www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, September 11, 2014 | 30 I Will technology or investment advisers best serve your needs? Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor s there a point in time when you can re your investment adviser and use technology to assist you with managing your own nancial planning and investments? Technology is less expensive than employing an investment adviser. There is also a wide range of tools available to use. Other industries around the world have attempted to change how items are purchased and new technological developments have assisted in that transformation. There is a global trend to automate the delivery of goods and services to consumers. Why should it be different within the - nancial services industry? Most industries have pressure to be "commoditized." This means the customer decides to purchase something based on price. ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS OF OAKVILLE HYDRO ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION INC. Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc. has applied to raise its electricity distribution rates. Learn more. Have your say. Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc. has applied to the Ontario Energy Board to increase the amount it charges by approximately $0.65 each month for the typical residential customer beginning on January 1, 2015. Other customers, including businesses, may be affected as well. The requested rate increase is set using a formula which is tied to inflation and other factors intended to promote efficiency. The rate increase also includes Oakville Hydro's request to recover costs for damage caused by an ice storm in late December, 2013. THE ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD IS HOLDING A PUBLIC HEARING The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) will hold a public hearing to consider Oakville Hydro's request. We will determine whether Oakville Hydro has used the applicable models and formulas as required by the OEB. At the end of this hearing, the OEB will decide on the appropriate rate changes. The OEB is an independent and impartial public agency. We make decisions that serve the public interest. Our goal is to promote a financially viable and efficient energy sector that provides you with reliable energy services at a reasonable cost. BE INFORMED AND HAVE YOUR SAY You have the right to information regarding this application and to be involved in the process. You can: · review Oakville Hydro's application on the OEB's website now; · file a letter with your comments, which will be considered during the hearing; · become an active participant (called an intervenor). Apply no later than 10 calendar days after the publication or service date of this notice or the hearing will go ahead without you and you will not receive any further notice of the proceeding; · at the end of the process, review the OEB's decision and its reasons on our website. The OEB intends to consider cost awards in this proceeding that are in accordance with the Practice Direction on Cost Awards and are in relation to Oakville Hydro's proposed Z-factor ice storm claim. LEARN MORE These proposed charges relate to Oakville Hydro's's distribution services. They make up part of the Delivery line -- one of the five line items on your bill. Our file number for this case is EB-2014-0102. To learn more about this hearing, find instructions on how to file letters or become an intervenor, or to access any document related to this case, select the appropriate application from the list at the OEB website: www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/notice. You can also phone our Consumer Relations Centre at 1-877-6322727 with any questions. WRITTEN HEARING There are two types of OEB hearings oral and written. Oakville Hydro has applied for a written hearing. The OEB is considering this request. If you think an oral hearing is needed, you can write to the OEB to explain why. PRIVACY If you write a letter of comment, your name and the content of your letter or the documents you file with the OEB will be put on the public record and the OEB website. However, your personal telephone number, home address and email address will be removed. If you are a business, all your information will remain public. If you apply to become an intervenor, all information will be public. This rate hearing will be held under section 78 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, S.O. 1998 c.15 (Schedule B). Other factors can be considered but the largest determining factor is price. Many of our past columns in the Oakville Beaver discussed investment fees. Everything from fees being too high, not fair, not transparent and the potential conict of interest between the investor and adviser. Should the fee discussion continue with the notion of replacing your adviser with low-cost computer programs and Internet access to endless data, allowing you to manage your own nances? This is an ongoing conversation within the industry. Particularly on behalf of clients with less assets. For these clients, there is not enough investment fee revenue to support the full service advice of a quali ed nancial planner or investment adviser. The lower end of the market does need nancial guidance and technology could help. The issue isn't if it is better to have a real person helping you. There isn't a good business model for this to happen. To some extent, purchasing mutual funds through the outdated Deferred Sales Charge method where a large up-front commission is paid to the adviser, can be one solution for clients with smaller assets. This method of remuneration, however, will likely decline as better disclosure is re- quired to be given to an investor before a purchase decision is made. The only certainty is that technology will become increasingly more useful and ef cient. The ongoing question is whether it assists your paid nancial adviser with doing a better job or allows you to go it alone. There is evidence that investors have better results when using an investment adviser. This topic will be covered during the next few months as a result of research by a professor and researcher at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. There is also much evidence indicating that not all investment advisers do a good job for their clients. In that case, those advisers are not worth the fees they earn. An argument for using an adviser is that the world is not that simple. In nance, as well as real life, there is often not a clear right or wrong way to do something. Judgment plays a part. It is better to get this from a quali ed professional who understands you and is clearly working with your best interest at heart. 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