Renowned Wealth Protection Expert and Canadian Queen’s Counsel

David Melnik, Q.C.

Canadian Attorney; Finance/Business Planning/International Asset Protection Specialist; Former University Professor; Former Oxford Club Wealth Protection Director; Former Economic Advisor to Premier of Ontario; Former President of Vanguard Trust; Awarded J.D. degree from University of Toronto

Member since 1998.

Julia: Hi, David. Great to see you again here in St. Augustine, Florida. You picked a nice spot from which to carry on your international consulting practice! Let’s start with you explaining to our mostly U.S. Members what the “Q.C.” means after your name.

David: Well, it’s a special lawyer designation in Ontario, awarded to lawyers from time to time. Theoretically it means you are a special kind of lawyer, but in fact it’s more of a political designation now. When we go to court, we are entitled to wear a silk gown as a special designation. We get this from the English court system. The Q.C. stands for “Queen’s Counsel.” I received mine in 1971. The Canadian litigation system is more Americanized now. People don’t seek out a Q.C. It’s still operative in Australia. I’m on the international committee of a large global company with operations in 18 countries. The company’s chairman is an Australian barrister who is also a Q.C.

Julia: What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishment?

David: Working as the senior advisor to one of the greatest and most unrecognized leaders I’ve ever known, Frank Miller. I worked for him when he was the Treasurer of Ontario and later when he became the Premier of Ontario. This would be equivalent to your state governors, but even more powerful. As Premier, Frank held the second-most important government position in Canada. He was a man of great integrity who cared. He was known for that. And my nickname was the “power behind the throne.” That wasn’t really true, but my position was made to look that way.

Julia: David, you are still working almost full time at the age of 85. You even work with fellow Oxford Club Members whom you’ve known for decades. What drives you?

David: This will sound corny, but I love the exercise of helping people. I always tell business people starting out, “Don’t focus on the money. Focus on solving someone’s problems. If you are good at solving someone else’s problems, you won’t ever have to worry about money.”

In 1976, I took over the presidency of a banking trust company and, with the help of an almost all female working group, brought it to  great success. I was very pleased to leave my legal practice.

Julia: What inspired you to work globally?

David: What amazes me is that our dearest friend, our biggest trading partner, the country that I love the most, is the United States of America. Yet I find so few Americans know anything about us Canadians. It really amazes me. If I’m talking to people in the United States who know anything about Canada, it’s really quite incredible.

I was introduced to the Club by one of your founders, Gary Scott. He was a great mentor for helping Americans become more global in their thinking and their finances. I met many Americans who sought my help for global planning. They were fearful that the U.S. dollar would lose its value, that lawsuits would steal their wealth and that America’s economic reign would end. I’ve always loved the U.S. and believed it would continue as the premier economic power, but that, over time, wars would weaken it.

I created a strong offshore asset protection structure that some would criticize wasn’t foolproof, but I’ve never had a loss. It involves setting up a limited company in the Isle of Man. The company would hold assets, but be owned by a trust company on the Isle of Man. Sometimes I would add another layer of protection by setting up a Scottish partnership that was owned by an Isle of Man company. If someone wanted to seize your assets through a lawsuit, it would be very costly.

Julia: Was your family originally from Canada?

David: I should credit my desire to work hard, help people and keep learning about the world to my remarkable parents. My father was a German coal miner. My mother came from Poland. They came to Canada with nothing. By the time I was born in 1931, she and my father had four lady’s hat stores in Hamilton, Ontario.

My mother taught me, by example, how to respect people. Hamilton was a small town back then, and everyone knew her. My father had the business head. He even made money during the Depression selling lady’s hats for $0.29. And on Sundays, starting when I was 8 years old, my father and I would go in his car to the Royal Connaught Hotel in Hamilton. We would pick up a copy of The New York Times, come home and read it together. He would tell me stuff, like why we were at war. For Canadians, the war began in 1939. I remember the start of the war vividly, from looking through the newspaper. But as a boy, what I really wanted to find was the Funnies. I asked my dad, “Where are the Funnies?” And he said, “Life is not funny. Life is about tragedy, and this is what you’re going to learn about ‘cause you’ve got to learn that life isn’t just a bunch of jokes and going to the movies.”

My mother thought that was too extreme, and they would go back and forth. I honor the way I learned from those two. I also learned about the opera from my father. And from my mother, I got an education on being honest and practical and treating people decently. I was very fortunate.

Julia: Thanks for sharing that wonderful story, David, and for your Canadian perspective. Switching gears a bit… what are your favorite investments?

David: I prefer investing in top-rated bonds for safety and private businesses for growth. One of my best investments was in FileBank, founded in the late ‘80s. I helped train the CEO. Getting in early, I ended up with a great return, plus steady income that I still receive today.

Julia: What value do you get from sticking with the Club all these years?

David: I love that it continues to be a learning center for anyone interested in global investing, networking and traveling.

Julia: Thanks so much for your time, David. I hope to see you soon.

Note: One of my longtime colleagues – and a great friend of David Melnik – is Karim Rahemtulla. Both are from Toronto, and both share a global investing perspective. Karim’s newsletter, Beyond the Dollar, shows you how to diversify outside the U.S. To learn more about how Karim is preparing for the end of the dollar’s bull market, click here.