2010 Christmas Song List

Hope you are enjoying this year’s Christmas CD. Have a safe and happy holiday.

1. Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer – Straight No Chaser
2. It’s Christmas Time Again – Peggy Lee
3. The Christmas Song – Dexter Gordon
4. Sleigh Ride – KT Tunstill
5. Let It Snow – Celtic Thunder
6. O Little Town of Bethlehem – Jewel
7. Hark the Herald Angels Sing – Jessica Simpson
8. Silent Night – Nat King Cole
9. Everyone’s a Kid at Christmas Time – Stevie Wonder
10. Winter Wonderland – Kate Havnevik
11. Pretty Paper – Roy Orbison
12. Frosty the Snowman – Bing Crosby
13. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Straight No Chaser
14. Have A Holly Jolly Christmas – Harry Connick Jr
15. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Toby Keith
16. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Sarah McLachlan
17. White Christmas – Sheryl Crow
18. Christmas Is – Lou Rawls
19. O Christmas Tree – Will (Glee Christmas)
20. The Holly and the Ivy – Annie Lennox
21. Christmas Medley – The Carpenters
22. Christmas Time is Here – Holly Cole
23. It Must Have Been Ol’ Santa – Harry Connick Jr
24. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/Saw 3 Ships – Barenaked Ladies

Merry Christmas – Client CD Song List 2009

We hope you are enjoying the Christmas Classics on this years CD.

1. It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas – Bing Crosby
   
2. Sleigh Ride – The Carpenters
   
3. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Harry Connick Jr.
   
4. Winter Wonderland – Aretha Frankin
   
5. Baby it’s Cold Outside – Anne Murray and Michael Buble
   
6. O Come All Ye Faithful – Charlotte Church
   
7. Let It Snow – Dean Martin
   
8. The First Noel – Ella Fitzgerald
   
9. Winter Song – Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
   
10. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra
    
11. Frost the Snowman – Fiona Apple
    
12. The Christmas Song – Michael Buble
    
13. Here Comes Santa Claus – Gene Autry
    
14. Silver Bells – Jerry Vale
    
15. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Harry Connick Jr.
    
16. Silent Night – Nat King Cole
    
17. Carol of the Bells – The Carpenters
    
18. White Christmas – Michael Buble
    
19. My Favourite Things – Tony Bennet
    
20. Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer – Dean Martin
    
21. O Tannenbaum – Vince Guaraldi Trio
    
22. 12 Days of Christmas – Straight No Chaser
    

Finding your Income Replacement Ratio

Many high earning executives and self-employed professionals often have inadequate coverage for their current income.

Did you know there are over 4.4 million Canadians suffering from a disability*? At age 45 earning $110,000 a year potential earnings to age 65 are $2,809,912**.

This review can be achieved in a minimal amount of time.

• From last year’s T4 slip (line 14), note your income e.g. $110,000 annually.
• From your employee benefits booklet or individual disability insurance policy, note your monthly disability benefits e.g. $3200/month.
• Then calculate your Income Replacement Ratio 3,200 x 12 x 100 / 110,000 = 35%

The Income Replacement Ratio would be 35% of today’s income, could you live on that?

The solution is finding a way to supplement that disparity. Please contact me or your advisor to find out how this can be done.
Email Trent or 902.209.0425

*FUMSI: Disability Statistics Challenges and Sources
**Assuming 2.5% increase every year.

2011 RRSP Info

RRSP Contribution Deadline for the 2011 Tax Year: March 01, 2012!

How much can I contribute to my own RRSPs? The maximum RRSP contribution limit for the year 2011 is $22,450. However, if you did not use all of your RRSP contribution limit for the years 1991-2010, you can carry forward the unused amount to 2011. Therefore, your RRSP contribution limit for 2011 may be more than $22,450.

What are the differences in the funds I can choose for my RRSP?

A popular question I get.

Money market/ treasury bill funds – these funds are considered to be extremely safe and generally invest in government securities. Traditionally these funds pay a marginally higher interest rate than the average savings account.

Fixed Income funds – have holdings that consist of, mortgages, bonds, treasury bills and debentures. These funds are designed to provide high regular income payments with the possibility of some capital gains.

Equity funds – have holdings consisting of common and preferred shares of Canadian companies. Equity funds are recommend to those investors that are seeking long-term growth through capital gains. Usually 5 years is recommended as a minimum investment in this type of fund.

Balanced funds – designed to provide a blend of income and growth by diversifying and having a mixed portfolio consisting of, common stock, preferred shares, cash and bonds. This type of fund is structured for investors with limited dollars, and have a desire to have a more diversified portfolio in one fund.

Special equity funds – with a focus on investments in real estate, precious metals and resources. However because of the specialization of these types of funds returns tend to be startling, both positive and negative. A word to the wise even experience investors only have a very small percentage of their portfolio in type of funds.

Dividend funds – accumulate dividend-paying preferred shares of Canadian corporations, and common shares that are expected to yield a high level of dividend income. Similar to equity funds there is a potential for long term capital growth. Dividend funds also receive preferential tax treatment.

Global and international funds – invest in money market securities and in bond and stock markets in various and regions of the world. Investors have the opportunity to increase returns through added diversification. In other words if Canadian markets are doing poorly, its not to say that markets in China Japan or Europe are not doing exceedingly well.

Feel free to contact me for more info

Blogging with purpose

Ok so I admit it I have been slacking with this blog. Due to the overwhelming popularity of my other blog I let this one slide. www.dogs4ppp.com

The idea behind the other blog was to see how things worked within the social networking world and how I could use those tools to create traffic and interest. At the same time I did not want to do anything foolish or make business blunders through my social networking trials and tribulations. Now that I have more than a firm grasp on how this can work to my advantage and also as a way to communicate with clients who like to know that their Advisor is paying attention to the ebbs and flows as it were. So the focus will be blogging about the world of finance as well as some other pertinent issues that may impact some clients or all. i.e. CBD development in Halifax

I am working on a new look for the blog as well as my first official post in some time.

Glad to be back.

How Maturity Guarantees Can Protect You During These Tough Times

These are extremely volatile times. The investment world is struggling and has shown a steady decline for most of the calendar year. An investor could be worried about how their investments are holding up as the market falls off. This is where the maturity guarantee truly shows it’s value.

How do these maturity guarantees work to your benefit now? Your “High Water Mark” was set at your investments highest value so you are guranteed that amount. When there are more than 10 years to the maturity date of the investment, your Stock Market Guarantee is updated to reflect your investment’s market growth, deposits and withdrawals. In the final 10-year period, deposits made increase the guarantee at a rate of 75% of the deposit value, and withdrawals reduce the guarantee proportionately.

This powerful guarantee allows you to enjoy the performance of the equity markets with peace of mind, knowing that on your chosen maturity date, you’ll receive no less than the highest value achieved by your investments on any day up to 10 years prior, regardless of market performance. Of course, if the value of your investments is higher than the guaranteed amount on your chosen maturity date, it’s yours to keep.

Example

Another great aspect of this feature is that it allows for us to continue to build your investment without “catching up”. We stop depositing into the current plan and start a new one. Why contribute to rebuilding the fund when we are guaranteed the higher value? Ideally we move the remaining funds into an aggressive growth fund in an attempt to rebuild quickly and we will not worry about it until it at least reaches that “high water mark” and then move it back into a more appropriate portfolio reflecting your risk tolerance. This prevents us from adding funds to the rebuilding process and reduces the risk for any new deposits.

I appreciate this can be somewhat confusing so please contact me if you have any questions.