Posted by Timothy Ross on February 2, 2024 at 6:47am
Please check out the comment section for additional thoughts will be posted there. (FYI check out all our blog posting comment sections as that is where you will find additional information on the topic, reason, it's a quick place for me to post info as i find it, click, done, plus it typically makes a nice picture that many articles come with)
One of the primary differences between those who achieve great things in their lives and those who manage only to "get by" is that successful people learned early in life that they were responsible for their own actions. No other person can make you successful or keep you from achieving your goals.
Taking the initiative means assuming a leadership role, a position that singles you out for praise – and for criticism. The good leader is one who shares the credit for success with others and assumes full responsibility for failures or temporary setbacks. When you accept responsibility for your actions, you gain the respect of others and are well on the way to creating your own future.
1. Identify your priorities clearly. To start, you need to identify your priorities. Obviously, when everything is a priority , this is easier said than done.
To get started, follow these steps:
Organize your tasks into a list. Put each task in a ranking order. Realistically determine how much time each task will require. Plan your day's priorities using a schedule. In short, making decisions based on your priorities is much easier once you know what they are.
.......
Final words of advice.
No one is perfect, including me. There are times when I don't get it right as well. Despite that, I'm committed to finding a balance that works for both my family and me. It's possible for you too.
Reading the article the principles apply to farm and other business as well. The farm seems to have a greater hold on us, the tasks are daily especially if there is livestock on your farm, no matter the size. For me, we have a milking goat. Getting someone to milk Ivy has been a challenge, easier to just stay home. It's just 5-10 minutes twice a day yet it held me back from leaving our place. Fortunately we found a young couple that wanted to help, we're trainable, this one thing allowed me to feel comfortable in leaving our small operation in their care. Going forward I need to make sure I have a backup, and that means cultivating the relationships that allow me to leave the farm with confidence that the care will be available. My operation is small scale, yet it doesn't take much to hold one back. A little trust, a little training , a little confidence develops and freedom flows, creating opportunities for my family to travel. To be able to respond to inevitable future happenings. Backup , so important, what if there is an emergency to tend to a family matter, a death, an accident, backup, means you have it covered. Line a fire alarm test, test the backup, get away , the strsss and anxiety level will go down. Yes we have to do this, on the farm, in our businesses. The challenge, make it so. Thuringia should run with or without our you. That will make what you have more valuable, and enhance your family relationships . TLR
ps , even a place for the 2nd dog to be cared for, yes take one with you, if there is two, that extra pup adds stress, one is manageable ( for us ) Rose is happy with friends, licking up the opportunity for adventure, and new hugs and walks with our friends, sharing her love 💕
What is an MER? An MER is the total cost of running a mutual fund for a year, expressed as a percentage. The MER is the total of the fund's management fee, operating expenses (or fixed administration fee) and provincial/federal taxes charged to the fund during that year.
It’s important to understand the costs of investing. And when comparing options, it’s equally important to understand the value you receive for what you pay. Let's take a closer look.
The cost of a mutual fund is the MER or Management Expense Ratio.
Let’s take a look at the MER for two different series of a mutual fund – Series F and Series A.
Series F only reflects the cost of the fund itself. It is used in fee-based accounts, where your advisor charges a separate fee for advice and service. The MER for Series F includes the fee paid to the mutual fund company for investment management, the fund’s operating expenses and taxes. Let’s start with the investment management fee. In our example, the management fee is 60 basis points, or 0.60 percent per year.
We’ve used that figure because it’s the fee charged on a typical Canadian equity fund from RBC Global Asset Management. A typical fixed income fund fee would be lower. So, what does the investment management fee cover? It pays for professional investment management and research, risk management and oversight, the service and support for you and your advisor’s firm, and the day-to-day management of the mutual fund company.
Let’s look at the second component of the MER – operating expenses. These are typically in the neighborhood of 10 basis points or 0.10% depending on the fund. Operating expenses include the costs associated with unitholder recordkeeping and other day-to-day expenses such as accounting and fund valuation, custody, audit and legal services, regulatory filing and costs of preparing and distributing annual and semi-annual reports and prospectuses.
The management fee and operating expenses are subject to tax at a rate that is determined by the tax rate in the provinces where the funds’ unitholders live. We’ve estimated 8 basis points in our example as HST is generally between 10-13% So, adding up all the components, the total is 78 basis points, or 0.78% per year. Now let’s look at the MER for Series A.
Series A reflects the cost of the fund AND includes a fee payable to your advisor for advice and service. In this case, the Management fee is made up of an investment management fee – which we already discussed – and a trailing commission. Instead of paying your advisor separately, the trailing commission is collected as part of the management fee and paid to your advisor’s firm by the fund company.
The trailing commission is an ongoing fee paid to your advisor’s firm and the financial advisor who provides ongoing financial advice and service. It is often called the “fee for advice.” So what does the “fee for advice” cover? It can be broken down into three components: The first is Advice: Your financial advisor provides you expert advice on a variety of matters like selecting the right investments to meet your needs as you plan for retirement, seek income or save for life events, building financial plans, tax planning, and monitoring and rebalancing your portfolio to name just a few.
The 2nd component is Access, which covers the infrastructure required by your financial advisor and their firm to support the distribution, sale & servicing of mutual funds. And the third component is Service. Things like trade confirmations, opening and closing accounts, issuing statements and other client communications and regulatory compliance activities.
In our illustration, the trailing commission is one percent, which is a typical percentage for an equity fund. In general, trailing commissions range from 0.5 percent to 1 percent. For an investment of $100,000, a 1% trailing commission would pay your advisor’s firm $1000 for the advice and service they provide you. When you add up the management fee, operating expenses and taxes for Series A, the total is 189 basis points, or 1.89% per year.
Let’s talk about fees and your returns. It’s important to remember when you check how your fund is doing that Performance is reported NET of the MER. That means the fund’s performance is calculated AFTER the MER deducted. So the returns you see are the returns you actually receive. As you’ve learned, there are different fees, depending on whether you own Series F or Series A.
Remember, Series A will have a higher MER because it includes the trailing commission that pays for advice, access and service. Series F is used in fee-based accounts, where any fees for advice, access and service are billed directly by your advisor’s firm.
At RBC Global Asset Management, we offer Series F and Series A. to support the different ways that investors and advisors choose to work together. We hope this introduction to MERs answers most of your questions. If you want to find out more, please see the other resources listed on this page or talk to your advisor.
"If you will change, everything will change for you"
I met Jim in the fall of 1993, the year I got my investment and life licence. I attended his presenation in Ottawa at the Congress Centre, decided to sign up for his weekend study, took lots of notes, got me thinking, inspired, got me journalling, turned my life around. I studied his teachings , his recordings, and attended and met him in future seminars. I considered him my mentor. I enjoy listening to him to this very day, I circle back for a refresher at least once a year. I hope his lessons can help you as well. ~ TLR
“Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’”
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”
“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”
“How long should you try? Until.”
“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”
1. “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
2. “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
3. “Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.”
4. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
5. “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
6. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
7. “We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.”
8. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
9. “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
10. “To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?”
11. “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
12. “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
13. “Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated idiot.”
14. “It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.”
15. “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.”
16. “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”
17. “Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.”
18. “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
19. “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.”
20. “You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”
21. “Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.”
22. “Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”
23. “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.”
24. “Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”
25. “Life and business is like the changing seasons. You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. Therein lies the opportunity to live an extraordinary life–the opportunity to change yourself.”
26. “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”
27. “Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”
28. “If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”
29. “Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.”
30. “Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.”
31. “Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”
32. “You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
33. “Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’”
34. “No one else ‘makes us angry.’ We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude.”
35. “Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out.”
36. “The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.”
37. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
38. “The more you care, the stronger you can be.”
39. “Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage, perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you are born with and can’t change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take responsibility for changing.”
40. “How long should you try? Until.”
"The beauty of being in business is that your business engages all aspects of your mind, I think that is why you become successful, business challenges you to be more than you are, and that is where the miracle takes place." Timothy Ross, May 2004
Posted by Timothy Ross on September 25, 2021 at 5:55am
A Man For All Seasons
"More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons."
A Man for All Seasons - Because I Believe: Thomas More (Paul Scofield) explains his morality to the Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport).
"A Man For All Seasons" (1966), directed by Fred Zinnemann, tells the story of Sir Thomas More's resistance to King Henry VIII's seizure of the church in England.
A Man For All Seasons - Clip "Give The Devil Benefit Of Law"
Many are being threatened with the threat of loosing their jobs because they believe their health information is private and choose to not disclose to their employer. In some industries there could be a mass firing of up to 30% of the work force. This interview will give you some legal insight on the matter, it’s interesting insight on the ethics, history of law and the dangers to the future.
If your being affected by the current manadates being implemented by the government and being encouraged upon business's, some financial planning is in order, you are not alone, please reach out to us, perhaps we can be of assistance. advisor@timothyross.com 613-345-0016
Thomas has been called “doubting Thomas” because of his initial reluctance to believe in the Lord’s resurrection, but neither the Lord nor the other disciples ever viewed him in such a light. His later ministry, as the first missionary/ martyr to India, speaks clearly of his great faith.
It is only in John’s gospel that we have any specific insight into Thomas’ character. When the other disciples sought to dissuade Jesus from returning to Jerusalem, it was Thomas who urged, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). Thomas understood the dangers awaiting them but was ready to go wherever Jesus desired him to go. In the upper room when Jesus spoke of going away, Thomas, still willing to go with Him anywhere, was the only one to ask, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Then, just a few hours later, the Lord had been crucified, and soon “the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19) as they hid themselves in the upper room.
But Thomas was not hiding! The Scriptures do not say where he was when Jesus appeared in their midst, but he was not hiding there like the others. He may well have been out working or witnessing, doing whatever he could to follow the Lord, but he (like the others) had failed to understand Jesus’ promise that He would rise again.
When the other disciples reported that they had seen the resurrected Lord, Thomas, realizing the tremendous significance of such a miracle if it were true, insisted he must see the proof firsthand. Then, when he saw the Lord, he showed a higher comprehension of what had taken place than any of the others, as he whispered in awe: “My Lord, and my God!” HMM
I received an email yesterday from our MGA, Financial Horizons, no entry unless you show your papers, doors locked , and if you visit, you can do so for up to 15 min and not be subjected to the paper policy nor testing policy. This does not effect me to much as I rarely attend their offices, but it is an interesting approach being put out there by this business who we do business through.
"With fear and the wash of perception the talk of the day, we find that the world is upside down, laugh or cry, press on, when there is a way, you find a way." TLR
In case your compliance cruising, full stop, see, read, digest disclosure
The moment you get defensive, take insults personally or react badly to criticism you’ve lost the chance of building a positive relationship with that member (and other members who see your response).
Every interaction is a great opportunity to build a stronger relationship, deepen mutual understanding, and find better solutions to community problems.
You shut down those possibilities when you try to defend your own reputation instead of making the other member feel great.
Defensive responses are selfish responses.
The great irony is the best way to improve your reputation is to ignore the personal insults against you and focus on helping other members solve their problems, feel understood, and more appreciated.
“Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’”
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”
“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”
“How long should you try? Until.”
“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”
1. “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
2. “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
3. “Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.”
4. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
5. “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
6. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
7. “We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.”
8. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
9. “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
10. “To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?”
11. “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
12. “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
13. “Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated idiot.”
14. “It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.”
15. “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.”
16. “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”
17. “Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.”
18. “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
19. “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.”
20. “You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”
21. “Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.”
22. “Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”
23. “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.”
24. “Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”
25. “Life and business is like the changing seasons. You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. Therein lies the opportunity to live an extraordinary life–the opportunity to change yourself.”
26. “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”
27. “Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”
28. “If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”
29. “Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.”
30. “Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.”
31. “Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”
32. “You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
33. “Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’”
34. “No one else ‘makes us angry.’ We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude.”
35. “Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out.”
36. “The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.”
37. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
38. “The more you care, the stronger you can be.”
39. “Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage, perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you are born with and can’t change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take responsibility for changing.”
40. “How long should you try? Until.”
"The beauty of being in business is that your business engages all aspects of your mind, I think that is why you become successful, business challenges you to be more than you are, and that is where the miracle takes place." Timothy Ross, May 2004