You could say that Sandra Genereux was born to work in financial services. On Genereux’s office wall at National Bank Financial Ltd. in Kelowna, B.C., hangs a certificate for 30 shares of Wainwright Producers (now Frontier Oil Corp.), a birth gift from a family friend. Those shares sparked Genereux’s fascination with the markets and, ultimately, led to her position as a financial advisor.

Now an established provider of comprehensive financial management solutions for wealthy individuals, families and businesses in Kelowna, Genereux fondly recalls how her first glimpses of the investment world led to her career.

“I remember getting annual reports in the mail when I was five,” recalls Genereux, 47. “Although I couldn’t read them, it was exciting because they were addressed to me. Later, I figured out what the shares were worth and dreamed about what I’d buy with the money. But I never sold them, and today they’re the only stock I own.”

In high school, Genereux opened a brokerage account and started trading. The Regina native gleaned stock tips by eavesdropping on conversations at her parents’ cocktail parties and traded her way through school, graduating debt-free from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor of science degree.

After spending a year travelling through Australia and New Zealand, she moved to Vancouver to work at Expo 86. And there her new stockbroker suggested she consider a financial services career. “It had never occurred to me until that moment,” Genereux admits. “But then I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Genereux took the Canadian securities course from the Canadian Securities Institute, and launched her career at Vancouver-based Pemberton Securities Inc. She was just in time for the market correction of October 1987. “I was an investment advisor at 25 and, in retrospect, I wasn’t ready,” she says. “I learned a lot, though — especially how to develop a tough skin.”

Her next stop was Rogers Group Financial Advisors Ltd., at which she spent five years as the right-hand person to the legendary Jim Rogers. In 1994, eager for a new challenge, Genereux joined R.M. Patterson and Associates (now T.E. Financial Consultants Ltd.). “That’s where I really learned how to do comprehensive financial planning,” she says. “We also did a lot of corporate seminar work and individual counselling for early retirement and severance packages. It was a great learning experience.”

That job periodically took her to Kelowna, in the heart of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. The city’s sunny skies contrasted favourably with Vancouver’s rain, and Genereux and her husband, Brad, by now the parents of two young girls, decided it would make an ideal place to raise their family. “People thought we were crazy because neither of us had a job in Kelowna,” she recalls. “But we loved the city. So, we packed up and moved.”

For several months, Genereux consulted for R.M. Patterson, then spent two years as investment services manager with HSBC Bank. In 2005, she moved to NBF, a full-service brokerage firm. Genereux combines a managed money style with financial planning services. Through NBF, she offers RRSPs, corporate and individual accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and new issues.

“I have access to private money managers who typically are available only to ultra-high net-worth individuals,” says Genereux. “I also work with specialists, including lawyers and accountants, to ensure that my clients’ wealth-management objectives are realized.”

She currently manages 450 accounts, worth an average of $400,000-$500,000 in investible assets. They typically include RRSPs, investment accounts and, in some cases, a corporate or holding account or a family trust.

Genereux’s clientele consists largely of families — 140 of them, at present. Many are multi-generational: until recently, one consisted of four generations, she says.

“I also have some single women in my practice,” she adds. “On average, my clients range from their late 40s through their 50s.”

Many of her clients are retired or near retirement, which reflects Kelowna’s demographics, but some are professionals in their 30s and 40s. “They’re doctors, dentists and lawyers with good incomes who want help with planning for the future, including their children’s educations.”

With almost 16 years of providing specialized service in severance and retirement counselling, Genereux believes that a personalized financial life plan is key to realizing her clients’ goals.

To that end, each client receives a binder that details their net worth. “When they first see it, they’re often pleasantly surprised,” she says. “In many cases, they have no idea they’re worth so much because it’s never been consolidated before. We update the information periodically, which helps keep them focused and reminds them that they’re in this for the long haul.”

@page_break@Genereux does financial projections to age 100, which she uses to estimate how much money the client will need for retirement. “These projections usually inspire people,” she says. “I organize it so they’ll be drawing down on their capital until, at age 100, almost nothing is left. However, we leave the house and other personal-use assets out of the equation.”

Genereux is supported by branch administrator Christine Wilson and branch manager John Edwards. Directly assisting her is Paul Cescon, 25, a former student of hers from Kelowna’s Okanagan College. Genereux was a part-time specialist with the faculty of business administration, teaching the CSI course. “Paul was one of my top students,” Genereux says.

Education remains an important part of Genereux’s life. She has earned four professional designations over the years: certified financial planner, registered financial planner, financial management advisor and fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute.

She remains involved as a teacher, recently assisting the University of B.C. with the curriculum design and review of a proposed course entitled “The Professional in the Workplace.” She is also writing a one-chapter lesson plan entitled “The self-employed individual in the workplace.”

Its not surprising that Genereux uses education to build her practice. She regularly presents financial seminars, often featuring guest speakers, to which she invites clients and their friends.

Not all business-development efforts are so formal, however. Each Christmas, Genereux hosts a client appreciation event at Kelowna’s Laurel Packing House, a heritage apple-packing building that contains a museum. “It’s a wine-and-cheese party — nothing fancy,” she says, “just a chance to say, ‘Thank you’ and have a visit outside of the office.”

Given the family-oriented nature of her practice, many referrals come from existing clients. Genereux also works with two outside certified accountants who regularly refer business to her.

As a volunteer with Junior Achievement, she participates in school career days and talks to young people about money, investing and credit at every opportunity.

She is also involved with the Ogopogo Rotary Club and is a member of its board of directors. Through Rotary, Genereux and her family have hosted nine exchange students from around the world, who live with them for up to six months each. The latest, Rodrigo, 18, from Argentina, attends Kelowna Secondary School. “Because of this, my daughters have ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ worldwide,” she says. “Last year, we spent six weeks in Europe visiting several of them.” IE