<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ACbbz0rOv6A" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>The Belt and Road initiative is China’s foreign policy initiative, but what do we know about this giant plan so far? CNBC’s Xin En Lee finds out h&#8230;</p>


What is the Belt and Road initiative? | CNBC Explains


<p>By  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/todd-haselton/">Todd Haselton</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=593-KR">Samsung</a>&nbsp;announced the first consumer-ready foldable smartphone Wednesday at a launch event in San Francisco.</p>



<p>The new phone, called the Galaxy Fold, has a special display that can fold open if you want to use it like a tablet. The new device will launch at a time when consumers are looking for innovative new features in smartphones to justify increased prices in the $1,000 range.</p>



<p>Samsung said that, when closed, the phone can easily fit in your hand like a traditional phone. But it also opens up into a large tablet for when you want to watch movies. You can also switch between screens on the fly. Samsung said that means, if you get an alert on the front screen, you can open into tablet mode and see the notification automatically in the app. </p>



<p>There are two batteries, one on each side of the fold, that allow the tablet to fold in half easier.</p>



<p>Both Samsung and Apple have seen their smartphone market share lose ground to companies like Huawei, which makes phones with similar features at a lower cost. Folding phones, which so far have only been shown as prototypes by Samsung and other companies like Xiaomi, could usher in a new wave of unique smartphone form factors that will excite customers to upgrade.</p>



<p>Samsung first unveiled a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/07/samsung-foldable-phone-release-date-specs.html">prototype of the Galaxy Fold in November</a>2018, when it promised that a model people will actually be able to buy was launching &#8220;soon.&#8221; The Galaxy Fold runs a version of Google Android that automatically adjusts the software so that it works in both tablet and phone modes. </p>



<p>&#8220;You can simply unfold the device to get a larger tablet-sized screen,&#8221; Google Android&#8217;s vice president of engineering, Dave Burke, said in November. &#8220;As you unfold, the app seamlessly transfers to the bigger screen without missing a beat.&#8221;</p>



<p>It will launch in LTE and 5G versions beginning April 26 for $1,980.</p>



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<p></p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/samsung-galaxy-fold-release-date-price-specs.html and is republished with its permission.</p>


Samsung just announced the first foldable phone you can buy, here’s how much it will cost you

<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CVGREo98lZ8" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Chinese investors are the top foreign buyers of U.S. residential property, according to the National Association of Realtors. But how do these purchas&#8230;</p>


Selling upscale New York condos to China | CNBC Reports


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/debby-carreau/ ">By Debby Carreau</a> </p>



<p>You can never be <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/31/6-common-body-language-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-next-job-interview.html">too prepared</a> for a job interview. Doing the all the right things before the big day can still leave room for surprises, especially if your interviewers have a few tricky questions up their sleeves.</p>



<p>While some hiring managers prefer to call them&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/22/how-to-answer-common-interview-questions.html">&#8220;advanced&#8221; interview questions</a>, job candidates view them as &#8220;annoying&#8221; or &#8220;frustrating,&#8221; often because they are poorly worded, have no right or wrong answer or just seem irrelevant. Whatever the reason, chances are that you&#8217;ll get caught in one.</p>



<p>Here are seven examples of the most annoying — and commonly asked — interview questions, along with tips on how to answer them with ease and intelligence.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. &#8220;What is your biggest weakness?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation</strong>: &#8220;How self-aware are you?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: Never say, &#8220;I have no weaknesses.&#8221; Instead, take one of the hundreds of online assessment tools (i.e., Meyers Briggs or DISC) before your interview. This will help you prepare a fact-based answer.<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: Discuss your profile results (from the personality assessment) with your interviewer. In your answer, explain how you are working to improve yourself based on your innate tendencies. This approach also works well for similar questions about your strengths, giving you the chance to lay out your core skills without sounding like a bragger.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. &#8220;Tell me what you don&#8217;t like about your current (or previous) manager?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation</strong>: &#8220;Are you addicted to drama, or can you reasonably work through&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/what-to-do-when-your-toxic-boss-makes-work-and-life-miserable.html">conflict with a manager</a>?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: First, rarely is there such a thing as a &#8220;perfect manager.&#8221; Second, never badmouth your previous employer. This is the fastest way to ruin your chances at getting hired.&nbsp;<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: A successful answer requires you to give a critical (yet fair) assessment of how your boss might have made work a little more challenging for you, and how you attempted to find a solution. It&#8217;s always best to bring up a situation you already discussed with your boss in the past. For example, they might have acknowledged their need to improve their communication skills. And you could say, &#8220;We decided that it would help to set up regular check-ins, follow up with email notes from meetings and point out positive interactions.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. &#8220;Are you planning on having children or getting married?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation: &#8220;</strong>How much of your time can you commit to the job?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: These questions are not only tricky, they are also often illegal to ask as part of a hiring assessment. While you shouldn&#8217;t feel the pressure to answer, it&#8217;s important to recognize that passing on these types of questions will most likely have a negative impact on your interview.<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: If you choose to answer, of course, be direct and honest. If you choose not to answer, pivot the conversation by saying something concise and straightforward, like &#8220;right now, my career is my focus&#8221; or &#8220;currently, my goal is to pursue an MBA in my free time.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. &#8220;If I ask you to sell me this pen, how would you do it?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation</strong>: &#8220;How creative and logical are you?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: Don&#8217;t try to answer a hypothetical question without facts. Focus on your process instead.<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: These questions are totally subjective, and even the brightest minds often give mediocre answers, so don&#8217;t set yourself up to fail. Use your experience and expertise to walk the interviewer through your process of approaching the problem. There is no need for any real data here, so try to break the process down into areas such as the objective, target audience details, unique characteristics of the item, competition and delivery method that will resonate best with the consumer. The goal is to demonstrate how thoughtful, creative and process-oriented you are.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. &#8220;What are your salary expectations?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation</strong>: &#8220;How well do you know your own industry?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: Don&#8217;t base your salary expectations on what you feel you are worth. Use the facts from your research.<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: Instead of trying to put a price on yourself, look up comparable salaries. You can get a pretty good idea of the range by looking through similar job postings, recruitment firm salary guides or websites like Glassdoor. And always answer the question with data: &#8220;Based on my research, comparable positions with candidates with a similar background to mine are paying between $50,000 to$60,000, so I would like to be paid in the midpoint of that range.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">6. &#8220;Tell me about a time you faced an extraordinary challenge. How did you address it?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>Translation</strong>: &#8220;Do you sink or swim when pushed out of your comfort zone?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: Anytime a question starts with &#8220;tell me about a time,&#8221; use the S.T.A.R. method to answer.<br><strong>How to answer:&nbsp;</strong>Is there a groundbreaking project you were part of? Have you ever worked with a team with challenging interpersonal dynamics? Break your example down into the following four steps:</p>



<ul><li><strong>S</strong>ituation: Explain when and where did this take place.</li><li><strong>T</strong>ask: Share what was your role in this in this example.</li><li><strong>A</strong>ction: Share the steps did you took to address the issue.</li><li><strong>R</strong>esult: Describe the outcome and what you learned as a result.</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">7. &#8220;Why should we hire you over all the other applicants?&#8221;</h4>



<p><strong>About the question</strong>: &#8220;Can you prove that you are the right fit?&#8221;<br><strong>Tip to remember</strong>: Never compare yourself to other candidates. Focus on your strengths and how you can compliment a team.<br><strong>How to answer</strong>: Talk about your passion for the role, the alignment of your personal goals with the organizations and how your skills and personal attributes match the job profile and team dynamic. This could also be another great place to highlight your personality assessment. If you genuinely aren&#8217;t confident in what sets you apart, there are great tools like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us/strengthsfinder">Strengthfinders</a>&nbsp;that can help draw them out for you.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Not all interviewers are skilled</h4>



<p>As challenging as these questions may be, never be sarcastic and avoid cliché humble bragging (i.e., &#8220;my biggest weakness is I work too hard&#8221;). More importantly, do not let a poor interviewer throw you off by trying to guess the answer they are looking for. The goal is to focus on the facts, your personal values, real experiences, data and personal experience.</p>



<p><a href="http://www.debbycarreau.com/"><em><strong>Debby Carreau</strong></em></a><em> is an entrepreneur, author and founder of </em><a href="https://www.inspiredhr.ca/"><em>Inspired HR</em></a><em>. She has been recognized as one of Canada&#8217;s Top 25 HR Professionals and is a regular contributor on multiple TV shows, Entrepreneur Magazine and many other print and online publications. She is a board member for Young Presidents Organization and Elevation Group as well as an Advisory Board member for FinDev Canada.</em></p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/how-to-answer-the-7-most-annoying-job-interview-questions-and-spot-the-illegal-ones.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


Improperly appointed boards spell disaster for organisations

How to answer the 7 most annoying job interview questions (and spot 2 that are illegal to ask)


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/karen-gilchrist/">By Karen Gilchrist</a></p>



<p>Daniella Sjoqvist was 28 when she decided to take her side gig full time.</p>



<p>She might have been nervous, except that there was one major factor in her favor — she had a job waiting for her if it all fell through.</p>



<p>Sjoqvist&#8217;s employer, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sweden/">Swedish</a>&nbsp;government, had given her six months off to pursue her business idea with the guarantee that her job would be waiting for her if she chose to return.</p>



<p>&#8220;I had already started my company, teaching languages on the side while I was working, but it felt more like a hobby than a job,&#8221; Sjoqvist told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>. The break &#8220;allowed me to take the chance of working full time on my company,&#8221; she said.</p>



<p>Six months later, Sjoqvist&#8217;s burgeoning language academy had seen its customer numbers more than triple, giving her the confidence to quit her admin job permanently and become her own boss.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">A country of entrepreneurs</h4>



<p>It may sound like an improbable scenario, but Sjoqvist is not alone. She is one of thousands of workers who&#8217;ve taken advantage of a Swedish workplace initiative designed to encourage entrepreneurship.</p>



<p>Sweden&#8217;s so-called leave of absence for entrepreneurship program entitles all full-time, permanent employees to take six months out to focus on their business, safe in the knowledge that they can return to their job — or a similar one — once the period is up.</p>



<p>The leave — known locally as tjänstledighet — is typically unpaid, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20131210/mythbusting-the-swedish-leave-of-absence">may only be redeemed by employees once per employer</a>. It allows recipients to retain job security while they get their idea off the ground — a rare luxury for most full-time entrepreneurs.</p>



<p>Employers are only entitled to reject the request if there are significant operational reasons or if the new business is considered a direct competitor.</p>



<p>&#8220;To my knowledge this is the only country (Sweden) that offers a legally-enshrined right to take a leave of absence for entrepreneurship,&#8221; Claire Ingram Bogusz, a post-doctoral researcher in entrepreneurship and information systems at Stockholm School of Economics,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190206-swedens-surprising-rule-for-time-off">told the BBC in a recent article on the scheme</a>.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Disrupting the workplace</h4>



<p>The program was introduced in 1998 and is one of the country&#8217;s various leave of absence schemes —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20131210/mythbusting-the-swedish-leave-of-absence">including 18-month parental leave</a>&nbsp;— intended to improve Swedish employee freedoms.</p>



<p>In a so-called welfare state like Sweden, where taxes are high, such social benefits are the norm. But the entrepreneurship scheme is different in that it was conceived to boost the country&#8217;s business scene.</p>



<p>Traditional economics suggests that&nbsp;<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-010-9299-y">countries&#8217; with higher taxes discourage entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;because individuals view the risks as greater. That could have been the case for 31-year-old Max Friberg, who &#8220;really enjoyed (his) job&#8221; in corporate finance at a global consulting firm and might have stayed there if it weren&#8217;t for the leave of absence scheme.</p>



<p>&#8220;I would have been hesitant to start my business if I didn&#8217;t have the opportunity to return,&#8221; Friberg told CNBC Make It, noting that the six months gave him the time and security to give his software platform &#8220;an honest try.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Measuring start-up success</h4>



<p>Sweden does not keep official records of the number of people who take advantage of its leave of absence for entrepreneurship scheme. However, over the past decade, the Scandinavian country has seen a general uptick in the number of 25- to 54-year-olds who were registered on leave, according to the BBC article which cited Statistics Sweden<strong>.&nbsp;</strong>Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190206-swedens-surprising-rule-for-time-off">the number of registered businesses has nearly doubled</a>.</p>



<p>The shift is reflective of Sweden&#8217;s now booming start-up scene. In fact, after Silicon Valley,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/09/sweden-startups/541413/">Stockholm is home to the world&#8217;s highest number of billion-dollar start-ups per capita</a>, including major names like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPOT">Spotify</a>and Minecraft.</p>



<p>In Sweden, there are 20 start-ups for every 1,000 employees versus five for every 1,000 in the U.S,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/no-country-for-young-firms_5jm22p40c8mw-en">according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development</a>.</p>



<p>Sjoqvist said she has no doubt the scheme and the start-up boom are correlated.</p>



<p>&#8220;I think it is great way of pushing for entrepreneurship,&#8221; said Sjoqvist, founder of E.L.A.N.S (Enjoy Learning And Never Stop). &#8220;I suspect that programs like this have contributed to the large amount of Swedish unicorns such as Spotify and King.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">A new future for employees</h4>



<p>However, despite the unorthodox scheme&#8217;s apparent success, it will likely be some time before everyone is convinced of its benefits. Not least employers.</p>



<p>Under the program, Swedish businesses must shoulder the disruption caused by an absent employee. In countries with stable economies, such as Sweden, that&#8217;s something most employers can generally weather. But others may find it more difficult.</p>



<p>Plus, even in Sweden, there remains miscommunication about the scheme&#8217;s implications. Sjoqvist noted that she had to educate her boss on it.</p>



<p>&#8220;At first, my employer was not even aware that this law existed so I had to show it to her,&#8221; Sjoqvist said. But after that, she said, the response was positive.</p>



<p>Sjoqvist and Friberg are among those who decided to leave their jobs to pursue their businesses full-time after the six-month scheme. However, there are others for whom the scheme is less successful and who decide to return to their job once the program ends.</p>



<p>Ingram Bogusz noted that that can in fact be a positive for employers, who may see their employees return to work more energized and appreciative of the benefits of full-time employment.</p>



<p>&#8220;For someone to have gone out and tried something new and had that opportunity and come back isn&#8217;t actually seen negatively. It&#8217;s seen neutrally at best, and probably even positively, because then the person has said, &#8216;Oh no, this job is what is actually for me,'&#8221; she told the BBC.</p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/sweden-lets-employees-take-six-months-off-work-to-start-a-business.html and is republished with its permission.</p>


This country lets you take six months off work to start your own business


<p>Treasury sets out plans to render on to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Read South Africa&#8217;s finance minister, Tito Mboweni&#8217;s budget speech in full:</p>



<p><a href="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-BUDGET-SPEECH.pdf">Finance minister Tito Mboweni&#8217;s maiden budget</a></p>


IN FULL | #Budget2019: Tito Mboweni’s maiden speech


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-popomaronis/">By Tom Popomaronis</a></p>



<p>Let&#8217;s be honest, lazy people get a bad rap, especially when some of the world&#8217;s most successful billionaires are perceived as the exact opposite.</p>



<p>Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, for instance gets up at 5 a.m. every day. He answers emails, eats breakfast with his family, reads the news, takes meetings and plays sports like tennis, running and kitesurfing (what?!) — all before going to bed at 11 p.m. Basically, Branson is an incredibly active and accomplished individual (and it should be a crime to call him lazy).</p>



<p>So it&#8217;s not hard to see why lazy people are considered to be less smart and successful in their careers. Fortunately, for all the &#8220;lazies&#8221; out there, science has discovered evidence that laziness might actually be a sign of intelligence.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Science supports laziness</h4>



<p>On average, people who are less physically active tend to be brainier than physically active people, according to a 2015 study published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1359105314565827">Journal of Health Psychology</a>. Researchers even developed a fancy description for &#8220;laziness&#8221; — they call it &#8220;<a href="https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/personality/need-for-cognition/">need for cognition</a>.&#8221; People who have this trait crave structured and reasoned ways of looking at the world, and they often pursue activities that provide intense mental stimulation, such as brainstorming puzzles or debating.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>&#8220;The data found that those with a high IQ got bored less easily, leading them to be less active and spend more time engaged in thought.&#8221;</p></blockquote>



<p>For the study, researchers used a questionnaire to assess the &#8220;need for cognition.&#8221; They 60 subjects were split into two groups (&#8220;thinkers&#8221; and &#8220;non-thinkers&#8221;) based on their survey responses. All participants then wore activity trackers for a seven-day period, providing the researchers with insight into their habits.</p>



<p>The data showed that those with a high IQ got bored less easily, leading them to be less active and spend more time engaged in thought. The highly active group got easily bored when having to sit still and observe their abstract thoughts. Instead, they preferred to stimulate their minds with active tasks, like sports and other physical activities.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Are lazy people really smarter and more successful?</h4>



<p>That certainly doesn&#8217;t add up. But part of the problem might have to do with how we view laziness itself; it&#8217;s very possible that the things we associate with laziness are actually not so indicative of laziness at all.</p>



<p>Bill Gates has often been quoted as saying, &#8220;I always choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.&#8221; Whether Gates even&nbsp;<a href="http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/26/lazy-job/">said that</a>&nbsp;in the first place is questionable, but the quote still gets repeated — and that&#8217;s because there&#8217;s some truth in it.</p>



<p>Many obsessively critical thinkers (a.k.a. people with a high &#8220;need for cognition&#8221;) are concerned with reducing wasteful actions, and instead prefer to use efficient processes. So perhaps hiring a lazy person isn&#8217;t the worst idea after all. They&#8217;re likely to be strategic thinkers who can come up with smart shortcuts, ways to eliminate problems, save time and contribute new, innovative ideas to the company.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">&#8220;False laziness&#8221;</h4>



<p>Michael Lewis, the bestselling author of &#8220;Moneyball&#8221; and &#8220;The Big Short,&#8221; is nothing if not smart and successful, and he hasn&#8217;t shied away from being called lazy. In fact, he attributes much of his success directly to being lazy.</p>



<p>&#8220;My laziness serves as a filter,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/22/moneyball-author-michael-lewis-says-being-lazy-is-the-key-to-success.html">he once said in an interview</a> with Ryan Smith, CEO of the online survey company Qualtrics. &#8220;Something has to be really good before I&#8217;ll decide to work on it.&#8221;</p>



<p>Lewis&#8217; perception of laziness is what one might call &#8220;false laziness&#8221;: the fact that his laziness contributed to his success debunks the negative stereotypes being a lazy person.</p>



<p>Video games are another example of &#8220;false laziness.&#8221; It&#8217;s often seen as a mindless activity enjoyed mostly by lazy people. But anyone who&#8217;s ever played Fortnite knows it requires a fair amount of strategic thinking and problem-solving.</p>



<p>Elon Musk himself has been known to be a prolific gamer, and it&#8217;s certainly difficult to imagine anyone branding him as lazy. On the back of more than 100-hour workweeks and years without a vacation, Musk has built at least six extremely successful companies. He&#8217;s about as far from &#8220;unintelligent&#8221; as it gets.</p>



<p>You&#8217;ve also got Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page among the legions of wildly successful people who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/26/mark-zuckerberg-larry-page-and-elon-musk-play-video-games-should-you.html">like to play video games</a>. Again, these two people are neither lazy nor unintelligent by any stretch.</p>



<p>The bottom line is that &#8220;lazy&#8221; is a broadly defined word. Still, the evidence suggests that we could afford to be more mindful about what qualities in a person lead us to make that judgment. In the meantime, we should consider embracing the positive aspects of our own inner laziness.</p>



<p>Now, if you&#8217;ll excuse me, I have to get back to Fortnite.</p>



<p><em><strong>Tom Popomaronis </strong>is a commerce expert and proud Baltimore native. Currently, he is the Senior Director of Product Innovation at the </em><a href="https://rhawkinsgroup.com/"><em>Hawkins Group</em></a><em>. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and The Washington Post. In 2014, he was named one of the &#8220;40 Under 40&#8221; by the Baltimore Business Journal. Follow him on </em><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tpopomaronis/"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em> and Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/tpopomaronis"><em>@tpopomaronis</em> </a><em>.</em></p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/the-science-backed-reason-lazy-people-are-smarter-more-successful-and-better-employees.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


Why lazy people are likely to be smarter, more successful, and better employees, according to science


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sarah-berger/">By Sarah Berger</a></p>



<p>You probably know whether you&#8217;re a morning or night person. Now science has some good news for the early risers: Apparently the early bird really does get the worm. </p>



<p>There are fundamental differences in brain function between night owls and early birds, and night owls may have impaired function during regular work-day hours, according to a new study published Thursday in the&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/sleep/advance-article/doi/10.1093/sleep/zsz033/5316210?searchresult=1">academic journal &#8220;Sleep.&#8221;</a></p>



<p>Researchers at the University of Birmingham looked at the brain function (among other things) of 38 people who were categorized as either night owls, who had an average bedtime of 2:30 a.m. and a wake-up time of 10:00 a.m., or morning larks, who had average bedtime of 11 p.m. and wake time of 6:30 a.m.</p>



<p>Participants underwent MRI scans, were asked to complete a series of tasks and participated in testing sessions at different times during the day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., while also being asked to report their level of sleepiness.</p>



<p>Overall, researchers found that night owls had lower resting brain connectivity in ways that are associated with poorer attention, slower reactions and increased sleepiness throughout the hours of a typical work day.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, brain connectivity in the regions of the brain that can predict better performance and lower sleepiness were significantly higher in larks at all times,&nbsp;<a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-reveal-brain-disadvantage-night-owls.html">&#8220;suggesting that</a>&nbsp;the resting state brain connectivity of night owls is impaired throughout the whole day.&#8221; (The &#8220;resting state&#8221; of the brain,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.livescience.com/64779-night-owls-brain-connectivity.html">Live Science notes</a>, means not doing a particular task and letting the mind wander.)</p>



<p>&#8220;A huge number of people struggle to deliver their best performance during work or school hours they are not naturally suited to,&#8221; says&nbsp;<a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-reveal-brain-disadvantage-night-owls.html">the study&#8217;s lead researcher,</a>&nbsp;Dr. Elise Facer-Childs, of the University of Birmingham&#8217;s Centre for Human Brain Health. &#8220;There is a critical need to increase our understanding of these issues in order to minimize health risks in society, as well as maximize productivity.&#8221;</p>



<p>And whether you&#8217;re a morning or night person might be dictated by your genes. A separate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08259-7">study published</a>&nbsp;in January looked at the genomes of almost 700,000 people, using data from 23andMe and the U.K. Biobank. It found that there are hundreds of genes that are associated with whether you are a night owl or an early bird. Regions of the genome<a href="https://www.bionews.org.uk/page_141185">that the study found&nbsp;</a>to be relevant to whether you&#8217;re a morning or night person included genes involved in metabolism, the biological clock and genes that function in the retina.</p>



<p>However,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/daniel-pink-how-to-time-your-day-for-peak-performance.html">knowing whether you&#8217;re an early bird, night owl or somewhere in between</a>&nbsp;can help you optimize your productivity throughout the day, according to Daniel Pink, author of &#8220;<a href="https://www.danpink.com/books/when/">When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing</a>.&#8221;</p>



<p>&#8220;All times of day are not created equal,&#8221; Pink previously told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>. &#8220;Our performance varies considerably over the course of the day, and what task to do at a certain time really depends on the nature of the task. If we look at the evidence, we can be doing the right work, at the right time.&#8221;</p>



<p>According to Pink, for larks, the morning is the best time to do analytical work that requires focus, and more administrative or routine work should be done later in the day. The reverse is true for night owls.</p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC&nbsp;https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/study-reveals-if-night-or-morning-people-have-brain-function-advantage.html&nbsp;and is republished with its permission.</p>


Early birds vs. night owls: How one has an advantage at work, according to science


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/marcel-schwantes/">By Marcel Schwantes </a></p>



<p>Warren Buffett is no doubt one of the few business icons who can deliver the gift of wisdom and truth when we need it most. And those truths, when you really stop and consider them, are always spot-on.</p>



<p>In her biography of Buffett, &#8220;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business/dp/0553384619?tag=bisafetynet-20">The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life</a>,&#8221; author Alice Schroeder writes about a time when Buffett gave a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a9Lx9J8uSs">presentation</a>&nbsp;at The University of Georgia. The students asked him about his definition of success.</p>



<p>When you&#8217;re nearing your end of life, your only measure of success should be the number of &#8220;people you want to have love you actually do love you,&#8221; he answered.</p>



<p>&#8220;I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them,&#8221; said Buffett. &#8220;If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don&#8217;t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.&#8221;</p>



<p>That&#8217;s right, a self-made billionaire says that the amount you are loved — not your wealth or accomplishments — is the ultimate measure of success in life.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">To give and receive</h4>



<p>Love is one of the most powerful emotions a human being can feel, and yet, we still live in an individualistic society of keeping up with the Joneses: We forge ahead with our business ventures and strategically plan our career paths in hopes of finding fame and fortune. We feel we&#8217;ve finally arrived at the top when we&#8217;re able to vacation twice a year to exotic islands and drop a European luxury car (or two) in the garage. We dream about having all of these things, love be damned.</p>



<p>&#8220;The problem with love is that it&#8217;s not for sale,&#8221; Buffett told the students. &#8220;The only way to get love is to be lovable. It&#8217;s very irritating if you have a lot of money. You&#8217;d like to think you could write a check: I&#8217;ll buy a million dollars&#8217; worth of love. But it doesn&#8217;t work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.&#8221;</p>



<p>So how can we follow Buffett&#8217;s principle of success in a way where we can truly leave behind a legacy? The path of putting love into motion is a daring and courageous one, but here are a few ways to do it:</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Be selfless and don&#8217;t expect anything in return</h4>



<p>The laws of love are reciprocal. When we choose to love someone unconditionally by encouraging and believing in them, love comes back in full force through respect, admiration, trust and loyalty.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>&#8220;If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don&#8217;t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.&#8221;-Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway</p></blockquote>



<p>What&#8217;s more, when we receive those things, we become more self-compassionate. A 2011<a href="http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/9/1133.abstract"> study conducted by the University of California</a>found that self-compassion can increase motivation, willpower and the ability to recover from failure. Another study, published in 2007 in the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009265660600095X">Journal of Research in Personality</a>, concluded that people who have self-compassion are more likely to be happy, optimistic and show personal initiative.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Be empathetic</h4>



<p>Empathy is one of most common traits of likable (or, as Buffett prefers to say, &#8220;lovable&#8221;) people. True empathy occurs when you&#8217;re able to step into someone else&#8217;s shoes and see their perspective.</p>



<p>Empathy also plays a major role in a person&#8217;s potential to influence others. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ddiworld.com/global-offices/united-states/press-room/what-is-the-1-leadership-skill-for-overall-success">DDI study</a>&nbsp;of more than 15,000 leaders across 20 industries, researchers found that the ability to listen and respond with empathy was the most critical driver of a team&#8217;s overall performance.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Make work enjoyable and fun</h4>



<p>When you enjoy work, you enjoy life. In Carol J. Loomis&#8217; biography of Buffett, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tap-Dancing-Work-Practically-Everything/dp/1591846803">Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything</a>,&#8221; she mentions a quote from Buffett: &#8220;I love every day. I mean, I tap dance in here and work with nothing but people I like. There is no job in the world that is more fun than running Berkshire, and I count myself lucky to be where I am.&#8221;</p>



<p>The evidence here is clear: In positive and uplifting cultures where people share the same values, beliefs and norms, you&#8217;ll find a high-performing group of people who attract folks of the same kind.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Treat others the way they want to be treated</h4>



<p>As children, we&#8217;re often taught the Golden Rule: &#8220;Treat others as you want to be treated.&#8221; But the Platinum Rule takes it to a whole new level: &#8220;Treat others the way&nbsp;<em>they&nbsp;</em>want to be treated.&#8221;</p>



<p>When we follow the Platinum Rule, we can be more certain that we&#8217;re respecting what they want, instead of projecting our own values and preferences. That doesn&#8217;t mean we should ignore the Golden Rule altogether, but we should realize its limitations given that every person and every situation is so different.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. Follow your passion</h4>



<p>If you want to have your dream career, you must follow your passion. It&#8217;s that simple. Many of us take our cushy paychecks and job security for granted, even though we might hate our jobs and would rather be doing something else — something we&nbsp;<em>actually&nbsp;</em>love.</p>



<p>As humans, doing what we love is a major contributor to true happiness in life. So if you don&#8217;t know what your passion is, it&#8217;s time to figure that out.</p>



<p><a href="http://marcelschwantes.com/"><em><strong>Marcel Schwantes</strong></em></a><em> is a speaker, executive coach and workplace strategist. As a leadership coach, he addresses the elements required to create human-centered workplaces that result in high-performing cultures. Schwantes is also the host of the &#8220;Leadership from the Core&#8221; podcast. Follow him on </em><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelschwantes/"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://twitter.com/marcelschwantes"><em>Twitter</em> </a><em>.</em></p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/billionaire-warren-buffett-says-this-is-the-only-measure-of-success-that-matters.html?recirc=taboolainternal and is republished with its permission. </p>


Warren Buffett: This is your 1 greatest measure of success in life (and if you don’t have it, ‘your life is a disaster’)


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/shawn-m-carter/">By Shawn M. Carter </a></p>



<p>Coca-Cola, the parent company of popular soft drink Coke, has proven enduringly successful over the years: It ranked No. 6 on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/#tab:rank">Forbes&#8217; list of the world&#8217;s most valuable brands</a> in 2018, with a whopping $57.3 billion value.</p>



<p>The company has gotten its share of celebrity endorsements, too:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/warren-buffett-used-to-drink-pepsi-and-other-surprising-facts.html">Warren Buffett says he&#8217;s a &#8220;Coke loyalist</a>,&#8221; and Berkshire Hathaway is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/berkshire-hathaway-portfolio/">longstanding investor</a>.</p>



<p>If you invested in the company 10 years ago, that decision could have paid off. According to CNBC calculations, a $1,000 investment in Coca-Cola in 2009 would be worth more than $2,800 as of Feb. 15, 2019.</p>



<p>While the company&#8217;s stock price has been largely steady over the past decade, though, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/how-amazon-became-one-of-warren-buffetts-biggest-investment-regrets.html">any individual stock can over- or underperform</a>, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/avoid-these-4-investing-mistakes.html">past returns do not predict future results</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Coca_Cola_-KO_chart-1.1550254805710.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-328439" width="665" height="446"/></figure>



<p><em>CNBC: Coca-Cola stock as of Feb. 15, 2019</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/coca-cola-earnings-q4-2018.html">Shares fell Thursday</a>&nbsp;and were on track for their worst day since the Great Recession. The company&#8217;s stock price fell 7.5 percent and its net sales fell 6 percent. (Net sales still topped expectations.)</p>



<p>Chief executive officer James Quincey told analysts that currency fluctuations,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/19/fed-hikes-rates-by-a-quarter-point-.html">Federal Reserve interest rate hikes</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/77percent-of-americans-failed-this-4-question-quiz-on-taxes.html">changing tax rates</a>could be responsible for the stock&#8217;s slide. &#8220;Clearly, that is leading to an [earnings per share] growth that is not what we aspire to,&#8221; he said.</p>



<p>He expressed similar concerns at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/23/coca-cola-ceo-more-uncertainty-is-the-biggest-issue.html">49th World Economic Forum in Davos</a>: &#8220;I think we are in the phase of 2019 where we are likely to see a little less growth. It is going to be a slightly tougher year in macroeconomic terms and we need to work our way through it.&#8221;</p>



<p>Some analysts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/10/02/pepsicos-biggest-problem-is-theres-no-growth-in-traditional-soda-expert-says.html">see problems facing the traditional soda market</a>&nbsp;overall. Ivan Feinseth, of financial firm Tigress Financial Partners, said on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/squawk-box-us/">CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box,&#8221;</a>&nbsp;that &#8220;there is no growth in carbonated soda,&#8221; and that brands like Coke and longtime rival Pepsi need to get creative.</p>



<p>They&#8217;ll need to &#8220;continue to develop or acquire other alternatives,&#8221; Feinseth explains, like sparking water, flavored seltzers, teas and sports drinks, since &#8220;that&#8217;s where the growth is, in the niche beverage markets.&#8221;</p>



<p>Coca-Cola does offer products besides sodas, and it continues to diversify its portfolio. The company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/coca-cola-ceo-ma-will-likely-slow-down-as-it-integrates-costa.html">made six new acquisitions in 2018</a>, among them&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/whitbread-to-sell-coffee-chain-costa-to-coca-cola.html">coffee chain Costa Coffee</a>. They&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/packages/brands">also own popular beverage brands</a>&nbsp;Dasani, Minute Maid and Powerade.</p>



<p>And Quincey said on <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/squawk-on-the-street/">CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk on the Street&#8221;</a> that the company will take time to &#8220;absorb&#8221; the investments it made last year.</p>



<p>Jim Cramer, host of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/mad-money/">CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Mad Money,&#8221;</a>&nbsp;in January, suggested that worries about tougher years ahead could make the company a good buy, since&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/03/cramer-time-to-buy-recession-proof-stocks-like-clorox-pepsico.html">stocks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi</a>&nbsp;could do well during a potential downturn or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/03/tech-shares-dive-after-hours-after-apple-warning-nasdaq-etf-loses-nearly-2-percent.html">in case of a stock market crash</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;You buy the stocks of companies that do well in a recession — even though I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;re going into one — that are also bolstered by lower raw costs,&#8221; Cramer said. He specifically highlighted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo: &#8220;They&#8217;re the safety stocks. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s worth owning.&#8221;</p>



<p>For fiscal year 2019, Coca-Cola is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/coca-cola-earnings-q4-2018.html">expecting organic revenue growth of 4 percent</a>. &#8220;We are being prudent in our outlook for 2019 given the multiple reductions in global economic growth outlook for 2018 and our experiences in some emerging and developing markets,&#8221; Quincey said.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re looking to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/11/when-the-stock-market-tank-dont-do-these-3-things.html">get into investing for the first time</a>, expert investors like Buffett and Mark Cuban <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/17/warren-buffett-and-tony-robbins-agree-on-the-best-way-to-invest-your-money.html">suggest you start with index funds</a>, which hold every stock in an index, offer low turnover rates, attendant fees and tax bills. They also fluctuate with the market to eliminate the risk of picking individual stocks.</p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/if-you-put-1000-dollars-in-coca-cola-in-2009-heres-what-youd-have-now.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


If you invested $1,000 in Coca-Cola 10 years ago, here’s how much you’d have now

<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d_e5wAfTYRE" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>The perfume industry is nothing to be sniffed at, with the global fragrance market estimated to be worth $72 billion by 2024. Join CNBC&#8217;s Tom Chitty a&#8230;</p>


Inside the company making your designer perfume | CNBC Reports


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/karen-gilchrist/">By Karen Gilchrist</a> </p>



<p>Young people are more optimistic than any other generation about their career prospects and the opportunities that lie ahead, despite the growing threat of job disruption.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s according to a new study from professional services site&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LNKD">LinkedIn</a>, which found that the majority (52 percent) of people aged 18 to 29 are hopeful that the employment landscape will improve over the coming years<strong>.</strong></p>



<p>The findings, which are based on a survey of over 11,000 people in nine countries across Asia Pacific, point to greater caution among older workers, who believe they will be adversely affected by the shifting jobs landscape. Just two-thirds (41 percent) of those aged 50 to 60 say they think their career prospects would improve this year.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/china/">China</a>&nbsp;was the only exception to that, with optimism at its greatest among older generations.</p>



<p>The findings reflect the wider uncertainties surrounding technology&#8217;s impact on the workforce, said Roger Pua, LinkedIn&#8217;s senior director of brand marketing and communications for Asia Pacific. However, he noted that employees of all ages can better prepare themselves by focusing on five key work skills.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Keep learning</h4>



<p>As traditional careers find themselves up against the growing threat of automation, business leaders have become more vocal about the value of continuous learning — and LinkedIn is no different.</p>



<p>&#8220;Learning a new skill — or upskilling — is a great way to enhance the value you bring to an employer or your own business,&#8221; said Pua, who cited learning as his number one recommendation for young people looking to take the next step in their careers.</p>



<p>In a bid to respond to what it sees as growing demand for such development programs, LinkedIn has launched its own platform, LinkedIn Learning, which offers users a range of courses from speech-writing to software training. Meanwhile, longtime business icons, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/warren-buffett/">Warren Buffett</a>, continue to espouse the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/warren-buffetts-key-tip-for-success-read-500-pages-a-day.html">value of good old-fashioned books</a>.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Maintain a network</h4>



<p>While learning new skills is a vital aspect in your career development, ensuring they are recognized is almost as important, said Pua.</p>



<p>&#8220;It is unlikely that we can go far without help from others in our community,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;Along the same vein, helping others by lending a hand or giving advice will create a virtuous cycle.&#8221;</p>



<p>That&#8217;s something respondents to LinkedIn&#8217;s survey noted, with 85 percent saying they believe having the right connections is important for career progression.</p>



<p>Of course, networking does not come naturally to everyone, so it&#8217;s important to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/02/5-networking-secrets-every-young-person-should-know.html">learn some skills to ease the process</a>. Sites like LinkedIn have also made it easier to engage with colleagues — for example, by liking or sharing a post — without the awkwardness of many traditional networking events.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Stay up-to-date</h4>



<p>Part of building a strong professional network is about positioning yourself as someone people want to follow. That means staying up-to-date with your industry as it evolves and making sure that&#8217;s reflected in your online presence, said Pua.</p>



<p>Not only will that make you appear as a thought leader, but it will also make you more visible to colleagues and potential employers who may present you with new opportunities.</p>



<p>Start simply, by updating your online profile to reflect your most recent skills and experiences. You can then start actively posting and sharing on you LinkedIn profile, company network and personal blog to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/02/this-1-new-linkedin-feature-can-help-you-find-your-dream-job.html">highlight the areas of your work and your industry that most interest you</a>.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Be adaptable</h4>



<p>The jobs market continues to evolve, and it&#8217;s important to welcome that change and move in tandem with it, said Pua.</p>



<p>&#8220;As the pace of disruption brought about by technology continues to accelerate, the willingness to embrace change is key to continued career success and staying relevant,&#8221; he noted.</p>



<p>The majority of employees (81 percent) say they are open to those shifts, according to LinkedIn&#8217;s survey. However, using it to your advantage can be another matter. Try taking an active interest in your industry and reading up on any developments to ensure you stay ahead of the curve.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. Strike the balance</h4>



<p>Finally, while work is important, it&#8217;s just as crucial to be able to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/19/why-nearly-40-percent-of-employees-are-so-burned-out-they-want-to-quit.html">strike the right balance to avoid becoming overwhelmed</a>.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s especially vital for today&#8217;s workforce as developments in technology mean the lines between traditional working hours and leisure time have become increasingly blurred.</p>



<p>&#8220;As work-life balance becomes an increasingly important aspiration for many people, the key is to find the level of balance or harmony that works for each one of us.&#8221;</p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/linkedin-careers-advice-how-to-get-ahead-at-work.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


Mastering these 5 skills will be key to career growth, according to LinkedIn


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/marianne-hayes/">By Marianne Hayes, Contributor, CNBC Make It </a></p>



<p>Valentine&#8217;s Day is just around the corner, and it rarely comes cheap. Consumers are expected to spend $20.7 billion this year, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/fewer-consumers-celebrating-valentines-day-those-who-do-are-spending">National Retail Federation</a>. That&#8217;s about $161.96 per consumer, a six percent increase over last year&#8217;s $19.6 billion.</p>



<p>For some, Valentine&#8217;s Day is the holiday for love. For businesses, it&#8217;s an opportunity to hike up prices and capitalize on consumer spending. In other words, it&#8217;s one of the worst times of the year to splurge. But if you play your cards right, it&#8217;s more than possible to celebrate on a budget or, even better, leverage Valentine&#8217;s Day to&nbsp;<em>earn</em>&nbsp;money. Here&#8217;s how:</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Book a staycation</h4>



<p>Celebrating with a romantic getaway can add up fast. Hotel rooms are generally 25 percent more expensive on Valentine&#8217;s Day, according to the travel website&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hipmunk.com/tailwind/the-price-youll-pay-for-love-this-valentines-day/">Hipmunk</a>. Throw in airfare and things will start to get pricey. Instead, curb your spending by booking a staycation at a local hotel or cozy Airbnb.</p>



<p>Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.comparecards.com/">CompareCards</a>&nbsp;suggests taking advantage of a sign-up bonus with a cashback card. Many promotions will offer you $100 or $150 back when you spend $500 in the first three months. &#8220;You can use that cashback bonus to put toward a hotel night or combine with other points to get yourself a jump-start on paying for a staycation.&#8221;</p>



<p>You can also earn additional points by putting your Valentine&#8217;s Day expenses on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-cashback/best-rewards-credit-cards-880921658/">rewards card</a>, then paying it off in full at the end of the billing cycle.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Skip the reservations and cook at home</h4>



<p>The typical couple spends up to $170 on a romantic Valentine&#8217;s Day dinner, according to<a href="https://zagat.googleblog.com/2017/02/ValentinesDay2017.html"> Zagat</a>. That&#8217;s a lot of dough for one meal, not to mention the stress of scrambling for a reservation on one of the busiest nights of the year.</p>



<p>Whipping up a homemade meal in your kitchen can be just as special, and a whole heck of a lot cheaper. Instead of a five-course lobster dinner, consider recreating your first-date meal instead, or going with a budget-friendly recipe, like a decadent pasta dish with homemade bread. Top it off with some fruit and chocolate fondue.</p>



<p>Services like <a href="https://www.hellofresh.com/">HelloFresh</a> and <a href="https://www.blueapron.com/">Blue Apron</a> can also take the headache out of cooking without busting your wallet. Both offer free-trial periods, which you could use for Valentine&#8217;s Day before canceling. (Neat trick, right?)</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Treat yourself with a DIY spa day</h4>



<p>On average, most spas charge anywhere from $50 to $90 for a 45- to 60-minute massage, according to consumer resource site<a href="https://health.costhelper.com/massage.html">CostHelper.com</a>. And you can expect to shell out more if you live in a major metro area or throw in extra goodies like hot stones or a couples massage.</p>



<p>Going the DIY route can be just as romantic (and way cheaper). You can make your own bath bombs in 10 minutes for<a href="http://www.penniesintopearls.com/make-bath-bombs/">&nbsp;as little as $5</a>. From there, light a few candles, put on some music, and enjoy the ambiance of an at-home spa.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Sell unused gift cards</h4>



<p>This is a pretty hands-off way to earn some extra money this Valentine&#8217;s Day, especially since more people are on the lookout for last-minute gifts. (Translation: Demand is higher around gift-giving holidays, with cardholders having the upper hand.) Sites like<a href="https://www.giftcardgranny.com/">&nbsp;GiftCardGranny</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://www.giftcards.com/">GiftCards.com</a>&nbsp;are ideal platforms for offloading unwanted gift cards for a profit. At<a href="https://www.cardpool.com/">&nbsp;Cardpool</a>, average resale values range from<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/20/how-to-swap-an-unwanted-gift-card-for-cash.html">below 70 to 90 percent</a>, depending on how popular the card is.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>&#8220;Demand is higher around gift-giving holidays, with cardholders having the upper hand.)&#8221;</p></blockquote>



<p>On the flip side, those looking to save money on Valentine&#8217;s day gifts can use these sites to find gift cards on the cheap. It isn&#8217;t uncommon to find savings steeper than 50 percent off.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. Pick up a side hustle</h4>



<p>A solid side hustle is another way to pad your wallet ahead of Valentine&#8217;s Day, or even on the holiday. In fact, roughly 20 to 30 percent of the working-age population already engage in some type of independent work, according to a 2016 report by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/independent-work-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy">McKinsey Global Institute</a>. And with Valentine&#8217;s Day being such a big date night, it&#8217;s also a prime time for raking in some extra cash.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.uber.com/drive/partner-app/how-surge-works/">Uber</a>, for example, charges surge prices during peak times. Side hustlers who moonlight as babysitters will also have an easier time finding work on Valentine&#8217;s Day — it&#8217;s the second most&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/24/5-times-when-youll-pay-the-most-to-hire-a-babysitter.html">in-demand night for sitters</a>. In fact, most parents are willing to spend up to $19 per hour for a sitter, according to<a href="https://www.care.com/c/stories/14837/how-much-does-a-valentines-day-babysitter-cost/">&nbsp;Care.com</a>.</p>



<p><a href="http://mariannehayes.com/"><em><strong>Marianne Hayes</strong></em></a><em>is a freelance writer covering everything from personal finance to spiritual growth. Her work has been published in</em><a href="https://www.magnifymoney.com/"><em><strong>MagnifyMoney</strong></em></a><em>, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Good Housekeeping and Forbes. Follow her on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/hayesmarianne"><em><strong>@hayesmarianne</strong> </em></a><em><strong>.</strong></em></p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/5-valentines-day-ideas-to-help-you-save-and-earn-extra-cash.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


Here are 5 unexpected ways to help you save and earn extra cash this Valentine’s Day


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-huddleston-jr/">By Tom Huddleston Jr.</a></p>



<p>A Los Angeles home that billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought in 2014 and transferred to his ex-wife is now on the market for roughly $4.5 million.</p>



<p>The home is <a href="https://hiltonhyland.com/property/2232-westridge-rd-los-angeles-ca-90049-us">listed</a> by real estate agency Hilton &amp; Hyland, which describes it as a &#8220;sleek, stylish&#8221; mid-century modern home in Los Angeles&#8217; Brentwood neighborhood. The house features floor-to-ceiling windows, a saltwater pool and spa, as well as views of the Pacific Ocean and the city.</p>



<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCC5O4B1TH/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCC5O4B1TH/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div><div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div></a> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCC5O4B1TH/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">COMING SOON! 2232 Westridge Road is a sleek, stylish, mid-century boasting stunning ocean, city, and canyon views. Represented by David Kramer and Andrew Buss.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hiltonhyland/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Hilton &amp; Hyland</a> (@hiltonhyland) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-01-24T21:12:45+00:00">Jan 24, 2019 at 1:12pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>



<p>The real estate agency posted a video on YouTube showing off the luxurious property. </p>



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/506ktoBya1E" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>



<p>Musk and his now ex-wife, actress Talulah Riley, paid $3.69 million for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home five years ago. Property <a href="https://losangeles.netronline.com/la-index.php?path=2017\02\07\20170155726.tif">records</a> show that Musk transferred ownership of the home to Riley in October 2016, the year that the couple <a href="https://people.com/movies/elon-musk-and-talulah-riley-divorced/">finalized their divorce</a>. (They were married in 2010.) </p>



<p>Musk, who is the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, has a net worth of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/#712d87b37999">$22.3 billion</a>, according to Forbes. He reportedly <a href="https://variety.com/2016/dirt/real-estalker/elon-musk-bel-air-mansion-1201888308/">owns several homes</a> in the Los Angeles area, including a mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood that Musk reportedly paid $24.25 million to buy in 2016. </p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/photos-elon-musks-former-la-mansion-is-on-sale-for-millions.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


Elon Musk’s former L.A. home is on sale for $4.5 million — take a look inside


<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-huddleston-jr/">By Tom Huddleston Jr.</a> </p>



<p>Seven years ago, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/19/this-company-brings-in-millions-of-dollars-selling-stuff-on-amazon.html">Larry Lubarsky was unemployed</a> and $100,000 in debt. Today, he&#8217;s a 38-year-old small business owner, running a company that brings in millions of dollars per year by selling thousands of different products on Amazon.</p>



<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t have a career, I didn&#8217;t have any money to my name,&#8221; Lubarsky tells CNBC Make It. &#8220;I was living with my mom, I was severely in debt, I couldn&#8217;t afford my phone, my car.&#8221;</p>



<p>His business selling products on Amazon &#8220;saved my life financially,&#8221; Lubarsky says.</p>



<p>Lubarsky buys a wide variety of products in bulk — from electronics and kids&#8217; toys to health and beauty supplies — and then he re-sells them on Amazon, all while trying to turn a tidy profit. He engages in a business model known as wholesale arbitrage, which sees him buying large quantities of products from wholesalers or large brands.</p>



<p>As Lubarsky previously told CNBC Make It, he might see a Nerf gun available for $10 each from a wholesaler, but the product is selling for $20 apiece on Amazon. In that case, he knows that he can make about $5 profit on each Nerf toy after paying the fees that Amazon charges its third-party sellers.</p>



<p>In 2017, Lubarsky&#8217;s business pulled in roughly $18 million in revenue, including a net profit of $4 million, from selling products on Amazon. Lubarsky only launched the business in 2014, and he brought in more than $3 million in that first year, he tells <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>.</p>



<p>So, how does Lubarsky do it? Here are a few tips from Lubarsky that reveal the basics of how to be a third-party seller on Amazon.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Start with seed funding</h4>



<p>First things first. You&#8217;ll need money to get started, so you can buy wholesale products to sell online. Lubarsky told CNBC Make It that he pitched his Amazon selling business to a few friends and family members before one friend believed in him enough to invest $60,000. Lubarsky spent about $10,000 of that amount on renting a small office space and on shipping supplies (to ship the products he&#8217;d sell on Amazon). He used the rest of the money of to buy his first batch of inventory, including almost 100 different wholesale products that he knew would sell well on Amazon and return a respectable profit.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">How to get the products</h4>



<p>Lubarsky relies on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-a-wholesale-distributor-2531713">wholesale companies</a>, or even large brands, that are willing to sell products in bulk for resale. It&#8217;s the best way to get a large quantity of products at a discounted price, he says.</p>



<p>&#8220;What I basically do is buy directly from big national distributors, or brands direct,&#8221; Lubarsky tells CNBC Make It. &#8220;I open wholesale accounts with them and I basically have access to their products and to their catalogs, and I go through all those tens of thousands of products that I can get my hands on.&#8221;</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re just getting started, though, Lubarsky&#8217;s advice is to stick with wholesalers, versus reaching out to large brands (like Hasbro, which makes Nerf toys) directly. &#8220;For someone new, it is probably easier to source product from large distributors and wholesalers than it is to approach brands directly,&#8221; he tells CNBC Make It, noting that larger retail brands are likely &#8220;being approached by five to 10 different e-commerce people, or Amazon sellers, a week&#8221; trying to establish relationships.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Do your research</h4>



<p>Of course, Lubarsky&#8217;s business only works if people are actually willing to buy the products he buys in bulk — otherwise, he&#8217;s left with unsold inventory. In order to decide what to buy, Lubarsky and his employees research extensively using Amazon&#8217;s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)&nbsp;<a href="https://sellercentral.amazon.com/fba/profitabilitycalculator/index?lang=en_US">site</a>, which offers sales-tracking tools to third-party sellers that can tell Lubarsky how many units of a particular product are typically sold each day.</p>



<p>&#8220;First and foremost, I look for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2014/01/sales-velocity-equation-gp.html">sales velocity</a>, because if I&#8217;m spending money I want to know that, no matter what, I can sell that product and get my money back,&#8221; Lubarsky says. For the most part, Lubarsky is unlikely to consider any product that is outside of the 50,000 top sellers on Amazon&#8217;s ranking.<br><br>The second factor he considers is the expected return on his investment (or ROI). He wants any product he&#8217;s buying to give him at least a 30 percent ROI, so that if he buys something for $10 per unit, he&#8217;ll make about $3 on each sale. And Lubarsky requires a minimum of $3 profit per item, because otherwise the margin is too small to be worth the effort.</p>



<p>&#8220;I won&#8217;t take a 30 percent ROI on a $2 product,&#8221; he says, because the profit would only be 60 cents.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Plow profits back into the business</h4>



<p>Getting a 30 percent return on a big investment might make you want to kick back and enjoy spending your profits. But Lubarsky says the only way to scale this type of business is to continuously reinvest, which means buying more and more inventory.</p>



<p>The $50,000 that Lubarsky spent on his first batch of inventory returned a $20,000 profit, for a total of $70,000, he says. He took that entire sum and bought even more inventory, which soon turned into a total of $100,000, and so on.</p>



<p>&#8220;When we started the business, we didn&#8217;t pay ourselves. We didn&#8217;t take a dollar for, I think it was like a year, maybe even upwards of a year and a half,&#8221; Lubarsky says. &#8220;We just kept selling stuff, taking the money, reinvesting it into new products.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Roll up your sleeves</h4>



<p>Of course, there&#8217;s nothing simple about starting and running any successful business — and, these are just Lubarsky&#8217;s tips on the basics of operating as a third-party seller on Amazon. But, if you&#8217;re looking to follow in the footsteps of someone like Lubarsky, he says his best advice is to be as dedicated to the venture as you would any other full-time business.</p>



<p>&#8220;For people who are completely new to the business and starting out with wholesale, my No. 1 piece of advice to you would be to understand that, like any business &#8230; it requires a lot of work,&#8221; Lubarsky says. &#8220;If you&#8217;re willing to put in that work and build a real business, and grind and hustle, then this business is for you. If you&#8217;re kind of looking for, like, a little side-hustle [or] side gig, wholesale — I&#8217;ll tell you right now — isn&#8217;t really the right thing for you.&#8221;</p>



<p>This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/tips-for-making-money-on-amazon-from-a-seller-bringing-in-millions.html and is republished with its permission. </p>


How to start a successful Amazon business, from a seller who’s making millions

<p>Natasha Turak</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/egypt-president-sisi-pushes-toward-term-extensions-in-constitution.html">Egypt&#8217;s Sisi set to dramatically extend presidency, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country&#8217;s constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022.</li>
<li>Just last week, a parliamentary committee in Cairo approved proposed constitutional amendments that would increase presidential terms from four to six years and essentially reset the clock, allowing Sisi two additional terms.</li>
<li>In an exclusive interview with CNBC in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/07130244/105097713-Egypt_al-Sisi.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="MOHAMED EL-SHAHED | AFP | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>Egypt&#8217;s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is likely to win constitutional changes allowing him to dramatically extend his tenure in power — just over a year after telling CNBC that he would never pursue such a thing.</p>
<p>Discussing the political developments while at the Milken Summit in Abu Dhabi Tuesday, Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris told CNBC&#8217;s Hadley Gamble that he expected the controversial move would be pushed through. Asked whether he believed it was the right or wrong step for Egypt, the country&#8217;s second-richest man simply replied, &#8220;We&#8217;ll see.&#8221;</p>
<p>Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country&#8217;s constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022.</p>
<p>Just last week, a parliamentary committee in Cairo approved proposed constitutional amendments that would increase presidential terms from four to six years and essentially reset the clock, allowing Sisi two additional terms.</p>
<p>In an exclusive<br />
interview with CNBC<br />
 in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am with preserving two four-year terms and not to change it &#8230; I am not for any amendments to be made to the constitution in this period,&#8221; Sisi told CNBC. &#8220;The constitution grants the right of the parliament and the president to request amendments. I am talking about the four-year terms. We will not interfere with it.&#8221;</p>
<p>He added that any continuation of terms could not take place &#8220;without the will of the Egyptian people.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;So, the one who is in the president&#8217;s seat will not be able to stay after the term allowed by law and the constitution. And what determines this will be the elections by the Egyptian people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Crackdowns on opposition</p>
<p>The 64-year old leader, described by many as a dictator for his heavy crackdown on civil liberties and opposition groups, came to power in 2014 following a military coup that overthrew and arrested the democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Sisi was re-elected in April of last year with 97 percent of the vote, in a contest widely labeled a sham. The general faced little competition as his opponents either dropped out or were arrested.</p>
<p>Supporters of the constitutional changes say Sisi needs to remain in power in order to maintain stability in the country of 98 million and continue implementing the economic reforms currently underway.</p>
<p>Critics in and outside of Egypt have signaled alarm at what they say is blatant authoritarianism and yet another affront to democracy. In the five years of Sisi&#8217;s rule, more than 60,000 people have been arrested or charged by Egyptian security forces, according to Human Rights Watch.</p>
<p>&#8220;Project to amend #Egypt constitution unfolding &amp; in full throttle,&#8221; Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted last week. &#8220;Arab Spring in reverse!&#8221;</p>
<p>Tweet1</p>
<p>Additional proposed amendments to the constitution include bolstering the executive&#8217;s control of the judiciary and allowing the president more power in appointing judges and public prosecutors.</p>
<p>Constitutional changes require approval of two-thirds of parliamentarians and a subsequent referendum. Egypt&#8217;s 596-member parliament overwhelmingly backs the president.</p>
<p>Macroeconomic improvement</p>
<p>Egypt has seen significant macroeconomic improvement since the Arab Spring revolution and successive coups and terrorist attacks that rocked the country from 2011 onward. Government-implemented structural reforms and subsidy cuts recommended by the International Monetary Fund have brought the Middle East&#8217;s most populous country its highest economic growth in a decade, and it&#8217;s now targeting 5.8 percent growth for 2019, up from 5.3 percent last year.</p>
<p>Sawiris praised those efforts by the Sisi administration, saying, &#8220;They&#8217;re getting it right that they were not stubborn and they executed all the demands of the IMF because, this was for the good.&#8221;</p>
<p>But the cost of these austerity measures has been steep. Basic costs for Egyptians have skyrocketed while wages have stagnated.</p>
<p>Private sector engagement will be crucial to support Egypt&#8217;s burgeoning population, currently facing unemployment of around 10 percent. Some investors remain wary of a still-tense political situation, a fragile banking sector, regional insecurity and insufficient infrastructure.</p></p>


Egypt’s Sisi set to dramatically extend presidency, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution

<p>Natasha Turak</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/egypt-president-sisi-pushes-toward-term-extensions-in-constitution.html">Egypt&#8217;s Sisi on the verge of term extensions, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country&#8217;s constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022.</li>
<li>Just last week, a parliamentary committee in Cairo approved proposed constitutional amendments that would increase presidential terms from four to six years and essentially reset the clock, allowing Sisi two additional terms.</li>
<li>In an exclusive interview with CNBC in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/07130244/105097713-Egypt_al-Sisi.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="MOHAMED EL-SHAHED | AFP | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>Egypt&#8217;s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is likely to win constitutional changes allowing him to dramatically extend his tenure in power — just over a year after telling CNBC that he would never pursue such a thing.</p>
<p>Discussing the political developments while at the Milken Summit in Abu Dhabi Tuesday, Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris told CNBC&#8217;s Hadley Gamble that he expected the controversial move would be pushed through. Asked whether he believed it was the right or wrong step for Egypt, the country&#8217;s second-richest man simply replied, &#8220;We&#8217;ll see.&#8221;</p>
<p>Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country&#8217;s constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022.</p>
<p>Just last week, a parliamentary committee in Cairo approved proposed constitutional amendments that would increase presidential terms from four to six years and essentially reset the clock, allowing Sisi two additional terms.</p>
<p>In an exclusive<br />
interview with CNBC<br />
 in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am with preserving two four-year terms and not to change it &#8230; I am not for any amendments to be made to the constitution in this period,&#8221; Sisi told CNBC. &#8220;The constitution grants the right of the parliament and the president to request amendments. I am talking about the four-year terms. We will not interfere with it.&#8221;</p>
<p>He added that any continuation of terms could not take place &#8220;without the will of the Egyptian people.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;So, the one who is in the president&#8217;s seat will not be able to stay after the term allowed by law and the constitution. And what determines this will be the elections by the Egyptian people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Crackdowns on opposition</p>
<p>The 64-year old leader, described by many as a dictator for his heavy crackdown on civil liberties and opposition groups, came to power in 2014 following a military coup that overthrew and arrested the democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Sisi was re-elected in April of last year with 97 percent of the vote, in a contest widely labeled a sham. The general faced little competition as his opponents either dropped out or were arrested.</p>
<p>Supporters of the constitutional changes say Sisi needs to remain in power in order to maintain stability in the country of 98 million and continue implementing the economic reforms currently underway.</p>
<p>Critics in and outside of Egypt have signaled alarm at what they say is blatant authoritarianism and yet another affront to democracy. In the five years of Sisi&#8217;s rule, more than 60,000 people have been arrested or charged by Egyptian security forces, according to Human Rights Watch.</p>
<p>&#8220;Project to amend #Egypt constitution unfolding &amp; in full throttle,&#8221; Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted last week. &#8220;Arab Spring in reverse!&#8221;</p>
<p>Tweet1</p>
<p>Additional proposed amendments to the constitution include bolstering the executive&#8217;s control of the judiciary and allowing the president more power in appointing judges and public prosecutors.</p>
<p>Constitutional changes require approval of two-thirds of parliamentarians and a subsequent referendum. Egypt&#8217;s 596-member parliament overwhelmingly backs the president.</p>
<p>Macroeconomic improvement</p>
<p>Egypt has seen significant macroeconomic improvement since the Arab Spring revolution and successive coups and terrorist attacks that rocked the country from 2011 onward. Government-implemented structural reforms and subsidy cuts recommended by the International Monetary Fund have brought the Middle East&#8217;s most populous country its highest economic growth in a decade, and it&#8217;s now targeting 5.8 percent growth for 2019, up from 5.3 percent last year.</p>
<p>Sawiris praised those efforts by the Sisi administration, saying, &#8220;They&#8217;re getting it right that they were not stubborn and they executed all the demands of the IMF because, this was for the good.&#8221;</p>
<p>But the cost of these austerity measures has been steep. Basic costs for Egyptians have skyrocketed while wages have stagnated.</p>
<p>Private sector engagement will be crucial to support Egypt&#8217;s burgeoning population, currently facing unemployment of around 10 percent. Some investors remain wary of a still-tense political situation, a fragile banking sector, regional insecurity and insufficient infrastructure.</p></p>


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Egypt’s Sisi set to dramatically extend presidency, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution

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Egypt’s Sisi set to dramatically extend presidency, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution

Egypt’s Sisi on the verge of term extensions, despite previously pledging no changes to constitution

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