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Times Advocate, 1998-02-11, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, February 11, 1998 III THE=NF.WS Playhouse no longer seasonal Hosting educational programs is just one way the .Huron Country Playhouse utilizes its facilities during the winter months By Chantal! Van Raay T -A Reporter sound, stage management and cos- schools to begin using the facilities tumes. for the same reason Hayward and Many: systems they worked with his students are, simply because GRAND BEND - Huron Coun- were new territory for them. , .it's a functional experience for try Playhouse is not only utilized' "The students haven't had an op them. during the summer months. While portunity to work on this. type of "it's easier to mimic -what this might'have been true a decadefly system before. Here they're ex- they're doing in the real world aRo when the Playhouse wasn't posed to equipment they haven't rather than in the classroom. They heated during the winter, it is noW seen- before; -said-program-eo---have access -to _things -here that-thfy quite the opposite. ordinator and professor'Colin Hay- don't have at school. It's, nice that "All the amenities we needed to. • ward: they can sce the future possibilities make the Playhouse year-round are - . "It's an opportunity' for them to they can have when they leave the . here." said Playhouse general man- spend :all day. everyday here," educational world." Day said. ager Simo,n Day, excited the thea-. Hayward said; adding the Play- "it's like alibrary or an archive. ire and i:s assets can be taken ad- `house is an ideal spot for the stu- Here, they see how it all comes to - vantage of all year by groups such dents to experience theatre hands- gether" . as the Cambrian College theatrical on. • Direct rental inquiries to Simon production students who used the • "Everything is right here. It's a " Day at the Huron Country Play - theatre last`week. • beautifully equipped facility." . house Scene Shop at, (519) 238 - Before renovations to the thea- Day, said .he anticipates other • 8387. tre, Day_ said wind: would blow ' through walls and there was ab- solutelyno heat in -the theatre. The Playhouse would completely close from fall to spring. he said, adding. now:it doesn't close at all. The Playhouse 'has taken ad- vantage of its availability in the winter by' introducing. the "Scene • Shop" It offers • a complete range of theatrical production services such as, consultation through design. construction, delivery and set-up. • Theatre • production students from Cambrian college have also taken advantage of these services. Last week the students camped out at the Playhouse, worked each day from 9-5 and were taught im- portant aspects of theatre pro- duction- _ sy Playhouse pro fessionals. Some areas the students learned' , throughout the week -were how to work on a fly system, lighting and Playhouse education: Martin Fink teaches Cambrian College theatre students some of the basics on how to use and adapt to the space of the theatre. Fink .is a lighting technician at the Huron Country Playhouse. Financial Planning Guides investment Facts:.:Mutual Funds (ILC)—This article takes a look at mutual funds, their advantages and chisadvantages, and what to look . for. . A mutual fund ,is a pool of money from different people ,which- is invested in a portfolio .of securities -with, defined investment objectives. When you put your money into a mutual fund, you purchase shares, or units in direct proportion to tie. amount you con= tribute. Each investor owns 'a 'fraction of all the investments in that mutual fund. The market price of a mutual fund is determined by, the value of the, securities in the portfolio, less liabili- ties,. and :is expressed on a per• share or, unit basis. This, net asset value per share (NAVPS) is the price you will pay •to buy, or the -price, you will receive when redeeming one unit or -share of that fund on that particular day (excluding redemption charges). . Thc most common type of mutual fund is the open-. end fund; This type of fund continuously sells its shares or units to the public, and investors have a right to redeem their shares or units at any time: Thus, the open-end ;Mutual fund offers a high degree of liquidity. • Another major attraction' of mutual funds is that they are directed and supervised by professional man- agers. This reduces the amount of time and effort that you must devote to investing your money. As well, mutual' funds offer broad diversification. They allow you to participate in many different securities—far • more than you could hold on your own. Other advantages of mutual .funds include: lower commission charges than if 'you were to buy each individual security in •the fund separately; . the fund •, manager handles all' your record keeping; flexibility in terms of investment amounts; and most funds qual- ify for RRSP contributions. • - Mutual funds .do have some. disadvantages. Management fees, commissions and other expenses; - which vary from fund to fund, can be very costly if your investment is for a short period of time. Mutual funds are therefore more suitable as longer-term, buy - and -hold investments. (The exception is money mar- ket funds, whichcharge, lower_ fees.) You should also understand that just because mutual funds are professionally managed, there is no guarantee that a fund will do well. Results may be. good or had, especially over the short term: lust like. other investment vehicles, mutual fund values can also fall in poor markets and may be subject to cycli- cal swings and recessions. When selecting a mutual fund, choose the type that has investment objectives which most closely match your own. For example, money market funds use a variety of short-term investments such as government treasury bills and bank term deposits to offer maxi- mum security and liquidity. Income funds are designed to maintain the safety of principal and pro- vide high income by investing in bonds, blue-chip stocks and preferred shares. Equity funds invest primarily in common stock. Their focus .is on capital gains, and they tend to he more volatile than_ income funds. The .objective of balanced funds is to strike a balance -between safety, income and growth by allocating investments among money market instruments. stocks and bonds., Other types of --funds specialize in bonds, mortgage -funds, international markets, sectors of the economy and financial market indexes. • . Before-huying, take a close look at the fund's roan - agement fees -and other expenses. You should also carefully :consider the sales commission. Some funds charge a commission when you make. your purchase (front-end load). some charge on redemption (hack- • end load), and others may have no commissions (no- load) but may charge higher management fees. Next. study thc fund's long-term performance. A fund with a. solid 10 -year record should he the first thing to look .for. This gives you a reasonable idea of how ,the fund will weather both good and had eco- nomic times. But remember, its past record is not a guarantee of future performance. . Other considerations in choosing a mutual fund arc the calibre of the management. the individual securi- ties' in its portfolio, the ability to switch between funds in a mutual fund "family" without incurring charges and other services that may he provided. A lot of what you want to know about a particular fund is found in its prospectus or simplified prospec- tus. Make sure you read this document' so that your decisions arc based on sound information. • Prepared by the Investor Learning Centre of Canada (ILC). What's a 'realistic rate of return? By Brian Costello Don't get too comfortable with those big double- digit returns produced by high -flying equity funds over thc past two years. They won't last. I'm not talking about a downturn that is waiting to happen—and will happen—hut the kind of returns we cati reasonably expect the market to produce over. the next 10 years. • According to the Toronto Stock Exchange, it's 10 to 11 percent a year. That's the average compounded rate of return recorded by the TSE over the past 25 to 40 years—and a realistic benchmark to shoot for. These arc good returns that are achievable without a • great dcal of grief along the way. Let me illustrate: At 10 percent a year, your money will double every 7.2 years; at I I percent, every 6.5 years. All- of which underlines the importance of staying invested and, above all, sticking to an investment -strategy that works for you and your portfolio. That includes not running lickety-split after the latest hot fund that may or may not produce the kind of returns you'll expect down the road. (Brian Costello is perhaps best known as one of Canada's leading seminar speakers on personal 'finance.) 1 Huron policing costs examined HURON COUNTY - Huron County has asked the Ministrrof Municipal Affairs and Housing to look into its downloaded cost estimates for policing. • In October, the province estimated policing costs in Huron County townships to he about $172 per house- hold. This cost has traditionally been 'paid for by the provincial government, but when the service -is down- loaded the municipalities will have to pick-up part of the cost. • In a Feb. 3 update of last year's downloading an- nouncement, the province now estimated the down- loaded policing costs in Huron will he covered by charging $90 per household to municipalities and by taking $60 per household from the Community Re- investment Fund. The County wants to know where the -other-S22-i% going -to eomo-from. At the Feb. 5 meeting of Huron County Council, Warden Jack Coleman pointed out the shortfall. and said the county needs •to be concerned because the numbers "are just not right.".He said the province still .doesn't have a "good handle on things" and answers arc needed. The province has told the county it is going to look into the matter. . OPP Costing • As thc restructuring process begins to take shape in Huron County, groundwork has started on the concept of a regional police force. - Huron County. has asked the OPP to give an estimate on the cost of policing for the townships, villages and• towns if the county were the contracting agency. At. the Feb. 5 meeting of Huron County Council, it was rcmried_the costing would he ready in 90 days. County takes restructuring -lead HURON COUNTY - The Huron County government has decided to take a lead role in restructuring the county and hopes to have a rc- structuring option ready by Jan. 1. 1999. Huron County is..one .of the. last counties in the province to re- structure and one of. the farthest be- hind in the. process. At the Feb. 5 meeting of Huron County Council. it was decided mod- els for restructuring the county would be developed by the Ad- ministration; Finance and Personnel Committee. They will' investigate one -tier and two-tier government op- tions with input from the municipal- ities before returning to County Council where a final option will, be chosen.: . Once'a preferred option is selected by County Council, it will have to pass.a triple _majority pmcess ,before it can he implemented. A triple majority means a majority of County Council, a majority of lo- cal municipalities and a majority of the county's popoulation must agree. The.dehate at County Council Feb. 5 centred on whether or not the re- structuring options- should be de- veloped by a committee or by the cn- tire council. . Recvc Brian McBurney. of Tum - berry Township said another strategic planning day is needed to ensure all 26 -county reeves have input. He said further- debate would give the com- mittee a better sense of what options the munici-palities want considered. Reeve Robin Dunbar of Grey Township supported McBurney and said another meeting would be 'time well spent." In his opinion. the Stra- tegic,Planning Day meeting held Ian. 20 was the county's "start on the road to restructuring" and .another meeting .refining the path ahead would be a natural next step for the council to take. • . "1 feel this is_ such a critical issue. we 'should he as involved as pos- sible." said Dunbar. Reeve Doug Miller of West Waw- anosh agreed restructuring is a crit- ical issue for the county, hut said an- other' Strategic Planning Day for the entire council would be a waste of • time. Miller said it would be ir- responsible for the council .not to look at various- models for re- structuring hut added those models should he developed by a committee first. Then, after the "background work" was done, the County Council could rip thc models apart, he said. Reeve Bruce Machan of Wingham was most outspoken against further discussion of options by the council. He said the strategic planning day in January already provided a useful cross-section of opinions and clear direction to the committee de- veloping the options. To return to the table before a committee determines what options could work best in Huron County would he of little benefit, said Ma- chan. Another strategic planning day would equate to "spinning our tires here one more time." he said. Thc council defeated McBurney's motion for another meeting and will now wait until the Administration, Finance and Personnel .Committee returns wgh options for considera- tion. Members of the Administration. Finance and Personnel committee in- clude Warden Jack Coleman, Cecil Pepper, Norman Fairies. Carol Mitchell, Bruce Machan; Bill Car- nochan and Donald Schultz. County Council's involvement in restructuring comes more than a year after individual municipalities tried on their own to reach restructuring agreements. Don Thompson Financial Consultant LET US HELP YOU RETIRE IN COMFORT AND STYLE Check out our RRSP and RRIF plans designed to meet your needs. Lawrence Beane Manager R.R.S.P. Deadline March 2/98 Y.I.S. Financial Inc. 282 Main St. Exeter (519) 235-3368 YOUR INVESTMENT SHOPPERS 5 Rattenbury St. Clinton (519) 482-9924 58 Ontario St. Grand Bend (519) 238-5014 1-888-235-9260 BORROW MONEY TO SAki ONEY? ARE YOU KIDDIN Nope. The thousands svhotdid last year laughed all the way to the bank.) SCOTIA`S RRSP CATCH -Ur LOAN (here's an example, just to get you thinking) 1. BORROW $15,000. '(or as much as 550.000 at rates as low as Soctiahank Prime). ' 2. 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