10 tips for dealing with ambiguity for today’s leaders. As you read these consider how well you perform against these.

1. Suppress your urge to control things. People like to feel in control of their businesses. Often, this results in stress when ambiguity enters the scene. The business world is getting more complex not less and therefore you need to suppress you let go of the notion that you are ‘controlling everything’.

2. Learn to act without the complete picture. In an ambiguous world you will never have all the information you need for absolute certainty. Don’t wait for that final bit of hard data that will tell you what to do because it may never come. Get all the information available, make the best decision you can and act on it.

3. Understand that some of your decisions will be wrong. Now that you made the best decision you can, realize that it might be wrong. But sometimes a wrong decision is better than no decision. Ambiguity means sometimes you will make the wrong decision. Don’t let that put you off. Being a good business person is about making more right decisions than you do wrong. Get comfortable with making mistakes by looking at them as learning opportunities.

4. Work on your flexibility. Be willing to change course as more information comes to light. Don’t let pride delay you from correcting your course. Ambiguity can reveal facts at any time that are going to affect your best decision. Be willing to accept these gifts and incorporate them into your direction and make the necessary changes.

5. Learn to deal with uncertainty. To deal with ambiguity you need to be comfortable with uncertainty. My natural urge is to control everything, but I can’t. So I cope with this by being prepared for what I can.

6. Realize there is not a defined plan you need to follow. Make your peace with the fact that there is no defined ‘right and wrong’. As I told my client who wanted a handbook that gave them all the answers, it isn’t that simple. In my world, there is no recipe book to follow for improving the Customer Experience.

7. Be confident in yourself and your abilities. Part of learning to deal with uncertainty is to have confidence in your ability to respond to what you can’t control. Confidence is a huge asset to a person in business and life in general. The best article on confident people I have ever read is ‘9 Qualities of Truly Confident People’, by Dharmesh Shah. Dharmesh says that confident people are not afraid to take a stand, are good listeners, avoid the spotlight, ask for help and aren’t afraid to be wrong. They also avoid putting others down and own their mistakes. Having these qualities will help you adapt and respond to a market you can’t control, whose future is ambiguous.

8. Listen to your voice. People talk about their ‘guts’ or ‘making a gut decision’. What you attribute to your gut is really your subconscious looking at inputs from around your world. Our processing power is powered 95% from our subconscious, or your brain looking at information ‘offline’, processing it and then telling you what to do. Therefore, listen to it. This is the wealth of your knowledge speaking in a small voice. Listen to the voice.

9. Listen to advice. At Beyond Philosophy we use a phrase ‘None of us are as clever as all of us’. Do you think that because you are the boss you have all the best answers? You don’t. Be comfortable with people being cleverer than you and use this as a resource. Surround yourself with good people and remember you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen to what your people say. Weigh up their concerns. Embrace the people who look at the world differently because it’s always great to get a contrary view or a view from outside the box as it can be the answer or half way to the answer. Also, don’t steal their ideas. Give them credit so they will carry on giving you lots of great new ideas going forward.

10. Learn to deal with your stress. Even if you do all of these things, ambiguity can still cause stress, as the world is uncertain. Learn to manage this stress by having outlets to relieve your stress. When you are relaxed you are far more able to respond to problems and challenges with successful solutions. Investing some time in cultivating a relaxed state of mind is important to your leadership skills.

Ambiguity is challenging by definition but you can learn to deal with it. In my view it is becoming an increasingly important skill particularly as you progress to more senior positions. I hope these tips help you as they have helped me…

How well do you deal with ambiguity? Do you have any tips on how to deal with ambiguity?

If you liked this article, you might like the following blogs :

• 15 Statistics That Should Change The Business World -But Haven’t
• The Importance of a Customer Experience Council
• Where Does Your Customer Experience Start and Stop?

Colin Shaw is the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world’s first organizations devoted to customer experience. Colin is an international author of four best-selling books and an engaging key-note speaker. To read more from Colin on LinkedIn, connect with him by clicking the follow button above or below.

If you would like to follow Beyond Philosophy click here

Business Queensland encourages you to start thinking now about how you are going to best benefit from the free and low-cost events during the 2014 Queensland Small Business Week from 1-6 September. The stats from the 2013 event, say it all.