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Archive for July, 2008
World’s Most Expensive Cities
Jul 29th
Mercer Cost of Living Survey – Worldwide Rankings, 2008
The indices are based on Mercer’s cost of living database and are modified to include rental accommodation costs and to reflect constant weighting and basket items. We do not recommend that expatriates use the figures represented here to compare their own compensation packages.
|
Rankings |
City |
Country |
COL Index |
||
|
March 2008 |
March 2007 |
March 2008 |
March 2007 |
||
|
1 |
1 |
Moscow |
Russia |
142.4 |
134.4 |
|
2 |
4 |
Tokyo |
Japan |
127.0 |
122.1 |
|
3 |
2 |
London |
UK |
125.0 |
126.3 |
|
4 |
10 |
Oslo |
Norway |
118.3 |
105.8 |
|
5 |
3 |
Seoul |
South Korea |
117.7 |
122.4 |
|
6 |
5 |
Hong Kong |
China |
117.6 |
119.4 |
|
7 |
6 |
Copenhagen |
Denmark |
117.2 |
110.2 |
|
8 |
7 |
Geneva |
Switzerland |
115.8 |
109.8 |
|
9 |
9 |
Zurich |
Switzerland |
112.7 |
107.6 |
|
10 |
11 |
Milan |
Italy |
111.3 |
104.4 |
|
11 |
8 |
Osaka |
Japan |
110.0 |
108.4 |
|
12 |
13 |
Paris |
France |
109.4 |
101.4 |
|
13 |
14 |
Singapore |
Singapore |
109.1 |
100.4 |
|
14 |
17 |
Tel Aviv |
Israel |
105.0 |
97.7 |
|
15 |
21 |
Sydney |
Australia |
104.1 |
94.9 |
|
16 |
16 |
Dublin |
Ireland |
103.9 |
99.6 |
|
16 |
18 |
Rome |
Italy |
103.9 |
97.6 |
|
18 |
12 |
St. Petersburg |
Russia |
103.1 |
103.0 |
|
19 |
19 |
Vienna |
Austria |
102.3 |
96.9 |
|
20 |
20 |
Beijing |
China |
101.9 |
95.9 |
|
21 |
22 |
Helsinki |
Finland |
101.1 |
93.3 |
|
22 |
15 |
New York City |
US |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
23 |
38 |
Istanbul |
Turkey |
99.4 |
87.7 |
|
24 |
26 |
Shanghai |
China |
98.3 |
92.1 |
|
25 |
25 |
Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
97.0 |
92.2 |
|
25 |
29 |
Athens |
Greece |
97.0 |
90.6 |
|
25 |
62 |
São Paulo |
Brazil |
97.0 |
82.8 |
|
28 |
26 |
Madrid |
Spain |
96.7 |
92.1 |
|
29 |
49 |
Prague |
Czech Rep. |
96.0 |
85.6 |
|
30 |
37 |
Lagos |
Nigeria |
95.9 |
88.0 |
|
31 |
31 |
Barcelona |
Spain |
95.2 |
89.2 |
|
31 |
64 |
Rio de Janeiro |
Brazil |
95.2 |
82.5 |
|
31 |
23 |
Stockholm |
Sweden |
95.2 |
93.1 |
|
34 |
24 |
Douala |
Cameroon |
95.1 |
92.9 |
|
35 |
67 |
Warsaw |
Poland |
95.0 |
82.4 |
|
36 |
64 |
Melbourne |
Australia |
94.2 |
82.5 |
|
37 |
39 |
Munich |
Germany |
93.1 |
87.6 |
|
38 |
45 |
Berlin |
Germany |
93.0 |
85.9 |
|
39 |
44 |
Brussels |
Belgium |
92.9 |
86.5 |
|
40 |
40 |
Frankfurt |
Germany |
92.5 |
87.4 |
|
41 |
33 |
Dakar |
Senegal |
92.2 |
89.0 |
|
42 |
28 |
Kiev |
Ukraine |
91.7 |
91.4 |
|
43 |
43 |
Luxembourg |
Luxembourg |
91.3 |
87.0 |
|
44 |
30 |
Almaty |
Kazakhstan |
90.7 |
89.6 |
|
45 |
31 |
Bratislava |
Slovakia |
90.6 |
89.2 |
|
46 |
45 |
Düsseldorf |
Germany |
90.4 |
85.9 |
|
46 |
72 |
Riga |
Latvia |
90.4 |
81.5 |
|
48 |
52 |
Mumbai |
India |
90.3 |
84.9 |
|
49 |
59 |
Zagreb |
Croatia |
90.0 |
83.5 |
|
50 |
57 |
Hamburg |
Germany |
89.9 |
84.2 |
Cost of living comparisons in €s – 2008
Selected cities worldwide: 1 Euro= US$1.57
The World’s Youngest Women Billionaires
Jul 29th
Forbes recently released their list of the world’s youngest women billionaires. Who made the list?
- Hind Hariri (Lebanon) – the youngest child of slain Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.
- Yang Huiyan (China) – the daughter of Chinese real estate mogul, Yeung Kwok Keung.
- Begumhan Dogan Faralyali (Turkey) – the daughter of billionaires Aydin and Sema Isil Dogan.
- Serra Sabanci (Turkey) – sits on the board of family’s conglomerate, Haci Omer Sabanci Holding.
- Hanzade Dogan Boyner (Turkey) – sister of Begumhan and daughter of billionaires Aydin and Sema Isil Dogan.
- Vuslat Dogan Sabanci (Turkey) – sister of Begumhan, Hanzade, Arzuhan, and daughter of billionaires Aydin and Sema Isil Dogan.
- Chu Lam Yiu (China) – Chair of Hubao International.
- Dinara Kulibaeva (Kazakhstan) – Dinara with her husband Timur Kulibaev, also a billionaire, owns shares in Halyk, Kazakhstan’s third-largest bank,
- Filiz Sahenk (Turkey) – Filiz is an heir to Dogus Holding fortune.
- Margaret Magerko (United States) – Magerko learned about the lumber business from her father Joe Hardy, who opened his first lumberyard in 1952 and founded 84 Lumber in 1956.
- JK Rowling (United Kingdom) – Welfare mom turned Harry Potter scribe is the only author on Forbes’ billionaires list.
- Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag (Turkey) – The trailblazing daughter of Turkish billionaires Aydin and Isil Dogan and sister of fellow heiresses, Begumhan, Hanzade and Vuslat, Arzuhan.
- Zhang Xin (China) – She and husband Pan Shiyi (SOHO China’s chief executive and chairman, respectively) are one of China’s best-known business couples, renowned for their property developments’ sleek, modern style.
- Elena Baturina (Russia) – The powerful wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. In 1991 she started plastic-products company Inteko, which produced furniture and crockery but
has since expanded into construction and construction materials. - Abigail Johnson (United States) – Johnson, with her family, controls Fidelity Investments, America’s largest mutual fund company.
- Susanne Klatten (Germany) – This trained M.B.A economist inherited stake in automaker BMW from her father Herbert Quandt, who rescued it from bankruptcy decades ago. She also inherited a 50% stake in pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer Altana.
- Jean Pritzker (United States) – A filmmaker, Pritzker is the granddaughter of A.N. Pritzker, who, with sons Jay and Robert, created industrial conglomerate Marmon and hotel chain Hyatt.
- Nancy Lerner (United States) – The daughter of Al Lerner (d. 2002), who made billions in credit cards via MBNA and brought professional football back to Cleveland
- Winnie Jahnson-Marquart (United States) – Jahnson-Marquart’s father was Samuel Curtis Johnson (d. 2004), great-grandson of the salesman who founded floor wax company S.C. Johnson in 1886.
- Penny Pritzker (United States) – Barack Obama’s campaign finance chief is also the CEO of Classic Residence by Hyatt and chair of airport parking company The Parking Spot.
That’s it!
Thank God It’s Thursday!
Jul 3rd
For those of you living in the United States, you probably read the title and thought I was referring to the July 4th Independence Day holiday right?
Actually, the TGIT phrase pertains to Utah state employees. Starting next month, state employees will only work four days a week in an attempt to reduce energy costs and gasoline expenses. This new policy will impact 17,000 state employees.
Read the rest of the CNNMoney.com article here.
Question: What would you do if you had a four day work week? How about start your own business?
Want to Leave the Rat Race?
Jul 3rd
Many people dream of being able to quit their 9-to-5 job and start their own business. Few take the bold step and embark down the entrepreneurial path. Even fewer take this step and succeed. If you’ve been thinking about quitting your job to start your own business, you’ll enjoy this article by Sarah Pierce. In it, Pierce profiles three people who left the corporate world to start their own venture.
Here’s a quick summary of the profiles she describes in detail.
- A former management consultant who started his own Belgian Waffle business.
- A former investment banker who started an organic, kids snack food company.
- A former corporate vice-president who became a franchisee.
Enjoy!
Do Credit Card Rewards Rip Consumers Off?
Jul 2nd
This latest blog post is a comment on Jessica Dickler’s article on CNNMoney.com dated June 2, 2008. First, let’s begin with a summary of her key points.
- Eighty-five (85) percent of U.S. households participate in a rewards program.
- Reward cards have more complicated rules and restrictions.
- These credit cards carry a higher annual percentage rates (APR).
- Some rewards programs charge an annual fee.
- Consumers often do not use their rewards (41% of rewards cardholders).
The article is not entirely doom and gloom. The silver lining to this article is Dickler’s comments about maximizing the value of a rewards program. Here’s a quick summary.
- Participate in a program where you are a frequent consumer.
- Project spending to determine true return on your investment (your estimated annual spend vs. actual rewards).
- Opt for cash back rewards over points.
- Don’t carry a balance.**
- If your program involves airline miles, use them fast and often.
- Don’t overspend to earn your rewards.
** The only time I would consider carrying a temporary balance if the card offered a promotional 0% APR for 6-12 months. After that, pay off the entire balance to avoid higher rates.