Another column about rain gardens? You betcha! After all, what’s not to love about a garden that supports the health of the local watershed and wildlife, reduces flooding, and enhances the curb appeal of your home, school, or business?

For those new to the concept, rain gardens are bowl-shaped gardens that take in stormwater runoff from nearby hard surfaces, such as a roof or an asphalt driveway. The plants and soil clean the rainwater by filtering out pollutants. Rain gardens come in many shapes, sizes, and styles, depending on the specifics of your space and your personal gardening style.

This week, we’re sharing five things you may not know about rain gardens.

1. Rain gardens don’t need a lot of water

Rain gardens are often dry. Unlike a pond, which holds water throughout the year, rain gardens are designed to temporarily store water until it can be absorbed into the ground.

Ideally, water in a rain garden will drain within 24 to 48 hours of a heavy rain event. During the summer, established rain gardens can go many weeks without water.

The best part? Fewer mosquitoes in your garden!

2. Rain gardens divert water from storm sewers

An average residential rain garden in Peterborough can divert about 1.5 cubic metres of water from the storm sewer system each year. That’s roughly the same volume as 9.5 bathtubs.

Keep in mind that bath water in Peterborough is treated before being returned to the Otonabee River, but roof runoff isn’t. Without treatment, runoff carries garbage and pollutants straight into the watershed.

By sending rainwater to a rain garden, you can harness the power of soil and plants to filter pollutants as water soaks into the ground. Imagine the potential for the watershed if more homeowners, schools, and businesses installed rain gardens on their properties. That’s a lot of bathtubs.

Rain gardens also help us adapt to the impacts of climate change, which include more precipitation in shorter amounts of time. They do this by reducing the amount of runoff the municipal stormwater system has to manage during heavy storms.

3. Rain gardens are fun!

Rain gardens provide wonderful entertainment.

As soon as you install one, you’ll fly out the door at the first hint of rain to watch the bowl fill and recede. Trust me!

4. You can include trees in your rain garden

You can incorporate trees into your rain garden if your space allows.

It’s important to build your rain garden outside the canopy of any existing trees to protect their roots. However, there’s no reason why you can’t plant a new tree in your rain garden. Planting trees is critical for adapting to climate change, especially since extreme weather events can damage the urban tree canopy.

Some of our favourites include River Birch (Betula nigra), Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), and Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.). These native trees and large shrubs are well-suited to the variable moisture conditions found in rain gardens and add height and year-round interest.

You can customize your rain garden with many native plants and trees so it becomes uniquely yours.

5. You can get financial help to install a rain garden

Eligible homeowners can receive up to $1,000 from the City of Peterborough to install a rain garden at home. That’s wild!

In addition to the subsidy, you get to enjoy all the secondary benefits that rain gardens offer, such as butterfly visits and the envy of your neighbours. Plus, GreenUP is partnering with the City of Peterborough to provide applicants with consultation visits and customized advice.

The application process begins with an eligibility assessment. Once you’re pre-approved, you will receive resources and support to design your own unique garden. Additionally, applicants can take advantage of up to two site visits by GreenUP staff during the design and installation process.

One of these visits is required and must take place during construction. The other visit can be used at a time of the applicant’s choosing, for additional advice on garden design, application support, maintenance or plant selection.

The subsidy covers the costs of plants, soil, mulch, rock, and other non-equipment expenses incurred while building a rain garden. The subsidy can also be used to hire a landscape contractor for design and/or construction, if desired.

It’s not too late to reap the benefits of a rain garden and receive a subsidy this year. For more information about the Rain Garden Subsidy program, visit www.peterborough.ca/raingarden, or direct questions to Hayley Goodchild at hayley.goodchild@greenup.on.ca or 705-748-3238 ext. 213.

GreenUP can help you source plants suitable for your rain garden. Visit the Ecology Park and speak to our staff in the Native Plant & Tree Nursery during our hours of operation, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday.

Dipping one’s toe into the retirement planning waters for the first time can be equal parts overwhelming, intimidating, and stressful.

As Executive Financial Consultant with Bobcaygeon-based McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management, Adam McInroy CFP, CLU is very well aware of that.

Together with his team, he has made it his business to smooth the waters for clients, first by compiling an inventory of what retirement income options are available to them — the “puzzle pieces” as he calls them — and formulating investment, risk mitigation and, most importantly, tax planning strategies that will sustain and likely enhance that income for the years ahead.

“Our first step is to understand what pieces of that retirement income stream clients have in place or available to tap into, and there can be a lot of them — employer pension plans, deferred profit-sharing plans, government sources such as OAS, CPP, and GIS, and their own individual investments,” Adam explains.

“It’s not as streamlined as it once was. It used to be when you retired from a job, your employer replaced your paycheque with a pension. For many people these days, that isn’t what happens.”

“It’s not uncommon to see a lot of clients walk in who have a pension plan, but that company got sold. You kept working the same job for the new employer and, with that employer change, the retirement planning options also changed. It’s no longer a defined benefits plan — now it’s a defined contributions plan, a deferred profit sharing plan, or a number of alternatives. You still have that slice of guaranteed income, but now it’s up to us to manage this other slice to replace the paycheque you give up when you retire. Once you start trying to coordinate all that, it can become very confusing, time consuming, and overwhelming.”

In putting together a viable and sustainable retirement income plan for clients, Adam poses one crucial question as a starting point: What kind of lifestyle moving forward does the client desire and expect?

“More often than not, the strategy that we look at is more of a homogenized approach where we’re taking a little bit from this bucket and a little bit from that bucket,” he explains.

“Ideally we want to create a foundation of income that’s stable and maybe creates some tax liability, but never to the point where clients are paying more taxes than they have to,” Adam adds. “It’s a real fine art to manage income tax year after year because every year tax brackets change, tax credits change, tax planning strategies change, and your age changes.”

A major goal, Adam adds, is eliminating — or at least reducing — Old Age Security claw-back. He explains that’s done by “strategizing what bucket we’re pulling out of, how much we’re pulling out of that bucket, and when we’re doing it.”

Meanwhile, for those clients who aren’t where they need to be to realize their retirement goals, Adam says the biggest thing is to present them with “some simple steps they can implement in the next 90 days to start to put themselves on a better trajectory — to create a clear action plan so they’re not leaving the office thinking ‘I’m not where I need to be, but I’m not really sure what I need to do to get there.'”

He likens the process to that of a baseball batting coach who “watches your swing time and time and time again to finesse that stroke.”

“That’s our goal with clients. They’re going to step into the batter’s box and we’re going to see what they want to do, and then we’re going to start finessing and coaching them to where they need to be. Our team focuses on improving our clients’ financial outcomes. When it comes to retirement, we’ve been doing this for decades and have seen over that time what is required to not only successfully retire, but also enjoy retirement and pursue the lifestyle that the client has envisioned.”

Adam breaks retirement planning down into four steps that help clients get a firm grip on their retirement income and ensure they can live their retirement years on their terms:

• Understanding that Canada’s retirement income system consists of three tiers: government benefits, employer retirement plans and options, and personal investing through accounts, real estate holdings, and private corporations. These components are vital in understanding how to ensure a financially secure retirement.
• Understanding what your income needs really are, not just in year one of retirement but also what they are likely to be in year 15 of your retirement income plan.
• Optimizing taxable sources of income, while being mindful of tax credits and social benefits along with health and marital status.
• Making things simple. Consolidating invested assets and streamlining withdrawals make strategies such as tax planning, de-registration, and income splitting that much easier.

Adam says clients should always be asking questions of their financial advisor, including what his or her qualifications are — with the most important being the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP) designation.

“The first big question should be ‘Are you a CFP?'” he notes. “A CFP professional doesn’t receive that designation from his or her investment dealer. It’s from a third party, FP Canada, and it holds us to is a standard of ethics and duty to do what’s in the best interests of our clients.”

Another important question is to ask how the financial advisor is compensated.

“It’s really important as a client or prospective client to understand how you’re paying the professionals you work with,” Adam explains. “Are they getting a flat salary, where maybe they’re not as engaged or involved in the day-to-day actions of your portfolio because they go home at the end of the day after collecting their paycheque? Or are they collecting an advisory fee that is based on their advice and guidance, which is directly aligned with the long-term value of your financial well-being?”

Adam notes a financial advisor should also be keeping their door open to clients, both for regularly scheduled meetings and impromptu check-ins.

“The planner should be checking in with you, but it’s also important to know that you can and should be reaching out to your CFP professional when something happens in your life. Life events don’t happen on a pre-set schedule. Things like divorce, birth of a child, purchasing a vacation property, an employer laying you off, or a critical illness, are a few times when you may not think it’s important to talk to your CFP professional but, in fact, it is critical to do so. Having them involved can result in a significant reduction in stress, as your financial plan could and should be adjusted to the new realities.”

Adam points out that communication is a two-way street, so it’s also important for clients to keep their advisor apprised of financial developments.

“It’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for,” he says.

McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management is located at 21 King Street West in Bobcaygeon. You can email Adam at adam.mcinroy@igpwm.ca or call 705-738-2422. For more information about McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management, visit www.mcinroypwm.com.

Investors Group Financial Services Inc.

This is a general source of information only. It is not intended to provide personalized tax, legal or investment advice, and is not intended as a solicitation to purchase securities. Adam McInroy is solely responsible for its content. For more information on this topic or any other financial matter, please contact McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management.

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