For many Canadians there is a tradition of taking care of business and the majority of Canadians are extremely conservative when it comes to investing or doing any financial planning. If some income becomes available most Canadians turn to their regular bank and often just put it in a savings account. Others wanting to deal with protecting income turn to their banks for registered retirement and registered education programmes. However, the banks have concentrated more and more on charging fees for their many services and these once important functions of banks have become less and less attractive as the interest paid on savings accounts is pretty much what you would get by stuffing cash in an old sock under your mattress.

Here in Tisdale there are several companies offering alternative investment and financial planning. Over the next week or so we will drop into these places and introduce you to them so you can get to know about what they do.

Estelle Lavis, (873-1010) consultant, opened up her office in the Tisdale Mall in early September and has been available for consultations since then. This is one of those businesses where it costs you nothing to drop in and have a chat. With the Internet and its vast resources you can check out the background on companies like the Investors Group right on line. Their history is available for all to see and the various products and services are spelled out right on the site.

Money and what you do with it is really no different than any other commodity, it pays to shop around and the bottom line is not always a financial thing as you will discover that the people you deal with definitely make a difference in terms of finding out what is best for you and your situation.