Pensions options if you own or work in a small business

There is one option being pushed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and which appears to be supported by the Financial Post. However the plan is not as good as it first appears to be and the writing of the article uses many weasel words and phrases (I have put some of them in italics)  to say one thing and imply another.

The findings of a Canadian Federation of Independent Business retirement poll of about 8,000 of its members paint a grim view of what’s on the horizon. That’s because a majority of respondents, 58%, said they do not feel they have sufficient income to take advantage of the various savings options available. Not surprisingly, 27%, said they planned to work to age 68 or later to be able to retire comfortably.

The overwhelming majority, 77%, reported they did not have a business retirement savings plan for themselves or their employees. That’s supported by other surveys that found 60% of Canadians have no work pension plan.

After the global market meltdown of 2008 and the loss many investors took to their retirement portfolios, the federal government floated a few options: increase CPP contributions or introduce Pooled Retirement Pension Plans (PRPP). The former option would be yet another blow to small business owners, said Dan Kelly, president and chief executive of the CFIB.

“Increasing CPP contributions would have a giant negative impact on employment in Canada because an increase is a mandatory thing and you have to do it whether you can afford it or not. It could be calamitous,” Mr. Kelly said.

The CPP option did not get the two-thirds consensus on the part of the provinces but there was interest in pursuing PRPPs. Ted Menzies, Minister of State (Finance), got a clear message from business owners. “Small business owners wanted this kind of option for some time to help attract and retain talent. The reason they hadn’t already offered a pension plan was because they didn’t want the responsibility of making the investment decisions, which is the case with group RRSPs, for example.”

Another big barrier: affordability and accessibility. “You have to be big to offer a full-on pension plan. If a small business has anything for employees it is a group matched RRSP, which is what we have here at the CFIB,” Mr. Kelly said.

“But RRSPS are imperfect as a company offering because the management fees are significant, ranging in the 2.5% mark, and if an employer puts money toward an employee RRSP, the employer has to pay payroll tax on the amount of the contribution. Depending on the industry, you could potentially pay an extra 20% to 25% in tax to put money aside for your employees’ retirement. It’s little wonder very few employers have jumped into that arena.”

Mr. Kelly said PRPPs can bring the pension vehicle down to the SMB level. Management fees are expected to be half those of group RRSPs and the federal government has confirmed PRPPs will be exempt from payroll taxes.

PRPPs are administered by the private sector: financial institutions, existing pension funds, credit unions — the options still are fairly wide open. Providers must qualify, show a track record of investments and customer relations before they are approved. The employer will choose from three or four products, which are still being developed. The process is simple for the employer, Mr. Menzies said. “They choose the plan and the administrator carries the fiduciary responsibility.”

PRPPs are entirely voluntary. And businesses that offer it don’t have to contribute to it. “If an employer opts in, they must offer it to all full-time employees who will be automatically enrolled,” the minister said. “The employee has 60 days to opt out. Just write a note to the employer you choose not to take part.”

The CFIB has endorsed the federal legislation, but here’s the rub: Provincial governments now have to put their own legislation in place and they can make it different. “We hope provinces will adopt a common framework,” said Mr. Kelly, whose organization is lobbying provincial governments to adopt the federal plan as is.

PRPPs can play a substantive role in retirement planning for small business owners and their employees, Mr. Menzies said. “RRSPs are still an option, but many people have not used it and there is a lot of contribution room available largely by middle- and modest-income families. Other countries have used pooled plans that have proven to be more successful.

“Some people save in other ways and that’s fine but not for everyone. This is low cost and the mandate is to return the best amount of money to the plan member. That will be in the regulations,” he said.

Mr. Kelly also thinks it could be a significant savings tool with huge uptake among entrepreneurs. “Many will view it as a great tool for themselves, especially for the self employed who have virtually no options other than an RRSP. For SMBs, the owner would be giving themselves a pension, too. It’s right up there with the value of their own business as a retirement savings tool.

“When you ask members what they have for their own retirement, it’s typically the equity in their business. And you can’t count on the anticipated value of your business when you are ready to retire. Look at what happened in 2008.”

The above was from "The retirement tool SMBs have been waiting for"written by  Mary Teresa Bitti  on Oct 16, 2012

You think English is easy?

This may prove you wrong!

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce .

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor dog in the hotdog, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Chocolate

The following is from an article from Grandparents.com, which provides some interesting and informative articles for grandparents, and being a new grandparent I need as much help as I can get. This article is a good one for all those chocolate lovers like myself who may feel guilty about eating chocolate--of course in moderation :-0

The Skinny on Chocolate: 5 Surprising Health Benefits by Deborah Long

Folks who eat chocolate regularly are thinner than non-chocolate eaters!” Newspapers, magazines and bloggers have been quick to share the results of a recent study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, conducted in San Diego, showed exactly that: of the women surveyed, those who ate the most chocolate had the lowest BMI. And this is just the latest in a long line of claims about the health benefits of chocolate.

Is chocolate really just what the doctor ordered? To find out, we went to Dr. Howard Weintraub, clinical director of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

Can chocolate help you lose weight?

“At the risk of sounding like a killjoy,” says Dr. Weintraub, “The researchers were careful to point out that their study didn’t prove that eating chocolate caused weight loss. I think the research is promising, but it wouldn’t be right for me to tell my patients to start eating chocolate as a weight loss aid.”  So what can chocolate do for

It can boost your immune system.

Like many other plant based foods, cacao (the source of chocolate) is full of antioxidants, which play a key role in supporting a healthy immune system. The rule of thumb with antioxidants is that the deeper the color, the more antioxidants. Dark chocolate is the way to go here; milk chocolate doesn’t have nearly as many benefits. In fact, some sources suggest that adding milk negates chocolate’s healthful benefits.  As is true of most foods, the less processing, the better. Raw chocolate bars and truffles, which taste delicious, are now available online and in many health-food stores

Chocolate lowers blood pressure.

According to research, the flavonoids in dark chocolate can lower blood pressure, and they appear to improve LDL cholesterol levels, too. However, cautions Dr. Weintraub, “Red wine has flavonoids, too, but this doesn’t give us carte blanche to drink all the wine or eat all the chocolate we want. As a culture, we tend to think if a little is good, a lot must be better and with something as calorically dense as chocolate that could do more harm than good,” he says

It helps prevent tooth decay.

Chocolate contains a compound called theobromide. In clinical studies, theobromide has proved effective at eliminating the cavity causing bacteria, streptococcus mutans, which, of course, means fewer cavities. But before you throw away the toothpaste, remember that chocolate usually contains sugar, a notorious bad guy in the world of oral hygiene. If you want to keep your pearly whites in top form, your best bet is to brush and floss regularly no matter how much chocolate you eat.

Chocolate boosts your mood.

Yes, it tastes good, and things that taste good are pleasurable. For that reason alone, it may be worthwhile to let a square melt in your mouth from time to time. But that melting chocolate may also have a chemical effect on your brain because chocolate contains serotonin, also known as nature’s antidepressant. The endorphins stimulated by pleasure and enhanced by the serotonin can make you feel more relaxed and happy

It provides you with magnesium.

Like green leafy vegetables, dark chocolate is high in magnesium. According to the National Institute of Health, magnesium plays a role in more than 300 chemical reactions in your body. It helps to regulate the digestive, neurological and cardiovascular systems, and is part of the metabolic process that converts food to energy. Your muscles and nerves need magnesium to function properly, and it also helps to regulate your heart beat. One hundred grams of chocolate (about 3.5 ounces) will provide 176 mg of magnesium, more than half the daily recommendation for a woman over the age of 31.

The real skinny? Enjoy it in moderation.

“Food fads march in and out of our lives,” says Dr. Weintraub. “Chocolate is the latest media darling. The truth is it’s a good food with lots to recommend it, not the least of which is that it tastes good. If you’re someone who can enjoy a small square of it as a daily treat, that’s great. But you can’t eat chocolate instead of lean protein and fresh fruits and vegetables. And regardless of what you’re eating, you need to exercise regularly – ideally, for an hour a day, five days a week.”

A.A.A.D.D.

First posted at Northern Insights on April 19, 2012

KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder: Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first..

But then I think,
since I'm going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Pepsi aside
so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Pepsi is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi,
a vase of flowers on the counter
catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,

but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day,
and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
and I'll try to get some help for it,
but first I'll check my e-mail....

Oh I almost forgott--Thanks to Chris for this

Dealing with control issues

As we get older we are faced with aging friends, relatives, and parents that may cause us some frustration and grief. One thing to think about is that the characteristics of a person's personality often intensifies as they get older. So if someone is narcissistic this personality trait will be more pronounced as they age. One of my friends is dealing with a narcissistic family member and as we talked about the issue, I suggested looking at the site developed by James Messina for some ideas.

This is clipped from Tools for dealing with control issues/learning how to detach). By James J. Messina, Ph.D.

In order to become detached from a person, place, or thing you need to:..:

First: Establish emotional boundaries between you and the person, place, or thing with whom you have become overly enmeshed or codependent on.

Second: Take back power over your feelings from persons, places, or things which in the past you have given power to affect your emotional well-being. 

Third: "Hand over'' to your Higher Power the persons, places, and things which you would like to see changed but which you cannot change on your own. 

Fourth: Make a commitment to your personal recovery and self-health by admitting to yourself and your Higher Power that there is only one person you can change and that is yourself and that for your serenity you need to let go of the "need'' to fix, change, rescue, or heal other persons, places, and things. 

Fifth: Recognize that it is "sick'' and "unhealthy'' to believe that you have the power or control enough to fix, correct, change, heal, or rescue another person, place, or thing if they do not want to get better nor see a need to change. 

Sixth: Recognize that you need to be healthy yourself and be "squeaky clean'' and a "role model'' of health in order for another to recognize that there is something ``wrong'' with them that needs changing. 

Seventh: Continue to own your feelings as your responsibility and not blame others for the way you feel. 

Eighth: Accept personal responsibility for your own unhealthy actions, feelings, and thinking and cease looking for the persons, places, or things you can blame for your unhealthiness. 

Ninth: Accept that addicted fixing, rescuing, enabling are ``sick'' behaviors and strive to extinguish these behaviors in your relationship to persons, places, and things.

Tenth: Accept that many people, places, and things in your past and current life are "irrational,'' "unhealthy,'' and "toxic'' influences in your life, label them honestly for what they truly are, and stop minimizing their negative impact in your life.

Eleventh: Reduce the impact of guilt and other irrational beliefs which impede your ability to develop detachment in your life. 

Twelfth: Practice "letting go'' of the need to correct, fix, or make better the persons, places and things in life over which you have no control or power to change.

Personally, in place of the phrase "your higher power", I put God. I hope this list is helpful.

There are two more things that I want to add that I did not write. These have more to do with relating with someone who has borderline personality disorder, but they are useful elsewhere.

 (SET)Support - Empathy - Truth

Support refers to an initial statement, which indicates the loved one supports the person. It is a statement that begins with "I" and demonstrates concern and a desire to help. It can be anything that establishes a foundation for the relationship or interaction: "I want to try to help you feel better," "I care about you," or "I am worried about how you are feeling."

The support statement is meant to reassure the person that the relationship is a safe one, and that his/her needs matter even during this difficult moment.

Empathy refers to communicating that the loved one is trying to understand what the person is feeling, and focuses on "you." It is not a conveyance of pity or sympathy, but instead a true awareness and validation of the feelings of the BP: "I see you are angry, and I understand how you can get mad at me," "How frustrating this must be for you."

It is important not to tell the person how he is feeling, but instead put his demonstrated feelings into words. The goal is to convey a clear understanding of the uncomfortable feelings he is having and that they are OK to have, thus validating his feelings. Without such a statement of empathy, the person may feel that his feelings are not understood. It is important to use feeling words, as in the examples above.

Truth refers to a realistic and honest assessment of the situation and the person's role in solving the problem. It is an objective statement that focuses on the "it" -- not on the subjective experience of the person or yourself. Often the person may seem to be asking, or demanding, something impossible, not taking an active role or responsibility in resolving the issue, or even presenting you with a "no-win" situation. The truth statement is meant to clearly and honestly respond to the difficult demand or behavior of the person, while placing responsibility appropriately: "This is what I can do.," "This is what will happen.," "Remember when this happened before and how you felt so bad about it later."

It is important to use the support and empathy statements first, so that the person is better able to hear what you are saying, otherwise the truth statement may be experienced as little more than another, and expected, rejection creating even more defensiveness or anger.

PUVAS

(use for complaining and/or blaming)

- Pay attention

- Understand fully

- Validate emotions

- Assert yourself

- Shift/Share the Responsibility

Paying attention to what is happening and what is being said helps us avoid making assumptions.

Understanding what someone is trying to communicate may require seeking clarification so we don't make assumptions.

Validating the emotional statements of the other person will pave the way for further smooth communications.

Asserting yourself is a form of setting boundaries and is a very important piece of the healthy communication process.

Shifting responsibility where it belongs holds each party accountable for their own feelings and behaviors. This can be in response to four different scenarios...

1.) If your person is blaming you for his or her feelings and behaviors

2.) If you are placing blame on yourself inappropriately

3.) If you are trying to fix their problem

4.) If you recognize that you have done something to contribute to the problem.

``Letting Go''

To ``let go'' does not mean to stop caring.

It means I can't do it for someone else.

To ``let go'' is not to cut myself off.

It's the realization I can't control another.

To ``let go'' is not to enable,

but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To ``let go'' is to admit powerlessness

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To ``let go'' is not to try to change or blame another.

It's to make the most of myself.

To ``let go'' is not to care for, but to care about.

To ``let go'' is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To ``let go'' is not to judge,

but to allow another to be a human being.

To ``let go'' is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,

but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To ``let go'' is not to be protective.

It's to permit another to face reality.

To ``let go'' is not to deny, but to accept.

To ``let go'' is not to nag, scold, or argue,

but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To ``let go'' is not to criticize and regulate anybody,

but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To ``let go'' is not to adjust everything to my desires

but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To ``let go'' is to not regret the past,

but to grow and live for the future.

To ``let go'' is to fear less and LOVE MYSELF MORE.