China edges towards a big bail-out | Five stocks to buy before the year end, according to the pros | Don’t Overlook This Key Factor When Considering Retirement Relocation

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China edges towards a big bail-out - The Economist

Chinese buses are idling. Statements released by a handful of transport companies complain of deteriorating economic conditions and a lack of financial support. In October two in the city of Nanchong, in south-west China, said that they would halt services owing to a lack of finance from municipal authorities. These announcements may seem prosaic, but the intention is to do more than just inform riders about cancelled bus routes. They are aimed upwards at central authorities, says a former state official, and local authorities encourage the statements because they send a signal that all is not well in the provinces. Some have been even more direct, warning that they can no longer pay their debts. Across the country cadres are begging for bail-outs, in ways both subtle and direct. And there are signs that their efforts are beginning to persuade the higher-ups.

Local cadres must overcome severe resistance. Officials in Beijing want to avoid picking winners and the moral hazard inherent in bailing-out poorly run localities. Property is at the heart of the problem. Over the past year local governments have used shrinking budgets to stop construction sites from shutting down. Some have drummed up demand by lowering downpayments or making mortgages more accessible. But these efforts seem to be failing. In the first half of November home sales by floor space fell by nearly 20% year on year. Local government land sales have plummeted, squeezing a vital source of income. And thousands of firms run by provincial officials, called local-government financing vehicles (lgfvs), face problems. Goldman Sachs, a bank, estimates that such firms sit on 61trn yuan ($8.6trn) in debt, equivalent to about half China’s gdp, and are struggling to make payments.

Individual property developers are also hoping for rescues, and small banks require capital injections. On November 22nd Zhongzhi, one of China’s largest wealth-management companies, said that it was “severely insolvent” and unable to pay $36bn in debts, prompting a police investigation. Zhongzhi’s liabilities are heavily intertwined with developers, local governments and wealthy urban investors, meaning they pose risks of financial contagion. The firm will probably require some form of state-brokered bail-out.

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Five stocks to buy before the year end, according to the pros - CNBC

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Don’t Overlook This Key Factor When Considering Retirement Relocation - Forbes

A long-neglected factor to consider when choosing a residence is becoming more and more important to those who relocate in retirement. Because many people don't consider the factor, it's causing a lot of financial pain.

The overlooked factor is homeowner's insurance, something that most people take for granted when buying a home.

The problem is so acute that legislatures in Florida and California took actions in recent years to try to ensure affordable homeowner's policies are available.

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The Work of Leadership - Harvard Business Review

More and more companies today are facing adaptive challenges: Changes in societies, markets, and technologies around the globe constantly force businesses to clarify their values, develop new strategies, and learn new ways to operate. The most important task for leaders in the face of such challenges is mobilizing people throughout their organizations to do adaptive work. In this HBR article from 1997, the authors suggest that the prevailing notion that leadership consists of having a vision and aligning people with it is bankrupt; this approach ignores the fact that many work situations are adaptive rather than technical. Heifetz and Laurie instead offer six principles for leading adaptive work. The authors say leaders need to get on the balcony–they should be able to spot operational and strategic patterns from high within the organization, as though on a balcony, and set or create a context for change rather than get caught up in the field of action. They need to identify the adaptive challenges–with input from throughout the company, leaders need to pinpoint just how a company’s value systems or methods of collaboration need to change. They need to regulate the inevitable distress that adaptive work generates-people invariably resist change. They need to maintain disciplined attention among employees, getting workers to confront the fact that they come together with different work habits, procedures, and beliefs; tough trade-offs may be necessary. Leaders need to give the work back to people, letting employees take the initiative in defining and solving problems. And finally, they need to protect the voices of leadership coming from below. An example of adaptive change at KPMG Netherlands, a professional services firm, illustrates these principles.

What presents your company with its toughest challenges? Shifting markets? Stiffening competition? Emerging technologies? When such challenges intensify, you may need to reclarify corporate values, redesign strategies, merge or dissolve businesses, or manage cross-functional strife.

These adaptive challenges are murky, systemic problems with no easy answers. Perhaps even more vexing, the solutions to adaptive challenges don’t reside in the executive suite. Solving them requires the involvement of people throughout your organization.

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