Orlando Based Internet Marketing Company Expands to Southeast

SEOhatch expands client base to cover the rest of the southeastern US.

Orlando, FL, June 19, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Orlando based internet marketing company SEOhatch is expanding its service to further meet the need of its growing customer base. In addition to Florida the company will now consult companies in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee.
SEOhatch is a full service internet marketing company specializing in search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing and email marketing campaigns. They consult and also provide complete hands off solutions to run small to medium sized business' marketing campaigns.
"We are excited to expand out customer base," said the SEOhatch President, "We see a growing list of business owners that know that they need to compete on the internet to succeed in today's market and we are ready to help!"
In addition to their business services SEOhatch also runs a widely read internet marketing blog to keep the readers up to date on the internet marketing realm.
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Contact Information 

SEOhatch
Corey Rabazinski
(407) 487-2785
corey@seohatch.com
www.seohatch.com

Source http://www.pr.com/

David Cameron: Dad's gift to me was his optimism

On Father’s Day, the first since his own father died, David Cameron reflects on the sacrifices and significance of being a family man. 

 

There’s a quote I like, apparently from Mark Twain, which goes: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

OK, I’m sure at this time of year you can find more gushing words about fatherhood and parenting, but there’s a sentiment here that I think most of us can identify with.

Growing up can be painfully difficult, and more often than not – for boys at least – it’s our fathers who bear the brunt of our anger. But if you’re fortunate enough to have a dad who’s there for you, there comes a time when you turn to them and a light bulb suddenly flicks on inside your head. Standing before you is no longer the person who is stopping you from going out or watching television. It’s someone who has made sacrifices day-in, day-out, and made them for you; who has given you every opportunity they can because they want you to succeed and be happy; who has so much knowledge and wisdom to impart.

I have never been shy of saying that families are the cornerstone of our society, the rocks upon which our lives are built. And on this day, the first Father’s Day since my own father died, I want to acknowledge just how important dads are to laying those foundations.

I know, for some, this is controversial. We live in an age of equality, where people don’t like to see differences between the sexes. In this world, the words “mother” and “father” have become interchangeable and there’s the idea that both can offer a child the same thing. And in many ways, they can. Both can provide for and protect their sons and daughters. Both can offer discipline and guidance, and act as a mentor and role model. Both can cook meals and teach their kids to ride a bike. Both can instil values like responsibility and a respect for authority in their children.

But it goes without saying, two different people, nurturing the same child, will bring different things to the table. That was certainly true for me. A lot has been written about my upbringing. I am proud of my family and the best thing about it was what I got from each of my parents. From my mother, Mary, a magistrate, I got a huge amount of love and support – she is someone who always wants to see the best in people. But I also drew an enduring sense of community and obligation. It may be unfashionable to talk about public service, but she taught me life was about more than making money.
From my father, Ian, I learnt about responsibility. Seeing him get up before the crack of dawn to go and do a hard day’s work and not come back until late at night had a profound impact on me. We all know the feeling when the alarm goes off in the morning, and you just want to keep on hitting the snooze button. One of the reasons we get up is not just because of the responsibility a job carries, it’s also because we want to set the same example to our children as our fathers did to us. My dad, who was disabled, also taught me about optimism – that no matter how bad things are, you can overcome them if you have the right frame of mind. Indeed, if there’s one gift my father gave me that I cannot thank him enough for, it was his ability to always look on the bright side of life.
All this was irreplaceable. And believe me, I know how lucky I was – and how lucky so many other children in our country are. So many dads are getting more involved in raising their children, and as a government, we’re right behind them. For example, we are consulting on a system of flexible parental leave, to enable mothers and fathers to share childcare during that important first year. But I also know this: in Britain today, there are children growing up who will never see the benefit of this – who will never know the love of a father. And we know, too, the consequences of that. When fathers aren’t there for their kids, those children are more likely to live in poverty, fail at school, end up in prison and be unemployed later in life.
We can’t ignore this. Indeed, it would be a dereliction of duty if politicians did. We’re the ones who take taxpayers’ money and write billions of pounds worth of cheques to deal with educational failure, crime, and unemployment. So we have a responsibility – to the taxpayer and to society – to do what we can to bring fathers back into the lives of all our children.
Now, I know we can’t do this at a stroke of a legislator’s pen. There’s nothing we can do in Whitehall to force fathers to get involved. But what we can do is make it easier for fathers to do the right thing than the wrong thing. That’s what so much of our family-friendly package of reforms is about. We’ve started tackling the couple penalty in the benefit system for those on the lowest incomes, so parents don’t lose money if they stay together. We’re increasing the number of health visitors by 4,200, and re-orientating them from an exclusive maternal-child focus to one where they support the whole family – including fathers. We’re investing in relationship support to help prevent family breakdown; and when it is inevitable, to make sure that it is well-handled. And yes, I want us to recognise marriage in the tax system so as a country we show we value commitment.
At the same time, I also think we need to make Britain a genuinely hostile place for fathers who go AWOL. It’s high time runaway dads were stigmatised, and the full force of shame was heaped upon them. They should be looked at like drink drivers, people who are beyond the pale. They need the message rammed home to them, from every part of our culture, that what they’re doing is wrong – that leaving single mothers, who do a heroic job against all odds, to fend for themselves simply isn’t acceptable.
All this will help make a difference. But in the end, it will be the daily habits and decisions of Britain’s fathers that will determine if we succeed. On their decision to financially and emotionally support their child even if they’ve split up from their mother; to spend time with their kids at weekends, taking them to the football or the playground; to go to the nativity play and take an interest in their child’s education.
I say this knowing how difficult being a parent is. As the American writer Kent Nerburn brilliantly put it: “It is much easier to become a father than to be one.” And I don’t for one minute claim to be a perfect father to my kids. Just ask Sam. But this is too important an issue to remain silent on. This is about our children’s futures, and with that, our country’s future too. We owe it to them to be there for them, however hard we may find it.
So on this Father’s Day, let’s embrace and celebrate the responsibilities we have.
Source http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Foster father enjoys providing kids with stable home

Josh Katzenstein/ The Detroit News

For people who think foster parents take in children only for the money, Michael Bradley has a message: "If you want to make a small fortune in foster care, start with a large one," he said.
The 56-year-old from Grand Blanc has had six foster children since 2008.
Bradley, a technical writer for University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, had no intention of being a foster parent when he replied to an ad from Lutheran Social Services of Michigan in 2007. The ad asked for people to watch 18-year-olds transitioning from foster care.
The Lutheran agency's office in Flint, nearest to Bradley, didn't offer the service at the time, so the group asked Bradley if he would take in a child.
Bradley, who is twice divorced, eventually agreed and welcomed an 8-year-old boy to his home in April 2008.
In 2008, Michigan had 12,789 children in foster care, according to a report by the State Department of Human Services. The Lutheran agency's Flint office is serving about 100 foster children this year in 78 homes, Director Cheryl Sibilsky said.
As a single man, Bradley is a rarity — just two of the Lutheran agency's homes are headed by a lone male. "A lot of the kids that come into foster care don't have a positive male role figure to look at, so from my view … that helps a lot," said Joe Richardson, Bradley's case manager.
While Bradley is relatively new to foster care, he has decades of experience caring for kids.
When he was an assistant scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop in southwest Detroit about 30 years ago, he saw 10-year-old scout Malcom Deaton living in a troubled home and began acting as the boy's part-time guardian.
Four years later, Bradley moved to Ortonville but didn't want to leave Malcom behind, so he filed to become his legal guardian, which the boy's mother eventually allowed. Malcom later earned Eagle Scout status, and a few years later, he became the first member of his family to graduate from high school.
"He's going to give as much as he can," said Deaton, now 41, of Waterford, adding he still calls Bradley his dad. "His way of doing it now is to be a foster parent and help kids that need help."
Bradley has a son of his own and helped raise a stepson — both are 24 — with his ex-wife.
Besides the first foster child, who was reunited with his family after eight months, Bradley has fostered two sets of brothers. The first pair came to him at ages 3 and 6 in June 2008 and left in January 2009. Bradley most recently fostered three brothers — ages 15, 12 and 8 — starting in July 2009. The youngest, Komari Buggs, went home Wednesday.
The foster service gives Bradley about $400 a month per child to help pay for food and other necessities. But extras like a snow-tubing trip or a basketball league come out of pocket, and he gladly pays for them to be happy.
"I try to provide my kids the same sort of experience they would have if they were my kids," he said. "Maybe for them, their time in foster care would be when they just got treated like a regular kid."

Source http://www.detnews.com/

Dream home deals

By Greg Stiles

Mail Tribune

The foreclosure crisis has meant some spectacular deals for those with the ability to buy, local real estate observers say.

When the residential housing market crested in the second half of 2005, there were dozens of million-dollar homes in the Rogue Valley. Today, you can acquire someone else's dream home for a fraction of the cost.We're seeing a lot of the million-dollar homes on the market for 30 to 50 percent of their original value," says Ron Galbreath, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Medford. "It's amazing, if you've got the money today, what you can buy."

Across Jackson County's housing market, buyers hold the trump cards. According to the latest Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service figures, foreclosures and short sales account for three out of every five transactions.

"We are in a price-conditioned market," says Bill Clark, an agent with Windermere Van Vleet & Associates. "If you want to sell, you have to have activity, and the way to get activity is by price."

The median price for an existing single-family home has tumbled 47 percent, from $275,000 in fall 2005 to $145,000 last month, and two-thirds of the deals closing within the past six months have been for less than $200,000, says Randy Unger of Sierra Real Estate in Medford.

"When you add the $200,000 to $300,000 range, that's under 20 percent, so 87 percent of all the sales closed are under $300,000," Unger says. "So the majority of the best buys are in the lowest price range."

The low-end is not only accessible to a great number of buyers, but attracts the key investor/first-time buyer demographic as well. The supply of houses listed below $100,000 is short enough to create its own market, Unger says.

"The opportunity is for investors because there are properties requiring lender repairs, which eliminates most buyers that need financing," he says. "There is a small investor pool and cash is king in this market."

Still, of the 46 homes Unger has closed this year, the majority are owner-occupied.

The Eagle Point Golf Course, where stratospheric prices crashed under economic gravity forces, is among the best areas to find such bargains.

"There are some great buys out there," Clark says. "There are houses selling for 50 percent of what they were in 2005."

A 3,100-square-foot house on Patricia Lane that sold for $579,900 in October 2005 is listed today at $298,000. On Pumpkin Ridge Drive, a 2,780-square-foot home selling for $554,900 in March 2006 is listed now at $359,900.

The downside is, those distressed property deals have squeezed the value out of existing homes and have sidelined most of the region's builders who can't come close to replicating those houses for the same price.

Michael Schwindle, a Musician's Friend executive who moved to Medford from Atlanta in 2008 with his wife and six children, acquired his home for $330,000 in a short sale. The two-story, four-bedroom house on Park Ridge Drive in the Vista Pointe neighborhood had been advertised at $524,900 at the height of the real estate boom.

The Schwindles quietly put the 2,811-square-foot house up for sale last year, but there were no takers as a steady stream of distressed properties en route to foreclosure stole away interest. Now with a career move on the horizon for Michael Schwindle, there is more urgency.

The asking price a year ago was $369,900, but now the expectation is it will sell for something lower.

With a neighboring house in default and headed for a short sale, the Schwindles had little choice but to price theirs accordingly.

"We had the advantage of buying ours in a short sale, but the downside is that we are still competing with those guys," Michael Schwindle said. "The (house) next to me is actively for sale and it's a short sale. So you have two houses priced close to one another and one is a short sale and one is a straight-up sale."

The flood of distressed properties has choked off new construction as well. Contractors simply can't build a house for anywhere near present prices.

"We just can't compete with the foreclosure market," says Larry Denn, a veteran Rogue Valley home builder. "I would like to give you a tale about how I could, but in the long run I couldn't."

In 1993, Denn built a two-story, 2,928-square-foot house on a triangular lot in east Medford where Highcrest and Angel Crest split. In November 2005, the original owners put the property up for sale. They used Remco Center Real Estate, a company that often worked with owners showing their own homes, and the list price was $575,000. Two months later, the property was pulled off the market.

In February 2007, it was relisted for $425,000 with Coldwell Banker Pro West Real Estate and county property records show it sold in August of that year for that price.

In February 2010, the house went back on the market for $265,000, entered into the foreclosure process in October and signed over to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co., better known as Freddie Mac, in March.

Originally repriced at $234,900 three months ago, the house is now listed at $210,000.

"I couldn't duplicate that house for that price," conceded Denn. "That's why we're not working, like most of the other builders in town; that's a whale of a buy."

Denn says labor costs doubled between the time the Highcrest house was built and the height of the building boom.

"If a guy was working for $15 an hour 20 years ago, he was making $30 to $35 three years ago if he was a framer," Denn says. "It may be down to about $22 an hour now."

Drywall and lumber costs are about the same, he says, but plywood and laminated panel are escalating along with anything with plastic content because of higher petroleum prices.

"Paint is outrageous," Denn says. "We paid $92 for five gallons of interior paint the other day; back then it was between $32 and $42."

Blue Grass Downs in east Central Point, among the final areas of building activity before the market crumbled, has appeal for its recent construction. One house, listed for $425,000 a couple of years ago, was picked up for $236,000 in a December short sale.

"Talent and Ashland are holding their prices, there are no bargains there," Galbreath says. "The same with Jacksonville, where people are holding their homes and not lowering their prices as much. They don't seem to have to make the price adjustments as the other areas."

With the dollar struggling to hold its value against other currencies and certificate of deposit interest rates mired in the 2 percent range, dramatically reduced real estate becomes more attractive.

"A lot of people are pulling money out of their CDs and putting it into real estate," says Doug Morse, an agent with John L. Scott Real Estate in Medford. "Some are buying and flipping. If they can buy at $100,000 and sell for $145,000 they won't (net) a lot of money, but they can make $10,000 or $15,000. If they are doing five or six of those a year, they'd rather do that than trying to make money down the road in something else."

Source http://www.mailtribune.com/

Nursing Home Chain Seeks Tax Breaks

By Erin Jordan/SourceMedia Group News
Iowa’s largest non-profit nursing home chain has asked 37 communities to reclassify its homes from commercial to residential properties, which would cut the chain’s taxes in half and force cities and counties to scramble to make up for lost revenue.
Twenty counties and cities will lose nearly $620,000 next year after approving the changes. Assessors say their hands are tied.
“To me, it’s a commercial property,” said Harrison County Assessor Dennis Alvis, whose western Iowa county will lose nearly $30,000 after the Board of Review changed the status of the Dunlap Nursing & Rehab Center to residential. “But the law, according to how it’s written, there’s a back door. We don’t have the capacity to take this to court.”
Fifteen other communities — including Johnson and Cedar counties — rejected reclassification requests from Care Initiatives. Two counties, Polk and Black Hawk, have not decided.
Care Initiatives has so far appealed 15 rejections to the Iowa Property Assessment Appeal Board, which will hear the cases within the next 18 months. The chain also can file lawsuits in District Court within 20 days of the postmark of the rejection letter.
Care Initiatives, which provides services to more than 3,000 residents in 63 nursing homes and other living units, petitioned 35 Iowa counties and two cities to reclassify nursing homes and related parcels across the state.
These nursing homes, which range in size from 39 to 196 beds, offer services that include 24-hour skilled nursing, meals, physical therapy, dental services, hair salons, activities and Wanderguard protection systems for Alzheimer’s patients, according to the chain’s website.
Care Initiatives manages the Heritage Nursing & Rehab Center at 200 Clive Dr. SW in Cedar Rapids but does not own the 201-bed facility and did not seek reclassification for that unit.
In the petitions, Care Initiatives cites Iowa law allowing non-profit organizations that provide “land and buildings that are used primarily for human habitation” to be classified as residential properties.
“Care Initiatives fits squarely within this statutory provision and so is seeking residential classification,” wrote Deb Tharnish, an attorney for Des Moines law firm DavisBrown in a letter to the Johnson County Board of Review.
Tharnish also cites a 2004 Iowa Court of Appeals ruling that a Red Oak nursing home owned by a non-profit should be considered residential.
Residential — or something else?
Several county assessors and a property law expert dispute that nursing homes are used primarily for human habitation.
“If they rent a room for $5,500 a month, is the main purpose habitation or something else?” said Johnson County Assessor Bill Greazel. “The Board of Review decided it was primarily used for a service. It’s a fine line, but it makes a big difference in their taxes.”
Care Initiatives asked Johnson County’s Board of Review to change the tax status of Lantern Park Nursing & Rehab Center, 2200 Oakdale Rd. in Coralville, and the nursing home’s former site, also in Coralville. The chain is paying $224,500 in taxes this year for both properties. Coralville would have lost more than $116,740 in 2012 if the board had approved the residential designation.
The possible loss in tax revenue would have been a minor blow to Coralville, but in some Iowa communities, the local nursing home is a major taxpayer.
The city of Osceola, which has about 4,800 residents, will subtract $166,500 from next year’s tax rolls after the county reclassified the new 90-bed Southern Hills Specialty Care facility.
Plymouth County, a northeast Iowa county of 25,000, will forfeit about $16,000 next year because of the reclassification of the Kingsley nursing home. Jim Henrich, chairman of the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors, said the loss will mean reshuffling the budget.
“Anytime you have a cut in your income, there’s somewhere else you have to make up for it,” he said.
Several Iowa counties said their decision to reclassify Care Initiatives’ nursing homes as residential was influenced by a May 9 email from the Iowa Department of Revenue. The email said property owned by non-profits and used for human habitation should be classified as residential property.
Dale Hyman, the department’s administrator of property taxes, said his staff sent the email after several county assessors asked for guidance.
“If (Care Initiatives) meets those criteria, it appears to us they would qualify for the exception,” Hyman said, “but it’s not our call to make.”
The department reviewed the issue internally but did not seek advice from the Iowa attorney general before drafting the memo, he said.
This dispute over commercial vs. residential classification occurs as the Iowa Legislature considers proposals to reduce commercial and industrial property taxes.
Not a new court case
If Care Initiatives does take Iowa counties to court, it won’t be the first time.
The chain sued two Iowa counties in the early 1990s, arguing its nursing homes should be exempt from paying property taxes altogether.
In one case, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a District Court ruling against the tax exemption. “We agree Care does not qualify under our statute as being used for charitable and benevolent objectives,” the court wrote in the May 19, 1993, ruling.
That case, Care Initiatives vs. The Board of Review of Union County, shed light on how Care Initiatives earned non-profit status.
Beverly Enterprises, former owner of 45 Iowa nursing homes, sold the chain to Ventana Investments in 1989 for $57 million. Ventana, run by Texas nursing home developer Bruce Whitehead, used the non-profit corporation that became Care Initiatives to purchase 41 of the nursing homes for $63.5 million, according to the Supreme Court ruling.
Non-profit status questioned
The tax records Care Initiatives submitted with its recent reclassification bids prompted several county assessors to question how a nursing-home chain is considered non-profit when its revenue totaled $146 million in 2009.
“Care Initiatives wouldn’t be buying up all these nursing homes if they weren’t making money,” said Assistant Cass County Assessor Marie Parrott.
Care Initiatives’ expenses for 2009 were nearly $143 million, which included $80.6 million in salaries, according to the chain’s Form 990 tax report.
The chain paid $2.5 million in salaries and related compensation to nine senior-level administrators in 2009. Miles King, the chain’s president and CEO, was paid nearly $615,000 in salary and other compensation. The chain also paid each of five board members $28,200 in 2009 for working three to five hours a week, the tax report shows.
The chain donated $147,000, or about one-10th of 1 percent of its revenue, to charity. Of that, $100,000 supported the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk.
Care Initiatives has spent more than $70 million on new buildings across the state that provide more beds and more services, according to a statement from the chain.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is among leaders who have questioned whether non-profits, such as hospitals, churches and universities, are doing enough for the public to enjoy tax benefits.
Non-profits often put revenue into new building projects or higher salaries, which helps them compete with for-profit organizations, said Richard Koontz, director of the Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center at the University of Iowa. The Internal Revenue Service monitors excessive compensation for non-profit leaders and can force the officials to give back the money, plus a 25 percent penalty, Koontz said.
“If everyone in your position gets that amount, it’s considered comparable compensation,” he said.
Property tax disputes common
It’s not unusual for a property owner to try to recast their property as a residence to reduce taxes.
Apartment complex owners clashed with Iowa City officials last year after their bid to get the buildings classified as co-ops was denied. This change to residential designation would have cut the owners’ taxes in half, because of the residential rollback.
Nursing homes may be a hybrid of commercial and residential structures, said Jonathan Rosenbloom, a Drake University law professor who specializes in property, as well as state and local government.
“There are some states that say they should be recognized as something different,” Rosenbloom said.
Residential property owners traditionally have been given a tax break because government wants to encourage individual homeownership, Rosenbloom said. If a nursing-home chain owns dozens of homes that serve thousands of people, that may not fit the intent of the residential rollback, he said.
Counties and cities may feel pressure to approve the reclassification because they don’t want to face court action or lose the nursing home to a nearby county, he said.
“Whatever the property tax is, even if it’s reduced, will be more than if (the nursing home) moves to the next county,” Rosenbloom said. 

Stay-at-home dads break stereotypes

'I think the greatest gift you can give your kids is time,' father says

NEW Zoo. Six Flags. Lifest music festival. Camping.

Gabby, 12, Robert, 10, and Marcus, 8, will experience these field trips and more this summer with their father, Bruce Cantrall.
Not to mention Cub Scout meetings or soccer, swimming and gymnastics practices.
"Our summer is pretty chalked up," Cantrall admits.
A stay-at-home dad for more than a decade, Cantrall said his children have been exposed to some unique experiences by having a full-time father.
"My kids have probably been to 35 children's and science museums in the country. … They wouldn't have been able to experience that at all" if both parents worked, he said.
The prevalence of stay-at-home dads in the U.S. has boomed since Cantrall first began raising his children full time in 2000, increasing from 93,000 that year to 154,000 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"It's getting more common these days. It isn't like it was 10 years ago," he said.
Cantrall never envisioned being a stay-at-home dad. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science and worked as a computer network manager at an Iowa college.
But when Gabby was born in 1999, he took the reins of the household, part time the first year and full time since then.
The arrangement was a "natural" one for the Green Bay family: Bruce's wife, Suellen, has an electrical engineering degree and earned twice as much in a computer technical support job.
"It was kind of natural for me to stay home with the kids. But it was never a plan, it worked out that way," Bruce Cantrall said. "Once you figure out how expensive three kids are to put in day care, I mean, why are you working? You're working for $2 an hour to have somebody else raise your kids."

Stereotypes

But even as stay-at-home dads become increasingly common, stereotypes and myths persist."It's still hard for people to accept stay-at-home dads. It's easier, but not the normal," said Mark Thiry, an Ashwaubenon stay-at-home father of three. "There is a stigma. I've had people say, 'Can't you get a job?'"
Source http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/

Q+A: Sean Hughes interview transcript

 PAUL Our share market is anaemic.  It has been a disastrous five years for investment in this country - 63 finance companies collapsed, a whopping $8.5 billion of people's money were lost.  Since 1997 - get this - investment in our share market as a percentage of GDP has halved, and is down around the levels of Greece and Ireland.  So a posse called the Financial Markets Authority has been sent in to clean up Dodge, to make it safer for NZers to start investing again.  Its boss is the sheriff of the share market, he's Shaun Hughes, a 45-year-old lawyer and banker with much international experience.  Mr Hughes, good morning.
SEAN HUGHES - Financial Markets Authority
 Thank you, Paul.  Thank you for having me on.
PAUL It's a pleasure, and thank you for coming on.  It's a shocker, isn't it - 63 finance company collapses, $8.5 billion of people's money down the drain.  How did it get to this?
SEAN Well, I think first of all, Paul, the real problem has been people don't understand the markets that they're investing in.  And to add to the article that you had published in the newspaper yesterday, it's not just crises in terms of earthquakes in Christchurch and binge drinking in some schools, but we've got a national crisis around financial literacy.  And for me, that is the issue that we need to focus on.  We need to rebuild that confidence by making sure that people have got the tools and the equipment they need to invest safely in this market.
PAUL Well, yes, I saw that that was spelt out very clearly on your very good and very friendly website, Mr Hughes, and your website makes the point that the difference between people who make money by investments, from them to the people who lose their shirts is information, is understanding the investment.
SEAN That's right.  And one of the tools for getting there is through the new financial advisor regulations, which come into force from the 1st of July.  Already 1100 financial advisors have been authorised, and they'll be able to start giving advice from the 1st of July.  Unfortunately, there's gonna be a few that are not gonna make it, and we'll be taking action to ensure that those people don't give advice.
PAUL So you're getting rid of the cowboys.
SEAN I think it's important that we focus on where the really critical risks are for investors, and for us, it's retirees and it's young people coming into the market for the first time, entering into KiwiSaver, and that's why we've taken action already just in our first seven weeks in relation to people that are selling KiwiSaver in a most inappropriate way.
PAUL But you talk about NZers' financial illiteracy.  What can we do to change that?  Where's that got to start?
SEAN Well, look, it's a partnership approach, Paul, and we've all got a part to play in it.  It starts in school and it goes right through the life cycle, and I'm delighted to see that the government announced some initiatives around financial literacy - Massey University and Westpac - earlier in this week, but we also, at the Financial Markets Authority, have got a critical role to play.  We've gotta raise standards in the market, we have to pursue wrongdoing where it's deliberate or particularly reckless, and wherever possible we will go out there and try to recover funds for investors who have lost money where we can.
PAUL Yeah, because you are a move, are you not-? I mean, we have been- I don't want to labour the Wild West, uh, imagery, but we had been the Wild West, it's generally agreed.  Are you a move to greater regulation?
SEAN I don't believe in greater regulation just by itself, Paul.  It's gotta be about more effective regulation and having the right people to do the regulation, and that's why earlier last month I announced a restructure of Financial Markets Authority.  The people that we inherited from, the Securities Commission, a number of those roles have been advertised, and we're out in the market now looking for people who will be part of the future of this organisation and will help rebuild that shattered confidence and that national tragedy that I've been talking about.
PAUL I don't expect you to comment on the performance of the Securities Commission, which you have replaced, even though most of those finance companies that collapsed had prospectuses approved by the Securities Commission.  But things are going to be different under the FMA.  Can I get some brief answers from you about some of those ways in which things are going to be different?  You've got a bigger budget than the Securities Commission, for a start, yes?
SEAN That's right, yes.  And it's about a 44% increase on its previous year.  And that's gonna go towards rebuilding both our people and also some of our core systems.
PAUL You're going to be able to take civil action against miscreants, so the burden of proof will be slightly less?
SEAN Yes, that's right.  We can also seek to recover money where it's been lost on behalf of investors where they say it's OK for the FMA to stand in their shoes.
PAUL What are the chances of getting some of that 8.5 billion back?
SEAN Look, I think we're gonna look at those cases very seriously, and we're well down the path of doing that right now, to see where we can recover assets.  Now, Paul, I've gotta be honest with you - if the money's gone offshore or if it's been spent or it's been squirreled away somewhere, we could spend millions and millions chasing that, and at the end of the day, there's no dividend available for those investors.  So we're gonna have to accept in many of those cases, that money is gone.  So what's the right remedy in that case?  Is it taking those people out of the market and forever shaming them?  Maybe that's the better outcome than simply trying to pursue money that we'll never get back.
PAUL Yes, you're talking about triaging - deciding which cases you've inherited you're gonna continue with cos you want to move on.  Surveillance.  You now have great powers of surveillance.  Are you going to be spying on businesses everywhere?
SEAN Well, I don't want to use the word 'spying', but we'll certainly be doing things such as shadow shopping, we'll be following up on promises that advisors make to their customers about the sorts of services they're offering.  People who say today, or on the 1st of July, that they're authorised to give advice and they're not, we'll certainly be cracking down on them.  And we'll be working with other agencies to make sure that we have a holistic approach across the market to crack down on bad behaviour.
PAUL Now, let's look at the NZX, which, despite all the flash talk about certain people there, is anaemic.  Since 1997, the amount of money invested in the NZX in proportion to GDP has almost halved - 52% to 29%.  Australia, over the same period of time, the investment has doubled to 130% of GDP.  Why?
SEAN Well, Paul, it's a very different market economy, and I'm lucky to have spent the last 15 or so years living in Australia.  I mean, obviously very deep boom in terms of the mining sector.  Also there's been a much greater history of retail participation in the share market in Australia because of compulsory superannuation.  So we've had a very different experience.  People in Australia are familiar with the share market, and they have greater confidence.  And what we wanna do is rebuild it here.
PAUL Well, that's right.  But I suppose the reason Kiwis don't invest in the NZ share market is there's no money in it, and if there is money in it, the company's probably crooked.
SEAN Well, I don't agree with that, Paul.  I think we're starting to see the emergence of more and more boutique or smaller firms, and then we've got the large ones like Fonterra who offer a really great opportunity, and I think we wanna make sure that people have confidence and spread the risk across their whole portfolio.
PAUL How are you gonna bring people into the share market, then?  How are you gonna do that, Mr Hughes?

SEAN Well, first of all, we've gotta raise the standards, Paul, and so the financial advisor regime that's coming in on the 1st of July is the beginning of that.  We've got more regulations coming in later in the year in relation to trustees, and next year in relation to auditors.  So there will be a raising of the standards across the board.  On top of that, the financial literacy programme that I've been talking about where we work with other government agencies, and thirdly, taking enforcement action to squeeze out people that are doing the wrong thing.  I think that's the approach we've gotta take.
PAUL Can you just briefly explain to us - why is it important for an economy to have a healthy share market?  In some of your stuff, you say, 'We're not gonna really grow this economy unless we start getting a vibrant capital market.'
SEAN Well, it fuels growth within the economy, Paul, so it's self-serving.  As companies go out, they need more capital to grow, they need to reach out into the community that they're serving, and therefore investors have an opportunity to play a part in the growth of that company.  And so it's a circle, really.  And what we wanna do is make sure that people are investing in companies they understand and are comfortable with their risks.
PAUL You've inherited investigations into 25 companies from the Securities Commission, Mr Hughes, and you've said you want to move on and deal with the future.  And I used this word before, 'triage', you've said you'll triage some investigations.  So what do you mean by that?  Are some buggers gonna get away with stuff?
SEAN I don't agree with that, Paul.  We're gonna look at these matters very carefully, and we're a long way down the path already.  Um, we announced on Friday that we are ceasing proceedings into one particular matter were it simply doesn't fit our criteria.  Early next week, we'll be making some joint announcements with the Serious Fraud Office in terms of some additional matters where charges are going to be laid.  So we're trying to get through that list as quickly as possible.  But, look, matters that are very old, very stale, where there's no hope of recovery, where the particular people involved don't have any assets, we're gonna have to ask ourselves, 'Is it worth spending taxpayers' money - yours and mine, Paul - to recover or to pursue somebody who, at the end of the day, is just not worth pursuing?'
PAUL Now, will you still go after-?  Many people are gonna want to know this at home.  Will you still go after Hanover - Eric Watson, Hotchin?  Hotchin, a man who, with a deteriorating company, of investors' funds began to build a $40 million home in Paritai Drive.  Do you intend to pursue that?
SEAN Uh, we expect that our investigation into that particular matter, Paul, will be concluded by the end of next month, and I'd be happy to come on to the programme thereafter and talk to you about what we're going to be doing with that matter at that point in time.  We've made a commitment to the court and to the other parties to have that investigation wrapped up next month.
PAUL So 25 investigations you've inherited.  How many might you drop, or have you dropped?
SEAN Uh, well, we've talked about the Lombard matter already, and we'll be making decisions on the remaining ones of those 25 very early next month.  We've only been going seven weeks, Paul, so we're going as fast as we humanly can.
PAUL I'm sure investors are very pleased to hear what you've said this morning.  Thanks, Sean Hughes.
SEAN Thanks, Paul.
PAUL Thanks, Sean Hughes, the chief executive of the Financial Markets Authority, the new FMA, which replaces the Securities Commission.
Source http://tvnz.co.nz/