Scotia To Sun life, "Here Is $2.3 Billion In Cash, Give Me CI."

Scotia Financial & CI Financial

First Published: October 7, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

On Monday morning, investors around globe woke up with a little surprise. The news broke out confirming Sun Life Financial Inc. has agreed to sell its 37% stake in CI Financial Income Fund to Bank of Nova Scotia for $2.3 Billion in  cash. Sun Life first bought 30% of CI in July 2002.

CI is Canada’s number three fund company by assets under management. CI is well known for its wide selection of funds, top-rated portfolio and fund managers, expertise in international funds, and  for creating innovative products. CI Pacific is one of the first Asian funds in Canada, CI was the first company to offer tax efficient corporate class funds, CI was the first fund company to pioneer and launch segregated  funds.

This deal puts Sun life on fire by increasing its capital. Sun Life is seeking growth opportunities within the global financial markets. Recent global financial meltdown has created opportunities to buy companies at incredibly lower prices than anyone can ever imagine. Sun Life does not want to miss out on this.

This deal open up endless possibilities for CI. CI now will be able to use Scotia’s strong distribution channels. There should be increased economies of scale and possibly lower MER for shareholders.

One thing is not clear about this deal – what happens to the special relationship existed between CI and Sun Life? CI has an ongoing distribution agreement with CI. Once Sun Life is no longer the big brother, will there be any motivation for Sun Life to act as a big brother?

This Is Where Gandhi Stayed His Last 144 Days

Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum

Gandhi Smriti (used to be Birla House) or Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum is where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

Gandhi, a noble man who was the epitome of piety, goodness and unselfishness, and who professed peace and non-violence, was shot dead after he had said his prayers.

There are footsteps that show the path on which Gandhi last walked from his residence to the garden. This is where this symbol of peace and non-violence was murdered.

If you are in New Delhi, visiting Gandhi Museum should be a must. But for now, you can watch my video of the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum. During my India trip, I made several videos of historic sites such as the Taj Mahal, India Gate, Gandhi Museum, and much more. All these videos from my India travels can be found here:

India Travel Vlog | Destination New Delhi & Agra

Arctic Vacation; Do Something Different

Arctic Travel

While the idea of a holiday for most people is to pack their shorts and swimming costumes, buy an ugly shirt and prepare for a week or two of siestas and questionable music, there is a large and growing sector of society which feels like the party animal in all of us can be catered for adequately by bars and clubs in our home towns, and to expect this from our holidays is merely to export our town center to a sunnier location. Indeed, for many people the idea of sun, sand, sangria and other assorted things beginning with “S” is as far away from the perfect holiday as it is possible for a thing to be. Snow, however, is to be actively welcomed on a trip to the Arctic – something which has caught the imagination of many since the first packages to the area started running.

A holiday to the Arctic may seem like the direct opposite of what constitutes a “proper” holiday for many people, but when you consider it for a while, it makes perfect sense. After all, what could be more different than traveling to somewhere where the temperature is perpetually sub-zero (Celsius) and the common practice of a typical holiday almost literally a world away? If sea and sun is what you expect of a holiday, of course it won’t hold much magic for you, but for many the most important thing about a holiday is  to see something different and live in a different way. This much is definitely possible on an Arctic vacation.

An Arctic holiday, essentially, can be any break taken inside the “Arctic Circle” in a geographic sense. This means that we are not just talking North Pole here, there are several other locations, including some within Canada and much of Alaska. Additionally there are European locations such as Greenland, Iceland and Russia, as well as Antarctica itself. So what would you do while there? There are countless things that make it worth a visit, not least a range of wildlife that makes it entirely different and original. On any safari holiday you can see lions or tigers and a number of other wild cats among other things, but only on a visit to somewhere as cold as the Arctic can you see Polar bears, snow leopards and penguins. Opportunities for the photographer are certainly plentiful.

Additionally, the difference of the activities you can take part in makes an Arctic holiday a really good idea. At the right times of year you can see the famed Aurora Borealis – almost habitually listed among the things you must do before you die – and the opportunities for pursuits like dog sledding and kayaking are also worth bearing in mind. If you fancy doing something really different, a break in the Arctic Circle – possibly by cruise – would be well worth looking in to. There is an increasingly long list of travel agents which offer the opportunity to go, as well as many who specialize in particularly fascinating breaks.

The World's Longest Freshwater Beach

Freshwater Beach in Canada

Wasaga Beach — the world’s longest freshwater beach is also a part of Georgian Bay. Wasaga Beach offers 14 kilometres white sand beach, panoramic lush mountain views across the bay, clean pristine waters, and much more.

Seagulls are always a delight. I saw lots of them on the beach trying to steal potato chips from open potato chips bags. They sure love to mingle with humans.

You can watch my video clips on this here:

The World's Longest Freshwater Beach

Wasaga Beach -- the world's longest

The Internet and Personal Development

The Internet Can Aid Personal Growth Immensely

There are an awful lot of stereotypes directed at the Internet and its users, although to some extent these stereotypes are becoming less prominent. Regardless of the changing opinions of individuals, however, there is still a hard-wired impression that those of us who choose to spend a fair portion of our life online must be socially inadequate, and in some way not equipped to live a “normal life”. It should not be ignored that the people who express this impression most vocally are rarely much of a role model for anyone – and their unfounded prejudices may well suggest that they are quite the opposite. The Internet can, in fact, work excellently as a tool for personal development.

Think about it this way. If you are growing up in a relatively small town with very clearly defined values and preferences, and happen to grow up with a mindset that is at odds with those values and preferences, life can be pretty lonely. Geography in this sense is incredibly limiting. With the advent of the Internet, however, it has become possible for like minded individuals from locations poles apart to form strong bonds of friendship. There are caveats to this process, of course – taking people at face value is inadvisable – but these caveats are no more pronounced than those which arise when interacting with someone who is physically in the same room as you. It is always important to keep an eye out for people who are keen to dissemble and distract.

Online forums are one way of getting to know people who have similar interests. There are so many forums and message boards on the Internet, devoted to such a wide range of interests, that it would be quicker to name the subjects that are not catered to than those that are. Sports, music, politics, whatever interests you there is likely to be a community or two (or a few thousand) devoted to it. On here, you may get the kind of conversation that you simply cannot have with a geographical neighbour. In addition, it is an excellent way to get a bit of debating practice – by speaking to people whose opinions on your subject of interest differ from yours, you can build a greater understanding of matters, something which aids personal growth immensely.

Social networking sites are often viewed very dimly by media commentators and everyday skeptics. There is a certain selective interpretation of the medium in this – for one thing, the media commentators are a little concerned that they will cease to be as relevant, and secondly the most scathing attitudes to social networking are based on a hugely skewed sample. Yes, there are some complete and utter fools on these sites, and when their pronouncements are frozen for posterity online it is hard not to cringe. But some real deep thinkers also use these sites simply because they have so much difficulty finding like-minded people nearby. By using the Internet wisely, you can find people who are really worth talking to. Like anything else, it is a matter of knowing how to separate the good from the bad.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Simplepersonaldevelopment.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on May 19, 2009.