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B6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday July 11, 2001 Business To reach this section call 845-3824 Fax:337-5567 Oakville Chamber of Commerce 170 Country Squire Lane, Oakville, ON L6J4Z3 · Tel: (905) 845-6613 Fax:(905)845-6475 Ford's June sales off 9% Explorer SUV sales remain strong F ord M otor C om pany o f C anada Ltd. sales w ere down 9 per cent for June com pared to the same period one year ago. Slum ping sales at Ford, C hrysler (down 10 per cent) and General M otors (down 2 per cent) were in part offset by rising sales in the im port category. In F ord's case, its Volvo, M azda and JaguarLand Rover divisions all posted gains for the month. Ironically, one o f the strongest perform ers for Ford last m onth w as the E xplorer SU V model, w hich has been in the new s for rollover concerns and a tire recall. Sales for June w ere up 17 per cent over last year with 2,751 units sold. The sam e pattern held true w ith F o rd 's U.S. parent w hich sold 2.5 per cent m ore Explorers last m onth to set a sales record for that model. Volvo also had record setting U.S. sales last m onth posting a 14 per increase over last year. Total sales for Ford in the U.S. were dow n 14.6 per cent. On a year-to-date basis, Ford C anada sales are dow n 15 per cent over last year. Car sales for the year are dow n 20 per cent and truck sales off 12.2 per cent. Im ports continued to outpace dom estic sales with BM W C anada Inc. posting a 24 per cent increase in June w hich set a record for sales in any m onth in the com pany's five year history. The com pany also noted that sales for the first six m onths o f the year have exceeded the entire 1996 m odel year sales. Website: Hw.oakviUechamber.com E-mail: info@oakvillechamber.com Membership in our Chamber includes many terrific benefits ... and they are absolutely free! They include: · network at our Business After Hour events · documents of origin signed at no charge ($75 & up for non-inembers) · your company can hold meetings in our Boardroom - free · referrals to your business vs a non-member business · representation at all levels of Government · use of our logo on till of your printed material · credibility ... over 1,100 businesses are members · dining room privileges at both the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and the Toronto Board of Trade ... and much more! Contact Lorraine Tonkens at- (905) 845-6613, ext. 22 for further details and to learn about our MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Our next Business After Hours event will take place on August 15 th at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope Come out and see what we are all about. This event will also allow you to network with members from 5 other local Chambers of Commerce! T he B u s in e s s A d v is o r y PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO BUSINESS PROBLEMS AND IDEAS FOR SALES GROWTH TO SMALL AND HOME-BASED BUSINESS SINCE 1983 Looking For Solutions For Your B u sin ess P roblem s? Call Us. We D on't Charge For Phone Calls. W E W ILL A D V ISE Y O U O N A L L A S P E C T S O F Y O UR B U S IN E SS a n d · b ecom e a m em ber o f your Advisory Team · prepare your business and m arketing plans · provide you with effective personal and corporate income tax planning ·d e sig n and implement com puterized reporting system s to effectively monitor your C o m p a n y 's o p e ra tin g re su lts · obtain financing for your operations ·in corporate new com panies · p ro v id e p ro fe ssio n al, p e rso n a l financial p lan n in g at n o c o st to you E D FO STER · install and/or back-up your com puters C A LL NOW FOR AM A P P O I N T M E N T ( 905 ) 469-8777 B U S IN E S S S E R IO U S L Y 2 5 2 0 Q u i l d s t o n e C r e s c e n t , O a k v ille , O n t a r io L6M 3 Y 8 W E TAKE Y O U R 9 Photo by Erin Riley The new owners of Paradiso restaurant at Navy Street and Lakeshore Road take a break from their busy schedule to enjoy a sip of wine. Kerry Campbell and Stephane Sauve have made several changes since taking over including the addition of a wine bar. O NEW OW NERS: TROPHIES LIMITED "S e rv in g H alton fo r o v e r 2 0 y e a rs " Electronic Printing High Resolution Typesetting Reports M anuals Stationery Flyers Booklets Newsletters Carbonless Forms F u ll Colour Posters Desktop Publishing Colour Copies Laminations D rillin g Folding Cutting Stapling Collating C erlox Binding S hrink Wrapping 775 Pacific Rd., Unit 26 CORPORATE AWARDS ACADEMIC AWARDS SPORTS AWARDS PLAQUES & MEDALLIONS Second Cup sales support Foster Parents Plan Participating S econd Clip outlets are hosting "La M inita D ay" on Fri., July 13. La M inita is one o f the w orld's finest estate coffees and is exclusive to Second Cup in Canada. To celebrate this second-to-none brew, Second Cup is donating $1 from every La M inita coffee purchased on July 13 to benefit the w ork o f Foster Parents Plan -- a leading child-focused interna tional developm ent organization. "Second Cup is com m itted to giving back to the com m unities, where we produce our coffees including South America, Central Am erica and the Africas," says Alton M cEwen, chief executive officer, Second Cup. "Every Second Cup cafe sponsors at least one child through Foster Parents Plan, and we are proud to contribute to essential initiatives such as w ater filtration, education, healthcare and agricultural training. `La M inita D ay' is ju st one more way that we can all help make a difference." O O O ·=T> SUBLIMATED PRINTING ON PLAQUES & NAME BADGES FREE PICK-UP & DELIVERY 2 2 0 W y e c r o f t U n it 1O O O a k v ille , O n ta r io L 6 K 3 V 1 O ENGRAVING ON GLASS STEINS & MUGS I T e l: 8 4 2 - 4 6 6 4 F a x : 8 4 2 -1 1 81 E m a il: f e r g u s o n @ v is io n o l.n e t ^11^ OAKVILLE DODGE CHRYSLER LTD. 646-4TH LINE AT SPEERS ROAD OAKVILLE N ew chiropractor at Allliance Healthcare ' D onald Geisler, D.C. is now associated with Alliance Healthcare Professionals Inc. o f Oakville. He has returned from the U.S. where he received his Doctor o f Chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College. Prior to that, Geisler complet ed a B.Sc. degree in human kinetics from the University of Guelph and was a paramedic for five years. His practice will focus on improving the quality o f life through continued health and the prevention o f sickness and disease, as well as treating condi tions causing pain and dysfunction o f the joints, muscles and nerves. Geisler will be lecturing on the major causes of headache and back pain in an informal interactive information session at 7:30 p.m. at the Alliance Healthcare centre 232 South Service Rd. E. (beside Holiday Inn) call 845-2291. T E L (905) 845-4211 FAX (905) 845-5772 Understand financial planning process The process o f financial planning is far more important than the investments themselves. Investments come and go. The constant in all of this is you. My recommendation is that all financial activities must focus on you. Even well education and "know ledgeable" investors get too entangled in the distracting noise of the system. Forget for a brief moment how the value of Nortel shares is doing. How are you doing? In the last article I mentioned the traveler that had a splendid business relationship with his financial advisor. So he thought. The only problem was that both o f them concen trated on investments and neither o f them had any idea as to his specific financial objectives. He was just years away from retirement and the gentleman had not done any retirement cash flow projections. While at a recent financial planning convention, I had the opportunity to discuss the traveler's story with David Whyte, executive vice president of AIM Funds. You may recall that AIM purchased Trimark and they are one o f the largest mutual fund compa nies in Canada. Mr. W hyte felt that more focus should be given to the process of investing and not just the investing themselves. I agree. So how does this get done? It is fairly simple. The critical part is to realize that achieving specific objectives is the result of a process and not as a result of several specific investments. Yes. investments will be made. But those invest ments will be part of an overall strategy and not spe cific isolated events. There are three definite components to a finan cial relationship with an advisor. All three compo nents are part o f a pre-defined process. First, you have to select an advisor. A useful tool here is to ask for a "Letter o f Engagement" that out lines the services offered, the qualifications o f the www.oakvilledodge.com PETER WATSON Dollars & Sense advisor and the cost of the service. Understand what you are getting and what you are not getting. Second, you should develop a written financial plan. The plan will state your financial objectives, both short term like education your children and long term like retirement planning. How can you invest in the future o f you do not know what the future is? Having a written financial plan is not just an option. In my opinion, no further investment or financial decisions should be made until there is a written plan. Make certain assumptions based on the informa tion you have now. Start to think about the financial issues that are the most important to you and your family. The third point is critical and is the most easy to forget. 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