The Memorial Day weekend launched the unofficial beginning of the summer season. Movie owners are holding their breath in hopes that consumers, once vaccinated, may start to return to the cinema. Is it a false hope? Much has been written about the demise of the movie theater, even before the world was ravaged by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Sky high prices for tickets and the exorbitant costs of concessionary items like $8 bottles of water and $15 baskets of popcorn had made the movie-going experience almost as costly as a rock concert. At the same time, consumers were being offered the…
Insights & Advice
Berkshire County
Eviction moratorium
The economy is disproportionately affecting lower-income households and higher-income households. The rich, as they say, are getting richer. Many of the not-so-rich, sadly, still need assistance. Let’s face it — if you are reading this column, you are probably well-educated and successful. Most well-educated, successful people are also generous. Generosity is often directed by awareness. I know it’s seemingly callous to consider the economic ramifications of homelessness or lower-income households on investor portfolios. But it’s the very kind of impact that I will continually address, both in this column in “numbers” as well as in my commitment to addressing the…
Hope for parents of college bound students
How the Berkshire economy emerges from the pandemic
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and the economy rapidly changed for the worst. The impact on Berkshire County was larger than that of the nation. According to Moody’s, the gross metro product of Pittsfield was down 6 percent in 2020. That compares to a 3.5 percent decrease for the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). On a relative basis, employment in the Berkshires fell more than the nation and has been recovering more slowly. Notably, payrolls in the vital tourism sector are down significantly. According to Google Community Mobility Reports, 2021 year-to-date…
Cannabis catalysts coming soon
Last week, a bipartisan slate of U.S. Senate co-sponsors introduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (the SAFE Act) that would allow the cannabis industry to tap the federal banking system. If passed, this could be a game changer for marijuana companies. The SAFE Act has already been passed by the House back in September 2019 but was never brought up for a hearing, much less a vote, in the Senate. The bill’s author, Congressman Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat, has introduced several versions of this bill many times over the last eight years. During that time, the legalization…
How the Berkshire economy emerges from the pandemic
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and the economy rapidly changed for the worse. The impact on Berkshire County was larger than that of the nation. According to Moody’s, the Gross Metro Product of Pittsfield was down 6% in 2020. That compares to a 3.5% decrease for the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a whole. On a relative basis, employment in the Berkshires fell more than the nation and has been recovering more slowly. Notably, payrolls in the vital tourism sector are down significantly. According to Google Community Mobility Reports, 2021 year-to-date traffic is…
CAPITAL IDEAS: With stimulus coming, hope for ending the ‘she-cession’
According to McKinsey & Co., women have accounted for 54 percent of COVID-19-related job losses, despite making up only 39 percent of global employment. It’s being called a “she-cession.” In the U.S., working mothers have had to endure balancing work and childcare. The same is true for many fathers. However, the responsibility of childcare and remote schooling has mostly been that of mothers, according to U.S. Census real-time, time-use studies. According to the Labor Department, by the end of 2019, women’s gains in the U.S. workforce pushed the number of female workers higher than males. In particular, the growth of women’s…
Loyalty shock: Customer behavior after COVID
Businesses need to understand how customers will behave after the population receives its COVID-19 vaccinations. Even after the memory of the pandemic fades, the effects on consumer behavior may persist. Understanding habit formation, process and technology adoption and behavioral economics can help you be ready for what happens next. History provides lessons in navigating a post-pandemic world. I tracked consumer behavior through and following recent pandemics (SARS in 2002, H1N1 in 2009) and epidemics (H7N9 in 2013) and, after World War II, the oil price shock of the 1970s and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks of…
An earnest farewell to 2020
Dear Friends, This year sucked. We yearn for the last page of the 2020 calendar to turn. Unfortunately, 2021 is going to suck, too. I remember being out for dinner in early March for my mom’s birthday, and everything was…normal. Days later, New York City shut down. Many more states followed suit. BMM closed its doors to visitors and went remote. Since then, nothing has felt normal. But you already know this. And the aim of BMM’s year-end letter isn’t to rehash the pandemic-nightmare we’re still living through. The objective is to catch you up on what we did over…
Purpose as a competitive advantage
Once upon a time, the sole purpose of a business was to make the owner rich. Today, it’s considered “mainstream” for a company to also have a more humane purpose. If done authentically, doing so will make the owner even more wealthy. Purpose is motivation, and motivation is a competitive advantage. A corporate purpose explains how its team makes a difference in the world. It also gives your employees meaning and gets them to dive into projects with more energy and enthusiasm. Purpose attracts and inspires employees. You can’t invent a corporate purpose. It already exists, and you need to…
Great Barrington Declaration bad for the economy
Dalton, Mass. — You know it. You probably hate it (most seem to). It’s the Great Barrington Declaration. This column is not a platform for me to opine on things I know nothing about, like how to best address a pandemic. Economists and investors should stay in their lane when it comes to things like that. However, given that the GBD was signed by more than 10,000 scientists, 27,000 medical professionals, and 500,000 citizens, it makes sense to explore how this strategy could affect our money. The Great Barrington Declaration is the product of the American Institute for Economic Research, a…
The pandemic has been good to the pet industry
Sales are increasing wherever you look in the pet sector. Toys, beds, grooming products, leashes, day care, you name it; the pet industry is experiencing double-digit increases in revenue. Better yet, there are few signs that consumer spending in this area will slow down anytime soon. As readers are aware, the retail sector has been one of the hardest hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The pet care industry is an exception to that rule. In the past, I have written extensively about how recession-proof the pet industry can be. In both the 2001 and 2008 recessions, pet…
Few businesses sell
The goal for many business owners is to sell their company and retire with confidence. If that wasn’t a consideration of yours last year, it might be today. According to a Baker Tilly survey, as a result of the pandemic, 31 percent of business owners will accelerate their sale to a nonfamily buyer, and 24 percent will accelerate ownership to the next generation. Some readers probably won’t quickly sell their company, because they have failed to take the critical steps necessary to make it transferable. Selling isn’t enough — you need to attain maximum value first. Surveys by the Exit…
Mind Your Business: Cut through that one obstacle
What is that one thing getting in the way of you doing bigger things? In 1914, a canal was opened to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Isthmus of Panama. The 50-mile stretch of new waterway changed global trade, saving ships months of travel by avoiding piloting around Cape Horn. In addition to shortening the trip by 25,000 miles, ships were able to avoid the dangers of the Horn, where the Atlantic, Pacific and Antarctic oceans collide and cause nearly 100-foot waves, which caused at least 800 known shipwrecks. Julia Pimsleur, the author of “Million Dollar Women: The…
Berkshire Business Confidence Index, Issue 3
The Berkshire Business Confidence Index (BCI), sponsored and analyzed by Berkshire Money Management, indicates that there is a cautious level of optimism among Berkshire County businesses, as well as non-profit organizations that must make business decisions. We mailed out 5,000 surveys countywide, and received responses from the full spectrum of Berkshire industries—non-profits, retail, manufacturing, finance, lodging, real estate. Each brings their own voice to this survey. Read on to learn what we have gleaned from this month’s results.
Berkshire Business Confidence Index, Issue 1
Second set of results from the Berkshire Business Confidence Index, sponsored by Berkshire Money Management are available in PDF format here: Berkshire BCI, Issue 1 [PDF] First set of results from the Berkshire Business Confidence Index, sponsored by Berkshire Money Management This month’s inaugural Berkshire Business Confidence Index (BCI), sponsored and analyzed by Berkshire Money Management, indicates that there is a cautious level of optimism among Berkshire County businesses, as well as non-profit organizations that must make business decisions. We mailed out 5,000 surveys countywide, and received responses from the full spectrum of Berkshire industries— non-profits, retail, manufacturing, real estate—each…