Children grow up fast which means it is important to look at saving when they’re young. By saving from just £10 to £25 a month with Scottish Friendly’s Child Bond when they are young you could aid them when they are older. For example helping to pay for university fees or to find the money for a first vehicle.

You can invest in a tax-free savings plan for any child with a Scottish Friendly Child Bond. It’s tax-free since it’s a friendly society savings plan, which means that under present-day legislation it grows free of income or capital gains tax. It is a superb way for parents, grandparents, family members and friends to make a big financial difference when the little ones are older.

Put succinctly the Child Bond is a with-profits investment plan: It invests for long-term growth as well as a certain degree of security, in stocks and shares, fixed interest funds and cash.

The invested amount accumulates through the addition of potential annual bonuses and when the bond becomes payable there is a tax-free payout. The value of bonuses is conditional on how much profit we make and how the distribution is made.
It must be realised that bonuses are not guaranteed.

The Child Bond may last for a minimum of ten years, but you can invest for longer should you choose to - perhaps to coincide with an 18th or 21st birthday. You can save either monthly, annually or with a lump sum payment.It really is totally up to you. It should not be forgotten that if the plan is cashed in at a point prior to the end of the term, the amount the child will get back may be less than the amount paid in.

If you go for the monthly option, you can begin saving from as little as £10 a month - up to a maximum of £25 monthly. Or you can make yearly payments of up to £270 a year.

You can also take care of all of the premiums in one go through our lump sum funding plan. If you invest the maximum possible figure of £2,340 for a decade, this actually invests £270 a year into the Child Bond - making twenty seven hundred pounds in total. The minimum lump sum of £1,040 will provide £120 a year for 10 years - a total of £1,200. This provides a way and means for you to take care of all your premiums at a stroke and is something that has proved popular with grandparents who like the reassurance of knowing all premiums for the full length of the term of the plan are taken care of.

Life cover is also included with this plan, so you should consider if this is appropriate for your financial needs.

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Eric Nuttall:

Coal bed methane (CBM) is perhaps one of the last significant natural gas resources available in Canada. With the maturing of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the potential for elephant sized discoveries has been greatly reduced. Higher natural gas prices have also greatly improved the economics for CBM exploitation. We at Sprott Asset Management are quite excited about the prospects for companies with coal bed methane assets so long as natural gas prices remain above $6 per Mcf (thousand cubic feet). The economics would be very skinny under $6.

StockInterview: But there may be elephant sized discoveries in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

Well in Canada, CBM is called the “oil sands of natural gas.” The analogy is that it’s a very large resource. The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has assigned 71 trillion cubic feet of gas in place for Horseshoe Canyon and 239 Tcf of gas in place for the Mannville coals. Those are very large potential resources. They fit the definition of an unconventional resource: definable in aerial extent, predictable in nature and repeatable. In contrast to the oil sands, which are only found in Alberta, emerging CBM plays exists in many areas of the country, such as in Nova Scotia (Stealth Ventures), Southern British Columbia (Storm Cat Exploration), and even in Northern Ontario (Admiral Bay).

StockInterview: Can you explain why everyone refers to CBM as an unconventional resource, when methane is the key constituent of “conventional” natural gas?

Eric Nuttall:

Coal bed methane is referred to as an unconventional resource, because it requires different techniques and approaches than the exploitation of natural gas from a conventional reservoir. One such difference is the need to fracture the reservoir, often using air or nitrogen, due to the lower permeability of coal versus a conventional reservoir. This fracing can often be equal to the cost to drill a coalbed methane well, depending on the number of coal seams. Also, CBM wells typically come on at lower rates than conventional wells, yet have many of the same fixed costs, in addition to the added costs of fracing and compression. So it makes sense that in order for the economics to be equal, the CBM well would require a higher natural gas price.

StockInterview: Where is the strongest area for CBM exploration in Canada?

Eric Nuttall:

For the past four years, Horseshoe Canyon (province of Alberta) has been the primary industry focus. Horseshoe Canyon coals are almost always dry, are relatively shallow, produce sweet gas, and can be drilled with basic drilling rigs. The Horseshoe Canyon Trend is generally known, and exploration risk is fairly minimal. The primary risk is not whether the coals will contain gas, but rather whether there is enough natural cleating to allow for an economic rate of gas production.

StockInterview: But there appears to be more excitement in Alberta’s Mannville area?

Eric Nuttall:

The Mannville coals are a deeper and more complex target. The allure of the Mannville coals is they are thicker and contain much more gas than the Horseshoe Canyon coals. However, they contain large amounts of water. A joint venture between Nexen (Toronto: NXY) and Trident in mid-2002 began a 40 vertical well pilot project. They found that the coals were taking over two years to dewater and reach commercial gas rates. Such a long dewatering time greatly reduced the economic viability of the play. In August 2004, rumors of a successful horizontal Mannville well began to circulate, with gas rates of over 1MMcf/d mentioned. These rumors eventually turned out to be true, and marked a shift in Mannville CBM exploitation towards the use of horizontal wells. Operators have found that it takes months, not years to dewater the coals. The average stabilized rate is approximately 200 to 300mcf/d, an economic rate in a robust natural gas environment. Another pivotal event that served to increase interest in Mannville CBM was a recent Mannville acreage Crown land sale on December 14, 2005. EnCana (NYSE, Toronto: ECA) spent $159 million dollars to purchase rights to approximately 270,000 acres. This was their most costly land acquisition since spending $930 per acre in Cutbank Ridge. EnCana is a pioneer in the exploitation of Horseshoe Canyon CBM. I think this recent purchase demonstrates EnCana’s belief that Mannville CBM is both technically viable and economic. I expect data from many wells that have been on tight hole status to become publicly available this year, and will further increase enthusiasm towards the play.

StockInterview: How does the Sprott Asset Management team feel about investing in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

We have significant investments in several coalbed methane companies, in addition to companies with exposure to other unconventional resources, such as tight gas. I have many that I continue to monitor. We get quite excited over companies that have large resource potential and it’s very difficult to find that in Alberta and British Columbia now, because the basin is so mature. We look for multi-baggers at Sprott, so we look for opportunities that have well in excess of 100 percent potential upside on our investment.

StockInterview: Sprott Asset Management appears to be betting on an ongoing energy crisis, does it not?

Eric Nuttall:

Absolutely. It’s a very strong macro view of Sprott Asset Management, that due to the world having peaked in its ability to produce meaningfully more oil, we are in an environment of sustainably high energy prices, whether they are natural gas, oil, coal, or uranium.

StockInterview: Which are some of your favorite CBM investments?

Eric Nuttall:

The most interesting one to us currently is Canadian Spirit Resources (TSX: SPI). We own about 15% of the company. It is a significant player in an emerging CBM play in Farrell Creek, which is north of Hudson Hope in northeastern British Columbia.

What’s unique about Canadian Spirit is the company’s president Phil Geiger worked at Chevron between 2002 and 2003 at a time, when Chevron was deciding whether to pursue CBM development. Natural gas prices were low and Chevron decided not to pursue CBM. Phil Geiger was then able to leave with all of the data that he had accumulated over that time in which he evaluated potential CBM plays across the country. Farrell Creek was the one project he decided to pursue. Last year, Sproule Associates, the premier CBM reserve engineering company, assigned a contingent resource of 9 to 14 Bcf of gas in place per section, based on 46 sections. The company now sits on almost 60 net sections. Sproule is set to release a new report evaluating the entire Gething Formation. I think the assigned gas in place number could easily double. With gas content confirmed, the next risk was economic productivity. On March 15th of this year the company, after refining their frac job, released a stabilized rate of 250 - 300mcf/d from only part of the formation in one well. This is in my opinion clearly an economic rate.

Should Canadian Spirit Resources be able to replicate this rate on future wells, the company could be sitting on over 1 Trillion cubic feet of net recoverable gas, with a Duke gas pipeline running right through their property with 100MMcf/d of spare capacity. Though it would take many years to develop, if one were to value Canadian Spirit on a take-out basis I do not think it unreasonable to place a value of $1 per Mcf of recoverable gas, suggesting a market capitalization of $1 billion, roughly 7X larger than today’s. It is important to note that the play is still in its infancy. Significant risk still remains. But this story possesses the type of upside that we look for, hence our significant ownership in the company.

StockInterview: Is there a favorite CBM company in Alberta’s Mannville area?

Eric Nuttall:

Ember Resources (Toronto: EBR) is the only pure play Mannville CBM company in Canada, and has approximately 219,000 acres of potential Mannville exposure. Half of their Mannville acreage offsets the Nexen/Trident Manville Project that was declared commercial in July of 2005, and whose partners plan on investing $400 million over the next year and a half to prove up the productivity of the acreage. Expectations of companies pursuing Mannville are that each section will recover approximately 3.6Bcf. Ember has over 340 net sections that are prospective. So their potential could be quite large, though it will take many years to prove up their resource potential. An investor should apply an appropriate risk factor to their acreage. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ember were to be acquired at some point in the future, since it is extremely difficult to accumulate such a large contiguous area of prospective acreage.

StockInterview: Can you share another favorite with us?

Eric Nuttall:

Another company would be Rockyview Energy (Toronto: RVE), which was a spin-out out of APF Energy Trust. They were one of the first energy trusts to pursue coalbed methane. The management team is solid. Steve Cloutier, the President, was one of the cofounders of APF Energy Trust and was able to bring along his CBM technical team from the Trust to Rockyview. Rockyview has both existing conventional and CBM production, and is trading at roughly industry multiples on a cash flow basis. However, the company sits on significant Horseshoe Canyon and Mannville acreage, with 132 net sections of HSC and 55 net sections of Mannville exposure. On a risked basis, the company could have 160Bcf of unbooked resource potential. At a NPV of $1.50 per Mcf in the ground, would suggest the possibility of appreciation of over 100%. I think Rockyview would be a great take-out candidate for a Trust seeking low decline assets. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company is not around in a year from now.

StockInterview: Are there many pure plays?

Eric Nuttall:

It’s difficult to find pure CBM plays. There is Ember, Canadian Spirit, Rockyview, many others I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. Maholo Energy (Toronto: CBM) is an exciting story I believe has significant upside potential. But their primary growth asset is not in Canada, it’s in Oklahoma, targeting a CBM horizon, but also an emerging shale play in the Caney/Woodford Shale.

StockInterview: Do you ever look outside North America to invest in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

There really aren’t many coalbed methane plays that I’m aware of outside of North America other than in China. A few companies have chased CBM in Australia, but they have not to my knowledge had a tremendous degree of success. I think anyone who has invested in an Australian coalbed methane story has not had a very pleasurable experience. We’re invested in a few Chinese CBM companies. We’re invested in Pacific Asia China Energy (TSX: PCE). We’re also in a private company called Terrawest, which will be going public later this year. We’ve found in general investments in Chinese CBM companies to have been somewhat challenging. It can take an extraordinarily long amount of time to sign a production sharing agreement with either CUCBM or with one of the state oil and gas companies. The wheels of bureaucracy move slightly slower in China than in North America.

Thankfully, future investors in Terrawest won’t have to endure the wait that we had to go through. I expect over the next year that China will become a hotbed for natural gas exploration, and would encourage investors to seek companies that have already signed production sharing agreements. Both Pacific Asia China Energy and Terrawest have such agreements.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. This feature (with full graphics) and his other archived articles can be found at http://www.stockinterview.com Please contact James Finch by emailing to him at jfinch@stockinterview.com. Additional information about Pacific Asia China Energy can be found at this website: http://www.pace-energy.com/

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“Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees.”

Some of us even believe it. An orchard owner would say the statement is wrong.

His profits grow on trees…

As small business owners we are similar to tree farmers. We plant and nurture trees knowing that they will bear fruit. Some business owners grow trees with the idea of selling them when they start to produce fruit, but most of us build our orchards with the intention of selling the fruit.

In the early stages the trees require much tending. Later as the trees mature, they require less effort and produce more fruit.

How many trees are in your orchard?

My trees are designed to produce a constant stream of fruit with little oversight. This means once I have planted the tree I can move on to the next project.

Here’s an example. I write ebooks. These are simple, tightly written reports on specific subjects. People buy them and then download them to read them. Each ebook explains a solution to a problem or a outlines a method to accomplish something.

For example my eBay Consignment book explains consignment sales and includes material on finding consignors. There are also contracts, templates of ads, and inventory sheets. Basically everything is included a reader will need to successfully start an eBay Consignment business.

This simple ebook sells itself. Or rather, there is a small army of affiliates who promote it constantly. It took me thirty hours to write the book and about 20 hours to get the marketing push started. It still sells well and I still harvest the profits.

The eBay Consignment book is just one tree in my orchard. Every six to eight weeks I plant a new tree. Some trees die before bearing fruit, others are stunted and produce weak fruit, and a few trees produce large amounts of fruit.

Years ago I was focused on the big trees. In fact I was so focused on the big trees I would chop down any trees that did not produce spectacular results. I never really got anywhere. I made money, but constantly switched from one project to another abandoning them as I went along.

I never spent the time to nurture and grow my orchard. I actually abandoned projects that were producing thousands of dollars in monthly profits because I wanted something bigger.

Two years ago I saw the error of my ways. I looked back on the things I had dropped and realized that as a group I had a nice collection of income streams. The whole group as an orchard was a good thing to have.

You see, I had the common misperception of entrepreneurs. I suffered from the wage slave lottery mentality. I thought the only way to break out was with a big one. Kind of like the guy working at Wal-Mart. His only chance of getting anywhere is to win the lottery. I wanted the big one. The project with the huge payoff.

Anything less than spectacular was not good enough. My expectations were too high.

This is not how it works. You have to plant your trees - learn your craft, and hone your skills.

Many new businesses fail because owners do not spend the time to nurture them. Years ago, I read a book called Acres Of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell. It is actually a motivational speech Conwell gave thousands of times.

Anyway, Conwell shares a story about a many who sells his land to go elsewhere and search for diamonds. The man was obsessed with finding diamonds and becoming rich. After traveling for years the man gives up and commits suicide. It turns out the land he had sold to go prospecting was filled with diamonds.

The man spent years looking for something that was right in front of him. Conwell goes on to share stories of people who found immense success right in front of them.

This is not uncommon. Many of us learn to look for success outside of ourselves. When it is standing right in front of us.

I have changed my attitude and now look at myself as an orchardist. I tend my orchard, planting new trees and nurturing the fruitful. As my orchard grows so does my income.

Plant your trees and nurture them.

Terry Gibbs

About The Author

Terry Gibbs is the author of 13 books and writes a free monthly newsletter about creating and selling information products. You can read more about Terry and sign up for his newsletter at: http://www.nalroo.com

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