Summit a guide to local investing
When Duncan Kinney looks around the local investment scene, he sees a barren wasteland.
“I’m unaware of any investment products that allow me to make any kind of return on the community in which I live,” he said. “I want to be able to invest in the community that I live in — and by invest I don’t mean the kind of fuzzy-wuzzy ‘I want my community to do better.’ I want to be able to make a return.”
So Kinney, a cautious investor who favours Guaranteed Investment Certificates and other secure vehicles, organized a forum to talk about it. Concocted by Kinney and Edmontonians Supporting a Green Economy, the Local Money Summit will take place on Tuesday night at the Stanley A. Milner Library.
A mix of local food enthusiasts and financial professionals will hear five speakers present their thoughts on local money’s importance and immediate prospects. The lineup includes Mark Anielski, a progressive economist and the author of The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth.
“In order to support our local economy, we have to realize that it’s not just about purchasing goods locally, but it’s also about opportunities to invest our money locally,” said Anielski. “A lot of our money gets invested in stocks and bonds and things like that — things actually not working in the Edmonton community.
“It’s about understanding the relational map between your loonie and how it’s supporting another household in the city. That’s building this economy of relationships that we actually want, as opposed to our money leaving the community and being in speculative finance in New York or Toronto. We don’t really have a pure GIC that’s working for the Edmonton community.”
Anielski estimates that Edmontonians invest somewhere around $160 million every year. He’d like to see some of that wind up in a local GIC or an interest-free local loan program for young entrepreneurs.
Anielski feels that an intrepid attitude toward paperwork could make local investment opportunities available right away.
Other presenters include Jesse Radies, founder of Live Local, a nonprofit aimed at promoting Alberta’s domestic economy, and former fundraiser Nadine Riopel. Kinney will moderate a discussion with the speakers after they present. He plans to elicit practical advice from them on bolstering local investment.
“I want people to be able to walk away from this with at least some idea of what’s going to have to happen in order to get those investable products,” he said. “Right now I can’t diversify my portfolio into Edmonton GICS, because those products don’t exist. I can’t invest in the Edmonton stock market, because that stock market doesn’t exist.”
The summit starts at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to go until 8:30 p.m.