RAMSEY MELHEM, CIM®, PFP®, Senior Investment Advisor, Alex & Melhem Wealth Management Group, BMO Nesbitt Burns, Edmonton, Alberta

RAMSEY MELHEM

“Money and wealth are so much more than math.”

In a profession built on relationships that span decades, Ramsey Melhem, CIM®, PFP®, Senior Investment Advisor with Alex & Melhem Wealth Management Group of BMO Nesbitt Burns, cherishes the responsibility in serving families entrusting him with their lives’ work. Its weight is represented in a 1929 coin in his office, gifted from his predecessor, Chris Beirnes, who recently retired from the practice, formerly Beirnes Alex Wealth Management Group.

“Chris built something very powerful and meaningful over his 30 years,” says Ramsey. “On Chris’s last day, he came into my office and handed me that coin, issued just months before the Great Depression. We didn’t really speak about it; he didn’t need to explain it. I understood it wasn’t just about the coin, but what it represented – responsibility, trust and the understanding that this profession is bigger than us.”

It’s an understanding Ramsey gained early and carries with him today. “My parents immigrated to Canada in the ’70s and my dad built a blue-collar business here in Edmonton,” he says. “My entire childhood, I watched him. He’d leave the house at six a.m. and work until late in the evening. It was seven days a week, and that was just our normal. You don’t think about it much when you’re young but as you get older, you realize what that means. It’s given me a deep respect for how hard people work for their money.”

Clients who visit Ramsey at his office in downtown Edmonton receive that same respect. “Whenever I sit across from clients today, I don’t just see numbers on a page. I see years of their lives that went into earning that money. That has spilled over into my own work ethic. It’s part of the values I’ve had instilled into me,” says Ramsey. “Our conversations go far beyond investing. We’re helping families think through tax efficient income strategies in retirement, how to wind down a business they’ve spent decades building, how to pass wealth to the next generation in a thoughtful way, and how to align philanthropy with the values they want to leave behind.”

Ramsey and his team primarily serve clients in Edmonton who often share his father’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to hard work. “People often underestimate the demographic here. Edmonton is full of incredibly successful entrepreneurs, professionals, and blue-collar business owners who have built their wealth very quietly,” he says. “It’s an honor for me to work with people who have built something from nothing – often through sweat equity.

“Many of these families we work with have built significant wealth over decades — through businesses, professional careers, or both,” adds Ramsey. “The complexity that comes with that requires thoughtful, longterm planning.”

The Alex & Melhem team also work with clients across Canada, including those who have moved abroad. “Sometimes there are different complexities such as tax implications we must be sensitive to with their dynamics,” he says. “Many started their relationship with us in Edmonton, but now they’ve moved all over the world and we keep those relationships in place.”

Understanding those global lifestyles comes naturally to Ramsey, an avid traveler himself who’s visited over 20 countries and counting. “There are things that happen in our life that change us in ways we didn’t expect. Travel did that for me,” he says, adding that he challenged himself to use travel to expand beyond his comfort zone. “I made it a mission and humbling experience to learn a third language. Growing up I spoke Arabic at home, English everywhere else, and recently learned Spanish. You’re suddenly stripped of your confidence; you can’t express yourself the way you want to. It forces you to see things in a curious way and become vulnerable. It opened up an entirely new world for me – new friendships, new conversations, a new way of seeing life. All of this transcends into the way I deal with my clients and manage money today.”

For example, as Ramsey visited Argentina a few years ago, he watched prices there change with hyperinflation. “I’ve spoken with people across the world who have lived through economic collapse and no longer trusted financial institutions or the markets because of what they went through,” he says. “It’s made me realize that money and wealth are so much more than math. They’re emotional and tied to life experiences. I became a better listener, because now, when someone has fears or concerns, I understand so much more about where they’re coming from.”

Taking care of people

With over a decade’s industry experience in a strongly client facing role, Ramsey says stepping into a leadership role with BMO Private Wealth in 2019 was a pivotal career moment. “That leap gave me a completely different perspective and I quickly realized that leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about taking care of people,” he says. “That experience shaped me in many ways and I carry on the lessons of many great mentor relationships I’ve had and built along the way.”

In addition to Chris, partner Shannon Alex, CIM®, Senior Wealth Advisor and Portfolio Manager, is included in that group. “Shannon’s been doing this for over 25 years and there’s a calmness and perspective that comes with that kind of experience,” says Ramsey. “He’s seen firsthand how markets behave over time, how emotions shift, and how disciplined decisionmaking matters most when it’s hardest to maintain.”

As he steps up into his partnership role, Ramsey credits his team for the practice’s continued growth. “This transition has been incredibly meaningful,” he says. “On our team of five, we have immense cumulative experience in the business. That kind of continuity is rare. Clients aren’t just trusting one person, they’re trusting a team that will grow with their families over generations.”

Twice weekly team meetings cover investment strategy and Monday-openers about what’s coming up for the week. “We make sure we’re looking at everything necessary for our clients, but also outside of our immediate team,” says Ramsey. “I have private bankers in the office right next to me and we have great relationships with one another. We have our immediate team here and also our extended team and our BMO partners we like to bring in where it makes sense.”

That supportive circle includes a team of in-house financial planners, estate experts, tax specialists, and insurance professionals, with private bankers on the same floor and commercial banking partners on the floor above to support Ramsey’s business clients. “There’s no situation we’re not able to support our clients in, whether it be directly with our internal team or our extended team and trusted partners,” he says.

The downtown convenience and bustle that surround Alex & Melhem are balanced by a warm experience where clients feel like family. Ramsey credits his team, including Senior Investment Associate Marvin Klein, Senior Associate Carol-Anne Parsons, and Client Service Associate, Ling Li, for building and maintaining that inviting atmosphere for clients.

“Carol-Ann’s been here for 30 years and she knows our clients, she knows their kids’ and grandkids’ names. She knows the family dynamics, their hobbies, their interests, everything. She’s like a member of their extended family and they’re members of hers.”

That closeness is important when guiding people through sensitive times and transitions in their lives and businesses that impact those they care about, such as planning for and going through retirement. “When I sit across from someone who has worked their entire life, and they’re not entirely certain what retirement looks like, or if their children and grandchildren are going to be financially protected – we’re looking two or three generations out – they don’t know if they can stop. They’ve always had that paycheck from their employer or their business.”

But then, as Ramsey walks them through the plan, showing them how their income will continue, he sees a calm confidence come over them. “We show them how they and their family are going to be protected for generations to come,” he says. “You can see the moment it clicks – the relief, the weight off their shoulders, and the ‘thank you’ – that’s the most powerful reward in this career.”

The team’s capability for continuity also matters to families. “It’s important we understand not just our clients, but their entire family and next generations,” says Ramsey. “We’re not just providing continuity for our clients, but continuity for their children as well, who will eventually inherit their wealth. It’s reassuring for them to know our team will grow with their families.”

Guiding the next generation

Ramsey’s perceptive nature comes from an appreciation for the past, a curiosity about the future, and a desire to pass those lessons on. “When I graduated from the University of Alberta 15 years ago, I knew I wanted to work in this field, but I didn’t know how to define it or how to get here at that time,” he says. “I just knew I wanted to help people with their money and growing their wealth. I was drawn to investing and the markets, but there wasn’t a clear path laid out. I spent a lot of time early on trying to figure that out and that’s part of the reason I stay connected to students.”

Regardless of how busy life gets, Ramsey’s made it his mission to dedicate time to talk to business students about the industry. “I see myself in them and try to give them the guidance I wish I would have had,” he says, adding that he spends time out in the community and attends events at the University of Alberta, such as judging financial planning case study competitions. “The new generation of university students coming up, the sheer knowledge these students have, they build these mock financial plans that are so realistic, they could present well in the real world. They’re light years ahead of where things were when I graduated. It’s nice to see our industry is making that progress.”

His commitment includes supporting initiatives like the University of Alberta’s School of Business YEG Industry Insights (YEGiis). Asked last year if his team was interested in contributing, Ramsey responded, “We absolutely are,” describing the program, “We hosted 30 students in our boardroom here on the 19th floor of the Enbridge Centre with a panel of BMO professionals including our VPs from retail and commercial banking, private bankers, estate specialists, and other advisors. We had a round table session followed by a networking lunch where the students could ask anything and everything, be it career path or advice in general.”

As many relationships carry on through coffees and continued conversations, the impacts have been rewarding for Ramsey. So, he’s also volunteering with younger students at the junior high and elementary levels, lending his expertise to help youth grasp financial concepts early. “I visited a grade three class at the school where my brother teaches and we talked about the power of deferring gratification and how that works with compound investing,” he says. “Students could take a bag of candy immediately or wait a few years, when I would return with a jumbo-sized version. One student who chose to wait, remembered this and kept asking when I was coming back. On his final day of grade six, I returned to deliver him bags of freeze-dried sour skittles. It’s really cool and empowering to see that lesson click. That’s a value now that he will hopefully carry over for the rest of his life.”

It’s the kind of lesson Ramsey was reminded that day Chris handed him the coin. That quiet symbol of patience, responsibility, and the long-lens view is a daily reminder that the work he does is more than managing money. It’s protecting the life’s work behind it.

Ramsey Melhem, CIM®, PFP®

Senior Investment Advisor

Alex & Melhem Wealth Management Group | BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

Cell Phone: 780-394-6287

Ramsey.Melhem@nbpcd.com

Website: Alex & Melhem Wealth Management Group BMO Nesbitt Burns LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramsey-melhem

Natalie Noble’s love of writing stems from her passion for hearing and sharing people’s stories. Over the years, she has written for various business, real estate, and agriculture publications. At the heart of her work is a desire to continuously learn and connect.