Pres. elect Bryce Leggett chaired the meeting. His thoughts for the day was that we should read an article on one's purpose in life. Having a purpose in life has been shown to lower stroke rates and to reduce some of the multiple adverse health outcomes that occur in people who feel little purpose. He recommended to us the following articles: 

 

also from the Rotarian, on giving:

 

 

The meeting proceeded in the usual way.

We welcomed our one guest, Juliette Gateau.

 

Gerry Willard announced that there will be a highway cleanup this weekend and volunteers were needed; so far only three were signed up.

 

Juliette told us of her recent visit from her sister and from a French exchange student along with the surprise visit of a student who had done an exchange in her own region in France. They have a good weekend "up north". She's sad to note that she only has two months left and hopes to get in as many fun activities as she can during that time.

 

Sgt. at Arms René Papin took the floor. He welcomed Ryan Thompson back in action after an injury. He also noted Bob Martin's birthday.

 

On May 7 there will be a bowling event specifically not thought to be worth describing as a tournament, for the benefit of the Nelson Youth Centres. Teams are solicited. Previous years have seen takings of $20,000 for this excellent organization and enough to keep them in existence after the government cut their funds. A good time is guaranteed for all with a silent auction and draws. Usually there are six in a team but four will be fine.

 

René has started off another Polio Plus Pool in which members are encouraged to participate.

 

Peter Thoem hoped the club would join him along with Andrew Gaydon and Anthony Ford-Jones in celebrating St. George's Day, patron saint of England.

 

We welcomed back Bill Clarkson and once again David Dean.

 

Rob Sybersma and Nancy Brady recalled the good weekend at Camp Enterprise where everything went well and they were struck by the boundless energy of the youth who took part and their ability to stay up considerably longer than the leaders.

 

May Radford's granddaughter has just successfully participated in a championship trampoline activity known as Mini Tramp

 

Ron Lambert reminds us of the upcoming fashion show, London Calling and hopes that more tickets can be sold perhaps using Facebook to pitch to our FB friends and hoped that some of the wives of members might look at this great night out with a silent auction and live auction that promises to be quite spectacular. There is also a lottery for a car sponsored by Leggat.

 

Tonight there will be the Four Club Social at Williamsburg residence to which all are invited.

 

                                                            --o0o--

 

Peter Skoretz was asked at short notice to be today's speaker and was introduced by Andrew Gaydon. He has spent 18 years with Edward Jones Brokers in Burlington. He recently celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary to Suzanne. They have two children, Nicholas and Carmen. 

 

His presentation was on five steps to better investing and came with the promise of "no shameless self-promotion"

 

He gave us a very enlightening talk that looked at the differences between lending and owning one's investments, the key features of bonds, stocks and mutual funds as well as the more recent exchange traded stocks (ETF).

 

One can lend one's money to typically large corporations or governments in the form of bonds, GIC, savings or money market from which one can expect an interest return on a regular basis during the life of the bond with the promise of return of the capital at the end of the term. There's always a maturity date but there's also the possibility that bonds can be 'called' as interest rates change which is clearly a bad thing for investors; fortunately not all are callable. Some even have step-up features when interest rates improve. Some bonds have been remarkable giving returns of up to 10% though this is not the norm. Keeping a bond until its maturity is safe and sound for the most part but premature sale can be affected by increase in interest rates which will adversely affect the market value of the bond which will go down accordingly. There are some bonds that will even appreciate in the capital value if interest rates drop.

 

René Papin asked an interesting question but I really cannot say I understood the answer but I'll put it out there: he asked if governments have a vested interest in keeping rates low because they are after all the biggest borrowers and many of bonds.

 

Bonds have a quality rating: investment grade or below investment grade and we will want to beware of poor quality rating which is BB+ or lower. Anything that's "too good to be true" usually is and is definitely risky.

 

Stocks go out to primary and secondary markets: primary bonds are usually an initial public offering and involving large companies. What we're more used to is secondary market offerings which is to the public through the TSX and others. There are common versus preferred stocks. Preferred give better dividends but there is little appreciation and no voting rights in the firm. They're also paid back before common shares, though after the creditors, in the case of bankruptcy.

 

We learned about ETF or exchange traded stock which is as I understood it grouping of selected stocks without a fund manager and therefore the management fees are very much less than the often 2 1/4% that one pays to mutual managers. One can still benefit in the diversity. The downside is that this is such a good plan that there are now many many different groupings of ETF making it more difficult to know what to go for. (get an advisor! )

 

One can earn returns through capital appreciation in stocks and sometimes dividends which can go up or down or be canceled altogether. Firms have a strong interest in not reducing the dividends as that makes their shares look bad and they are likely to drop, as happened to the Canadian oil patch shares recently.

 

We heard about stock splits which doesn't change the value of the stock to the owner but as they become lower in individual value they become seemingly more affordable when put out on the open market.

 

GICs are currently thought to be better than bonds if one is looking in the relatively short term, after that, he recommends corporate bonds typically in banks and utilities, as they are likely to be better performers.

 

Asked about the recent increase in TFSA from $5500-$10,000 clearly that's good if you have the wherewithal to put in. (What wasn't mentioned was that this is just fine for the haves but the have-nots are, as usual, out of luck. Editorial comment).

 

There was some talk of alpha managers, those who outperform the market's and therefore highly sought after and might well be worth paying an increased management fee. Bonds can be held in a TFSA.

 

Asked about risk tolerance, Peter says that there is always a risk tolerance assessment to find out what individual investors can tolerate. Are they able to tolerate big swings in their portfolio? If not, they need to be investing more conservatively. Each person is different.

 

Asked what we should reasonably be aiming for as a percentage return Peter suggests that between 6 and 8% is a reasonable expectation in a well-balanced portfolio.

 

Peter was thanked for his enlightening talk and was presented with the club's traditional gift.

 

                      

 

On Saturday there will be District Training for anybody who wishes to attend.

 

Bernard Scrivener has been selling tickets for the Community Service Awards breakfast on Thursday 14th May at which Steve Paikin will be the Keynote speaker. The tickets are $25 and next week Dean Rutty will be selling tickets. Please consider attending and bringing guests.

 

The meeting was ended on time. 

 

Respectfully submitted by your scribe 

 

Anthony Ford-Jones