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transrightsjimin · 3 years

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more ranting abt welfare benefits hell

sorry for whining so much abt income on here, i know it should just be easy nd solveable by applying more for jobs, but the literal issue is that i have no skills or confidence (latter is according to my friend, but the way i cant envision handling any jobs well is jst the truth??) nd still havent gotten any help from the municipality w getting consulted by someone w more knowledge on the job market nd maybe being pushed to take on shitty jobs that at least perhaps pay better than mail delivery. it’s jst so frustrating how i requested welfare benefits over 4 months ago but it only counted since 3 months ago bc they kept fucking up w the requests, promised a payback for the lost month, but didnt, i believe?? now december we got nothing nd probably also january bc our ‘income was too high‘ for the minimum.

uh i side tracked nd forgot where i was going before, but i meant to say tht HALF A YEAR AGO i also requested help w getting help w jobs but bc bureaucratic bullshit it took until DECEMBER to get the help approved. and they would get me a contact person ‘surely before christmas, don’t worry!‘ and then they didn’t and replied they hadn’t forgotten about me and will surely help soon and i’m just. so fucking anxious about this all??

my parents help me financially w cash they gave (nd some of which came from my grandmas) (nd no im not happy w that bc one of them is doing worse financially but still wants to give it away, nd the other is dead nd my uncle gave her left over money to family which feels ironic bc hes a millionaire but only gives a bit from his dead mom??) so that i can buy groceries bc me and my friend’s paychecks + welfare benefits can only cover rent + food and so not also other bills such as for healthcare that i have to make payment plans for. and even w help w groceries i still end up in the negatives, especially last month bc we ‘made too much‘ to receive something. i dont even dare to sell clothing or anything online for money bc that’d only mean ‘income from hobbies’ they could see i have and thus more reason to get stripped from this too.

and that is just the whole issue!! the municipality runs all these checks and forms and calls and appointments and documents you need to hand in, but there is NO calculation determining what you actually need. instead, based on the type of household, we were categorized as fiscal partners without children who receive the benefits together and thus we receive benefits (in the months that we do) to add it up to the ‘living minimum‘ €1500 in total. this amount does not cover our actual expenses, nor does this match inflation or how social housing has been broken down as a system and that real estate owners can increase rent prices as much as they want. there is a monthly grant that tenants could receive for renting a home, but only if it is an apartment AND below 752,33 euros per month (which is when it is considered social housing, above that it’s the ‘free market‘), and that is just virtually impossible?? but we were not once asked if we can actually pay anything and the people meant to help us w benefits just don’t fucking get flex work contracts or how our income over a certain month is received way later in the month after that. like they have a stable job and just dont fucking get that it is not designed well for us.

i think my anxiety over this issue has gotten worse ever since the news came out that a dutch woman on benefits got a €7000 fine because her mom did groceries for her and that’s considered fraud??!! she couldn’t afford food so her mom bought groceries for her but that is also considered financial compensation and thus she got this huge fine, which she probably cannot afford and the fucked up thing w fines from institutions is that they ask interest over it if you don’t pay it in time or enough of it, and give more fines and even charge fees for something like you receiving a letter and they’re just free to pull this shit bc it’s a for-profit business. and that’s how ppl end up w debt and huge loans. it’s just so infuriating nd i really dont want a fine or lose the right to benefits. even though i prob wont get it for a while bc of my friend’s job that tends to make our incomes together reach just the ‘living minimum‘. i have this bill of €250 for adhd diagnosis, then monthly bills for meds that are €76 of which i can receive most back and ‘only’ need to pay €25 from it, then theres an orthodentist bill of around €92 bc i forget this insurance company still counts from back when i was w it the first time nd orthodontist stuff gets insured up to €1000 and that amount was used up like 10 years ago nd they still count like that despite me having had a different insurer in between.

i just need a stupid fcking job nd i hate to whine abt this bc theres so many ppl in much worse situations who ‘take initiative‘ nd start looking for jobs, but AGAIN i have no ‘basic’ skills like being able to listen and understand words well nd fast or show the right facial expressions or have good memory or dexterity or be able to answer difficult questions or focus on reading etc etc, nor do i i have an idea what job i should or could do.like i fcking need an income, moreover i need a break, im in this fcking burnout since like 2013 and in depression since at least 2004 lmfao but it’s never been recognized as bad enough by specialists bc im not suicidal, but it’s also not good to the point where i ever know if i felt ok. also just. i feel like i did use to have a bit more confidence in myself in high school but it all got sucked out of me in art college (bc horribly bigoted teachers + students and being taught that drawing well is in fact not at all important in the domestic market but rather being INNOVATIVE and NETWORKING and also COPYING is the way to success!! like not kidding, thats what teachers told us) nd by my parents (bc i became older nd didnt spontaneously do all these chores or jobs despite having no fcking clue how bc they never taught stuff). like i just dont know how ppl live comfortably w themselves and know what its like to be themselves nd not feel bad nd anxious abt everything

#rambles #family stuff #death mention / for grandma #this is a long rant im so sorry thisis a mess

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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Tbh, my policy on pirating is pretty simple. I honestly dont give a fuck one way or another w/movies, TV shows and even comic books, bc the former two have managed to account for pirating in the way they pad their expenses and tbqh they dont really hurt for it. And with comic books, okay if you pirate indie or creator owned content you kinda suck, not gonna lie, you have NO idea the kind of effort and upfront costs that go into producing comic books without Marvel or DC backing you up, not until you actually try it. Its obscene. Especially if you’re not able to do all the art AND story AND inking/lettering/coloring yourself, and have to either pay other members of your self-assembled creative team upfront or on the backend.

And this includes comic books published by Image (at least the ones without big name creators attached), because contrary to popular belief, Image has nothing to do with assembling the creative teams of most of their creator owned books, and they certainly don’t pay them any kind of wages or salaries. The way Image is set up is creators basically submit a complete first issue, all the art, inking, lettering, coloring, everything already done, to see if they’re interested in publishing.

(Technically, you only have to submit the first eight pages in order to get a response, and theoretically its possible that Image has in the past greenlit books based on the first eight pages of the book, which then allows the creators some leverage in convincing the entirety of their creative team to put in the upfront work to complete the rest of the first issue still without payment, but at least trusting now that their work will see publication, but like, this doesn’t really happen much from anything I’ve ever seen or heard or experienced).

Anyway, point being, Image takes submissions and then greenlights the books they see as potentially profitable, but again....they in no way ever pay creators themselves. Creators only make money via the actual sales of their books, once published and distributed by Image...and only AFTER Image takes their cut, which is a flat fee deducted from the sales of individual issues. Its actually a good thing in some ways, that they only take a flat fee (their cut is for publishing and distribution costs, Image NEVER owns any part of the intellectual property they publish, unless they’re part of their ‘shared Image universe’ which tbh is just like, publisher Erik Larsen’s little sandbox for him and his friends and who even cares, those books suck, Savage Dragon is lame, Erik, and everyone knows Shadowhawk was a blatant rip-off of Darkhawk, and look, I love Darkhawk with all my New Warriors fanboying heart, but of all the characters in the world to rip-off, who the fuck considers Darkhawk worth being derivative of? So weird. BUT I DIGRESS. ANYWAY.)

So in some senses the fact that they only ever take a flat rate is good, because in the rare cases of runaway books that really take off, the way Invincible and The Walking Dead were back when Robert Kirkman was still a no-name indie creator, like...the creator has the potential to make BANK. Which is exactly what Kirkman did, and why he’s now every-fucking-where, ruining all our other faves like who the fuck thought HIM producing a Chronicles of Amber show was a good idea, ewww. He’s gonna dial up the incest to 100, isn’t he? Sigh. UGH WHOOPS ANOTHER DIGRESSION, LOL YOU SEE WHY MY ADHD MEDS ARE ESSENTIAL, I ASSUME.

Ahem.

BUT in most cases, the fact that Image takes a flat fee off the top is like....shitty, because the last I heard - and tbf, this was years ago so its probably not the same anymore, but that means it could be worse - it was something like $2000 per issue. Which means the vast majority of indie creators you’ve never heard of before or after they published a six issue mini or whatever through Image never saw a cent. I’ve never heard of Image putting anyone in debt, like that’s not how they work at least - if your book doesn’t even make up to $2000, its not like you owe them for the remainder, but again, you just....never make a cent off it. So like....the reason a fuckton of Image books never make it past issue #6, if they even make it that far, is that the creators literally just can’t afford to keep producing out of pocket, financing the actual creative production costs of each issue themselves without making any profit on the backend, if they’re not ending up selling more than $2000 worth of issues once on the shelves, physical or digital).

So don’t fucking pirate Image comic books, plz. Just don’t do it. Unless they’re Erik Larsen’s. Pirate away, who gives a fuck, I hate that guy. LOLOLOL I’m such a petty asshole, ugh. Whatever. I blame my childhood.

ANYWAY. As I was saying, I don’t really give a shit about pirating from Marvel or DC, which maybe is bad of me because its not like those creators necessarily make bank either, unless they’re one of Marvel/DC’s faves and like, have their pick of titles at any given moment. But the way most of them are paid is Marvel and DC pay their creators actual salaries based on rates per page, and then Marvel/DC keep all the actual royalties themselves. The only exceptions to this are when issues sell more than 50,000 copies - that’s 50,000 individual copies of physical or digital issues, not $50,000 worth of sales like with Image. Once a creative team’s book sells more than 50,000 copies of a single issue however, THEN they start getting a cut of the royalties, as like a bonus incentive type thingie. But tbh, its pretty rare in today’s market for a book to move that many issues monthly, and only the top sellers of both companies end up in that rarefied air....and most of those books’ creative teams are the favored writers/artists anyway, the ones who have a degree of job security and never tend to lack for titles to shift to after ending a run on one book. Sooooo, they’re kinda the reverse of the creators who could actually use a cut of their books’ back end profits, but whatever.

So like I said, fuck Marvel and DC, like...corporately or whatever. Of course there’s no doubt that pirating has some definite correlation to how few books are able to move 50,000 issues monthly, but both companies have always been notoriously shitty to creators, and that’s not pirating’s fault, and less pirating honestly isn’t going to change that b/c the ones to benefit from less pirating first and foremost are still going to be the same ones who aren’t really that hurt by it currently....loooooooong before the lower rung creators start to see an uptick in profits as a result. And let’s be real, if Marvel & DC suddenly started seeing a surge in profits due to a marked reduction in piracy, they’d find some excuse to shift payment structures around again in order to still keep a lion’s share of the new profits while cutting the lower rung creators (read: new/just starting out/niche/lacking leverage creators) out of seeing much additional profits. Because the problem with creators making money off Marvel and DC IPs isn’t really pirating, its Marvel and DC not wanting to share the money made off their IPs, even with the people most responsible for those IPs generating revenue.

That’s the part of the pirating convo that most people miss, IMO....a rising tide just DOESN’T lift all boats, if one or two boats in particular are specially designed to make the most of any tiny uptick in a rising tide while all the other boats are made of the leftover shoddy materials and are undermanned or understaffed or whatever and can’t actually DO anything productive with any of the lift generated by the rising tide.

And if that made no sense, eh, idk, don’t blame me. Its not my metaphor.

ANYWAY. So that’s why I don’t really give a shit about pirated movies or TV shows or Marvel or DC books, though I do still think you suck if you pirate indie content including lesser known Image creators. You guys have srsly no idea how much harder indie comic book creators have to work compared to like, any other medium. It makes me wanna cry. Its ridiculous. It would take too long to explain just WHY its so much more of an ordeal/effort to produce indie comic book content than just about any other form of indie content save like, running an entire webshow with one or two people wearing all the hats while funding everything out of pocket and overseeing everything production wise and also being a key creator involved in creating the actual content.

BUT as I was saying in the last post, pirating novels is an ENTIRELY different thing, and I have vastly more opinions there than I do with other mediums. Because the publishing industry was designed to exploit and capitalize off the intellectual properties of INDIVIDUALS, unlike all those other mediums that are inherently collaborative and thus usually involve the combined efforts of several to dozens of people.

So at the end of the day, individual authors will ALWAYS suffer more from pirating, looooooong before publishing companies ever feel a ding in their profits. Because they designed it that way. Specifically SO that they, the big companies, would be protected. Its set up so that individual creatives, the authors, NEED publishing companies more than publishers need any singular author. Obviously the rise of indie publishing has changed this somewhat, but not as much as you might think.....because the thing is, indie authors are really only successful and profitable by the grace of Amazon. By the fact that Amazon can afford to pay authors 70 percent royalties on any sale as opposed to traditionally published authors who are lucky to get a ten to fifteen percent royalty rate on sales, with them not even seeing a cent of those royalties until AFTER their advance has already been paid back, if they ever even sell enough to make that happen at all.

And so like....its a very dangerous, precarious, and not at all trustworthy situation that allows for indie authors to CURRENTLY be profitable in ways or to degrees that a lot of traditionally published authors can’t be.

But that’s only because Amazon is taking a loss on most of the books they publish, due to this payment model. Because Amazon CAN. They can afford it. They make enough from all their other departments and revenue streams to buttress those losses. And Amazon has been using this, and using indie authors, to leverage traditional publishers into giving up more and more of THEIR profits from THEIR books, by giving Amazon even steeper discounts on the books they distribute to them, to be sold to consumers by Amazon.

And again, like I said before, its the individual creators, the bottom rung authors, who take the hits here first and in the biggest ways, because it remains true that the publishers have designed their payment structures so as to use the profits of individual authors to compensate for their own dip in profits.

And Amazon isn’t doing any of this for the little guy’s benefit. They don’t care about giving indie authors a leg up, an alternative to tradition publishers. They only care about CURRENTLY making indie authors need traditional publishers less than trad publishers need them, for a change.....but ONLY so that Amazon can rake in the increase in profits first and foremost.

Because here’s the kicker. The thing I worry too many indie authors and readers don’t account for.

INDIE AUTHORS STILL NEED AMAZON MORE THAN AMAZON NEEDS THEM.

Amazon is VOLUNTARILY taking losses on their book sales, and have been almost from the start. Because they don’t NEED that department in particular to be profitable for them NOW. They’ve been angling for a long time to get as close to an actual monopoly on the book market as is possible under current free market laws. So the thing is....unlike traditional publishers....Amazon doesn’t need ANY indie authors OR sales. Like, AT ALL. They could shut down their entire indie book model tomorrow, and not really be any worse off for it.

And the second Amazon doesn’t need indie authors even as LEVERAGE to pry more profits out of traditional publishers....you better believe that 70 percent royalty rate is going to vanish literally overnight. Because there’s absolutely nothing in Amazon’s business model or legal obligations to indie authors that requires they maintain it, or protects indie authors from having it suddenly dropped to a five percent royalty rate at Amazon’s whim.

So the second the scales tip far enough that Amazon decides they really don’t need or want to milk anything else out of traditional publishers, they’ve gotten as much of a price cut or a monopoly as they’re going to get or want to get without forcing publishers (and by extension their own ready made product that Amazon then distributes) out of business.....Amazon is going to quite happily STOP taking a loss on the sales of all these indie titles, and say well, we don’t need you as much now, so we’re gonna just give you ten percent royalties, take it or leave it. Its not like you have any better options at this point.

So whether traditionally published or indie published, pirating books hurts individual creators in very real, tangible ways that creators in other mediums aren’t affected, or are supplemented or buttressed against.

I say all this not to guilt anyone, but simply to provide information. Because there’s always so much discourse going back and forth around legality of pirating and ethics of pirating and so much stuff that’s not even consequential or relevant if people don’t even understand the MECHANICS of how pirating affects various mediums. So they can then make INFORMED choices on how they feel about pirating certain content versus other content.

As I was saying at the start of all of this....I have my own personal stance on pirating, and I don’t expect it or need it to be anyone else’s personal model. Like I said, I don’t really care about other mediums, and when it comes to novels, I’m against it as much as possible, but with caveats. Lots of people, including authors, describe novels as luxury items, and as such say that nobody’s justified in taking one for their own personal entertainment just because they WANT it. I differ from that POV because I honestly don’t consider books a luxury. I consider them to be absofuckinglutely as essential to the survival and THRIVING of the human condition as food or rest. Far more so than TV or movies, which not everyone has access to, or finds as easily accessible. Bottom line.....I fall in the category of arguing that its not enough just to survive. People have to have reason to survive, to live. Things to look forward to. Things to enjoy. Feeding the human spirit, as cheesy or whatthefuckever as that sounds, is every bit as essential as feeding the body. I would not have survived my childhood without books. I would not have survived my twenties without books. Hell, I would not have survived this YEAR without books.

So, even as an author myself, and yes, I have written stuff that’s been pirated (I made a fairly decent living for a couple years as a self-published indie author of m/m erotica and m/m erotic romance short stories, novellas and novels, and those particular genres/markets get the SHIT pirated out of them. So trust me, I am VERY much putting my money where my mouth is on this subject).

But yes, even as an author myself, I have zero problem with people pirating stuff because they honestly, truly legit can not afford it otherwise. Its not a lost sale. If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. It doesn’t mean you still don’t need, let alone deserve, to have something to take your mind off your poverty, your stresses, your issues. And even if you technically have the money to afford a book, I’m well aware that doesn’t always mean you ACTUALLY have the money to afford it in any meaningful way. If you have five bucks to spend for the day, and a choice between a book and a bagel, or like, an actual sandwich and drink, that’s not a fucking choice that ANYONE should have to make. Use that five dollars to buy yourself a fucking sandwich and just pirate the book, I say. You can pay it forward when you get the chance. You find yourself with more money at a later point, by all means, go back and buy a legit copy of that book, your money’s still good then, and having had that book to enjoy at an earlier, more stressful time in your life might very well have contributed in even the tiniest of ways to you getting to a place where you had better finances and more spending money.

Yes, obviously, I am a big fan and proponent of libraries, and I think you should always go there first, if possible, to get your free literary content. Libraries are great, and they have a LOT more content, and more of a range of content, then a lot of people realize.

I am however aware that libraries are not necessarily practical for everyone. Sometimes you just plain can’t get to one, you have transportation or mobility issues or live in a household where your reading habits or interests are frowned upon or even penalized, because sometimes, parents are awful. Sometimes libraries just don’t have the content you’re looking for. Content is subjective, depends on staff, geography, community. LGBTQ+ kids shouldn’t have to risk being seen looking through the LGBTQ+ section of the library or checking out a book, if they’re not out at home or school or in their community. By all means, I would much rather a kid in that situation pirate the fuck out of their comforting, soul-sustaining LGBTQ+ themed books than risk upsetting a currently safe and secure status quo. Again, just pay it forward when and if you can, at a later date. And so on and so forward.

BUT, again, there’s caveats there, because with books, I consider it a case by case basis, and the case in question is the individual consumer. The above scenarios IMO are based entirely on the genuine, sincere situation of not being able to afford a book in any practical way, and not having a library as a valid option for getting that or any book.

This is an entirely different situation from HAVING the spending money, and being perfectly capable of dropping five bucks on a book versus five bucks on one of those much-talked-about-in-pirating-convos Starbucks’ lattes that you don’t NEED any more than anyone supposedly NEEDS to read a particular book.

If you CAN afford to pay full price for a book without dipping into funds intended for other practical necessities or hurting or even inconveniencing you in any meaningful way, if you CHOOSE to pirate a book you can access or download through legal channels with just as much ease as you can pirate it...(again, I’m aware that due to bullshit territory laws, not all content is legally available in all areas at all times, and this isn’t what I’m talking about).

I’m talking about if you’re NOT in a bad - not just slightly uncomfortable - but BAD, financially tight, thrifty, constantly stressed situation where its honestly a Sophie’s fucking Choice trying to decide if you’re gonna shell out your money for the sequel you’ve been waiting on pins and needles for for a fucking year and its been the only thing getting you through some days....or if you’re gonna like, eat today....

THAT’S when I have no patience for your piracy, specifically. Not when it comes to novels and the bottom lines of individual, hard-working authors, most of whom have to spend their lunch hours or come home after work to soak their blood, sweat and tears into the manuscript that becomes the book you just pirated. I know what I said about indie comic book creators having it so much more fucking tough than anyone else knows or realizes, but that doesn’t mean that midlist and lower than that authors don’t work DAMN fucking hard on their product, even after working forty hour weeks at some minimum wage job that’s every bit as soul-crushing as the worst job you’ve ever held.

And you’re not a fucking rebel or revolutionary if you’re taking money out of THEIR pocket, when you don’t need it yourself, just because you can. You’re not sticking it to the man, or teaching greedy capitalist publishing pigs the error of their ways. They don’t care, and you’re just being a dick.

Entitlement isn’t always a bad thing, I believe, because we ARE all entitled to certain things. A broke, disabled person with transportation issues and disability benefits that aren’t even enough to cover their actual living expenses is IMO every bit as ENTITLED as anyone else to a nice, stress-free, enjoyable read they picked out because it was precisely what they were looking for and not because it was the only thing out of ten available options that looked halfway decent. I will never ever judge or condemn or disparage someone for pirating in a scenario even REMOTELY close to that.

But that doesn’t mean that gratuitous entitlement doesn’t always exist, and isn’t obnoxious as fuuuuuuuuuuck. You’re not entitled to whatever you want, whenever you want, for as little as you feel like paying for it, just because you WANT it. And just because you can GET it, consequence free. If THAT’S the defining motivation or influence behind pirating the debut novel of a single mom working sixty hours a week to support her kids PLUS hanging onto her dreams and pounding out her novel over the course of a year and a half on her lunch hour.....then yeah, you fucking suck, and you know it, you whiny little shit who identifies with this paragraph and goes "who me? YOU DONT KNOW MY LIFE!” Yeah, I do. We all know someone like you. You’re not special.

Just like I know that author profile I just described there was not grabbed out of my ass, but describes someone very real and not at all embellished, and she’s not even the author I know in the most stressful scenario-whilst-writing. She certainly wouldn’t even consider herself in the Top Ten. And her publisher passed on the option for her sophomore novel, because her much-pirated book never made back the $25,000 advance she was paid over the course of three installments, which meant after taxes, she got an extra $10,000 bucks spread out among three eight month intervals, or just under two years.

So yeah. That’s where I fall. Soundly in the same camp I fall in most things: Actions have consequences, and you should always make an effort to be informed on what those consequences are before deciding whether or not you take action.

Let’s be real, no one’s effectively policing whether or not every individual consumer on the web pirates casually, extensively, or religiously, if at all. Its not likely EVER going to be an issue for you. That someone can actually keep you from pirating because you’re genuinely afraid of legal consequences.

But you shouldn’t need the threat of legal consequences, the question of can I get away with this or not, to police your own actions.

And at the risk of giving anyone whiplash, I for sure don’t give a fuck about the legality of taking away from the bottom line of massive, multi-million dollar corporate interests if I can get away with it. I’m just as entitled to keeping my five bucks that I worked DAMN FUCKING HARD FOR, as the people most likely to see that money even though they didn’t log a single actual hour on producing the content they’re charging five bucks for, IMO. I’m perfectly aware there’s a shit ton of people who’d call that rationale self-serving bullshit and hypocritical, but bite my lily-white Irish ass, I don’t give a fuck. I’m comfortable with my own morality.

But part of the reason I’m comfortable with my own morality, is that it tells me that even though there are times when I think I’m entitled to certain things I can’t necessarily afford, there are also times when I know I’m NOT entitled to things I may just not WANT to afford. Any time you’re able to justify ALWAYS having things your way without it ever costing you any kind of concession, I think that’s usually a good sign it might be time to stop and take a second look at yourself. Nobody gets to have everything their own way, to their best liking, all of the time.

But the flip side of that coin IMO, is that nobody should be penalized to NEVER having anything their own way, to their liking, ANY of the time. And if that’s the situation you’re in at some point in your life, and pirating’s the only available option to giving yourself a break from your regular monotony or currently-shitty-reality? Like, who the fuck am I to tell you not to pirate that feel good book or movie that has the chance to let you go to bed later with an actual smile on your face for a change? Who the fuck is anybody to tell you that?

*Shrugs*

There’s my two cents: The Ten Volume and Unnecessarily Long Saga.

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bangays · 6 years

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Okay y’all, here’s a bunch of stuff I’ve learned about sustainable living and urban farming. Keep in mind, I’m no expert and I’m always learning, but what better way to share my knowledge and learn more than to make a giant post? I’m going to put this under a read more so when I update this I don’t have old versions floating around and so it’s not a super long post. Also, i’m more than happy to answer any questions or add in any knowledge you may have!

This is version 1.0, updated 4/24/18

Anyways, I’m going to do this in three main parts: “I have no yard but I still wanna grow my own shit” “I have a yard and wanna grow shit” and “I don’t wanna grow shit, what else can I do?” Keep in mind that tips for each area could be modified or used if you fit in another category, so reading through the whole thing could be worthwhile! For example, the “I don’t want to grow” category has a lot of tips for sustainable living outside of growing produce. Also, I’ve lived in northeast Ohio my entire life so this specific growing zone (6a / 6b) is what I’m basing everything off of and have experience in. This is a link to GROWING ZONES, which tell you how hardy a plant has to be to grow in your specific location. Most plants on their seed packet will say where they are best for growing.

But first! Good tips for everyone:

Keep all food prep waste and food that’s started to rot for compost! If it came from the ground, it can go back into the ground! Composting is an extremely easy way to reduce your waste and it’s literally free (and fertilizer is so crazy expensive) Here’s a wikihow article about composting!

If you’re going to throw something away, try to think of ways you can use it! I’m not saying keep the button that fell off your pants that you’re never going to sew back on bc you’ll just become a hoarder, but if you have old containers, or something antique looking, see how it could be reused! This is called upcycling! This helps stop waste, reuses perfectly good items, and keeps plastics out of landfills! This is a cute article about upcycling for examples!

Look into specific laws for your community! Some municipalities do not allow for farming on the tree lawn or do not allow for tall trees, fruit bearing trees, etc. If you go to or call your town hall there should be someone there to answer your questions bc going through legal documents is absolutely exhausting.

Look into if your city allows chickens / ducks or if you have a fairly large yard, goats! They’re super great animals (that I honestly have minimal experience with) but do require much more love and care than a plant. Farm animals can live for years and require professional medical care, so if you’re v tight on funds I would not suggest this. Also, if you would not be able to kill a farm animal, there are many places that will do it for you or that you could sell it to for a lil profit.

Rain barrels! Water from gutters is a great way to water plants, and some people even connect their shower drains (if they use plant-friendly soaps) to rain barrels to reuse the water for gardening! Obviously, do not use rain barrel water for human consumption because it has not been properly treated & we’ve put so much harmful shit into the environment. The simplest way is to get a giant ass bucket (like 20+ gallons) and reroute your gutters into them. (most gutters have one main gutter on the side of a house that most likely drains into the sewer system) (Also, do not make modifications to a house you do not own / are renting / etc) Here’s a simple way to make a rain barrel!

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP BEFORE WE START: If you want to plant something that does not naturally grow in your location, PLEASE make sure it is not an invasive species! This is a link to learn more about invasive species!

I have no yard:

Obviously, not having any green space makes any food production difficult. But! As long as you’re creative, there’s still a lot of ways you can grow your own produce. The best way if you don’t have any green space is to look into a local community garden. This is the best way to learn, because there’s always people outside tending their own gardens & they’ve always been super friendly. Also, this is a great way to get to know neighbors and get involved with your community! I know the community garden near my previous home in Cleveland had a start of the season fee, but they always had a garden coordinator on sight, tools available to borrow, and seeds to plant a garden with. Obviously, even community garden is different due to most being grassroots organizations, so I can’t speak for all of them. But, you’ll get a small square of land that’s all your to cultivate for a growing season! A small garden like this could easily be well managed by a 20 minute visit 3 times a week for weeding and watering. (If you live in a v hot and dry climate, you’ll need to visit more often)

Do you have windows in your apartment? (I sure hope so bc legally you have to) Window boxes are an easy way to grow herbs and small plants! These could be as simple as a old plastic container or if you’re crafty a wooden window box can be super cute! Here’s a link for how to make your own window box!

Do you have doors in your house? (God, again I sure hope so) Do you know those plastic shoe holders that go on the back of a door? Grow herbs in these! Obviously, this has to be in a room that gets a lot of natural sunlight. Or, if for some reason you don’t have doors, or just can’t stop yourself from slamming the door, just hang it up on two command hooks! This is a great way to grow your own herbs, because herb plants are typically p small and won’t rip through the plastic.

Grow your own potatoes / onions in planters inside! Potatoes and onions typically need much less sunlight than above ground plants. This is a link for indoor potatoes! This is a link for indoor onions!

I have a yard!

The first thing to do is see where water puddles in your yard. If you plant something in an area that typically has a 3 inch puddle when it rains, it’s not going to do well. Improving drainage is pretty labor intensive, so another option is to build raised beds! If you have the time and resources, here is an article about improving drainage!

The second most important thing is to look at where your yard has the most and least sun throughout the entire day! Plants are grouped into three specific categories, full sun (6+ hours a day), partial sun (4-6 hours), or full shade (Less than 4 hours). If you plant something that prefers full sun in a full shade area, it’s going to die practically instantly. This is an article that further explains sun / shade!

The next step is to design your garden! Every plant has a minimum distance it must be planted from other plants. Also, if you plan on having dogs or chickens, make sure you leave a space for the dog to poop & the chickens to graze so they do not destroy your hard work! Also, some vine-like plants (Such as tomatoes or beans) need a stake or a cage to grow around. There are many different garden designs and every yard has a different amount of sun, so pre-made designs should be used as a guide, not an absolute. This is a link to 19 different garden designs!

Do you want to grow corn or anything else tall? Great! DO NOT PLANT THESE IN NORTH-SOUTH LINES!! Corn grows to be 6-7 feet tall, and will cast a giant shadow on your other plants! If you plant them in a East-West line, they will cast a much smaller shadow on surrounding areas but will not impede the other corn plants.

I don’t want to grow my own food:

Hey, I get it. Some people don’t have time and some people just don’t want to grow things. There’s a lot of things you can do to help live a sustainable life!

Take the bus / public transportation as often as possible! I know this is a basic example and many people use this as their main trasportation, but there’s so many people that refuse to use public transportation. Yes, everyone has a public bus horror story, but 99% of the buses I’ve been on have been super clean & efficient! Also, if you live ina rural area, I know this is not really an option for you. If you cannot use public transportation, car pool! Currently, 86% of Americans drive by themselves to work, which is super wasteful!

Support your local farmers market! I know they’re known for selling honey for $7 for like three tablespoons, but there really is no better way to support you local farmers than to buy their produce! This also helps remove the grasp big business has on your community and keep money in your community, which most likely will be reinvested in your community! Most farmers markets are weekly and are held on weekends! If you look up your city / neighborhood there should be links to nearby markets!

Offer your yard to someone that wants to garden! I mean, free landscaping and they’ll probably offer you fresh food! But also, make sure you trust this person enough to give them free reign over your landscaping and you wouldn’t mind seeing them 3 times a week when they tend their garden.

Donate! Most urban gardens / garden collectives are 100% grassroots organizations, so donations keep these organizations going! I know living in the rust belt, we have so much land that was sitting vacant that is now brought back to productive use by urban farms! Urban farms help stabilize housing markets in neighborhoods and remove blight, and are one of the best hands-on ways to help fight food deserts in communities that cannot support a grocery store!

If you don’t have a local urban garden, start one! Even if you don’t want to grow food yourself, starting an organization that lets other people grow food in your community is a great way to bring a community together! Many land banks have programs where you can “rent” vacant land from them for a small fee (The land bank for Cleveland is $1 per year, I believe). Also, if you start an official nonprofit, that’s a great thing for your resume and all money you invest into it is tax deductible! giving your community the ability and the knowledge to grow its own produce is an amazing opportunity to bring a community together and has a great impact on a community’s health!

Thank y’all so much for reading & I hope this was even slightly helpful! Any questions, comments, suggestions, etc are greatly appreciated!!

#urban farming #sustainable living #gardens #gardening #sustainability

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lestatdesade · 6 years

Note

what pens do you use and why are they so expensive

oh boy anon, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT PENS

but before I begin my pensanity a few notes:

1. I have SEVERE migraines and sensitivity to strong smells. So while there may be copic stans out there saying “but copics don’t smell!”-this is horseshit. I don’t use ANY alcohol-based markers. No sharpies, no copics, no spectrum noir.

2. I don’t feel like using those expensive pigment markers because wow- they’re expensive as fuck. I haven’t even tried them because damn, they’re expensive.

3. As an artist, I consider myself a professional JEWELRY artisan. Meaning that I don’t DRAW professionally. I have never taken an actual drawing class. I don’t want to scream LOOMIS, but fuckin seriously- Loomis. Also Bob Ross’s approach to coloring works pretty good for brush markers, if you’re not an ape handed idiot who smashes pens like a toddler. What I’m saying is that while this stuff I’ve learned from my personal trial/error, my method is probably a bit different than the “standard”. (Standard meaning “someone who has taken an actual professional art class and isn’t just dicking around in their spare time”.)

Drawing is my fun little hobby time and I don’t factor in things like archival quality or lightfastedness bc honestly, I don’t think anyone is going to want to keep any of my current art ten, twenty years from now when those things start to show. Also, I scan everything in photoshop so the high-res digital images are immortal and can be re-printed at anytime. Because I work in pen, which lacks texture, it doesn’t really make a difference if you can see the “3-d” texture like you would an oil or acrylic painting.

4. I buy everything at Michaels and I pretty much always just buy the packs to save money. Packs? But isn’t that EXPENSIVE? Not when you use the “50% off any one item” coupon, it’s A LOT CHEAPER than buying them individually. I know hobbylobby also sells tombow in packs, but their coupons generally only go up to 40% off. Also I go to a dr. weekly whose office is near a michaels so it’s generally just better for schedule that way.

5. I have arthrtis AND carpal tunnel. I use “short cuts”. I’m not fucking sorry.

ALRIGHTY- SO HERE IT GOES:

Fine Line Details:

http://www.michaels.com/pigma-micron-assorted-fine-tip-black-pens-3pk/10514199.html

TBH, I do occasionally buy these in singles bc I tend to either use .005 or .05 and I rarely use the others. So I run out of the .005 and the .05 FREQUENTLY.

thick black lines:

http://www.michaels.com/faber-castell-pitt-big-brush-artist-pen-black/10279148.html#q=faber+castell+black+pen&start=4

I mostly use this to fill in areas of moderate, solid black space. Since most of my art is of the gothy persuation, I tend to use a fuck ton of these bastards.

Shading:

http://www.michaels.com/tombow-dual-brush-pens-grayscale/10514322.html

These are the motherfucking goldmine bitchtits and I feel like my art has improved 500X since I picked up these bad boys. Are they expensive? Yes. Does I go through them quickly? Oh yeah. But they work so well. They blend like a dream. They’re like using watercolors but with more control and faster dry time. I love them SO MUCH. I find that the pitt artist black is deeper in tone than the tombow brushpen black so I still use that for deep black spaces even though it’s a lot more expensive.

Little highlights: white gel pen. it’s white gel pen. idk what else to say on that.

For pencils- I use a mechnical pencil and a white plastic eraser. It’s nothing special.

Paper I usually use a pretty thick and smooth “bristol” paper. Bristol comes in textured and smooth finishes, I go for the smooth. I guess they have marker-specific cardstock paper but I haven’t tried it yet because I use waterbased and not alcohol based markers so idk if it would make a difference. Some people use water color paper but I don’t because the texture wears down a felt tip nib super fast.

Also if I’m just fucking around doing studies, I like using “pilot g-2 .05 gel” pens. They’re like 5$ for a pack of 6 at walmart and tbh, a single pen lasts me a loooong time even when I’m furiously using it on a ton of stuff. I find the grip comfortable and the ink/point is really super smooth so I don’t require a great deal of pressure and the easy gliding won’t hurt my hand so much. Also I prefer these for any kind of writing because when you write a lot by hand it hurts like hell going to regular ballpoints after using these all the time.

Usually I go through an entire set of pens, like, every six or so drawings? It’s not really “one pen per drawing” bc I use different pens for different things but I do move them quickly enough, and they’re expensive enough that I’d need to charge a supply fee.

#my art #pens #motherfuckin pesn everywhere holy fuck

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wri0thesley · 7 years

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Hahaha...So I got my boobs suck in a dress at a store and had to wait 40 minutes for my friend to come help me BC I was too embarrassed to ask for help and actually had a panic attack,crying and everythin.What would Jotaro, Josuke, Diego and Johnny do in that situation...

i KNOW this would happen to me if i ever tried anything on rip

Jotaro is the kind who isn’t interested in seeing his s/o try on their clothes - even if he was, his s/o probably wouldn’t bother showing him, because he has little to no fashion sense. Still, even he’d notice something was a little bit off after fifteen minutes, and he’d come and check on his s/o - giving the woman manning the changing area too intense a stare for her to stop him. Nobody’s going to argue with Jotaro when he’s built like that. He awkwardly clears his throat outside of the changing room; “A-are you okay?”, suddenly aware that behind the curtain his s/o could be in just their underwear. Sniffles come through and Jotaro can’t let that happen - he whips the curtain open and shoves himself in there, trying not to let anyone see - his s/o, halfway through crying, starts laughing at how badly he fits in there, and whilst they’re laughing Jotaro uses Star Platinum to ease them out of the dress.

Josuke follows his s/o in like a puppy, waiting outside and super excited to see how good his s/o’s going to look in the outfit they picked out together! His s/o is probably aware of Josuke’s gentle side, so after a couple of minutes he hears his name put forward hesitantly - he’s outside the curtain in moments. “Everything okay, babe?” “N-not really,” his s/o says, and there’s the barest hint of a sob in their voice. Josuke eases himself in and see that the dress is well and truly stuck. Before anything else, he soothes his s/o, saying they just picked up the wrong size and they’ll check the next one up out and not to cry - when it becomes clear the dress it not coming off, he rips the damn thing off and breaks it. No worries, though - he’s got Crazy Diamond to get it back good as new.

Diego’s the kind who likes to see what his s/o is wearing too. He’s quite fashionable and he only wants the best for his s/o - which is part of the reason why his s/o is in the changing room of a very expensive store, crying. It’s a private changing room, so Diego coming up to the curtain and asking what’s wrong isn’t as attention grabbing as it could be - however, his sigh and whipping open of the curtain certainly doesn’t make his s/o feel any better. Diego rolls his eyes. He’s not good when it comes to comfort, but he’ll try for his s/o, awkwardly patting them on the back and doing his best to gently help in the removal of the dress. Diego’s easy to get angry, though, and he too ends up ripping it off his s/o, totalling the dress completely. He doesn’t bat an eyelid at paying the frankly exorbitant fee for it, though, even though the dress is unwearable. When his s/o expresses an apology for it, he rolls his eyes and flaps his hand. “You being happy is worth more to me than money,” he says, completely unaware of quite how sweet what he’s just said is.

People in stores tend to rush to be kind to Johnny, especially if their store isn’t equipped to handle his wheelchair. People sometimes give s/o sad looks over him, as if they don’t think that someone abled and healthy should be with someone like him. He’s usually in a bad mood when they get to the point of trying on clothes, but when s/o calls out for him tearfully he jumps into action, peeking through the curtain. Seeing s/o look so woebegone, stuck in the dress, though, he can’t help but begin to laugh. “Johnny, it’s not funny!” “It’s . . . kinda funny.” Even though s/o feels hysterical and on the verge of screaming, it’s nice to see Johnny smile and nicer still to hear his laugh - with the help of Johnny’s superior upper body strength, they manage to get the dress of, and nobody dares say anything about the strange noises the two were making as they leave.

#nat.txt #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo headcanons #diego brando #johnny joestar #josuke higashikata #jotaro kujo #scarlettorb

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siodium · 5 years

Photo

went to the tulip garden at keukenhof!! the majority of my classmates were going (likely bc sunday was the last day that the garden would be open and it would be closed for a whole year after that) so i decided to tag along~

idk why my frens chose to leave at a later time instead of following the rest of the class there but i was alright with that decision bc that meant more time in the morning for me to do my lab report

out of sheer bad luck my group was assigned to one of the hardest (if not, the hardest) practical on friday so i had to somehow complete a very difficult lab report while juggling my weekend plans with frens (i really didn’t want to be left alone in the dorm... writing lab reports by myself... when everyone else is exploring a foreign land...)

anyway we hopped on a bus at around 10 am?? and made our way to the train station

it was the first time i took a train there and it was so complex but luckily jae (he’s the adult ntu staff accompanying us on the trip) happened to be on the same bus as us so we were lost together

apparently you need a minimum credit of 20 euros to board a train... and it was also roughly the cost of a train ride so rip my wallet

but holy shit the train station is so beautiful??

it was a pretty long ride to keukenhof!! had lunch at the airport (expensive ramen that was not tasty) and then got on the bus (again, but this time the cost was included in our ticket)

we got to go up the windmill!! the spinning blades were functioning and dangerous but they blocked off the area where the blades would swing by so it’s safe!! since the windmill itself was not that tall, it was hard to get a good view of the whole garden (tbh the garden was a lot bigger than i expected)

we went to play in a hedge maze and i reached the end first

apparently this field was supposed to be a captivating tulip field but everything was harvested rip still a pretty view tho

chi tried on a hat!!

chi did try to eat the yellow tulips... was it the cheese flavour that chi hoped it to be? nope

tag yourself i’m yosemite

THERE WAS A PETTING ZOO IN THE GARDEN!!!! IT WAS MY FIRST TIME MEETING MEEPS IRL AND I ALREADY WANT TO BRING THEM HOME

i love their rectangular pupils.... and how they are kinda aggressive and will charge at the other animals if they get too close..... cute....

i mean they kinda smell like pee and grass but i can tolerate that (the pigs were A LOT worse in comparison)

the baby goats were cute too!! they were unexpectedly more talkative compared to the sheep lol they never stopped bleating the whole time we were there!!

THIS ONE LOOKS SO SMUG

a wild COOPA appeared!!

thinks about the strawberry ice-cream crepe that i didn’t buy bc it was 5€ for one which seemed overpriced to me at that time (later on i found out that i was wrong and everything is just that expensive in europe)

we also checked out the indoor plant art area?? there were some... interesting works (they should’ve planted legumes instead)

chi had fun playing around the garden~ i actually took a ton of pics of chi (using my fren’s iphone bc rip my phone) but i can’t upload all of them bc tumtum would explode weh

stopped by a cute cafe but didn’t get anything lol the apple pie looked tasty tho

i think i spent more than 100€ in one day (mainly because of the travelling costs and the entrance fee to the garden) and most of the tulips were already harvested but overall it was still pretty fun!! i don’t usually visit places of nature in sg bc the sun is a deadly laser but?? it’s really cold here??? and the sun is blazing?? how does that even work i’m so confused

anyway we left at around 6 pm to get dinner!! hunted down this ulu seafood restaurant that fren recommended that we try

turned out to be a High Class place by the sea and our wallets suffered a huge blow as a result (the food was good tho ngl)

the diners there must be wondering how a group of broke college kids ended up in a place like that lol

the 2-pax seafood platter costed 46€...... rip (the pasta was an additional 15€) but on the bright side all the extra fees (service charge and tax) were already included

i like all the stuff in the platter (especially the deep fried soft shell crab mmmMM) and the vongole pasta was notto baddo but despite looking like an oil-based pasta it was super buttery?? nothing like any of the pastas i’ve had in sg

they gave us free bread too bc our food took a while to come!! the bread alone was super nice oqo

tbh since we had to share the food among the four of us it was probably not a very filling meal but trying out a high class dining experience overseas was actually pretty cool imo

after dinner (around 10 pm+) we embarked on our return journey and ended up reaching our dorms past midnight lol i think we were lucky enough to catch the last bus!! the year 4 students were also on the same bus as us which made it less scary

i think we tend to lose track of time bc the day is long and it only starts getting dark at around 9 or 10 pm

anyhow i pretty much KO’d after bathing

aah before the trip my plan was to enjoy a neet life in my own room and maybe take a walk around campus if it wasn’t too cold (i was especially curious about friesland campina since the company was located on the campus and we wrote about it in one of our assignments)

that plan would have been cheap but i would not have met the meeps so

to end off this extremely image-heavy post pls enjoy some chi!! and a smol daisy field!! (+ the NG)

#log

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ronnykblair · 5 years

Text

Sales & Trading in Canada: Equally Attractive Public Markets Opportunity?

I’ve made several attempts to cover investment banking, private equity, and pension funds in Canada, but sales & trading has not yet made that list – until now.

I recently spoke with a long-time reader who’s worked across different desks in Canada and who’s seen the recruiting process from both sides.

As you’ve probably guessed, S&T in Canada is quite different from S&T in markets like the U.S. and U.K.

Here’s all the information I extracted:

Canada Sales & Trading: Breaking into the Industry

Q: Can you start by giving us a brief overview of your story and how you got into the industry?

A: Sure. I went to one of the “target schools” in Canada (i.e., Ivey, Queen’s, McGill, Waterloo, Rotman, Schulich, and maybe a few others), completed internships in asset management, and then won an S&T internship from one of the top Canadian banks.

Then I converted that internship into a full-time role – but at some banks in Canada, you still complete rotations even in “full-time roles,” so I worked on a few different desks before settling on my current one in a permanent role.

My biggest advantage was that I knew very early on that I wanted to work in the public markets, so I could prepare far in advance and plan my internships.

The recruiting timeline in the U.S. is officially insane, and while it’s not quite as bad in Canada, it has been moving up each year.

Also, competition for jobs at Canadian banks has been increasing because many U.S. firms have had trouble sponsoring U.S. work visas due to the “political situation” there.

Q: Were there any significant differences in the recruiting process?

A: In my experience, Canadian sales & trading interviews tended to be more technical.

There are so many solid undergraduate business programs here that they expect you to know the material quite well.

For example, you could walk into an interview and immediately start getting questions about “the Greeks” and other options-related concepts, but that would be less likely in the U.S. or U.K. unless you brought up the topic first.

Also, while it’s important to be at a target school for investment banking recruiting, it may not matter quite as much for sales & trading; banks here still recruit for S&T roles at “lower tier” schools.

Banks here do not yet use HireVue for video-based interviews to the same extent that U.S.-based banks do, but they do give case studies in interviews, such as securities pitches or risk-management scenarios (e.g., “How would you help an airline hedge its fuel price exposure?”).

The biggest difference, though, is that there’s little job security even if you win a full-time offer because some banks here like to prolong the rotational experience until you’re in the right place at the right time.

By contrast, in New York, banks like GS and JPM hire dozens of students for sales & trading summer internship roles, and there’s enough turnover that full-time spots will open up.

But Canada is a much smaller market, so there are no guarantees.

To win a non-rotational, full-time role on a desk, you’ll have to network to find out which desks might have headcount space, reach out to staff, and impress the senior traders.

At some banks, the process to create “full-time equivalent” (FTE) headcount is very bureaucratic, which adds to the delays.

If you don’t find a permanent role after ~2 years, they might ask you to find a middle or back-office role instead.

NOTE: The description above does not apply to all banks – some may hire you on a specific desk following a summer internship. But it’s less likely than in other regions.

Sales & Trading in Canada vs. the U.S. and U.K.

Q: That sounds pretty brutal.

What else can you tell us about the industry there?

A: The main difference is that it’s a smaller, more saturated industry.

It’s more or less dominated by the top Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, and National Bank), and each one has a big chunk of this smaller market.

As a result, the business pace is slower, and peoples’ attitudes are more relaxed.

The U.S. and U.K. markets are far bigger, which means more competition and more of a go-getter attitude; clients will pick the firm that gives them the best pricing.

But in Canada, “loyalty” to the domestic banks is very strong, and clients such as asset managers often split their business among the banks.

Q: Was it always like this? Did the global bulge-bracket banks ever have much of a presence in Toronto or the rest of Canada?

A: They all used to have trading desks in Toronto, but they’ve gradually shut down in the decade following the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

BAML (and HSBC, to a lesser extent), is the only non-Canadian bank with a significant trading floor remaining here.

The rest have a few people or just salespeople or sales-traders, but not full-service S&T businesses. Banks like Citi also have treasury desks up here to manage their Canadian balance sheet.

Banks like to maintain a sales presence in Toronto for coverage purposes, but they don’t necessarily need to execute trades from there.

Some of the global banks have “Canada Fixed Income” desks, but they’re often in New York rather than Toronto because there’s no need to be in Canada physically.

Also, it’s easier to cross-sell S&T products to investment banking clients if both groups are in the same city. We see this a lot with interest rate and currency hedging products.

Q: Does anything else explain why the Canadian banks dominate the market so much?

A: Besides the smaller market and the decline in sales & trading headcount, the other factor is that many S&T clients in Canada are sovereigns and sub-sovereigns such as the provinces, larger cities, and even some universities and health systems.

For domestic borrowing in CAD, these clients only want to deal with domestic banks, which explains why Canadian banks also dominate DCM.

But these sovereign clients tend to pay lower fees than normal companies, so banks need to find other ways to monetize the relationships.

Those could include secondary trading of the bonds and issuance-related hedging activities, both of which lead back into sales & trading.

Q: You’ve been mentioning Toronto. What about other locations, such as Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver? Is there much trading there?

A: Trading is concentrated in Toronto, but there is some activity in other cities.

Calgary, as you’d expect, is energy-focused, with many commodities trading desks.

Many international firms still operate there, including Goldman Sachs’ oil and natural gas trading desks and similar ones for the integrated major oil & gas companies.

Most domestic banks and some foreign banks have trading teams in Montreal because there are quite a few large institutional accounts in Quebec, such as pensions, that prefer local coverage.

There are some salespeople in Vancouver and Ottawa, but not a big trading presence.

Vancouver focuses on mining and forestry, and the institutional demand there comes from firms like PH&N (acquired by RBC) and the BC pension fund (BCIMC).

I was open to anything, and I came close to winning an offer on an energy trading desk in Calgary.

Physical commodities trading requires a very different skill set than derivatives trading and opens different doors, and I wanted to learn about the logistics and scheduling required.

Canada Sales & Trading: Careers

Q: On that note, what are the most common desks in Canada?

For example, is FX within fixed income trading more important because many companies pay for their expenses in USD and want to hedge against currency fluctuations?

A: I’m not sure if it’s just my bank, but over the past decade, we’ve been focusing a lot more on the DCM business and related credit products.

As I mentioned before, a lot of borrowers here are sovereign and sub-sovereign names, and we do a lot of rates trading to maintain liquidity for their bonds.

Interest rate derivatives and other FX products also support these markets.

Japanese and Canadian banks have been winning more market share from European and U.S. banks in these areas (though some, like Nomura, have since retreated and cut costs).

In terms of equity trading, everything is becoming more automated, and Cash Equities has taken quite a hit.

In Equity Derivatives, the Delta One business (i.e., desks that trade linear or non-option equity products, such as equity return swaps) has changed significantly because of tax changes.

Specifically, the IRS in the U.S. and CRA in Canada shut down a dividend/tax-arbitrage scheme between pension funds and banks that provided tax savings to banks, so this business lost a lot of its appeal.

Structured notes, i.e., debt issuances that contain embedded derivatives, are also becoming more popular among retail investors.

Options volume and liquidity in many FICC products have worsened even as market transparency has improved, mostly because global macro hedge funds have done poorly.

Hedge funds are “two-way” players in options, but companies using options for hedging purposes are “one-way,” which means that most market makers have identical positions – not great for liquidity.

Q: You mentioned “retail investors” just now, but I assume they’re a small segment of the market.

How would you describe the Canada sales & trading client base?

A: The main difference is that the hedge fund industry is far smaller in Canada than it is in the U.S. or U.K., so there are fewer hedge fund clients and also fewer prop trading firm clients.

The biggest “hedge funds” are within the pension funds, and some of them, such as CPPIB or Caisse, have discretionary trading strategy teams that are similar to global macro funds.

So, our biggest clients tend to be pension funds, insurance firms, bank-owned asset management groups, and government borrowers, including central banks.

Independent, international asset managers (e.g., BlackRock and Vanguard) have some exposure in Canada, but they trade based on pricing rather than loyalty.

The trading volume is also much lower – look at the size and daily volume of the iShares TSX 60 (XIU) and iShares S&P 500 (IVV) to see the difference.

Q: Thanks for that description.

Can you discuss compensation and the S&T career path?

A: When you start, the base salary is about the same as in IB: around $80K to $100K CAD, with a variable bonus that’s some percentage of the base salary.

The difference is that when you’re in the rotational program, the bonus tends to be lower than in other markets and investment banking because you’re on the HR payroll, not the payroll of a specific desk.

Even as you progress, there will still be a discount because Canadian banks’ market divisions are smaller and take less risk.

Canadian banks try to pay closer to market rates in offices such as New York and London, but you’re still likely to earn more at a large, global bank.

My very rough estimates for average total compensation would be:

Analyst and Associate: $100 – $200K CAD range

VP: $250 – $350K CAD range

Director: $400 – $600K CAD range

Managing Director: Just over $1 million CAD

These figures might seem similar to pay at U.S. banks, but these are in Canadian dollars, which are almost always worth less.

From a PPP perspective, you might come out ahead in Toronto because the cost of living is lower than in London or New York (even in our rapidly inflating real estate markets!)

But past a certain point, the lower bonuses may start to outweigh the lower cost of living.

If you work at a Canadian bank, you’ll earn less, but you’ll be in a friendlier environment and you’ll have better long-term job security, relative to S&T in other regions.

The career path and progression are similar to those in the U.S., and at the top, there are still “management” MDs and “sales/trading” MDs.

Turnover tends to be lower because fewer professionals at the mid and top levels leave voluntarily, so you may not be able to advance any faster in Canada.

Q: The Volcker Rule killed prop trading in the U.S., but it was never officially banned in Canada, right?

Couldn’t that make compensation higher?

A: In theory, yes, but in reality, most prop trading desks here have also shut down.

RBC still runs one, called “Global Arbitrage & Trading,” but that’s about it.

It is a very well-regarded group with dozens of professionals in Toronto and New York – but even that group is still running only because U.S. regulators rejected a plan to spin it off into a separate hedge fund.

There are no official regulations against prop trading in Canada, but banks still have to comply with international rules and regulations if they want clients and operations in other countries.

Also, even if prop trading did still exist, compensation formulas have become much murkier and are no longer as simple as “you earn X% of your P&L.”

Banks also factor in performance across other departments and the industry as a whole, and there are additional funding, compliance, and technology costs, meaning that each $1 on the P&L is split into more pieces.

Sales & Trading Exit Opportunities and Final Thoughts

Q: Thinking about everything we discussed, who would be a good fit for sales & trading in Canada? And who would not be a good fit?

A: I tend to agree with your conclusions in the sales & trading vs investment banking article: if you know you want to work in the public markets, you’re more quant-oriented, and you want to do it for the long term, S&T could make sense.

It can still be a lucrative career, even though it’s less appealing than it once was.

But if you’re not sure what you want to do long term and you want career flexibility, I’d recommend against it.

This advice is even truer in Canada because it’s harder to move around to other fields after working in sales & trading.

Q: Speaking of that, what are your options if you want to leave the field? And what are your own plans?

A: People tend to stay in sales & trading, go to an asset management firm, or join a pension fund’s trading team.

Besides those options, many of the Analysts and Associates from my class have switched to investment banking industry groups or markets-based groups like ECM or DCM, and some have moved into fintech, which is a booming industry in Toronto.

If you’re willing to take an initial pay cut in exchange for potential future upside, there’s a huge demand for people who know both finance and technology.

As for me, I still like the markets and trading, but I don’t think the long-term outlook for S&T is great, so I am thinking of moving to an asset management firm or pension fund eventually.

Q: Thanks for your time!

A: My pleasure.

The post Sales & Trading in Canada: Equally Attractive Public Markets Opportunity? appeared first on Mergers & Inquisitions.

from ronnykblair digest https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/sales-trading-canada/

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marysmithmstoronto-blog · 7 years

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How to Choose Best Apartment for Rent in Canada?

A Simple Guide To Help You Choose Quality Rental Apartment in Canada | 2017

Finding the best 1–2–3 bedroom apartment for rent in Canada, can be very stressful without the right tools. Places like Toronto and Vancouver, BC are the most expensive cities for the best houses for rent in Canada.

If you are looking, houses for rent in Canada; whether it could be 1–2–3 bedroom apartments or condos for rent, then all you need is the precise research considering your budget. You’ll find that condos for rent are higher in the prices as they are rich with the luxurious amenities. But do not hurry to make your decision just by looking the amenities. It is also necessary to focus on your priorities at the same time before you make any decision. It will be better to choose 1–2–3 bedroom apartments instead of luxurious condos if you find them more convenient to meet your standard requirements.

Make sure you don’t waste your time and resources in finding the one, as you can optimize your search. Ensure that you find the perfect fit before signing any of the lease agreement. Make a right choice and close a deal enclosing proper documents and only after a fully informed decision.

Here are the few tips that will help you in choosing the best 1,2,3 bedroom apartment/condos for rent in Canada:

Optimize Your Search — Houses for Rent in Canada

Finding out the quality rental apartments in Canada at a very efficient and reasonable cost would be a hectic and time-consuming job, isn’t it? To minimize the time, you have to optimize your search along with your requirements. Here are the few key points that will help you to optimize your search and choose the best apartment/condos for rent in Canada.

1. Set a proper budget range: Whether if you are looking for condos for rent/1–2–3 bedroom apartments/Houses for rent in Canada, try to determine what can be afforded by you each month by factoring your income and expenditures. Include all your expenses like groceries, transportation, social activities, gym membership or any other fees and try to figure out realistic numbers considering your emergency savings.

Do not stretch out your search to look at the apartments/condos above your price range. You will waste your time and resources looking at the larger and newer places that you may not afford.

2. Set the priorities and big picture in mind: Don’t get fooled by small perks of the landlord, as they make hurry to let you move early. So it may be a waste if the apartment/condos don’t meet one of your necessary needs. Do not make a hurry, make sure that you have set the priorities and you’ll not compromise them.

Always remember, you may be locked into a lease agreement, so be wise to make your decisions.

3. Consider the season: Summer season could be costly as the prices may be higher because that’s when a lot of people tend to search for a new apartment/condos. So, make sure you can seek for an apartment/condos search during October to December or February to March.

Most people do not want to move during the holidays or cold months so you can take advantage of the competition drop. Places seem to stay vacant during these times so you may see the price drops if you are willing to wait for a month or more.

If you are seeking for an apartment where a lot of college students stay, wait until after school starts, as it may help you find reduced rental rates.

4. Narrow your search: Don’t spend your time and resources in looking at everything that is available in the results. Search online and make a list of four or five 1–2–3 bedroom apartments/condos for rent that meets your necessary requirements to schedule a visit.

Take photos and ask questions during the visit to ensure the apartment/condos meets all your standard requirements. If you find the person is unable to answer your questions, be sure to get his contact information in order to take follow-up.

5. Keep yourself organized: If you are well organized you may be able to look at a number of 1–2–3 bedroom apartments/condos for rent considering your time and resources. Keep all the information about apartments/condos that you have visited or about to visit, in a single document organized with pictures, prices and a pros and cons list. You may also consider the locations by ordering them on a map for your better convenience of travel from your work or school.

Use of spreadsheets is really great to keep track and organize the things like rent, amenities, security deposit, lease length, and the contact information. You may also opt to keep the other information like how many times you have visited the location as this will help you making the best decision.

6. Ensure public transportation: If you find public transportation services near to the apartment/condos as it will be a pro point of making a right decision. Public transportation can save your money or be a necessary mode of transport during emergencies. Make sure to point out how far the apartment/condo is from the major transportation routes.

Even if you have a car, researching for the modes to save more on gas and travel time may be the best idea that may cause you to change how you commute.

These key points could help you to choose the best houses for rent in Canada within your desired budget. If you think for condos for rent or 1–2–3 bedroom apartments for rent, then you have to make a right decision that meets your standard requirements. But before making any decision make sure you evaluate your final choices by bringing your roommate, negotiating for special discount price, inquiring about the average energy costs and considering the amenities. Be patient with your apartment/condos search and surely something will come up with the best results for you.

#housesforrentintoronto #apartmentforrentintoronto #condosforrentintoronto

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