Money making money
New brokerage house enters Yellowknife market

Maria Canton
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 06/99) - A full-service brokerage house has opened its doors in Yellowknife, offering expert advice on investing in a variety of financial products.

RBC Dominion Securities, a partnership with the Royal Bank, will be headed by financial advisor David Dempsey.

"I started looking at this at the beginning of the year when I wanted to do more to keep my clients happy," says Dempsey, who recently left Financial Concept Group.

"I had five different organizations that were interested in setting something up and I decided to go with Dominion because they offered the widest range of products and services."

Traditionally, it is difficult for an organization to recruit brokers from the south to move to the North, a prominent reason why Yellowknife hasn't had a permanent office.

But a definite need does exist in Yellowknife and the North for a brokerage house.

"There's no shortage of business in the North," says Dempsey.

"People generally have higher cash flows than in the south and consequently, tend to save more."

Many clients interested in investing have retirement in mind and with the higher cash flow comes higher lifestyle expenses and expectations.

"Consequently, people have higher expectations when they retire. In the North we take travel and flying as a given," he says.

But a client doesn't have to be interested in saving for their retirement to get involved in investing.

A variety of options exist for those who may only have $200 to invest. Mutual funds, bonds and RRSPs are all viable options to start making money with money.

Dempsey also visits communities around the North, including Cambridge Bay, Iqaluit, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson.

"The people in the communities have similar investing needs and wants," says Dempsey.

"And, for example, a place like Iqaluit is booming financially."

RBC Dominion Securities is the largest investment dealer in Canada.