DAVE SINCLAIR, BBM, CA, CFP, FMA, CIM® Investment Advisor, Sinclair Wealth Management RBC Wealth Mgt
Dave Sinclair, BBM, CPA, CA, CFP, FMA, CIM® Investment Advisor, Sinclair Wealth Management | RBC Wealth Management | RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Regina, Saskatchewan
“More Experience. Better Wealth Management. Better Relationships.”
Investment Advisor Dave Sinclair has dedicated his career to financial services for nearly three decades. He leads the Sinclair Wealth Management team with a focus on wealth management solutions, and investment portfolio management for affluent clients. Dave believes that his clients can always find ways to achieve, give, and experience more with their money. Client service, comprehensive wealth management and wealth protection services are among his many specialties.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) degree from Ryerson University. His financial planning, tax planning, estate planning and insurance planning is a holistic blend of many relevant professional designations. Dave is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Financial Management Advisor (FMA), and Chartered Investment Manager (CIM).
Dave spent the next 9 years working with IG before moving to CIBC Wood Gundy where he would remain for 15 years. During his time with CIBC Wood Gundy, he relocated to Regina, Saskatchewan and settled into prairie life while building up a dedicated local client base.
“In October of 2018, I moved my practice to RBC Dominion Securities in order to be with the largest wealth management organization in Canada,” says Dave. “As an Investment Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities, I am able to provide my clients with best-in-class investment solutions, a full suite of financial, estate and business planning services, and leading edge technology.”
Westbound Destination
Dave made the decision to leave Ontario because he met his wife while on vacation in Mexico. He met and hit it off with a fellow Canadian traveller and had kept in touch with her after returning home. “I’d been living in Whitby for 9 years and was divorced,” says Dave. “I wanted to change the cards, and I went on vacation with a friend to Mexico. I met a girl from Saskatchewan while I was there. We clicked immediately and stayed in touch after our trips.”
In February of 2014 Dave decided to go to Saskatchewan to visit her.
“I thought, let’s see if the person I met on vacation is the same in real life,” explains Dave. “I flew out, it was Valentine’s Day and we just sort of picked up where we had left off. By March I had decided to make the big move and I reached out to the local office to see if they would be willing to relocate me. In April, they gave me the news that I could go and by June I had packed up my house and moved west. We were married on the beach where we met just a few years ago.”
Dave says the move west was as good for him professionally as it has been personally.
Sinclair Wealth Management
Sinclair Wealth Management provides business owners, professionals, executives and retirees with comprehensive wealth management and wealth protection services.
“The Sinclair Wealth Management team includes myself and my two team members, Annette Tremblay and Jordon Dezotell,” says Dave. “My responsibilities are client relationships, investment management and everything involving wealth management. Annette’s responsibilities are administrative in nature and Jordon focuses on financial planning, mutual fund and investment research, and technology solutions. We have a good team dynamic – older, younger, male, female, years of experience and just starting out. We work quite well together to provide excellent service to our clients.”
Dave says that his team is well balanced, as both he and Annette have several years of experience while Jordon adds a fresh perspective to the team as a recent university graduate. Client service is important to Dave and his team. Clients can rely on accessibility to someone whenever they have a need.
“I think we like to “over service” people,” says Dave, “In the sense that we provide weekly updates on what's happening in the in the world and the markets as well as information about virtual events that they can attend as a client. We want to ensure that our clients feel like they’re being looked after.”
Sustainable Investing and the Future
Dave says that socially responsible investing is sort of “flying under the radar” today, but it is quickly gaining momentum.
“We’re incorporating socially responsible investing into our services as a result of where the world is headed,” adds Dave. “We want to reflect the importance of it and many people have a lot of interest in this area. It hasn’t really taken hold yet, but you can see it coming. Sustainable investing – the time is right for it with the social unrest and climate change problems we face today. People are beginning to see the merits of investing in companies that are doing the right things for their employees, the environment and the public. As bigger companies announce that they’re headed in this direction people will take notice and pay attention to clean energy, wind and solar power. The low carbon economic shift is always talked about in the media, so it is coming. I don’t think that we need to drastically change how we invest, but we can help our clients invest a little bit smarter.”
Environment and Agriculture
Agriculture is a key industry in Saskatchewan. Dave says that while farmers are generally operating in environmentally friendly ways, they have a reliance on fossil fuels to run the machinery that harvests their crops. For this reason, a commercial farm faces challenges in reducing their carbon emissions.
“I think that there's a desire out here to be environmentally friendly,” explains Dave. “The agriculture industry is working towards that direction. Unfortunately, it cannot happen overnight, but farmers are aware of the problem and are modifying their business practices wherever they can.”
Dave works with many farming families and understands the unique challenges they face.
“I do have a fair number of farming clients,” says Dave. “It’s an interesting dynamic because their year is somewhat predictable. In the spring everything depends on the weather, so clients are generally unavailable. In the summer it’s growing season and clients are available to meet. In the fall they disappear again, and you don’t see them for a few months while they run combines and harvesters. During winter many will go south to enjoy the weather and you don’t really hear from them again until the spring. It's also a stressful occupation because you're at the mercy of the weather and you’re also at the mercy of whatever the prices are that are dictated worldwide for the various crops that are grown.”
Dave says that many farms are very large operations with family legacies to uphold.
“Some of these farms have been in families for generations,” says Dave. “A family that has owned their land for 100 years is going to ensure that it passes to the next generation because there is a long family connection to the land.”
Dave says that it is this connection to the land that circles back to climate change and the recent industry shift in agriculture to reduce emissions.
“As a farmer today, you want to make sure that the environment is going to be suitable for your children, your grandchildren and great grandchildren,” says Dave. “Because ultimately, everything is going to pass to them – land, water and air. We focus on family and ties to the past – especially in the farming community, but we also focus on ties to the future because assets are transitional and multi-generational.”
Out of the Office, Inside the Boardroom
Outside of the office Dave enjoys golfing and cycling. He also has an interest in photography. He spends a lot of his spare time giving back to his community, serving on various boards and accomplishing great things for various organizations.
Dave is a Director of the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL). He serves as Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee and the Strategic Initiatives Committee. He has also served on the Governance and Nominating Committee. He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the IA Advisory Board for the Regina branch of RBC Dominion Securities.
Dave has served as Treasurer and Secretary of the Board of the Lakeshore Tennis Club. He was a member of the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation Radiothon Committee and a member of the Registration and Licensing Committee of CPA Saskatchewan. In Ontario, Dave was a Director of the Rouge Valley Health System, serving as Chair of the Board in Toronto.
“When I was in Ontario, I spent 12 years on a hospital board,” says Dave. “At the time that I was there, it ultimately became the Rouge Valley Health System – the amalgamation of the Ajax, Pickering, and Scarborough Centenary Hospitals. It was a great learning experience and a great opportunity to give back to the community. I can look back on that little bit of a legacy and say that I was involved in some pretty great things for the region.”
For Dave, every time he serves on a board, he is building relationships with new people and practicing the skills that help him continue to build strong client relationships.
Strong Relationships, Strong Process
At the time that Dave first began working in investments, he had many clients who trusted him with their taxes. He was able to use his access to other financial products to help his existing clients, essentially strengthening these relationships by delivering advice his clients could count on in multiple areas of expertise.
“I think that the work I do relies on a greater strength in building relationships,” explains Dave. “When I started out, I was able to use tax services to open conversations about other financial products. I was fortunate to be able to give recommendations and then actually implement them on their behalf. I think that it was a good transition for my tax clients and it allowed me to make the recommendations happen and build strong relationships from there. It was the doorway to other aspects of planning for clients.”
With many aspects of planning under his purview, Dave has worked hard to perfect a resultsdriven process that his clients can rely on.
“For me there are many reasons to have a clearly defined process,” explains Dave. “We want to streamline our processes and tap into the best practices of other Advisors across the country. I think the more that you can provide a streamlined process, the better you can work efficiently and smartly – which ultimately will put your clients at ease.”
More Than Just Wealth Management
Dave and his team offer more than just wealth management to their clients. Providing clients with an excellent experience is front of mind in everything they do.
“We're not just focused on buying and selling stock,” adds Dave. “We’re here to provide a full range of services to manage people’s wealth and help it grow over time. I deal with people at various stages in their lives. Some clients are entering the workforce and beginning to accumulate wealth, others are close to retirement. We work with a coordinated network of professionals and provide an inclusive experience for our clients and their families.”
Dave says that both wealth management and wealth protection can be stressful and engaging someone who knows exactly what to do to accomplish both goals – can make a big difference.
“I get fulfillment when I see the difference my recommendations make in people's lives – how I’ve helped them achieve their goals and improve their lives,” says Dave. “The advantage of having a designation – and in my case, several – is the fact that it gives you that tax background in the internal business background sense, but at the same time, I've had clients tell me it creates a lot of trust in their minds. People understand what it takes to become a chartered accountant and in order to maintain that designation you've got to run a clean business. You can't have any compliance issues. You have a fiduciary duty. I've had clients say that my designation gives them a greater comfort working with me. At the end of the day, we’re really in the “peace of mind” business and our clients can sleep at night knowing that their wealth is being managed properly.”
April Potter is a veteran writer with expertise in financial services including nearly 15 years in debt restructuring. April has written for multiple online publications on a variety of subjects. Also a painter, her background in finance is balanced by her artistic endeavors.
Sinclair Wealth Management of RBC Dominion Securities
David Sinclair BBM, CPA, CA, CFP, FMA, CIM® Investment Advisor
2010 11th Avenue 4th Floor
Regina SK, S4P 3M3
306-777-0538