Financial Schools Reviews

Australian banking major Westpac has brought forward the launch of its new franchise, Bank of Melbourne, and is telling existing St George customers in Victoria that the bank will be open for business by the 25th July.

The launch of the Bank of Melbourne had previously been scheduled for the start of August. Westpac as part of a push in Victoria is re-branding 34 St George branches in the state as part of a strategy to triple the size of the Bank of Melbourne network over the next half decade.

The strategy is in large part to counter the loss of market share following Westpac’s acquisition of St George a couple of years ago. D

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Summer’s heating up, but apparently the stock market didn’t get that memo. Still, there are plenty of places for burned investors to find respite. In this series, we highlight companies we think will warm up your portfolio’s returns.

Picture this: A crowd of investors donning moisture-wicking, preshrunk luon yoga pants and striking the downward-facing dog pose in front of the doors of retailer lululemon athletica (LULU).

It may be an incongruous image, but this yoga and fitness specialist has earned the awe of stock watchers and customers alike.

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Lately, I’ve been reading biographies by the pound. I’m particularly interested in biographies of people who were involved in creating the modern world: Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and the like.

I have this endless fascination for the first half of the twentieth century and the people who lived in that time.

How to Remember a Person’s Name (and What to Do When You Can’t) This is a valuable set of tactics to have when you’re active in a community. There can be a lot of names you need to remember. (@ art of manliness)

The Biggest Myth — It’s Selfish To Try to Be Happier. “On

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– With energy prices showing a sharp drop in the month of June, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected drop in producer prices for the month. At the same time, core prices rose by more than economists had anticipated.

The Labor Department said its producer price index fell by 0.4 percent in June following a 0.2 percent increase in May, while economists had been expecting the index to slip by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the core producer price index, which excludes food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent in June after climbing by 0.2 percent in the previous month. Core prices had been expected to edge up by 0.2 percent.

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In full-page adverts, Murdoch pledged “concrete steps” to resolve the issue in a bid to regain the initiative after losing Les Hinton, head of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and Rebekah Brooks, head of News Corp.’s British newspaper arm, on Friday.

But some questioned if the apologies and resignations would allay public and political anger over allegations the Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper hacked thousands of phones, including that of a murdered 13-year-old girl.

The scandal forced Murdoch to close the best-selling Sunday paper, and drop a US$12 billion plan to buy full control of highly profitable pay-TV operator BSkyB.

“The News of World was in the business of holding others to account. It fa

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