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C8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 14, 2001 Mercedes-Benz Business To reach this section call 845-3824 Fax:337-5567 Petersburg where he began work on building Ford's manufacturing and commercial operations for Russia and the Commonwealth o f Independent States. A local assembly plant will start making the Focus compact this fall for sale at about 40 dealerships next year. He said the process of establishing operations in Russia was complex and difficult because the country's legal and tax system is not conducive to run ning a business. "You need patience," he said. Prior to his assign ment in Russia, Batty served in a number of key mar keting and sales functions, includ ing general sales manager in France, where he started his Ford career in 1977. Batty also served as managing director o f Ford Canada's new operations in Spain, takes over new Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg from 1992 to 1995. During his time in Spain, Ford became the country's top automotive brand. In 1995 he was appointed executive director of Ford's large, 14-nation AsiaPacific and New M arkets region. Under Batty's leadership, Ford said operations in Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia achieved record profits. He oversaw the creation of an integrated service, sales and marketing organiza tion within the region, and merged Ford's operations in New Zealand and Australia. Ford of Canada employs 16,000 people. Its operations include six vehi cle assembly and manufacturing plants, two parts distribution centres and cen tral and regional offices that direct the sales and marketing of all Ford- and Lincoln-branded products through 543 Ford and Ford-Lincoln dealerships nationwide. O ther Ford M otor Company operations within the country include Ford Credit, Primus, Hertz, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and Mazda. Last year, revenues for Ford's Canadian operations were $24.6 bil lion, making Ford of Canada one of the country's largest privately-held compa nies. Over the past decade, Ford's Canadian operations have attracted more than $7 billion in new investment. -- With files from Torstar Wire Service. Ford Canada's new CEO leaving Russian post Alain B a tty takes over reins A pril 2 Ford of Canada's newest president won't be shocked by Canadian winters. Not only did 49-year-old Alain Batty spend five years working and studying in Montreal during the 1970s, he has spent the past three years over seeing the company's budding Russian operations. Batty was named, last week, as the new president and chief executive offi cer of Ford M otor Company of Canada Limited, effective April 2In his most recent position, Batty had been the president o f Ford Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He has stud ied, lived and worked on four continents and speaks French, Spanish and English. Alain Batty: Ford "Alain Batty has the energy and the President & CEO vision to lead Ford job on April 2. of Canada toward its transformation as a leading con sumer company. His strong internation al background is one o f several strengths he brings to Canada, one of the world's most diverse nations," said Martin Inglis, vice president, Ford North America Consum er Business Group. Batty becomes the 14th president and CEO in Ford of Canada's 97-year history and succeeds Bobbie Gaunt who retired late last year. A 24-year Ford veteran, Batty is a French national bom in Algeria. He described his time in Canada during the 1970s as among "the best years of my life." Batty earned a bachelor's degree in administration at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Com merciales de M ontreal, worked briefly at a small government agency and met his wife Ginette Audet who was bom in Canada His wife and family live in the St.-Tropez area of southern France, but they plan to relo cate to Canada. He said that his family's return "will be a very emotional event, particularly as Ginette's family resides in northern Quebec." Batty also holds the French equiva lent of a doctorate degree in strategy planning from I. A.E. University of Aixen- Provence, France. In 1998, Batty moved to St. , Photo by Peter C. McCusker WELCOME GIFT: Lynda M orrison Executive Director of Wellspring House received $1,000. from the Royal Bank Area M anager Garry Bader last week. The occasion was the opening of the bank's new branch on Trafalgar Road and Hays Blvd. Business women's dinner set for April 2 Chips Klein, a recognized authority on business, women as inventors and entrepreneurs and gender com munication issues, is the guest speaker at the April 2nc* Oakville Cham ber o f Commerce's Business W omen's Dinner. The event runs from 5:15 p.m .-8:30 p.m. and will be held at O tello's Banquet Hall, 2273 Royal W indsor Drive. Klein's topic will be `I want to be the Queen o f Spain', a presentation on mentoring and networking. Cost is $25 per person and includes dinner. Those interested in attending should RSVP Cynthia Fournier by March 3 0 ^ at the Chamber, 845-6613 ext. 28. N O W W IT H N E W L O W E R P R IC E S . W e've m ade the B e st Sellers list. * * s 2001 fordwindstar Ix 0 4 8 m o n t h p u r c h a s e f in a n c in g o n A L L n e w i n -s t o c k 2 0 0 1 W in d s t a r o r le a s e f o r *295 per m onth/36 m on th lease with $ 3 ,9 9 5 d o w n , $ 3 5 0 security deposit and $1,055 freight and air tax. O r Lease for $ 4 1 1 p e r m o n t h w it h $ Q d o w n . o r C a s h P u rc h a s e fo r * 2 4 ,6 3 0 plus $1,055 freight a nd air tax. · O v e r 4 0 S t a n d a r d S a f e t y F e a t u r e s · 3 .8L 200hp V 6 Engine · 4 -S p e e d Automatic ·Air Conditioning · Dual Sliding D oors · P o w e r W indows/Locks/M irrors P L U S $ 1 ,7 0 0 N o E x t r a C h a r g e V a lu e G ro u p :* · Spe ed Control · Tilt Steering · Privacy Glass · Roof Rack D iversify for investm ent success Diversification is an important ele ment of investing. Diversification means you often miss out on large gains when favourites like Nortel last year as it soared to new highs. However, it protects you against the losers like Nortel this year that has lost 80% of its stock market value. Investing has risk. You can not con trol the success or failure of investment performance, but you can minimize the risk in your portfolio. The risk reduction comes from diver sification which is achieved in several ways. First, you can insure that your portfolio is diversified around the world. Canada accounts for just over 2% of the world capitalization. If your invest ments are predominately Canadian, you will have an over-concentration on one relatively small country. This is a common mistake, particular ly for investors that pick their own stocks. Part of stock picking comes from "knowing" the company you're invest ing in, and we are more familiar with Canadian firms versus ones located in other parts of the world. History has shown that global invest ing not only decreases your investment risk, it can also increase returns too. Compare the Morgan Stanley World Index performance to that of the Toronto Stock Exchange Index. The one requirement is that you must be a long-term investor. If you need your capital in the short-term, you could be forced to sell at a loss before the market has time to recover. If you are trying to time the market and miss a gain, then there is a good chance that, that gain, will be lost forev er. Just consider the past 10 years. PETER WATSON Dollars & Sense If you invested $10,000 in the Toronto stock market on Nov. 30th, 1990, that investment would have grown to $35,204 by Nov. 30th, 2000. That is an average annual total compound return of 13.4%. Can you guess what the return would have been if you missed the 10 best days during that 10 years? Ten days is a very small amount of time out of the total 2,519 days in that 10-year period. The return would drop from 13.4% to 9.3%. If the best 20 days were missed during the decade, then the return would decline to less than half or just 6.2%. If you are a market timer, you run the risk of missing some strong gains and in the end, you might be better off not investing in the market at all. Why invest and take the risk of loosing, when there is a chance you will not participate in the up side? The critical element is time. If your time frame is short, invest in guaranteed non-growth assets. If you are a long-term investor, then you can handle the short term declines for the potential long-term gains. It is time that counts and not timing. Peter Watson, MBA, CFP, RFP is the president of Peter Watson Investments -- an Oakville firm specializing in retirement planning, RRSPs, and investm ent plan ning. He can be reached at 842-2100. 2001 fordtaurus se sedan *320 p e r m onth/36 m on th lease with $ 3 ,9 9 5 d o w n , $ 3 7 5 security deposit and $ 9 9 5 freight and air tax. O r Lease for $ 4 3 5 p e r m o n t h w it h S O d o w n . o r C a s h P u rc h a s e fo r * 2 4 ,5 5 5 " plus $ 9 9 5 freight and air tax. In c l u d i n g a ll t h e s e g r e a t f e a t u r e s : · P o w e r A d ju sta b le P e d a ls · 3 .0 L O H V V 6 E n g in e · 4 -S p e e d A u to m a tic · 4 -W h e e l A B S · Air C onditioning · 16" Alum inu m W h e e ls · A M /FM S tere o w ith C D Player · S e c u riLo ck TM A n ti-Th e ft S yste m · P o w e r D river's S ea t w ith L u m b a r S u p p o rt T h e T a u ru s has e a rn e d five stars - the highest possible U.S. go ve rn m e n t cra sh test rating - for front im p act for b oth driver a n d front p a s s e n g e r - th re e ye a rs in a ro w ." W e 'v e also to p p e d the list w ith 4 3 international a w a rd s on 1 9 9 9 an d 2 0 0 0 models.** 2001 fordfocus se sedan *199 p e r m onth/36 m on th lease with $ 2 ,9 9 5 d o w n, $ 2 5 0 security deposit a nd $ 8 3 0 freight and air tax. O r Lease for $ 2 8 8 p e r m o n t h w it h $ Q d o w n . o r C a s h P u rc h a s e fo r * 1 8 ,3 8 4 plus $ 8 3 0 freight a nd air tax. W ith a ll th e s e g re a t f e a t u r e s : · 2 .0 L Split P ort In d uction E n g in e · A u to m a tic · Air C o n d itio n in g · A M /F M w ith C D P la yer · P o w e r D o o r L o c k s w ith R e m o te K e yle ss E n try · C h ild -P ro o f R e a r D o o r Lo c k s · 6 0 /4 0 Split R e a r S ea t · D u a l-S ta g e Fro n t Air B a g s e x p e c tm o re YOI R ONTARIO FORD DEALERS. w w w .f o r d . c a / o f f e r s WISE BUYERS READ THE LEGAL COPY: «0% purchase financing on a new 2001 Windstar LX with a no extra charge $1,715 Value-Utility Group for a maximum of 48 months to retail customers, on approved credit. E.g. $20,000 financed at 0% annual percentage rate for 48 months, monthly payment is $416.67, cost of borrowing is $0 and total to be repaid is $20,000. Down payment or equivalent trade may be required based on approved credit. Financing not available with any other offer, le a s e a new 2001 Windstar LX with a no extra charge $1,715 Value-Utility Group for $295/$411 per month based on an annual lease rate of 2.9% and a 36 month lease from Ford Credit to qualified retail lessees, on approved credit. Total lease obligation is $14,615/$14,796 with a $3,995/$0 down payment or equivalent trade required. First month's payment and $35Q/$475 security deposit required. Offer excludes freight ($955). licence, insurance, administration fees and all applicable taxes. Lease a new 2001 Taurus SE Sedan for $320/$435 per month based on an annual lease rate of 1.9% and a 36 month lease from Ford Credit to qualified retail lessees, on approved credit. Total lease obligation is $15,515/$15,660 with a $3,995/$0 down payment or equivalent trade required. First month's payment and $375/$5G0 security deposit required. Offer excludes freight ($895), licence, insurance, administration fees and all applicable taxes. Lease a new 2001 Focus SE Sedan for $199/$288 per month based on an annual lease rate of 4.9% and a 36 month lease from Ford Credit to qualified retail lessees, on approved credit. Total lease obligation is $ 9,659/$10,368 with a $2,995/$0 down payment or equivalent trade required. First month's pa p e n t and $25Q/$350 security deposit required. Offer excludes freight ($730), licence, insurance, administration fees and all applicable taxes. Some conditions and a mileage restriction of 60,000 km over 36 months apply to all lease offers. A charge of 8 cents per km over mileage restriction applies, plus applicable taxes. ** Purchase a new 2001 Windstar LX with a no extra charge $1,715 Value-Utility Group/Taurus SE Sedan/Focus SE Sedan for $24,630/$24,555/$18,384. Taxes payable on full amount of purchase price. Purchase offers exclude freight ($955/$895/$730). All offers exclude licence, insurance, administration fees and all applicable taxes. ` Value of Value-Utility Group based on MSRP for accessories. Actual value may vary depending on price negotiated. Dealer may sell or lease for less. Limited time offers. Offers may be cancelled at any time without notice. All offers are mutually exclusive and cannot be combined. See Dealer for details. Windstar is Canada's BEST-selling full-size minivan which is based on Long Wheelbase compact bus deliveries Calendar Year To Date December 2000. Taurus is based on CYTD December 2000 Total Deliveries - Upper Middle Segment. ^The highest front impact rating for both driver and front passenger in U.S. government National Highway Traffic Safety Administration testing (www.nhtsa.com). n Awards include 1999 and 2000 model years, all Focus body styles. Ontario FDA P.O. Box 2000, Oakville, Ontario L6J 5E4