The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 15 ,2 01 8 | 18 Naturescaping Seminar Series FR EE Register now for any of five seminars the Region is holding to give ideas on how to create beautiful outdoor spaces without much water use. Saturday March 24, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Stanley Park Community Centre, Kitchener Easy Annuals for Containers with Owen Reeves Containers are all the craze, but they can be very high maintenance! Owen Reeves, a regular on The Marilyn Denis Show, really knows which annuals will perform the best for you this summer! Wednesday March 28, 7:30 - 9 p.m. RIM Park, Room 207/208, Waterloo Landscaping a Small Yard...Design Tips from a Pro with Sean James With small yards, the devil is in the details! Sean will analyze small yards and share ideas and help you get the full potential out of your own yard. Saturday April 7, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Toyota Room Tips and Tricks for Water Wise Gardening with David Hobson Join David on a light-hearted and informative journey to the heart of water wise gardens. Magic, mystery, inspiration, creativity, patience and humour are part of the journey to your new garden. Sunday April 15, 1 - 2:30 p.m. St Jacobs Country Gardens No Maintenance Perennials with Robert Pavlis Would you like a garden that requires no maintenance? Robert will show you how to reduce your work load by selecting the right no-maintenance plants and present other gardening tricks that let you enjoy gardening more. Learn all about perennials, bulbs, shrubs and grasses. Wednesday April 18, 7:30 - 9 p.m. Kitchener Public Library (Main Branch), Theatre Love your Lawn! with Aileen Barclay Lawns can be a challenge, but they don't have to be! Learn how to have a great lawn, with less work. You will love your lawn! Register at www.regionofwaterloo.ca/conservation or call 519-575-4400. When your time comes - and may it be many years from now - you will want your legacy to be passed on exactly as you wish. You will want to ensure your family is protected and the least possible taxes are levied against your es- tate. That's why estate plan- ning is so important and why you should do it now using strategies like these. • A will is the foundation of any estate plan. It desig- nates how your estate should be distributed. If you die without a will (i.e. intestate), provincial legis- lation will determine how your estate is distributed among your heirs. • A living will provides direction for your care in the event of catastrophic ill- ness or disability. • An enduring power of attorney (also called a man- date in case of incapacity in Québec) provides direction for how your property will be managed in the event of incapacity. • An executor (some- times called a personal rep- resentative or in Québec, a liquidator) is the person named in your will to settle your estate according to your documented wishes. • A guardian should be named in your will to take care of your children while they are minors. • Liquid assets are im- portant to pay for taxes, debts, the costs of settling your estate and/or other obligations. If you do not anticipate that your estate will have sufficient liquid assets, consideration should be given to purchas- ing insurance. • Funeral services can be pre-arranged to save your estate some money, avoid extra stress on your survi- vors, and ensure the ser- vice is according to your wishes. • Financial assets should be comprehensively listed in your records - and be sure your executor and/or survivors know where to find them. • Probate is the process by which your will is vali- dated by a court with fees paid to your provincial gov- ernment usually calculated on the net fair market value of the assets in your estate. Although reducing probate fees may be desirable, avoiding probate through the use of strategies such as beneficiary designations and joint ownership can lead to problems if some beneficiaries receive more of the estate than others. These comments are based on the probate pro- cess outside of Québec, since the probate process is different in that province. • A trust specifies a trustee who will manage the assets so long as the as- sets are held by the trust. Although it is possible to set up a trust during your lifetime, most people set up trusts in their will. A trust set up in your will is known as a testamentary trust, and it can serve several purposes, including main- taining control over the as- sets until certain beneficia- ries are mature enough to manage them, and provid- ing certain tax and govern- ment support advantages to disabled beneficiaries. Your personal estate planning strategies depend on your financial situation and the rules in your prov- ince. Your professional ad- viser and lawyer can help ensure your legacy is left as you wish while limiting probate costs and taxes. - This column is provided by McEachnie Group Pri- vate Wealth Management. Contact Russ McEachnie, CFP, CPCA, CDFA, RRC, principal, at 886-2360, ext. 6241 or go to russmceach- nie.com. BUSINESS There are ways to protect your legacy RUSS MCEACHNIE Column Estate planning strategies ensure your family is protected says, Russ McEachnie It's a "brand" new day at the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation. A refreshed brand will build on the core values of the organization and aligns with its willingness to en- gage in new and exciting ways with the community, a press release issued Thursday, March 8 says. A new multicoloured logo has been designed to better reflect the diversity of the community. The arcs and shapes in the image re- present the people and or- ganizations that together create an abstracted thumbprint, symbolizing the ability for everyone to "make their mark" in the community and leave a lasting impression. "Do More Good. Forev- er. Together." is the new tag line, which incorporates the key elements of the unique position the foun- dation holds within the community. Over the coming weeks, the foundation said there will be more updates as it continues to evolve in its ef- forts to help individuals and organizations in our community do more good. People can visit the web- site at kwcf.ca to learn more about how they can partner with the foundation Community foundation refreshes brand