3 questions to ask before you become a landlord + MORE Aug 17th

Our equities analyst looks ahead to the investment day

STOCKHOLM – Norway’s $870 billion sovereign wealth fund has excluded four Asian companies over environmental concerns linked to their palm oil activities in Indonesia.
Acting on a recommendation from its ethical council, Norway’s central bank on Monday said the fund would divest from South Korean steelmaker Posco, its subsidiary Daewoo International Corp. and Malaysian companies Genting Berhad and IJM Corporation Berhad.
The council said the companies may be responsible for environmental damage linked to the conversion of tropical forests into oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
The fund, fueled by profits from Norway’s offshore oil and gas sector, held shares worth more than $200 million in Posco and Daewoo at the end of last year and smaller stakes in the Malaysian companies.
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NEW YORK, N.Y. – Target is making more executive changes, promoting its Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan to the newly created role of chief operating officer.
Mulligan, who will also be executive vice-president, assumes oversight of stores, supply chain and properties and he’ll help CEO Brian Cornell revamp Target. Cathy Smith, a seasoned retail executive, was named to replace Mulligan as CFO.
Monday’s changes come nearly two months after the Minneapolis retailer said that Kathyrn Tesija, an executive vice-president, would shift to a strategic advisory role until she leaves the company in April.
Mulligan and Smith will report to Cornell, who since taking over last August has been trying to reshape Target as a more nimble retail force. Cornell is investing in e-commerce and expanding Target’s small format stores as it tries to reclaim its position as a “cheap chic” retailer. Target is placing a heavy emphasis on fashion, children’s goods as well as products for the home, and it’s bringing more organic, natural, gluten-free and locally produced food to its grocery aisles…

Owning a rental property can be profitable—but it comes with risk. As a landlord, you can get dodgy tenants, catastrophic home repairs can quickly eat up your contingency budget and day-to-day problems, such as mice in the house, can eat up evenings and weekends. So, before you crunch your numbers and take that first step to becoming a landlord, ask yourself these three questions:
1) Do you want a second job?
While a realistic financial budget is vital to the profitability of a rental property, so is factoring in the time and energy that’s required to running a smooth investment property.  For instance, will you have the time (or money) to pay for a flood clean-up? Do you have the patience to follow-up on a tenant’s complaint regarding rodents or bugs? Have you factored in who will go to the rental property to change the smoke alarm batteries, clean out the drains and gutters and change the furnace filters (among other tasks)? And what’s your emergency-preparedness plan should an unexpected repair occur?
It’s like having a second job, explains Michael Currie, owner of the Fort Nova Group, a real estate investment and education company based out of Nova Scotia…

TORONTO – Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) says one of its two co-presidents will retire from the company at the end of this year and a number of other senior executives are getting new responsibilities.
Kelvin Dushnisky becomes the sole president immediately while Jim Gowans, who had shared the post since the two men were appointed co-presidents in July 2014, will be a senior adviser to chairman John Thornton until the end of 2015.
“As we become leaner, more efficient and more keenly focused on a smaller number of core assets, we are empowering our leaders in the field to function as true business owners,” Thornton said in a statement Monday.
“Jim Gowans has trained and mentored our mine managers in this mindset for over a year and a half, preparing them to take on more responsibility and accountability.
“As we work to accelerate Barrick’s return to the lean, decentralized model that drove the company’s early success, the time is right to put a structure in place that supports this vision…