The Whole-Life Benefits of a Hobby You Love

The Whole-Life Benefits of a Hobby You Love

Being able to retreat from the humdrum of everyday life and partake in a favourite hobby can help to revitalize your mental and physical health. Not only that, but the advantages stemming from taking the time to entertain your passions can bring about changes that can last your entire lifetime. Refreshing your vitality with an exciting hobby can bring about many whole-life benefits.

 

Inspiration and Motivation

Nothing beats the feeling of being inspired by something, and indulging in a hobby that evokes such sensations can do wonders for the mind. Whether it’s painting, sailing, or golf, a hobby acts as a never-ending source of inspirational energy that can motivate and encourage you throughout your entire life. Enjoying multiple hobbies can bolster this effect and make it even more powerful, and it’s a highly effective way of combating depression and boredom, particularly as you get older.

 

Creativity and Stimulation

Many hobbies such as writing and music creation allow for you to have a creative outlet. Throughout life, it’s important that we have a way to express ourselves and produce physical exhibitions of our personalities; otherwise our minds lack creative stimulation and adverse mental health effects can set in. By discovering a way to use your left brain from a creative angle, you’ll experience a greater sense of fulfillment and newfound excitement over what you’ll come up with next. Many who enjoy hobbies are excited to climb out of bed every morning and see what they can will into reality, and it also can help protect against Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other mental health issues.

 

Mood and Emotion Control

With something to do that’s enjoyable, you’ll most likely have a more positive outlook on life. Rather than grumbling out of boredom and loneliness, you’ll have a way of focusing and refreshing your mental energy. Many hobbyists, regardless of preference, encounter uplifted moods and firmer emotional control, particularly if they use their hobby as a distraction from life’s bumpy road. Many experience increased vitality and enthusiasm as a result.

 

Stress Relief

When you take the time to enjoy a hobby that makes you happy, it can help to relieve stress and mitigate frustration. Therapeutic in nature and highly effective at calming nerves, hobbies of a tranquil and calming variety such as painting, model-making, or reading offer a window into a new and evocative environment — a mental playground, if you will — that frees the mind from focusing on stressful situations. It doesn’t mean that life won’t be without problems, but it can make it all the more easy to navigate any incoming storms.

 

Comfort

It makes sense that when we’re having fun with a hobby, we feel relaxed and comfortable. This is because we’re willingly taking the time to simply have fun and indulge our passions, which can generate a feeling of contentment. In moments of crisis or hardship, having a hobby to turn to is a great way of numbing pain and creating solace. Essentially, it is the mental equivalent of comfort food.

Taking the time to enjoy a hobby you love enables for a lifetime of positive atmospheres, comfort, solace, inspiration, and expressionism. If you’re willing to take the time to indulge in a passion, it can refresh energy and the mind, leading to a happier, healthier, and more content you.

 

3 Investment Rules for Estate Trustees

3 Investment Rules for Estate Trustees

An estate trustee is responsible for performing various duties to encourage the wellbeing of the estate in question, as well as its beneficiaries. Among those duties includes careful and thoughtful investment in order to bolster the strength of the estate. There are three main rules pertaining to this duty, and by following them diligently and accurately, an invested estate can prosper for many years to come.

 

Obey the Trust Deed at All Times

A trust deed normally includes an agreement or term that protects the estate by limiting the trustee’s investment authority. Sometimes this is incorporated intentionally, but even if it isn’t, trustees are required to follow the instructions written out in a testator’s investment clause. Even if they are poorly explained or overly broad, the trustee and investment advisor are responsible for remaining faithful to the testator’s wishes. If not, they are essentially breaching their contracted duties and can be held liable in a court of law.

 

Invest Sensibly and Consider Outcomes

To guarantee sound and prudent trust investments, a trustee must consider the economic climate, including potential effects of inflation or deflation. Additionally, they must ruminate on any tax implications or impacts on the trust’s portfolio from any investments, as well as the expected total return, required payments or liquidity, and asset values to beneficiaries (such as family business shares). Case law also enforces the need for a trustee to diversify the trust’s portfolio to an appropriate extent — even in provinces where legislation doesn’t require diversification. You need to follow a designated investment plan that assesses risks and return potentialities associated with the investment portfolio, as well. You are permitted in any Canadian province to consult with a prudent investment advisor, stemming from applicable qualifications and experience investing within the trust setting. More commonly, an advisor is pre-selected in a clause of a trust deed to ensure continuity. In any case, a written agreement between you and the advisor is required in addition to the investment plan.

 

Be Fair to Beneficiaries (Even-Hand Rule)

On many occasions, trusts include a clause directing the estate trustee to favour or bypass an income beneficiary or a capital beneficiary. This request must be adhered to if included, but if not, you as the trustee need to consider the best interests of all beneficiaries prior to and during the investment process. Not doing so or investing in a beneficiary’s own business could be used against you in a court of law as a violation of the even-hand rule.

A trustee is quite literally trusted with the wellbeing of an estate and its applicable beneficiaries from a financial standpoint. To legally and diligently adhere to the testator’s wishes and follow specific guidelines, invest prudently, and follow the even-hand rule will enable for a smooth and efficient process. To learn more about selecting a trustee for your estate or ensuring your legacy is carried out according to your wishes, schedule a consultation with The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd.

Retiring couple discussing retirement plans

Bridging the Retirement Income Gap with an Annuity

As the reality sets in that you’re edging closer towards retirement, finances can become a concern. How will you guarantee consistent retirement income and be able to maintain your established living standards? When in doubt, consider an annuity as a means of avoiding outliving your money and bridging the retirement income gap.

“Mortality Credits” and Timing

Essentially, an annuity is a fixed sum paid on an annual basis for the rest of your life. With mortality in mind, it’s important to consider the pay rate of an annuity, particularly at a later age when monthly payments are higher due to insurance companies assuming a shorter payout period. In actuality, payments are calculated by weighing the effects on your chosen insurance provider’s pool of collective annuity funds with other annuity purchasers who die earlier than anticipated. As morbid as it all sounds, you’d benefit more from timing your annuity purchase when rates are lower, and as early in your retired life as possible.

Important Conditions to Consider

The first thing you should do is carefully read and reread the terms of an annuity, as once signed it can’t be altered in any way. Make sure you plan ahead and opt for terms that suit your present needs and accommodate for the future of your retired life. Also bear in mind that there is no death benefit payable to your beneficiary beyond any guarantee period, and this rule also applies to a joint annuity in the event of the last surviving annuitant’s death. With these conditions considered, you need to learn about and select an annuity plan that is ideal for your present situation. Whether it’s a life annuity that pays out as long as you live, a joint life annuity that is attached to yourself and another person, or a single or joint term-certain annuity that goes to your beneficiary upon the death of the last surviving annuitant, the plan you choose is what will shape your financial future as a retiree.  

Opting for a Guaranteed Period

In some cases, you can select a guaranteed period of five or ten years if not longer. In this instance, a death benefit will be paid to your beneficiary in the event of the last annuitant’s death. However, it is important to bear in mind that the longer this guarantee period is, the smaller your income cheques will be. Still, it’s a small sacrifice for peace of mind, and many opt for a guaranteed period as a result. Other varieties of annuities are available, including those that defer income for up to ten years (albeit with higher payments), as well as plans that are smaller and sufficiently bridge a gap when leaving an estate as your top priority. This latter alternative enables for you to invest your nest egg balance in a diversified stock and bond portfolio complete with other investments consistent with risk tolerance, which can be left to registered heirs.

In the end, an annuity of any kind acts as a way of maintaining the structural integrity of your finances. As retiring brings with it a loss of wages, it’s important to consider available options, but it is imperative that you opt for a plan that respects your needs. If you require assistance with bolstering your retirement income with an annuity, The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd. is fully prepared to help you make the most appropriate decision befitting your needs and future plans.

Business people discussing business during conference

5 Signs You’d Make a Great Business Mentor

The modern business world could always use more decent, professional, and knowledgeable mentors, but do you have what it takes to truly be the next one? It’s important to take the time to consider the way you work and interact with others, for it’s not just about how you feel, but how you make others feel in return. With that in mind, here are five signs that indicate a great business mentor in the making.

You Provide Constructive Feedback and Guidance

It’s important in any business environment to be accepting of constructive criticism and feedback to better improve your work quality and efficiency, but do you deliver this type of professional guidance yourself? If you tend to clam up, bark out insensitive put-downs, or generally not concern yourself with the quality of results of coworkers, then the last thing you should be is a mentor.  

You Motivate Others and Encourage Opinions

Motivation is key in order to progress further and feel inspired — we all need it every so often. If you welcome the input of employees, truly respect their work ethic, and try to encourage them to do their best, it demonstrates that you care about more than just your own wellbeing and productivity. Motivational employees can turn almost any toxic and stressful situation into a stimulating challenge.

You’re Interested in Sharing Knowledge and Skills

Perhaps people come to you to request the skilled hand of an expert, or you enjoy teaching different skills or techniques to staff. Or, maybe it’s a passion of yours not to keep useful knowledge bottled up, and you enjoy sharing it with others. Either way, if you prefer to politely educate and teach new things to others, it’s a given that there is a hidden passion to mentor within you.

You Possess a Positive and Respectful Attitude

It’s crucial to treat others the way you want to be treated, and to be a great mentor means that you must approach every situation with kindness, respect, and positivity. If you are willing to respect each and every person around you and not contribute towards drama or a negative atmosphere, then you may be the guiding hand that a business needs to shake off the dust and be a real success.

You’re Enthusiastic and Enjoy What You Do

You’ll never be able to efficiently guide and mentor others if you don’t care about what you do. If the career you’re in feels simply as a means of amassing income and you feel like nothing more than a number on a spreadsheet, then it isn’t the right environment. However, if you love what you do and are fit to burst with enthusiasm over every little detail pertaining to it, then others may consider it a privilege to learn from you and apply newfound energy to their own work.

A truly great business mentor needs to be decent, positive, enthusiastic, motivational, and possessive of a passion for teaching and politely guiding others. Whether you are a successful entrepreneur who wants to guide others to the same achievements, a retiree who wants to help the next generation start off on the right foot, or you simply have a passion for helping others succeed in business, you would make a great business mentor.