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BMW CEO to step down - Business News - Castanet.net
Photo: The Canadian Press
CEO of the German car manufacturer BMW, Harald Krueger, attends the earnings press conference in Munich, Germany on March 20, 2019.
BMW CEO Harald Krueger is stepping down amid weakening profits at the luxury automaker and pressure to meet challenges from new technologies.
The Germany company said Friday that Krueger, 53, would not seek an extension of his contract, which expires at the end of April 2020. The board of directors will meet to discuss the issue of a successor on July 18 and Krueger will remain in his job until a decision is made.
The news comes after BMW lost money on its automotive business in the first quarter of the year after the company was hit by a 1.4 billion euro ($1.6 billion) charge for an anti-trust case and by higher upfront costs for new technology. Only the financial services and motorcycle divisions kept the group as a whole in profit.
The automotive loss was in sharp contrast to the steady profits and fat profit margins that the carmaker used to rack up quarter after quarter. Profit margins excluding the anti-trust charge had not been so weak since 2006-7 by one analyst reckoning, not counting the global financial crisis and recession in 2008-9 when the company turned in several lossmaking quarters.
BMW, which is based in Munich, is facing pressures that are affecting the car industry in general, including high costs to develop electric vehicles to meet tighter emissions regulations in Europe and China, and investments in autonomous vehicles to compete with tech companies like Waymo and Uber. BMW has been hit by increased tariffs on vehicles exported to China from its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, due to the trade dispute between the U.S. and China.
The company downgraded its profit outlook for the year and announced a cost saving plan in March that aims to trim 12 billion euros in costs by the end of 2022 by dropping some models and streamlining vehicle development.
A company news release quoted Krueger, who became CEO in 2015, as saying he would like to pursue "new professional endeavours."
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July 05, 2019 at 07:54PM
3 Common Social Security Myths That Could Wreck Your Retirement - The Motley Fool
For many retirees, Social Security is the difference between enjoying a comfortable retirement and barely scraping by. Nearly half of married beneficiaries rely on their Social Security checks for at least 50% of their income, according to the Social Security Administration, and around 21% rely on their benefits for at least 90% of their retirement income.
However, despite the fact that Social Security is a crucial factor in many beneficiaries' retirement plans, very few people fully understand how the program works. In fact, a whopping 91% of adults age 50 and older admit that they don't know what factors contribute to how much they receive in benefits, a survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute found.
Image source: Getty Images
You don't need to know every last detail about how your benefit amount is calculated, but not having a good grasp on the basics of how the program works can lead to potential problems down the road. There are certain myths surrounding Social Security that may not seem harmful at first glance, but misunderstanding these core factors could cause you to miss out on extra retirement income.
1. The age at which you claim doesn't affect how much you receive
You can claim Social Security benefits as early as age 62, which happens to be the most common age to claim -- approximately 48% of women and 42% of men apply for benefits at age 62, according to a report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
However, by claiming that early, you won't receive the full amount you're theoretically entitled to. The only way to receive that amount is to claim at your full retirement age (FRA), which is age 66, 66 plus a few months, or 67. By claiming any earlier than your FRA, your benefits will be reduced by up to 30%.
If you're in the dark about your FRA and how it affects your benefits, you're not alone. Two-thirds of adults age 50 and over don't know when they're eligible to receive their full benefit amount, according to the Nationwide Retirement Institute, and of those people, 57% think they're eligible sooner than they really are. So if you claim before your FRA thinking you're going to receive the full amount you're entitled to, you may be in for a surprise when your check is smaller than you expected.
On the other hand, you can receive a boost in benefits by waiting to apply for benefits until after your FRA. For every month you wait past your FRA to claim (up until age 70), you'll receive slightly bigger checks -- up to 32% more on top of your full amount, if you have a FRA of 66 years old.
2. The Social Security program is going bankrupt
There's been a lot of fear and anxiety surrounding the health of the Social Security program, with concerns that the system is going to run out of money in the relatively near future. This concern is widespread among workers, with 77% percent of those who are not yet retired saying they're concerned that Social Security benefits will not be available to them once they decide to retire, according to a report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.
While it's true that the program is on shaky ground, it's not on the brink of collapse. Right now, with baby boomers retiring in droves, there's more money flowing out of the system in the form of benefits than coming in in the form of taxes. So that means the Social Security program is expected to deplete its cash reserves by 2035, according to the Social Security Administration's 2019 Board of Trustees report.
That doesn't mean that benefits will be eliminated, however. As long as workers continue to pay taxes, there will always be money that can be distributed as benefits. But it does mean that there may need to be cuts in benefits by 2035 -- at this rate, the Social Security Administration estimates that the money coming in from taxes will only be enough to cover about 75% of projected benefits.
Some soon-to-be retirees who are concerned about their future benefits may think it's a good idea to claim as early as possible before the program goes bankrupt. However, it may actually be wiser to delay benefits by a few years. If benefits are reduced in the future, those bigger checks you'd receive by waiting past your FRA to claim could help bridge the gap.
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3. You have to claim benefits as soon as you retire
Retirement and claiming Social Security benefits often go hand-in-hand, but they don't necessarily have to happen simultaneously. In fact, sometimes it's a good idea to claim benefits before or after you stop working.
If you choose to retire and then realize you don't have enough money to make ends meet, you may decide to pick up a part-time job even after you've started claiming benefits. Or if you're passionate about your career and don't want to stop working anytime soon, you may still choose to claim benefits to bring in some extra income -- even if you don't necessarily need it.
It is possible to continue working after you claim benefits, but if you haven't yet reached your FRA, you may have your benefits (temporarily) reduced depending on how much you're earning. In the years leading up to your FRA, your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn above the 2019 annual limit of $17,640. Then in the year you actually reach your FRA, your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $3 you earn above a different limit of $46,920. These reductions aren't permanent, though; once you reach your FRA, your benefit amount will be adjusted to account for the money you had withheld from your previous checks.
On the other hand, if you're ready to retire now but want to take advantage of those bigger checks you'd receive by waiting to claim, you may choose to retire before you file for benefits. There are some instances where this makes sense. For example, if you expect to spend several decades in retirement, you may want those bigger checks for when your personal savings run dry. And if you have a solid nest egg now, you may be able to afford to retire now even without the help of Social Security benefits.
Social Security can be a complex topic, but understanding some of the more basic concepts can make it easier to make the most of your benefits. Especially if you're going to be relying on your benefits for a good portion of your retirement income, learning as much as you can about how the system works can help maximize your money.
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/07/06/3-common-social-security-myths-that-could-wreck-yo.aspx
2019-07-06 18:15:00Z
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Trump calls Fed 'most difficult problem' facing the US - Fox Business
Robust jobs growth sparks debate over Fed’s next move
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council’s Karen Kerrigan, Fairfax Global Markets CEO Paul Dietrich and Fifth Third Bank chief investment strategist Jeff Korzenik discuss whether the Federal Reserve will cut rates in 2019.
President Trump went after the Federal Reserve again on Friday evening, lambasting the U.S. central bank as the “most difficult problem” facing the country.
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“They raised rates too soon, too often, & tightened, while others did just the opposite,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “As well as we are doing from the day after the great Election, when the Market shot right up, it could have been even better - massive additional wealth would have been created, & used very well. Our most difficult problem is not our competitors, it is the Federal Reserve!”
The president has repeatedly urged the U.S. central bank to lower the benchmark federal funds rate – although Fed policymakers voted to raise interest rates four times in 2018, at a current range between 2.25 percent and 2.50 percent, rates remain historically low.
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Trump has not shied away from criticizing both the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, who he handpicked more than a year ago. At the beginning of June, Trump doubled down on his attacks, blaming it for raising rates too quickly and adding to “ridiculous quantitative tightening.”
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Most recently, at its June policy-setting meeting, the Fed hinted at the possibility of a rate cut in July, though noted it ultimately depended on uncertainties surrounding the U.S.–China trade war, as well as persistent muted inflation.
A better-than-expected June jobs report – analysts expected the U.S. economy to add 160,000 jobs; instead, it created a whopping 2240,000 – seemingly put a stopper on hopes of an immediate rate cut (although traders continue to price in a 100 percent chance of policymakers voting to ease monetary policy during their July meeting).
“A 25-basis point insurance cut is still on the table in July, but beyond that NAFCU sees no reason to expect further easing this year,” said Curt Long, the chief economist at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions.
Powell is slated to testify on Capitol Hill before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee Thursday, during which he’s expected to shed light on the Fed’s interest rate policy.
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-federal-reserve-most-difficult-problem
2019-07-06 13:38:31Z
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Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos' divorce is officially finalized with $38B settlement - Page Six
Amazon oligarch Jeff Bezos is officially splitsville from his longtime wife MacKenzie after a Washington State judge signed off on the divorce, according to Bloomberg.
The arrangement leaves MacKenzie with 19.7 million shares of Amazon.com valued at more than $38 billion, the tabloid reported.
Despite parting with billions, Jeff will comfortably remain the world’s richest person, while the divorce settlement makes MacKenzie 22nd on Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index.
The two married long before Amazon’s 1993 creation. Together they have four children.
But the union collapsed after news emerged in January that Jeff had been allegedly cheating on his wife with former television anchor Lauren Sanchez.
The story exploded into the public eye after racy text messages between the two were published by multiple media outlets, including the National Enquirer. “I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon,” the Amazon boss wrote her last April.
Bezos later published an open letter on Medium accusing American Media, the parent company of the National Enquirer, of trying to blackmail him.
https://pagesix.com/2019/07/06/jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-divorce-is-officially-finalized-with-38b-settlement/
2019-07-06 13:01:00Z
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos’ divorce finalized: report - Fox Business
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ divorce from MacKenzie Bezos was finalized by a judge Friday, according to a report.
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A King County, Wash., judge allegedly signed off on the order, according to Bloomberg. As previously reported by FOX Business, the divorce – one of the largest ever – was expected to be made official this week.
MacKenzie Bezos is expected to receive a 4 percent stake or 19.7 million shares in the e-commerce giant, which is about one-quarter of the shares the two owned together. She is slated to receive $38 billion – making her one of the top five richest women in the world and one of Amazon’s largest shareholders. Bloomberg reported she would be 22nd on its Bloomberg Billionaires index, a “ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.” Jeff Bezos will retain a 12 percent stake worth around $114.8 billion. He will remain the world’s richest person, according to Bloomberg.
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The Amazon CEO and the novelist announced they were getting divorced after 25 years of marriage in January. They have four children together.
In May, MacKenzie Bezos pledged to give away half her fortune to charity. She signed The Giving Pledge, a campaign created by billionaire Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, to prompt the ultra-wealthy to pledge at least half their fortune to charitable causes.
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Jeff Bezos commended his wife for her philanthropy.
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“MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her," Bezos tweeted. "Her letter is so beautiful. Go get ‘em MacKenzie.”
FOX Business’ Brittany De Lea and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-and-mackenzie-bezos-divorce-finalized-report
2019-07-06 12:38:43Z
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