Case Studies

Helen Rusich

Children: one son, 17 (also an investor with LEAGUE)
Residence: Edmonton
Occupation: Manager, Career and Settlement Services, Edmonton Settlement Centre for Newcomers; I have been employed in the non-profit sector for over 25 years
Hobbies, Pursuits: I am passionate about building community, voluntarism, and mentoring youth. I have an undergrad degree in Physical Education, am physically active with yoga, hiking, biking, swimming and going to the gym. My masters degree, in Adult Education, focused on Leadership Principals.

I volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters as an In-School Mentor, going on four years. I have participated in School Councils since my son was in grade 2, and am currently secretary with my son's high school. I also participate in a group called Parents at Ainlay, where we read and write articles for parents on teen development.

Because I am on my own and a single parent, I have had to take responsibility for my own financial well-being, so in the past few years I decided to really focus on financial freedom and have joined investment groups, read, listen to CDs, and attended conferences on investing and financial intelligence. I recently took a 10-week course called Cash Flow, Increasing Financial Intelligence, based on the work of Robert Kyosaki.

In 2004 my mom died and I inherited some money - not a lot - but enough to make me think that I needed to learn what to do with it. I embarked on a four-year journey of self-education, during which I explored maybe ten forms of alternative investment, some of them very lucrative and very risky. I learned about LEAGUE from an advertorial in a financial magazine about two years ago and have made four investments since then, including once on behalf of my seventeen-year-old son. Currently I have about 12-14% of my total portfolio with LEAGUE.

Early on in my due diligence process I spoke with Adam, who gave me the names of LEAGUE Member-Partners across the country I could talk to. What they told me, together with the transparency and integrity that I sensed to be characteristic of LEAGUE, convinced me to invest. When I subsequently met Brad Stokes, one of LEAGUE's Member Services personnel who came out to Edmonton, I was impressed by the commitment that LEAGUE inspires in those who work there, not to mention the character and personal integrity that Brad seems to exemplify, which reflects well on LEAGUE.

The thing about investing with LEAGUE for me is the safety factor. I don't have to worry about everything being above board and totally in compliance with all regulatory requirements, because I trust that LEAGUE is working with the Canada Revenue Agency and the Securities Commissions to ensure that compliance.

On the other hand, it is good to know that there is something out there that is an alternative to mainstream investment opportunities, such as mutual funds, and that it is doing what they say they are going to do - getting a better return than the mainstream and still keeping my money safe. Banks could learn from LEAGUE. Other financial institutions could learn from them in that regard.

I am recommending LEAGUE to family and friends. My brother has now invested with LEAGUE - for himself and on behalf of his 13-year-old son. I have invested on behalf of my own son, and I hope that he will take seriously the opportunity to learn about the power of investing real estate.

Chuck Desjardins

Spouse: SheriLyn
Children: Three boys aged 15, 19 and 22
Residence: Edmonton
Occupation: Certified Journeyman Machinist
Hobbies, Pursuits: Travel, camping, wealth building

Like many other LEAGUE investors, I learned about the LEAGUE opportunity from an investment organization I'm involved with called HEIR (Home Equity Investment Rewards). The main investment strategy that we follow with HEIR is to put your home equity to work in safe and lucrative investments, which is how LEAGUE has been introduced.

Because the real estate market in Alberta has done so well recently, there are a lot of home owners like myself who have seen our homes appreciate greatly in the last few years, and I. for one, wanted and needed to see my additional equity working for me.

Although HEIR does exceptionally thorough due diligence before it introduces an investment, we are also encouraged to do our own. I read the Blue Book and talked to Emanuel over the phone, which was a very positive experience, but more than anything I can tell by what is said in LEAGUE's written communications that the values and goals are aligned with mine.

I invested first with LEAGUE in November 2006. I have been moving RRSP funds over slowly and have gone into the Fort St. John LP, which I expect to provide me with an 18% return on my investment. A return like this is very important to me, with only 13-15 working years ahead of me and not always having had a pension plan.

Although Alberta is a booming economy, in my line of work things are not always stable. We have also had a bit of a set-back recently brought about by things not working out exactly as planned when my wife moved on from her former employment in search of greater challenges. The fact that we have been receiving significant regular distributions from LEAGUE has helped us through this rough patch and taken the pressure off. I thank my lucky stars.

Knowing that we can depend upon LEAGUE to back us up in the short term and to give us a happier and more comfortable retirement in the long-term has made an impact in our current lives. Our children notice that the home environment is more relaxed about money, and hence about things in general. We have a degree of comfort about supporting the boys' educations without compromising our own futures.

I look at my own parents' lives in retirement and although they have always managed to date, I see the quality of their lives being affected by the dollar. They have a lake property outside Edmonton that they love, but now they are wondering whether, with the rising price of gas, they are going to be able to drive there whenever they want. I don't want my life in retirement to be controlled by the dollar, and being invested with LEAGUE, I'm pretty confident that's not going to happen.

There are a number of things about LEAGUE and the way it does business that give me that confidence:

• The fact that the principals earn their money at the back end, alongside me, when the profits come in - so my investment is not diluted at the front end the way it might be with many other investments.
• The fact that LEAGUE's investment decisions are based on the potential for immediate upside and ongoing stability.
• LEAGUE's emphasis on Intergenerational Wealth, which will create ongoing distribution of income for my children while keeping our principal investment intact.
• The fact that LEAGUE cares about where my family and I are headed.
And where my family is headed with LEAGUE is the long haul.

Jonathan Goossen

Spouse: Cindy Goossen
Children: 4, ages 1-8
Residence: Dartmouth, NS. We moved out here from Saskatoon 1.5 years ago for me to study.
Occupation: I'm a PhD student in English literature at Dalhousie University at; Cindy is a homemaker.
Hobbies, Pursuits: We like to read good books (Jane Austen, Wendell Berry are recent authors) aloud to each other after the kids are put to bed; Cindy gardens; I sing in choir and as church cantor.

We are planning for our four children to grow up competent money managers, as part of our larger educational goal for them to become virtuous and intelligent citizens. We want our kids, now aged one through eight, to be comfortable with money, and to understand the power of investing in the future.

That's one reason Cindy is home schooling. This is our way of ensuring they are taught financial responsibility. We've even started introducing the idea of Intergenerational Wealth with our eldest, Jacob.

We look back on how we learned about money matters growing up: we had wonderful parents, but in our families, financial matters were either not discussed, or appeared very stressful. We also look back on how we spent everything we earned when we were first married and wish we had learned earlier to put some away for the future.

But now we've realized that we have to be financially responsible, in large measure for the sake of our children. Even though I am a student and Cindy does not work outside the home, we made the decision in September 2007 to invest with LEAGUE, albeit modestly. We have placed a little over half of our net worth, in which we include our home equity, into LEAGUE LPs: Trebla and CitiZen.

We were referred to LEAGUE by friends who helped us realize that the security of real estate and high rate of return offered by LEAGUE was appropriate to our needs, which include having to pay off student loans when my studies are complete, four children whose higher education will have to be paid for, and Cindy's dream for our family - to purchase a small rural acreage where we can be partly self-sustaining.

Our general financial plan is to take the profit from the LPs when they mature and invest it in the IGW REIT, while keeping the original principle amounts on hand for investment in future LP offerings. The hope here is that income from the REIT would then be enough to make our monthly student loan payments (when those begin roughly two and a half years hence), while the unit value of the REIT keeps appreciating. This seems to make more sense than cashing in our profits and paying down the loans all at once, since the loan interest we'd be paying would only be roughly half of what the REIT would be making for us. And, at the same time, we hope that continued investment in new LPs with that original principle would, perhaps within the next ten years, earn us enough for the acreage. In addition, we currently have most of the kids' RESP money in Trebla, and are also hoping to grow it through a future combination of the REIT and LPs.

Even though it is only a few months since we began investing with LEAGUE, it has made a difference in our lives already, although the fact that we are invested only in capital projects means we haven't seen any returns yet. We've become focused on planning for the future. And we have a level of confidence in our investments because real estate is what LEAGUE knows and what they do, unlike the mutual fund "advisors" we have dealt with in the past, who seem to know enough to sell you something, but don't really seem to know much beyond that about what they're offering.

Other things we like about LEAGUE? That some of the opportunities are RESP eligible, and that the children's education savings won't be limping along at 5%.

Finally, we like what we've heard about LEAGUE's social conscience and long-term plans to bring real-estate development expertise to developing countries. When you are in for the long haul, as we are, it helps to know you're aligned with corporate values and plans that reflect your own.

Rob Parsons

Spouse: Callie Parsons
Children: One, four months old
Residence: Hamilton, Ontario.
Occupation: Engineer and entrepreneur. President of Anemos Energy Corporation, a renewable energy development company currently operating in Ontario and Newfoundland, with plans to expand into other jurisdictions, working mainly with wind energy.
Hobbies, Pursuits: Cycling (road and mountain), running, swimming, Nordic skiing, stock market investing.

I heard about LEAGUE through an ad in MoneySense magazine. I'd never heard of them other than the ad in MoneySense, therefore I was unsure of their legitimacy and had the concern that it sounded "too good to be true." But I was cautiously optimistic, so I did some research to satisfy myself that LEAGUE actually existed and owned the assets they claimed. In September 2007, we became Member-Partners and currently have about 20% of our portfolio in LEAGUE, as a result of this and subsequent investments.

Prior to LEAGUE, I had invested in numerous public companies via the stock markets, mutual funds, gold. I also dabbled in foreign exchange but could not devote the time necessary and had little success with it. Compared to these investments, my LEAGUE funds have performed predictably and with stability. In contrast to other investments, I spend no time monitoring my LEAGUE investments and very little energy concerning myself with fluctuations in the value of my LEAGUE investments. Also, the LEAGUE REIT has a superior yield to any publicly traded REIT out there. I feel not only satisfied with my LEAGUE investment, but I enjoy the sense that I have found an opportunity that many others might not be aware of, though perhaps not for long.

I also feel like I truly am a "partner" in LEAGUE's endeavours and I receive personal attention and feedback from LEAGUE staff. For example, I really appreciated the opportunity to meet personally with Scott Chan when he made the trip out to Toronto to meet with Member-Partners for two days.

Investing with LEAGUE has gotten me thinking a little differently about long term investing and what to expect from the companies and assets I invest in. I am confident with LEAGUE that my investments are in good hands, and that my investments are not subject to the irrational whims of the public markets.

There are a number of things that distinguish LEAGUE in the marketplace in my opinion:

1. Their method of selecting properties with significant upside potential - which many other publicly traded REITs would pass over - and investing in those properties to realize the upside.
2. Their focus on "member-partnership" and intergenerational family wealth building.
3. Their commitment to compensating themselves from profit they generate from properties, not from cash from investments.
4. The way they make themselves accessible and accountable to the member-partners.
There are also a number of things that keep me invested with LEAGUE. Some of these have to do with LEAGUE itself, such as solid performance, the fact that they aren't slowing down, based on the growth in Member-Partner numbers and invested funds and staff; and especially, the continued correspondence informing us of developments, status, events, etc.

Then there is our personal agenda - the fact that we want to be able to put our children through university without them having to work or rely on student loans. And the fact that I need to maximize income until my company develops and becomes profitable. I will then make further investments as opportunities arise and my net worth grows.

And I am confident in recommending LEAGUE to others - in fact I already have.

Ron Abma

Spouse: Gretha Abma
Children: Three - ages 24, 22 and 20.
Residence: Edmonton.
Occupation: Self-employed Electrician / Electrical wholesale / Electrical Manufacturing.
Hobbies, Pursuits: Home Renovations / Camping / Travel / Mountain & Street Pedal Biking.

"I like to research things before I buy"

A couple of years ago I learned about LEAGUE through an investment group I belong to. The strategy we were introduced to by that group was fairly "out-of the box" for us at the time and involved re-mortgaging our home and using the equity for an investment that would cover the mortgage payment on an ongoing basis, as well as producing capital appreciation. LEAGUE seemed like an ideal vehicle for implementing this strategy.

I was quite excited, because what LEAGUE was doing on a large scale and in a commercial market is what I had been doing in a very modest way on my own for several years, that is, purchasing properties with some sort of problem that could be solved, thus producing immediate upside potential. LEAGUE is doing something I can actually understand, which for me beats investing in commodities or stocks, for example, where the market trends are so unpredictable and I have to trust completely that my investments are being monitored, as if my investment agent had something to lose if they do not do their job.

Because I like to do my research before I buy, I decided to go to Victoria and meet with Emanuel and Adam before making a commitment. I had done a lot of homework, and was almost there in the decision-making process, but when my wife and I met face to face with the two principals, I became convinced that I was dealing with good people, good concepts and highly relevant experience and skill sets. We now have about 30% of our portfolio with LEAGUE.

Being with LEAGUE has made a number of significant changes in our lives. For one thing I realize that working harder at my day job is not necessarily the way to financial freedom. For another, I effectively no longer have a mortgage, as the payment is made monthly by my LEAGUE investment. With what I was paying out in mortgage payments, I now have the option of getting into further investments.

The big bonus is that someone else is looking after all the property management responsibilities that I have with my own real estate investments. So now I can think about liquidating those and placing the money with LEAGUE, where my money will do all the work for me.

There are a lot of things to like about LEAGUE as a company. Not only are the principals good people, but I am impressed by the caliber of the people they hire, having met Brad Stokes when he came to Edmonton. I like the openness and communication; I like the fact that Adam and Emanuel get paid when we get paid, so they are investing alongside us.

I am self-employed and do not have a pension, LEAGUE has become the anchor for my future. The security of the returns and the long-term nature of the investment are what I'm depending on. I am confident in my LEAGUE investment as a steady workhorse that will keep on working and growing, both during and after my own working life and well into my children's lives, so that they will see and reap the benefits. My goal is that they will learn that financial independence is more about working smarter than working harder.

One other thing - being able to drive by a building and say to yourself "I own part of that!" It's satisfying and it's fun!

Rod Belyea

Spouse: Elsie
Children: One
Residence: Charlottetown
Occupation: Chiropractor
Hobbies, Pursuits: Woodworking at a very basic level, reading.

I first heard about LEAGUE via an ad in the Globe and Mail. My early perceptions were that this financial organization was different than any other I have known. Their credo was right up front, they operated according to the 'golden rule', of which I greatly approve, and do so myself, they did not speculate with my money, and did not get paid until I did. This, in my experience, is absolutely unique.

Elsie and I did our due diligence by meeting with Manny face-to-face. I won't pretend that I understood all the 'financial speak' stuff. I was particularly struck by his open, honest friendly manner. His willingness to tell of his life story, those things that shaped his present ethical standards, were most revealing and confidence building. I felt that he was genuine, and our assets were safe with him. Just as an aside, but a significant one, I remember after our first visit with Manny, he gave Elsie a hug. She was very pleased, saying that it was the first time she had ever been hugged by a CEO! Truth to tell he is the only CEO she has ever met!

Ultimately what made us decide to invest, though, was a desire for a stable, worry-free predictable income that would help finance our retirement, which at age 68 cannot be far off. Since investing with league, I have received monthly cheques as promised, a peaceful feeling that comes with knowing that I don't have to worry about my investment, plus the knowledge that we can speak with anyone there and meet with them whenever we visit Victoria.

Our LEAGUE investments have performed very nicely by comparison, to our market investments, although they will never compare with bull market stocks, where 10% is pretty much dud returns, but a steady 10% without the sometimes gut-wrenching volatility of the market is comforting to have. While it may sound odd to say, I feel a sort friendship/kinship/at-homeness that I don't feel with my other portfolio managers. They are in every way impeccable people, but somehow, LEAGUE is different.

The best thing about investing with LEAGUE is the sense that my investment is in safe hands. I am pretty much risk aversive at my age, and like the fact that they do not speculate, i.e. gamble with my money. Then there is my sense of satisfaction with the thought of a steady, predictable income stream at the hands of people in whose company I feel "at home".

We were struck by Manny's disclosure that most members put in a token amount at first, which increases after the monthly deposits appear as promised. We took that approach, and have invested more since then. Our main consideration at present is maximizing income for our retirement. I wish I had a longer timeline to be able to get into the "tied- up- for -2 -years- with -no -cash- flow" deals, but I don't.

We have recommended LEAGUE to friends and family and plan to discuss LEAGUE with our son, who may one day listen to his father.

Joshy P. Kallungal

Spouse: Esther
Residence: Aurora, Ontario.
Occupation: Retired, Professional Engineer.
Hobbies, Pursuits: Cooking, Tennis, Golf, Photography; recently awarded the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Committee Service Award for his contributions to fire safety related to flammable and combustible liquids over the past 25 years.

I have the good fortune to be recently retired and am having a wonderful time playing tennis, travelling, playing golf and reading - all things I didn't have the time to do when I was working. I have a pension, but need to supplement my income in order to keep doing the things we want to do - especially travelling abroad, which is next on our list.

Last year I saw a magazine advertisement for LEAGUE and decided to check it out. I liked the business model and approach to investing in projects with immediate upside potential. I especially liked the fact that the payouts are so tax-efficient, which is critical in my circumstances.

I read the Blue Book and then took the opportunity to quiz LEAGUE staff on some of the questions it raised for me. I was sufficiently impressed by the answers I got and the credibility of the person I spoke to that I decided to invest a small amount - maybe 2.5% to 3% of my portfolio - and see what happened. This was in the summer of 2007.

I am by nature a very cautious person. Something that looked as good as this did made me wonder "what's the catch?" and so I was determined to just watch and see what happened. The first test was a tax time when the T3 came and indeed my income was shown in the Return on Capital box. What was promised was delivered. I continue to see the income that was promised and capital growth as projected.

I do have other investments that I manage myself. I haven't used a broker in years, because frankly, I have not known one who can do better than I can. Besides, no one cares about my equity investments the way I do. However, I find that my LEAGUE investment is doing about 50% better than my equity investments, when you factor in tax efficiency, income and growth. Besides, stocks can lose value down to zero; real estate cannot.

As a retiree, what I need in my investments is to maximize growth, minimize tax and to sustain fairly reasonable growth. LEAGUE is a phenomenal investment in this regard. I have recommended it to a number of people in my position and will continue to do so. There are very few instruments out there that can provide an income stream with minimal tax liability.

The other factor that shores up my confidence is the remarkable job of communication LEAGUE does - the transparency, the frequency of the updates, the thoroughness of the website. The recent filing of the REIT with the BC Securities Commission even further increased my confidence in the fact that LEAGUE is completely intent upon transparency and more than meeting the expectations of investors like me.

I am very happy with the results to date. If this keeps up, as confirmed by the ongoing performance, I will refer more of my friends to LEAGUE and I will also increase my position.

Leslie Cameron & Tom Kalmar

Children: Two daughters, 20; two sons, 17 and 14
Residence: Lantzville, BC
Occupation: Wholesale travel, investments
Hobbies, Pursuits: Both enjoy travel, personal development and self growth. Leslie loves reading, yoga and dance (she used to own a dance studio where she taught ballet and other forms of dance). Tom does carpentry and stained glass.

We may be focused on wealth building at the moment, but our true financial passion is to create Intergenerational Wealth — with a very specific purpose in mind.

We recently moved to Vancouver Island from Montreal to be closer to Leslie’s family. We had the good fortune to be able to move into an ocean-front log home that has been in Leslie’s family since her grandparents acquired it. When I first saw how spectacular the setting is, I thought Leslie was playing a trick on me.

We quickly realized a few of things about this remarkable spot. The first was that we had to find the means to keep it in the family for generations to come. The second was that it had appreciated in value so greatly over the years that the equity there now was in the place could provide us with investment funds to realize a lot of our financial goals. The third was that using the equity to invest in the right opportunity would allow us to fulfill our first goal — keeping the ocean-front haven in our family.

So we took out a mortgage with the intent of placing the proceeds with LEAGUE, which we had heard about through an organization that introduced us to the mortgage/investment strategy. Needless to say, we did our own due diligence, beginning with reading the Blue Book. We were impressed with the emphasis on integrity that permeated the Blue Book. When we subsequently went to visit Emanuel and Adam, we were further struck by the fact that they are invested along with the rest of the Member-Partners. I like to think of them as the co-pilots of an airplane in which we are all travelling together. They want to be as safe as we are in the air.

We now have 80-90% of our portfolio with LEAGUE. And being with LEAGUE has absolutely changed our lives. For one thing we are able to sleep ay night, trusting that our money is safe. For another, it has given us faith in ourselves and our ability to achieve whatever we set our minds to. It is the perfect complement to the self-growth path we are on, which is teaching us to believe that anything is possible for us.

With the security and confidence we have in LEAGUE, we are also branching out into investments that might appear on the surface a little more risky, but offer the kind of returns that are usually only available to the very wealthy. But it is LEAGUE that will be the perpetual golden goose that not only allows us to keep our beloved property in the family for generations to come, but will also allow us to provide a legacy for our four children. The way we are setting that up, they will be able to access the distributions, but the capital will always remain in trust.

At the moment, the best thing about being invested with LEAGUE, next to knowing that we are creating important legacies, is that the distributions are paying our mortgage, while allowing us to spend considerably on the personal development that is so vital to us at this point in our lives.

To others who may be considering taking the plunge with LEAGUE, and we include in this Leslie’s nephews who own the waterfront property next door to ours, we have some words of advice from the first finance and self-development seminar we ever took: “Just frikkin' do it!”

Birgitte Michie

Spouse: Colin Michie
Children: 2 children and 2 grandchildren.
Residence: Calgary (actually just outside Calgary in the Municipal District of Rocky View - quite rural)
Employed or Retired: semi-retired
Occupation: we have a photography studio (Photo Visions) - Colin is the photographer, I do everything else both directly photo related and all the business. I also have had careers as an engineer and seminar leader.
Hobbies, Pursuits: travelling, reading, self development, making this world a better place.

“I have come to believe that everyone can make better lives for themselves, that it doesn't take any special talents or ‘head-start’, simply a truly heartfelt desire to do so, and a willingness to jump in and trust that everything will work out.”

When we started investing with LEAGUE in September 2006 we were traveling. We were simply amazed at the way the support staff at LEAGUE bent over backward to facilitate the process, given that we were away from home and our home banking institutions. The service was just fabulous.

That commitment to service and accessibility seems to permeate the organization. I have had remarkable conversations with both Emanuel and Adam. With Emanuel it was like talking to an old friend. I have also done considerable research on both company principals and as a result I am totally confident in their utter integrity.

My husband and I have quite a breadth of investment experiences. We are, or have been, in energy technology, oil wells, mortgages, payroll loans, foreclosures, stocks, internet advertising, gold mining, as well property development and rental. Many of these have had very high returns, but a high degree of risk as well.

With LEAGUE, by comparison, we finally have a sense of safety and freedom from worry. We know that our income is going to show up every month in our bank account. There are no hassles, and at this point in our lives, we do not need hassle.

About 6% of our total portfolio is with LEAGUE, but the amount invested in LEAGUE has changed our lives in that now we only work when we choose and we can live the kind of lifestyle that we want.

At this point in our lives we consider our investment profile to span three categories: building net worth, maximizing investment income, and Intergenerational Wealth building. But to me the important thing is not necessarily to leave a lot of money to my heirs, but to help create an awareness in them about the right uses for wealth and the capacity to create wealth themselves. One of our children is already invested with LEAGUE and I am beginning to teach my grandchildren to be responsible with money. My grandson has already learned how good it feels to give away a part of his own money to a worthy cause.

To be able to use my money in worthwhile ways is to me the greatest joy of having financial security. My particular passion is to support visual artists by buying their work and paying well for it.

To those who are contemplating an investment in LEAGUE, I have a couple of pieces of advice:

Do your due diligence. Then, at a certain point, even if it’s your first investment and it’s scary, you have to jump in with both feet and TRUST.

Andrew Portwood

Spouse: Jacquie
Children: Twins, aged three months.
Residence: Calgary
Occupation: Teacher at a school for high-needs teens.
Hobbies, Pursuits: Mountain scrambling, Ultimate Frisbee, taking up hang-gliding. Aiming to become a professional youth counselor and life goals coach.

We heard about LEAGUE through an investment group we are involved with and have been Member-Partners since November, 2007. We were little skeptical about how it could pay out consistently each month, but it was spoken of very highly in our investment group, and we did our own due diligence — reading the Blue Book — and decided to use our home equity to invest. We now have about 65% of our total investments with LEAGUE. Because this is such a large amount for us, we are still a bit nervous, but on the whole we have been pretty confident and optimistic. Especially once the monthly cheques started coming in.

These regular cheques are like having another income, which allows us to save; but particularly important right now — Jacquie is able to comfortably stay home and be a full-time mom to our new twins, without having to have a job on the side anytime soon.

Having twins changes your life in a major way, needless to say, but we feel fortunate that this change has been made a little easier by our LEAGUE investment. LEAGUE is responsible for another major change in our lives. We now believe real-estate investment (and variations thereof) are the way to go for investing. The old way (giving funds to a fund manager, weathering losses, hoping the money you make long term will be enough) is no longer good enough or necessary, in our opinion.

We had invested in mutual funds prior to investing with LEAGUE (and those lost money hand over fist), and we have both contributed to our respective pension funds from teaching positions. But our LEAGUE investment has performed FAR better. We don’t have to “wait it out over the long term” to see investment results. I think this rationale is old-school now, and no longer based upon reality. Results now, and every bit as good or better than the best mutual fund performance we realistically could have seen — this works great with us.

The best things about investing with LEAGUE, as far as we are concerned, are transparent process, consistent returns and lots of communication! It is different from other investments we have in that it seems much more personal and even accountable. There is nothing that has given me pause with LEAGUE to this point — the communication level is superb, and I know if I have questions they will be answered promptly.

Everyone I’ve spoken to has been courteous too, which is nice.

We really see ourselves as investing for Intergenerational Wealth. Our plan though, is to first of all reduce the amount of time it takes to pay off our mortgage. We really want to be free of a mortgage during our kids’ teen years, and thus have more funds available at that time to help them with college/university, or even to help us all afford life-changing opportunities like traveling abroad. As parents, we want our kids to be able to see different ways of life and different priorities with other cultures!

Also, building intergenerational wealth helps ensure Jacquie and I stay self-sufficient as we get older, so we’ll never have to turn to our kids to support us in any way. On the contrary, we want to be gift and opportunity providers down the road.

And we are planning to educate our children about Intergenerational Wealth; they’ll just have to get to the solid-food stage of life first.

Jason Quiring

Spouse: Rachel Hubert
Children: One on the way
Residence: Calgary
Occupation: Stock and commodities trader, currently in the process of establishing a retail health and wellness business.
Hobbies, Pursuits: Rachel and I spend about 20 hours a week working with youth groups associated with our church.

We do a lot of our investment as a family. We became involved with LEAGUE back in 2004 when the family business, Coverall Building Systems, was sold. My father and brother started looking for investment opportunities that would generate an income to permit my parents, who were retiring, to continue the lifestyle they were accustomed to, a significant part of which is the practice of donating about 25% of their income to charitable causes. This has been their practice since early on in their lives when they were farming and had very little money.

Four years later, both my family, and I personally, have approximately 60% of our total portfolios in LEAGUE, and we are continually adding to our holdings. We did a great deal of research and we have been in many kinds of investments, including stocks and commodities, mortgages, income trusts and other real estate limited partnerships. We have done very well in these, but we are now moving increasingly out of those investments and into LEAGUE. It is simply the best investment vehicle we have come across.

One of the main reasons for this is that your investment income from LEAGUE is so tax efficient, which most people don’t adequately take into account. But because I am a stock and commodities trader, I tend to do a lot of projections based on historical research. I put this factor into a chart at one point, comparing LEAGUE’s projected returns over a five-year period to the return you would get from, say a mortgage or a capital gain from another real-estate investment structure. The difference is staggering. If you look at it over the course of 25 years, it can become seven figures.

There are several additional reasons that LEAGUE has become the investment of choice for my family:

Emanuel and Adam. Adam is one of the most brilliant people I have ever met, yet he is completely without pretense. Together, with Manny’s communications skills, they are totally complimentary, each allowing the other’s strengths. They exemplify true leadership. Their integrity and commitment to the Credo are beyond question.

LEAGUE makes its profit only at the back end, when we, the investors, do. We were floored to learn this. Having been in many forms of investing, I can say that this is extremely rare.

Real estate, particularly the LEAGUE model of real estate investment — going only into properties that will benefit from LEAGUE’s unique capacity to add value — is the best place to be in an inflationary economic environment.

Because of our family commitment to giving, we are glad to have our money with a company that is committed to helping others, both through intergenerational wealth building, but also through the good that personal and corporate wealth can accomplish in the world.

The other thing for me personally, as someone who, because of my background as a trader, is always asked about good investments: for the first time I have a good answer. No matter what a person’s circumstances might be, I can recommend LEAGUE.

Hannan Rusich

Name: Hannan Rusich 13, youngest of six children
Residence: Edmonton
Occupation: student and entrepreneur/investor; has a flyer route.
Hobbies and Pursuits: electric train, piano, break dancing and Roller Coaster Tycoon, a video game. Considers the piano to be his greatest talent, followed closely by his money management skills.

I first learned about LEAGUE when I overheard my dad (Franco Rusich) talking with his sister (Helen Rusich, also a LEAGUE investor) about various alternative investments, such as real estate, oil and gas and minerals.

My dad taught me the difference between investing in basic things like CSB’s , GICs and mutual funds. I heard that my dad and aunt were going to invest in LEAGUE. I thought if that if he and my aunt were trying LEAGUE, I wanted to as well.

I have a part-time job delivering flyers, and although it took a long time, I had saved up about a thousand dollars, which is the minimum you need to invest in LEAGUE. So I asked my dad to put it into LEAGUE for me.

Since then I have continued to put more of my earnings into LEAGUE, especially what I earn on my flyer route.

I have been figuring out ways to make money for most of my life. I started by selling my drawings to my parents when I was five or six and since then I’ve had a number of business ventures, including selling chalk to people who wanted to do drawings on the street during the Edmonton Fringe Festival and operating a snack store out of my locker at school. Right now I have a cookie-baking business in development. I’m in an experimental phase, working with different ingredients, such as Smarties and cashews, to see what’s going to produce the most successful product.

One of the things that has really helped me learn about making money is a video game called Roller Coaster Tycoon. In this game you build roller-coaster parks and have to manage all the finance and construction and marketing involved. It really teaches you a lot of skills.

I’m a big fan of video games and even have an idea for another business buying and selling popular old video games that are hard to get. I’m also thinking about investing some money in gold.

But my long-term investment plans for now are mostly based on LEAGUE, which is what I am counting on to help finance my university education. I am planning to study engineering.