ead DOLLARS AND SENSE IT’S TIME once again to clean out ary savings /or chequing accounts that have too much money earning too little interest. At many financial institutions, the base rates on these accounts have fallen below 1%. Even though inflation is down, by the time you pay tax on your less- than-one-per-cent interest, you ‘are barely bettcr off than keeping your money under the mattress. However, you do have alter- natives. Review all your accounts and perhaps consolidate them, putting the money into one or more of the following instru- ments, - ‘Good keepers’ From page 48 Another plus, {1 found - that many small kics were fascinated by these — they look so pretty in the storage box! They are slightly easier for kids to chew than strict- ly raw veggies. ece Multi-Bean Salad i — 74 07. tin of at least five of the following: Green wax beans Yellow wax beans Green lima beans (Save all the water from the above in your freezer for soups and gravy) , Garbarzos (drain) : Red or white kidney beans (drain and rinse) Pinto beans (drain and rinse) 1 cup diced onion i cup diced green pepper Prepare your choice of beans — the more you add, the better. Add onion and pepper. Toss with ei- ther of the following dressings and cover tightly. Keep very cold. Sweet-and-Sour Dressing 4 cup sugar ¥% cup while vinegar ¥2 cup top-grade salad of! Combine in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cool. Toss gradually with your bean mixture. { find there's plenty for at least eight cans so save any left for other vegetable mixtures. Accounts with larger balances often pay higher interest rates. While most places now pay the higher rates on the whole balance, some still pay only on the balance above each minimum tier. Ask before you transfer your funds. Mos! financial institutions now offer money-market funds. When interest rates fall rapidly, as they have lately, the return on these funds takes longer fo decline. So you can stil find money- market funds yielding more than 5%. With most funds, you have almost the same liquidity as a sav- ings account as far as withdrawing your money. The minimum depos- it (actually, a purchase of fund units) can be as low as $500; a few places even allow you to write cheques. The financial papers compare money-market fund returns daily. Talk to both your financial in- stitution and possibly a broker. Read the prospectus to see how the money is invested: ask avout any service charges or deposit/ withdrawal! restrictions (like min- imum deposit requirements). The return will fluctuate, reflec- ting general interest-rate trends. While you can earn a_ higher return, remember these funds have no deposit insurance. Your risks: (a) failure of the se- curity issuers (fairly unlikely as most of them are provincial or federal government agencies — but again, check the prospectus inake job easier salad, either the whole lot or selected beans; @ Top the deans with small cubes of sharp cheddar; . @ Serve the beun salad, especially the one with the oil-vinegar dress- ing, on days you're serving rice. They admire each other; @ After a few days, drain and rinse leftover bean salad. Cook a pound c: ground beef until the pink is gone, add a bit more onion if you like, add the beans and a tin of cream of tomato soup. Heat. Top with mashed potatoes and grated cheddar. Run under the broiler. Don’t be afraid’ to use the Jeftover prepared vegetables this way, too. If you’re tired of the whole thing, prepare the meat mixture and freeze for dinner in a couple of weeks. Hint: Freeze in a shallow casse- role. Next week: 30-minute dinners featuring dishes especially good with these two salad mixes. ere ¢ and most recent annual or quarterly report), and (b) @ sharp rise in interest rates which, if the money-market fund sponsor is forced to sell securities, could lower the value of the fund units. You can also lock in deposits from, typically, 30 days to five years. This approach pays off if interest rates continue to fall. To protect yourself in case thzy rise again, stagger the maturity dates of your depusits — three, six, nine and 12 months, for example, or one, three and five years. Mortgage-backed securities, treasury bills, government bonds — all offer guaranteed rates of return. Even if you earn, let’s say. 6% on your money and pay about 40% income tax on the interest, after you allow for inflation at least you are maintaining the buy- ing power of your money. if this money is in an RRSP, tax-shelteriug allows your funds to show a real growth of perhaps three 10 4% — quite acceptable considering your investment risk 15 virtuaily nil. Talking of risk, don’t let to- day's low rates stampede you into an investment which will keep you awake at night, worrying about your money. On the other hand, do use the low rate situaticn to encourage you to review other op- tions to see if you could comfor- tably find new ways to invest which could produce a higher after-tax and after-infation return. Ignore get-rich-quick «r any exotic schemes. Once you have made sure your guaranteed in- vestments are earning the highest returns, then look at your three cther basic choices: the stock market (including mutual funds investing in the stock market), revenue property and a_ business (whether your own or somebody else’s). Most people who have become successful financially have done so through putting their moncy into NEWS ADVEATISER SAYS: e baie COLLEGE PROS cA EMENG EKPORS TH co. 47 March $999 trom | Pater Kearns Hela Sates wanes aS Horth Shore Ne 3198 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver. VTM 2114 Dear Pater, PECTS O AVE SCHL ARSHE received an_ arch 31, 1993 — North Shore News - 49 EDIT = or cma! terest is one or more of those three in- vestments. Just realize there are no guaran- tees and while you can certainly make more than what you earn on a term deposit, you can usually also muke less and even lose part (or in extreme cases, all) of your investment. Yeu must also develop the re- quired expertise and spend time {and in the case of real estate and a business, money) on your in- vestment. Even if you entrust your money to mutual fund managers to invest, you must first choose which of the hundreds of funds are most appropriate for your sit- uation. Mike Grenby is a North Shore-based columnist and in- dependent financial adviser who works with individuals; -he will answer your questions as space allows -- write to him c/o The North Shere News, 1139 Lois- dale, North Vancouver ¥7M 2H4. - Listen to our advertisers. F AMERICA, INC. OVISIATUN TES They'll tell you that advertising in the North Shore News rings in new customers and increases their business. Find sut how the @ to take this North Shore News can i lik * and | would cived wita scouts of College PF espanse we FEC Area Scouts van know of the excel ee Pai 1893. ops attunity 10 Tel YO ah Shore News ‘ * Vad in the . toes and teachers 2 2, counsel victuals nly did » * attract students. Percale from interested indivi {fal of ved man alsa 7c! the Fair, Snot atione the shaw. My Favorite Oi] and Vinegar Dressing % cup extra-virgin olive cil Ys cup white vinegar If | have some exotic whité vinegar on hand i'l} use it but there’s no law against the ordinary stuff..