Personal finance expert and award-winning author Robin Taub joins us on the program today. As financial literacy month continues in November, Robin highlights a variety of topics including dealing with debt, adjusting spending habits and financial technology. She says our society has gone almost cashless due to fintech and AI changing our spending habits and how we view money and saving and spending. That along with economic changes of high interest rates and increased debt has changed our environment. An environment favorable for savers, and challenging for spenders. Robin highlights the five pillars of financial health: earn, save, spend, share, invest. Educating our younger and older generations about financial wellness can be beneficial. She suggests initiating conversations with older clients about adopting fintech, perhaps involving the younger generations in explaining tech solutions and adapting to fintech advancements and staying vigilant against scams.

Recorded November 9, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2023 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today we check in with Fidelity Managing Director of Research, Charlie Hebard and Portfolio Manager Michael Kim. They give an update on Fidelity Disruptors Class, and discuss where they are finding emerging market movers within the space. They note, it’s been a challenging year for investors, but innovative disruptors have emerged in the marketplace, reshaping industries, and offering new avenues for investment. Their investment strategy focuses on diversification and equal distribution across various sectors. The Disruptors Class consists of five distinct sectors, disruptive technology, communication services, disruptive finance, medicine and disruptive automation. Charlie and Michael also highlight opportunities in healthcare including their thoughts on the weight loss drug market as well as AI emphasizing the impact of AI in sectors beyond consumer-facing applications. 

Recorded on November 7, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2023 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today we check in with Portfolio Manager Eileen Dibb as she unpacks what opportunities she’s seeing in the Asia-Pacific region, as business activity across China’s service sector continues to expand, but ever so slightly. Eileen highlights opportunities within ASEAN and Emerging Asia Markets noting big movements in terms of consumerism, tourism and commodities. The pace has slowed down in the last couple of years, but consumer spending has gone up gradually especially in Singapore. Eileen says the AsiaStar Fund is a flexible investment vehicle. She invests in Australia, New Zealand, and India among other Asian countries. And invests in opportunities happening regionally and globally. In terms of themes she’s focusing on AI, labour productivity, and re-shoring in semiconductors in Asia.

Recorded November 3, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2023 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today on the program, we have a special panel discussion on Canada’s recently released Fall Economic Statement. Fidelity Portfolio Manager David Wolf and political strategists David Herle and Kory Teneycke break down the recent federal fiscal update and the implications it may have for investors. The panelists speak to host Pamela Ritchie about the report’s main highlights, which include new measures to tackle the housing crisis as well as the overall financial health of the country.

Recorded on November 22, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2023 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today we check in with Fidelity Director of Global Macro Jurrien Timmer for his weekly discussion on macro themes moving the markets and what trends and topics he has on his radar. This week, Jurrien touches on bullish signals and implications on the market, the impact of liquidity on inflation and rate cut expectations. Jurrien says three weeks ago, markets were retracing the gains they made and then on a dime, things changed. He points out the catalyst of these changes can be really technical – meaning things not seen by most people. Jurrien says what we experienced has been a long correcting period. The odds are now on the side of the market resuming whatever the prevailing trend is, which is higher for the stock market. Jurrien says soft payroll numbers along with a good CPI report has given the overall sense that the Fed is done with rate hikes. He adds the fact that liquidity is improving at the time when the Fed is tightening helps explain why the internal dynamic of the market is starting to improve.

Recorded on November 20, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2023 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today we welcome portfolio manager David Way. David manages Fidelity’s Long/Short Alternative Fund, which is celebrating its three-year anniversary since its launch in October 2020. The fund seeks to capture alternative sources of alpha and expand the portfolio beyond traditional mutual fund solutions.  David discusses current market trends and explains how liquid alternatives may fit into a client’s portfolio. He explains how the fund’s positioning has changed since the beginning of the interest rate hiking schedule and where geographically he is investing. David says the long/short alternative fund can be thought of as a market neutral fund where there are alternative sources of alpha. He adds the fund is an equity product that will help reduce the overall volatility of an equity allocation. David says he is optimistic about the future because he invests into change.  He also shares his thoughts on valuations of companies, AI, and his thoughts on the continuing high inflationary environment.

Recorded on November 2, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2022 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today on the show, we welcome special guest, Tyler Fleming, Director of the Investor Office at the Ontario Securities Commission. As Financial Literacy month continues, Tyler shares the mandate of the OSC and how it sets out to educate investors and financial advisors. The OSC protects investors from improper and fraudulent practices, fosters capital formation, and contributes to the stability of Ontario’s financial system and the reduction of systemic risk amongst many other actions. Fleming and host Pamela Ritchie cover many topics including how consumers can protect themselves from cyber and fraudulent activities, the OSC’s focus on research in behavioral science plus highlights from some of its recent initiatives.One of which is their re-launch of its website get-smarter-about-money-dot-ca, which offers free, unbiased financial tools, resources, videos and more.

Recorded on November 1, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2022 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today on the show, we welcome Institutional portfolio manager Ilan Kolet to the program. Ilan is part of the Global Asset Allocation team, which manages approximately $77. 2 billion in multi-asset class funds for Canadian investors. Ilan gives an overview of the global markets, why we might appear to be in a recession, and how the GAA is positioning themselves in this current market environment. Bloomberg recently described Canada as “appearing to be in a recession.” Ilan points out that might in fact be true, as the flow of data in Canada has stalled. Our GDP flat-lined post recovery and we may in fact look back at this as a recession after some data revision. He adds it’s not going to get easier with elevated debt loans and lots of tightening from the Bank of Canada. Even with the Canadian dollar taking a dive, our economy appears to be resilient, which Ilan says is more akin to sustainability. Nevertheless, even with elevated rates of debt and high interest rates, growth in Canada hasn’t slowed down and our unemployment rates have been relatively unaffected. The GAA team does expect and is positioned for a further weakening of the Canadian dollar. He adds they are underweight Canadian equities and the dollar and overweight inflation protected assets, meaning commodity producers and inflation protected debt. Overall, Ilan says they are very close to their strategic allocation.

Recorded on October 31, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2022 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today we check in with Fidelity Director of Global Macro Jurrien Timmer as he discusses the latest developments from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, how alternatives may fit in your portfolio, and if we are in fact in a bear market bounce. The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged at the end of its policy meeting last week. The Fed acknowledged that there are various lag effects, and that inflation is coming down signaling a pause and the need to become more data dependent. Jurrien says the narrative has moved on from this to the term premiums in the bond markets and how far the bond yields must go, and what is the interplay between monetary and fiscal policy? He adds rising rates and rising term premium has brought down the PE for the stock market, and so as rates start coming down, this has created a big sigh of relief in the equity markets. urrien says bond yields are currently at 4.64% and that could be split into two parts, the risk neutral rate and the risk premium. The term premium has dramatically flipped since 2020. It was -1.45% three years ago and reached as low as -9%. A few months ago, it was as high as 0.5%. Jurrien also comments on the Magnificent Seven, alternatives in your portfolio and the transition away from the Great Moderation regime.

Recorded on November 6, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2022 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.

Today on the show, we welcome ETF Strategist Étienne Joncas Bouchard as he breaks down the latest ETF trends, including investing trends for the remainder of the year. Étienne gives an overview of the growth of ETFs in Canada. Last year, there was $35 billion in net new assets. As of September of this year, we are at $30 billion for the industry, which is dominated by the fixed incomes, mostly cash alternatives such as HISA ETFs and MM. He notes there has been significant growth in the active side of ETF industry over the past couple of years. Étienne points to a survey done by a discount broker in the US reports that 89% of millennials own ETFs and it’s their vehicle of choice. And more than 60% of baby boomers would use ETFs as their vehicle of choice. Taking a look at US equities, Étienne says in terms of performance it has been pretty good when you look at the benchmark. He says we’ve seen double digit returns so far this year on the S&P500, but a big concern is the lack of breadth. There are fears that this index is too concentrated and is really pulled up by the magnificent seven stocks. Those stocks represent 95.6% of the YTD total return of the index as of October 20th. Étienne also touches on the volatility of the bond markets, factor investing, and all-in-one- ETFs.

Recorded on October 27, 2023.

At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information.

For the second year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked the #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2022 Environics’ Advisor Digital Experience Study.