FidelityConnects: Rethinking retirement: Insights from the 2026 Fidelity Report

 

 

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Hello, and welcome to Fidelity Connects.

 

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I'm Pamela Ritchie. The 21st edition of the Fidelity Retirement

 

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Report is now available, based on responses from 2,000

 

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Canadians and informed by decades of research along with insights from

 

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tax and retirement experts.

 

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It explores the attitudes and the behaviours shaping retirement in

 

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Canada today.

 

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Some of the findings actually may surprise you.

 

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Across all of the themes explored one insight stands out.

 

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Canadians with a written retirement plan feel more prepared across

 

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key dimensions of financial, emotional, social, and physical.

 

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Joining us here today to unpack the report's key findings and discuss

 

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how they can help you better support your clients on their financial

 

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journeys are Fidelity Directors of Tax and Retirement Research,

 

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Michelle Munro and Jacqueline Power.

 

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Warm welcome to Michelle and Jacquelyn. Great to see you.

 

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Congrats.

 

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Thanks so much.

 

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Great to be here. We're very excited.

 

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This is actually quite a big week when this comes out each year.

 

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Why don't you just quickly tell us what this means to people.

 

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This is something you work at for a long time.

 

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As you touched upon we've been doing this for 21 years.

 

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I think it's one of the longest retirement surveys in the industry.

 

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Because we've been doing it for so long we get to ask the same questions year

 

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after year, really get those longitudinal insights.

 

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But also we can weave in some questions and really understand how are people

 

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feeling about things like AI?

 

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How does that impact their retirement planning?

 

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The newsreel is constant.

 

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How is that impacting peoples' perspectives on retirement?

 

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That's fascinating. Anything just to add quickly on sort of getting this

 

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enormous report out there to all of the people that you work with.

 

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For sure. No, it's amazing. We love this time of year because everybody's

 

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so excited about it. There's always little nuggets of

 

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information and it just makes it a very exciting

 

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week for us so yeah, we're very happy.

 

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It's nice to get that picture from across the country.

 

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What would you say sort of the outlook, the retirement outlook is if you had to

 

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sort of sum it up, Michelle.

 

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We ask a very basic question to pre-retirees and retirees.

 

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What's your outlook on retirement? Positive or negative?

 

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What we really see consistently is that retirees feel more

 

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positive than pre-retirees, there's a gap there.

 

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The gap was the widest in 2020 which was the height of the pandemic.

 

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It has narrowed but there still is a pretty

 

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significant gap.

 

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I think that retirement is better enjoyed

 

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than imagined.

 

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That's really interesting. It's like the anticipation.

 

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Right. With anything unknown you're sort of like, ah, feel less positive about

 

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it but then once you get there people really enjoy it.

 

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Okay, that's really, really interesting, the confidence there.

 

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Jacqueline, anything to kind of add to what makes people so

 

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nervous, the uncertainty piece of it all.

 

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I think what's a top concern right now is just the geopolitical that's

 

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happening, inflation, everything that's sort of happening around the

 

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world, that is definitely making people feel

 

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a little less confident than they could have before.

 

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Even if they've planned they think what are all these things layered on top?

 

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From year to year we find that it's really interesting information

 

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and it's quite similar.

 

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What I find really surprising is with all of this turmoil that's

 

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happening, with everything that's going on there's there's so much uncertainty

 

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but the markets are still doing so well.

 

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It's so interesting to see that the headlines aren't equaling an

 

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outcome. If you

 

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look at the S&P TSX, last year when the tariffs were going crazy we thought it

was

 

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going to be absolutely horrible, 32.

 

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It's incredible to see but it's not slowing

 

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people down as far as wanting

 

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to be in the market.

 

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I guess some of that at the moment leads to retirees being perhaps

 

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happy with where they are because they probably made this plan and they're

 

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sitting with markets that are afloat, which is great.

 

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Are there important differences within pre-retirees, those that are

 

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approaching, obviously, in different states of economic wealth?

 

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When we looked at the pre-retiree set, overall much more concerned than the

 

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retiree set. We talked about the geopoliticals,

 

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the interest rates, what's going on with inflation.

 

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When we drill down into it we found that female women pre-retirees

 

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were even more concerned than our male counterparts.

 

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Three women here on the panel.

 

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I think that's more impactful ...

 

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women feel the impact more. Where we found the biggest gap

 

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was actually in inflation.

 

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We asked the questions and then you sort of have to come up with some reasoning

 

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behind it, and maybe that is because women are more involved

 

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in the day-to-day household items, feeling the pinch when they go to

 

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the grocery store, what have you, buying clothing for the household.

 

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That could be reasoning why women feel more worried about the cost of inflation.

 

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Do they approach some of the questions in the meetings that you have with I

 

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know that these are the things that are prescribed but there isn't a one size

 

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fits all, maybe I fit over here.

 

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Where do you get some of those nuances?

 

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I think that's where we get into the value of advice, that it is a very

 

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tailored individual approach where you can be asking questions 'cause

 

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advisors know their clients the best.

 

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Really interesting.

 

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Across this country, we've mentioned 2,000 people were discussed, you consulted

 

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with. It's a big country.

 

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There are some different economic realities across

 

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this country as well. Are there quite visible differences across the country?

 

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It's really interesting, when we asked how everybody was feeling

 

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and that sort of thing generally across the country it was quite

 

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consistent. People were concerned about inflation,

 

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concerned about cost of living, geopolitical, everything that

 

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we've been talking about. What's really interesting is Quebec is not as

 

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affected as the rest of the country.

 

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It's because they have great coffee or something.

 

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It's so true.

 

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What's really interesting though is what they are concerned about, and that's

 

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housing. They're worried about rent increases and

 

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that sort of thing, very much more so than the rest of Canada.

 

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I think it goes to the fact that not as many people own in Quebec

 

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as the rest of Canada so, of course, if there's an increase to

 

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rent and that thing it's going to affect them more than it would other parts

 

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of the country.

 

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That's really interesting. The ratio is different for those who own versus

 

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rent. Fascinating.

 

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Let's go into that. We asked you the one size fits all but the idea of

 

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working with an advisor and the confidence that that ultimately breeds

 

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within. Tell us a little bit about ...

 

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you probably notice it between people and groups.

 

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We're looking at those who have that positive outlook.

 

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We looked further and said, well, what are sort of ...

 

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we talked about being a retiree, pre-retiree, next, we want to look at those

 

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who have a written plan and do not have a written plan.

 

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It's the biggest gap we've ever had.

 

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Those who have a written plan, 82% said positive about retirement

 

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versus only 54% of those who did not have written plans.

 

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That gap is pretty significant.

 

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And you say it's growing. Is that population?

 

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It's the biggest ...

 

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those who feel positive have a written plan, highest percentage versus those

 

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who haven't.

 

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We're looking at positive outlook on retirement but it's also feeling prepared

 

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for or living in retirement, financially prepared.

 

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Also physical, social, emotional, those are all

 

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pillars of overall well-being that comes from having

 

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a written financial plan.

 

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Those who have a written plan, almost 90% of those

 

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work with a financial advisor to create it.

 

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The whole industry is moving towards the written plan.

 

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I talked to, casually, with some advisors and it was like, oh, do

 

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we have to?

 

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But they really have a really positive impact on

 

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the feeling, overall well-being of their clients.

 

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Fantastic. I guess does it also lead to not being as

 

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thrown by some of the headlines and noise you were talking about earlier if you

 

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sort of know you've got something [crosstalk].

 

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You have your plan. It's really a roadmap to retirement success

 

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because you have the plan. When the headlines come in, this goes up, that

 

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goes down, you're staying on track.

 

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There's so many benefits. Every way we look at it that written financial plan

 

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benefits clients and the client relationship that they have with their advisor.

 

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Do you find that the discussion about the plan itself has to do with

 

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how retirement is being defined these days, which sometimes is not just

 

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65, exactly that date and that's the end.

 

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Things are changing a lot there.

 

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Very much so.

 

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What do you notice?

 

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What we're definitely seeing is more and more individuals are delaying

 

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retirement. I think it's lots of different factors that are

 

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contributing to that. One positive that came out of COVID was

 

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the fact that we have hybrid or remote work environments, so much easier for

 

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somebody to continue and to work later in life if that's

 

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something that's available to them and easier than having to go into the office

 

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every single day, that sort of thing.

 

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We're definitely seeing changes as far as when people are retiring.

 

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I think also the fact that we have a longer

 

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life expectancy. If you retire at 65 and you live to

 

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95 are your assets going to keep you going for that

 

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long? I think there are lots of factors that are getting people to think about

 

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retiring later.

 

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There's more to say on that but just with assets for those that do

 

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own, for instance, and maybe you mentioned in Quebec, renting,

 

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those are income streams for people who are in retirement, is

 

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that part of planning in some cases?

 

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Oh, most definitely. Some people will use rental.

 

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Sometimes if people have corporations and they're receiving dividends out of

 

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that corporation that's another source of retirement income for them, That's

 

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why, again, we keep going back to working with an advisor because there isn't

 

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a one size fits all. It really depends on the situation and looking

 

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at the individual holistically and get a sense for what it all looks like.

 

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With hybrid there what does working in retirement look like?

 

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There must be a number of different ways you've been looking at this.

 

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Working from home is obviously a big piece but what else?

 

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It's the hybrid working but what we're finding is those who have retired from

 

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their primary career but not quite ready for

 

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the retirement per se, full retirement.

 

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The cruise.

 

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You get a spectrum because there's the reasoning behind that,

 

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financial  as well as the emotional side.

 

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What we saw more and more is the emotional aspect of wanting to stay

 

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busy, stay engaged, social reasons.

 

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The financial reasons are more of a secondary reason.

 

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People are realizing that

 

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there's longer life expectancies, oh, have I

 

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really saved enough?

 

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Even working part-time can help phase that, make a more gradual

 

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approach just to ease the financial pieces.

 

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Back to your original question what does it look like?

 

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What we're seeing is that when people sort of retire from their primary

 

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profession or career they're more looking for a part-time

 

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and self-employed.

 

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To me, that's indicating that they're looking for more control.

 

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They're able to do that through the flexibility from

 

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remote work that really became prevalent in the last five,

 

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six years since COVID.

 

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Alongside of that is the passion doing this because we're really enjoying

 

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it. The secondary reason, staying busy, staying engaged, financial

 

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as well.

 

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What about those that's absolutely necessary?

 

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There's a debt story. We talk a lot with the economists from Fidelity

 

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saying that we sort of got through the cliff of the house and

 

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the mortgage massive resets that we knew were coming.

 

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Everyone seems kind of okay, although some might argue that.

 

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There must be, I mean, still working off houses, working off debts, there's got

 

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to be another reason people stay working through retirement age.

 

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Oh, for sure. It really depends on the individual, right?

 

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We're seeing people who are continuing to work who have higher incomes, who are

 

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wealthier. For them it's probably because

 

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of the love of it. They're well educated and they've

 

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decided that this is something that they want to do.

 

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Now, on the flip side, there are people who have a lot of debt.

 

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I mean, years ago you would never consider retiring with a mortgage

 

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whereas this is something that is much more common that's happening now.

 

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To be able to finance that you need to make sure that ...

 

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in many situations people are having to continue to work so that

 

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they are able to finance that.

 

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It really does depend on the individual.

 

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Sometimes it's a choice, sometimes it's a necessity.

 

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It really varies from person to person.

 

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I was going to add on to there because what we saw across the board there are

 

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more people working in retirement but higher percentage, higher

 

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educated, higher income levels, higher asset levels.

 

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Those three key areas in higher proportions are working.

 

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These are often our advisors' clients as well.

 

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That's what I was going to say. The audience that you're sharing this and we're

all discussing

 

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with today are exactly often those people.

 

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Our advisors are also thinking about their own retirements and we often see

 

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them doing a more phased-in approach to retirement.

 

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You don't want to be the shoemaker who has no shoes, as we talk about this for

 

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our clients we're also talking about it for our advisors.

 

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That's fascinating.

 

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Much of what gets discussed at Fidelity and elsewhere is those who

 

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have money and they are on their own, privately investing their own money

 

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to have sources and so on. What about the government programs?

 

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To what extent do you talk about ...

 

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there's often shifts, there's lots of news about what pension funds, investment

 

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boards are doing, aren't doing, and the Old Age Security

 

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as well. Tell us a little bit about the role of that in most of the discussions

 

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you have.

 

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The most common ones are Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension

 

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Plan for our Quebec audience, as well as Old Age Security.

 

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Those are the most retirement sources.

 

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We asked, well, how confident do you feel about these?

 

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Retirees, CPP, 83% felt confident.

 

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Versus pre-retirees, 61%.

 

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QPP was very similar.

 

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Old Age Security, retirees 78% confident,

 

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pre-retirees were 56% confident.

 

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So you can see...

 

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So they think it's going to run out? I mean, is that the discussion?

 

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That's what the concern is. CPP is more confident for

 

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both retirees and pre-retirees, Old Age Security less

 

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confident. Pre-retires who are receiving these benefits feel

 

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more confident than pre-retirees who have not started to receive them yet.

 

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CPP is a funded benefits

 

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pension board whereas Old Age Security is pay as you go.

 

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That's the concern, that something isn't as visible into the future.

 

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What else do we need to know about these?

 

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I mean, I do hear lots of nuance of people seeing the cheques or the

 

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amount going into their accounts regularly and discussions

 

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about it one way or the other. Is it important to retirees that you're speaking

 

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to, again, who often have other resources?

 

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Oh, most definitely. Everybody has conversations

 

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with us about CPP. When should I take it?

 

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When should I not? Will OAS be there for me?

 

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These are definitely top of mind for a lot of individuals.

 

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There's no question there.

 

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Now, what investors need to understand, especially with CPP

 

16:57.983 --> 17:02.087

and QPP, there are actuarial valuations that are done on this,

 

17:02.087 --> 17:04.289

the government is on top of this.

 

17:04.289 --> 17:08.227

When I was younger I did not think that CPP was going to be available to

 

17:08.227 --> 17:11.263

me. I thought this was something I was contributing to and it was never going

 

17:11.263 --> 17:11.797

to go anywhere.

 

17:11.797 --> 17:16.802

There was a long period of time where that was sort of the

 

17:16.802 --> 17:18.871

common knowledge or discussion anyway.

 

17:18.871 --> 17:21.006

Very much so.

 

17:21.006 --> 17:22.908

Exactly. But then the government made the changes.

 

17:22.908 --> 17:25.711

They upped the amount that we needed to contribute to.

 

17:25.711 --> 17:29.281

They now have a two-tiered system for those individuals who are making above

 

17:29.281 --> 17:31.650

what the original YMPE is.

 

17:31.650 --> 17:35.854

They're really having lots of contributions going into it and now it's

 

17:35.854 --> 17:38.757

extremely healthy, to the point where they're actually decreasing our

 

17:38.757 --> 17:38.957

contributions.

 

17:38.957 --> 17:41.727

They're making too much money.

 

17:41.727 --> 17:42.995

It should be used elsewhere.

 

17:42.995 --> 17:44.696

From a CPP perspective it's fantastic.

 

17:44.696 --> 17:48.734

To Michelle's point, as far as OAS is concerned that's

 

17:48.734 --> 17:54.039

a pay as you go. There's no fund that is set up as far as this is concerned.

 

17:54.039 --> 17:58.277

A new government comes in and makes a change, well, they could decide to

 

17:58.277 --> 18:02.014

do whatever they want as far as OAS is concerned.

 

18:02.014 --> 18:04.950

Very different program than what we're seeing with CPP.

 

18:04.950 --> 18:08.120

Concerns are justified in some of those because it's a reality that could

 

18:08.120 --> 18:12.224

change.

 

18:12.224 --> 18:15.794

As far as OAS, more so. CPP, no need to be concerned with respect to CPP.

 

18:15.794 --> 18:19.031

Again, many of the people you're speaking with here today this won't be their

 

18:19.031 --> 18:23.202

only source of income. What do you say to that and have the

 

18:23.202 --> 18:25.437

expectations conversation about that?

 

18:25.437 --> 18:29.408

Often what Canadians are looking in our working years, and we're in

 

18:29.408 --> 18:33.078

this pool as well, and then you go into retirement and you're looking to

 

18:33.078 --> 18:38.383

replace that income from sources, there's

 

18:38.383 --> 18:42.554

a replacement income. Then we'd be looking at where are those sources

 

18:42.554 --> 18:46.225

coming from. There are government sources or they'd be your personal savings as

 

18:46.225 --> 18:50.362

well. If somebody has a lower pre-retirement income

 

18:50.362 --> 18:54.333

a higher percentage of their replacement income in retirement is

 

18:54.333 --> 18:56.668

going to come from the government sources.

 

18:56.668 --> 19:00.873

For our advisors and their clients, their investors, now

 

19:00.873 --> 19:05.611

we're looking at typically higher incomes

 

19:05.611 --> 19:09.681

looking for a higher replacement income in retirement but a lower

 

19:09.681 --> 19:12.317

percentage of that is going to come from government sources.

 

19:12.317 --> 19:16.421

Just driving home the

 

19:16.421 --> 19:20.692

value of advice, helping our investors really stay

 

19:20.692 --> 19:24.830

on track, create that plan to

 

19:24.830 --> 19:27.799

have the retirement that they're looking for.

 

19:27.799 --> 19:31.937

A little bit about working in retirement, if those people are

 

19:31.937 --> 19:34.540

working in retirement they want it to be optional.

 

19:34.540 --> 19:36.909

That's the idea.

 

19:36.909 --> 19:41.446

The best outcome, working is optional in retirement.

 

19:41.446 --> 19:44.850

You're not at a point where you absolutely need to be raking that in in that

 

19:44.850 --> 19:47.085

particular way.

 

19:47.085 --> 19:52.057

You can't go too far without seeing downsizing signs, making

 

19:52.057 --> 19:54.560

things go from one stage in life to the next.

 

19:54.560 --> 19:59.231

This is much more of a financial decumulation discussion but how

 

19:59.231 --> 20:03.268

does it ... it kind of is a similar idea that you're going from sort

 

20:03.268 --> 20:07.839

of gathering, bringing into maybe your home or your life lots of things to

 

20:07.839 --> 20:09.908

really the opposite. It works with this too.

 

20:09.908 --> 20:13.412

Exactly, and this is something that not enough Canadians are actually putting

 

20:13.412 --> 20:15.113

any sort of thought into.

 

20:15.113 --> 20:19.952

When we looked at the report 18% of retirees, only 18%

 

20:19.952 --> 20:23.488

have a written decumulation strategy in place.

 

20:23.488 --> 20:26.124

How are they choosing where they're drawing assets from.

 

20:26.124 --> 20:30.329

You want to make sure that you have a written plan so that you know

 

20:30.329 --> 20:34.266

exactly where the different types of income are going to

 

20:34.266 --> 20:34.900

be coming from.

 

20:34.900 --> 20:36.768

The house, the condo.

 

20:36.768 --> 20:41.540

Exactly. Even RRSPs, TFSAs, non-REG,

 

20:41.540 --> 20:45.310

there's so many different options and you want to be sure that you're doing

 

20:45.310 --> 20:47.746

whatever is going to be most tax-efficient.

 

20:47.746 --> 20:51.516

They need to be working with an advisor to help them through this process.

 

20:51.516 --> 20:53.885

When we're looking at pre-retirees it's even worse.

 

20:53.885 --> 20:57.923

It's only 18% of pre-retirees that have any sort of a decumulation

 

20:57.923 --> 20:59.758

strategy in place.

 

20:59.758 --> 21:00.158

They have time.

 

21:00.158 --> 21:02.027

Because they're still accumulating.

 

21:02.027 --> 21:05.797

They do have time. I have to say I don't have a decumulation plan in place.

 

21:05.797 --> 21:09.868

There is still time for those pre-retirees but something that

 

21:09.868 --> 21:13.839

they need to somewhat have on their radar, especially

 

21:13.839 --> 21:17.075

as they get that much closer to retirement.

 

21:17.075 --> 21:19.011

Can you do some of that with the plan?

 

21:19.011 --> 21:24.016

If you're creating a plan for this is how I'm going to be earning

 

21:24.016 --> 21:28.020

and allotting things and at some point those things will be where

 

21:28.020 --> 21:31.690

I draw down. Does some of that happen [crosstalk]?

 

21:31.690 --> 21:34.293

So much of our industry for years, decades, we've really focused on the

 

21:34.293 --> 21:38.230

accumulation stage, RRSP, TFSA,

 

21:38.230 --> 21:41.566

First Home Savings Account, non-registered, all of that.

 

21:41.566 --> 21:45.671

Because our population is now ageing now it's coming down to the

 

21:45.671 --> 21:47.506

decumulation.

 

21:47.506 --> 21:53.178

The tax savings we could get can really generate really

 

21:53.178 --> 21:55.380

good, much better ...

 

21:55.380 --> 21:59.951

I'm stumbling with my words here but the tax savings can be substantial.

 

21:59.951 --> 22:02.621

It's something to be thoughtful about.

 

22:02.621 --> 22:06.958

When we asked retirees when they're drawing it down 31%

 

22:06.958 --> 22:09.928

said, just as I need it.

 

22:09.928 --> 22:14.766

Another 26% said, well, I don't have any specific approach.

 

22:14.766 --> 22:18.704

That's almost 60% that are just pretty much

 

22:18.704 --> 22:19.604

winging it.

 

22:19.604 --> 22:23.175

So they sort of think it's in the bank account.

 

22:23.175 --> 22:26.044

Right. I'll just take it as I need it.

 

22:26.044 --> 22:30.349

Whereas 8% ... talking about sort of what's referred to as the safe withdrawal

 

22:30.349 --> 22:34.019

rate is a 4% withdrawal rate and you draw that down ...

 

22:34.019 --> 22:37.956

only 8% were using a fixed percentage.

 

22:37.956 --> 22:41.927

Of those who have they use a 5% withdrawal rates, higher

 

22:41.927 --> 22:45.831

than what's typically considered that safe withdrawal rate.

 

22:45.831 --> 22:50.001

Again, this is where our advisors can really add value.

 

22:50.001 --> 22:51.937

I was just gonna say, what is the position ...

 

22:51.937 --> 22:55.841

maybe this is a question for you, Jacqueline, how do advisors handle that?

 

22:55.841 --> 22:59.978

If they see that, and even if they flagged it to their client, what

 

22:59.978 --> 23:03.949

ultimately should they take away from some of these facts and then I guess use

 

23:03.949 --> 23:05.984

some of these facts?

 

23:05.984 --> 23:09.955

Just like everything, every client is unique, every client situation is

 

23:09.955 --> 23:12.891

going to be unique. What's their life expectancy?

 

23:12.891 --> 23:15.394

What's their timeline that they're going to need this money?

 

23:15.394 --> 23:17.162

What's the risk tolerance?

 

23:17.162 --> 23:21.199

All of this factors into making that determination as to

 

23:21.199 --> 23:22.934

where money should be drawn from.

 

23:22.934 --> 23:26.972

It's not once it is set and it's determined this is where it's coming from

 

23:26.972 --> 23:31.243

for this year, that needs to be reviewed because there could be changes

 

23:31.243 --> 23:35.347

as far as accounts are concerned, values in accounts, all that

 

23:35.347 --> 23:39.518

sort of thing. As with everything you want to be reviewing on a

 

23:39.518 --> 23:43.488

regular basis, making any tweaks to it that need to be done as

 

23:43.488 --> 23:47.592

time goes on and as things change over time.

 

23:47.592 --> 23:52.330

It really is a great opportunity to just engage the advisor yet again.

 

23:52.330 --> 23:56.435

This is something else that the advisors bring into the table as

 

23:56.435 --> 23:58.637

far as their value is concerned.

 

23:58.637 --> 24:03.675

Can they offer great AI [crosstalk]. Maybe

 

24:03.675 --> 24:07.679

this is a good opener for how they can use that themselves to

 

24:07.679 --> 24:08.747

do exactly [crosstalk].

 

24:08.747 --> 24:10.749

I think we're all using AI.

 

24:10.749 --> 24:15.053

We did look at, and we asked pre-retirees and retirees, have you used AI

 

24:15.053 --> 24:19.057

for financial planning in the last 12 months?

 

24:19.057 --> 24:23.228

Retirees, 11% said, yes, they had for financial planning,

 

24:23.228 --> 24:26.832

26% of pre-retirees.

 

24:26.832 --> 24:31.570

I just also want to highlight our pre-retiree group is 45 and older.

 

24:31.570 --> 24:35.540

I would suspect that if our survey was to a larger range, a younger cohort,

 

24:35.540 --> 24:39.544

35, 25, you'd probably get a higher percentage

 

24:39.544 --> 24:45.083

there. We also asked, well, what are you using it for?

 

24:45.083 --> 24:49.788

Info on investments, looking at budgeting, understanding financial news,

 

24:49.788 --> 24:51.556

how much to save for retirement.

 

24:51.556 --> 24:55.827

That is our number one question I get, how

 

24:55.827 --> 24:57.996

much do I need?

 

24:57.996 --> 25:00.765

They also have tax information, asking about taxes.

 

25:00.765 --> 25:04.936

As a tax professional, I've used AI

 

25:04.936 --> 25:09.107

for taxes as well but [indecipherable] this is

 

25:09.107 --> 25:09.474

where we're going to get to.

 

25:09.474 --> 25:11.309

Because you actually have the education behind that.

 

25:11.309 --> 25:14.746

There are many out there that are just going to go and use and maybe take the

 

25:14.746 --> 25:15.447

advice.

 

25:15.447 --> 25:19.751

That's where we really found that Canadians are using it just

 

25:19.751 --> 25:23.922

for general learning. They're not relying on it, they're just not trusting

 

25:23.922 --> 25:27.359

it, they're not acting upon it.

 

25:27.359 --> 25:31.496

That's interesting. Do you find that then if retirees or those that are

 

25:31.496 --> 25:34.766

approaching or clients ultimately go in better educated to their advisors

 

25:34.766 --> 25:39.170

probably, that must be part of what advisors are noticing anyway.

 

25:39.170 --> 25:41.039

For sure because you're not starting at ground zero.

 

25:41.039 --> 25:45.110

At least they have some information that they

 

25:45.110 --> 25:49.080

can start that conversation with and go into the advisor's office a

 

25:49.080 --> 25:54.019

little more confident that they may have otherwise because at least they have a

 

25:54.019 --> 25:58.156

bit of a foundation that they're going into that conversation with.

 

25:58.156 --> 26:02.727

We do use a lot of jargon in the industry so I think that can help normalize

 

26:02.727 --> 26:07.032

it a bit, investors are able to look that up.

 

26:07.032 --> 26:10.502

Back to sort of the findings of the report which you've been mentioning here,

 

26:10.502 --> 26:15.140

what would you go into sort of the key findings,

 

26:15.140 --> 26:18.743

which are surprising, alarming, or actually very optimistic?

 

26:18.743 --> 26:21.947

How would you kind of term those?

 

26:21.947 --> 26:25.884

Going off the AI perspective is that people are using

 

26:25.884 --> 26:30.188

it. I think having that information at their fingertips is helpful

 

26:30.188 --> 26:34.225

but bringing it back to the

 

26:34.225 --> 26:38.496

value of advice. What we found is that the advisor is

 

26:38.496 --> 26:42.601

the most trusted source for financial

 

26:42.601 --> 26:47.639

planning advice, investment advice. We

 

26:47.639 --> 26:52.043

see that those who have a written plan feel better prepared.

 

26:52.043 --> 26:56.114

It's not just financially, it's also emotionally, socially, physically, four

 

26:56.114 --> 26:59.517

pillars of overall well-being.

 

26:59.517 --> 27:02.487

Why did an advisor become an advisor?

 

27:02.487 --> 27:06.725

Well, interest in financial markets, financial planning, really wanting to

 

27:06.725 --> 27:11.696

help people. We see that consistently year after year, those

 

27:11.696 --> 27:15.667

who work with a financial advisor feel better and are

 

27:15.667 --> 27:17.535

better prepared for their retirements.

 

27:17.535 --> 27:21.106

Jacqueline, would you add anything just to close out there?

 

27:21.106 --> 27:25.276

For sure. I cannot stress enough how important the advisor is.

 

27:25.276 --> 27:28.747

They really are the key to all of this.

 

27:28.747 --> 27:32.117

I sort of think of them as the quarterback. They help in the accumulation

 

27:32.117 --> 27:36.921

phase, they help in the decumulation phase, and they help just really to

 

27:36.921 --> 27:40.925

calm people down when some of these crazy things are going

 

27:40.925 --> 27:44.863

on in the world. We turn on the television and it's always just a

 

27:44.863 --> 27:48.833

lot, having an advisor there to just bring it back

 

27:48.833 --> 27:52.771

down and say you are on track, things are going to be okay,

 

27:52.771 --> 27:54.606

I think that makes a huge difference.

 

27:54.606 --> 27:56.474

You're both very calming presences.

 

27:56.474 --> 28:00.378

Thank you for creating this report and it is available ...

 

28:00.378 --> 28:01.646

everyone can start asking for it.

 

28:01.646 --> 28:02.480

On fidelity.ca.

 

28:02.480 --> 28:04.249

It's right there.

 

28:04.249 --> 28:05.984

We'll ask everybody to go and get that.

 

28:05.984 --> 28:07.786

Michelle and Jacqueline, thank you for being here.

 

28:07.786 --> 28:08.753

Thanks so much.

 

28:08.753 --> 28:09.721

A pleasure.

 

28:09.721 --> 28:13.024

Thank you for joining us. This is all important information for you as well.

 

28:13.024 --> 28:15.694

We'll let you know what's coming up on the show. Tomorrow, portfolio manager

 

28:15.694 --> 28:19.698

John Dance, he's going to make his Fidelity Connects debut to discuss

 

28:19.698 --> 28:24.402

Fidelity's latest product. This is the Fidelity Emerging Markets Opportunities

 

28:24.402 --> 28:29.107

Fund. You can discover how this strategy might help complement developed

 

28:29.107 --> 28:32.577

market allocations, enhance portfolio balance.

 

28:32.577 --> 28:36.047

It's pretty fascinating to go around the world with John, I think you'll enjoy

 

28:36.047 --> 28:39.851

that. The webcast will feature live French audio interpretation.

 

28:39.851 --> 28:43.455

On Friday, Fidelity's head of Quantitative Index Solutions, Bobby Barnes.

 

28:43.455 --> 28:47.559

He's gonna be unpacking the advantages of Fidelity's quantitative research

 

28:47.559 --> 28:51.663

team, factor investing, of course, as well as the actual

 

28:51.663 --> 28:55.700

factors that Fidelity ETFs might be favourable in the way they work

 

28:55.700 --> 28:59.771

into some of the products and ultimately how they hit the marketplace

 

28:59.771 --> 29:01.840

for the months ahead.

 

29:01.840 --> 29:05.477

Then next Monday, we turn to Monday next week, Fidelity Director of Global

 

29:05.477 --> 29:09.114

Macro, Jurrien Timmer, will be back to kick off the trading week with macro

 

29:09.114 --> 29:13.351

themes on his radar and the market drivers that he is watching.

 

29:13.351 --> 29:15.420

Thank you for joining us here today. We'll see you in the days to come.

 

29:15.420 --> 29:16.888

I'm Pamela Ritchie.

 

29:16.888 --> 29:20.825

Thanks for watching or listening to the Fidelity Connects

 

29:20.825 --> 29:24.963

podcast. Now if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to Fidelity

 

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We'll end today's show with a short disclaimer.

 

29:54.492 --> 29:58.329

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the participants,

 

29:58.329 --> 30:02.267

and do not necessarily reflect those of Fidelity Investments Canada ULC or

 

30:02.267 --> 30:06.271

its affiliates. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and should not

 

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Thanks again. We'll see you next time.