FidelityConnects: Unlock the power of investment literacy—for you and your clients!

[00:02:49] Emily Anonuevo: Hello, and welcome to Fidelity Connects. I'm your host Emily Anonuevo. Now more than ever during these uncertain times in the markets it's not always easy for young Canadians to have enough to save and put aside. Research shows young people do have important financial goals in mind like buying their first home, planning for retirement and travelling. What is holding them back from achieving these goals, and how can we help young people build strong financial habits early on in their investment journey? Today we turn to personal finance columnist, Rob Carrick, who is here to share investing lessons from his storied career. Rob spent 27 years as a columnist for the Globe and Mail before retiring earlier this year. He's seen the markets through many ups and downs and has helped many Canadians along the way. We find out what his top investing lessons are from nearly three decades of reporting and why he believes at this moment in time financial advice could be the best it's ever been. Rob, welcome. Thanks for joining me today.

[00:03:55] Rob Carrick: Thanks for having me.

[00:03:56] Emily Anonuevo: Great to see you. Now, I'm going to start off right off the top of the show, Rob, to ask you ... I know you're early on in your retirement days but how is retirement life going? What are you up to these days and how is it different than your time at the Globe and Mail?

[00:04:11] Rob Carrick: Well, first of all, I have to tell you that retiring is not over-hyped at all. It's great, I'm loving it. I have more time to do things I like to do. I'm continuing to do a lot of work in the personal finance field. I'm writing, I'm doing speeches, I'm doing some consulting, and I have time more time to put thought into what I'm doing. I had a high production schedule, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but I'm pulling back a little bit now building a lot more time and slack time in my schedule to sort of allow me to consider things as well as just writing about them. I'm thinking it's so rewarding to be in this position. I feel lucky.

[00:04:53] Emily Anonuevo: Amazing. You put a lot of hard work into your career, that's for sure. I hear retirement is very enjoyable. I mean, you kind of become the CEO of your working life and, like you say, have more space and breathing room to do the things that you enjoy. Is that right?

[00:05:08] Rob Carrick: It's totally true. I really like the phrase CEO of your own working life. You get to make the decisions about what you work, how much you work, when you work, what time of day, what your deadlines are and that freedom, you know, freedom and control are two of the number one factors in determining happiness, how much control do you have over your life, and I just increased the amount I have.

[00:05:28] Emily Anonuevo: That's amazing. Now, Rob, one of the last columns you wrote for the Globe and Mail was sharing eight investing lessons from your 27 career with the Globe. You said in your article here, "the formula for success in personal finance, spend less than you make, keep debt manageable and save and invest regularly." I'm just curious, Rob, are Canadians set up in these economic times to do just that?

[00:05:56] Rob Carrick: You know what, I think that they are set up to do it if they are able to find a path through a lot of the challenges that are out there. There are more challenges than we've seen in quite a while. There's the trade war, there's the global uncertainty, there's high inflation and high living costs. It's tough out there. I think it's doable but I think people are going to have to work a little extra hard. I hate to say that, I hate to put the onus on people and say you have to do better and find different ways but there's no way around it. I think that the paths to success are what they always have been but you're going to have to find a way to find that money to invest, to save, to put away for the future. I know people feel like it isn't out there but I I think we need to sort of find a way to point it out to people that they do have this capability.

[00:06:43] Emily Anonuevo: Lots of economic challenges and barriers facing us today but like you said, a lot of the onus is on the person to save, invest regularly. You also point out in the article it's never been harder to be good with money than it is today. Is that really the case?

[00:06:59] Rob Carrick: I think it is because there are so many prompts to spend right now. I mean, people understand the need to save and invest but the key to it is having money left over after you get paid and you've met all your expenses and bills, et cetera.  With social media out there documenting the great lives everybody's leading I think it makes people feel like I have to live up to that. I have this fear of missing out, I have the fear of not looking as good as my friends and then there's this whole other movement that I'm reading about lately about how you manifest your best self through spending. I think we are sort of talking ourselves into this necessity to spend and I think that we have to fight against that to some extent.

[00:07:39] Emily Anonuevo: You talk about social media in your article, too, and just this ... you said this image to keep up with spending and also rewarding yourself when you accomplish something or when something happens. It's spending regularly and keeping up with that image. It's hard for the younger generation to keep up with, would you say?

[00:08:05] Rob Carrick: It's really hard. First of all, they're like lab experiments. The boomers and Gen Xers and even millennials, the older millennials to some extent, never had to live with that, this idea that I'm living my life and I see in real time the lives my friends and family members are leading and I'm constantly comparing myself. It is brutally tough and I think we need to sort of empower people to say, you know what, I need to look after my future self as well as my present self. That narrative is hard, especially when rents are so high and mortgage payments are so high, it's hard to find money left over after you've done all your spending.

[00:08:42] Emily Anonuevo: Talking about empowering young people. Rob, the month of November is dedicated to Financial Literacy Month every year in Canada. The theme this year is talking money, opening up conversations around money and not making it taboo. You say that we should try to get rid of that whole idea of taboo, why is that?

[00:09:03] Rob Carrick: I think that we've moved past money being taboo. I think we're able to have conversations about it now but it is tricky because there's always some comparisons being made and feelings of shame and inadequacy when we talk with people who seem to be doing better than we are. I mean, people tend to put their best faces forward when they're talking about their investments, you know, I've done really well with my investments, oh, I don't have very much debt, we are really making headway, paying down our mortgage. I mean, I think people exaggerate and they sort of put a shine on how things are. When we have these conversations sometimes we feel like we're not doing as well. But I think we need to have these conversations. I think people are talking more and more about money. We're feeling our way along. The way I propose to do it is to say, I'm having this situation in my own money life and I'm thinking about this question, how are you handling it? Ask questions and generate discussions. I think that's the way to sort of find some common ground and to tap into the expertise that other people have had, and the mistakes that they've made, in a way that we can all learn from it in sort of a cooperative way.

[00:10:09] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. Like you say, ask questions, open up the discussions and also seek financial advice if you choose to do so. You've seen the financial advisor space change over the years, how can we add value to that space, Rob?

[00:10:26] Rob Carrick: I think that you need to be sort of a guide for the client through their financial life. I know that when I started in the business advice was really about managing investments, that's what it was exclusively about. There might have been a thin financial planning overlay in some cases. It was all about the advisor saying to the client, let me set you up in this portfolio of mutual funds and that will be the engines for which all your financial goals are reached. We have sort of tapped out that model, I think. People are hungry for much broader help. They want to know can I achieve goals A, B, C, D, E and F. In the day to day, how am I doing? I have this question about my mortgage, I have a question about my debt level, I have this question about my kids, will I be able to give them money to buy a house? There are many, many questions and I think the advisor sort of needs to be there along the journey to understand their client's mindset, their financial realities and be sort of a coach and a guide as well as a portfolio manager.

[00:11:26] Emily Anonuevo: You also mentioned in one of your columns combating fraud. What does value advice here and now in the future look like, would you say?

[00:11:35] Rob Carrick: You know what, fraud is a problem beyond anything I would have told you about five years ago. Ironically, when I used to write about fraud in the Globe I never really got a lot of clicks for that. People are falling victim to fraud at an alarming rate and yet you try to give them good information about it and they don't really wire into it. I think advisors are sort of at the epicentre of people's financial lives and if they can set themselves up as on your clearinghouse, if you ever get an email or a call or anything, you talk to me and I will guide you through whether it's legit or not. Never jump into a response to someone who's rattling your cage about your bank has been compromised or your investing account or something like that. I think advisors can be sort of like this thin blue line between people and all the criminals out there.

[00:12:23] Emily Anonuevo: Excellent point. Rob, let's bring it back to Financial Literacy Month. I read recently in a Financial Times Canada article that financial security actually affects the level of happiness of many Canadians and that misconceptions around financial literacy is one of the biggest factors preventing people from investing. Why do you think that is?

[00:12:48] Rob Carrick: You know what, there's a lot of information and misinformation out there in the world today. They're circulating around and intermingling and people are having a lot of trouble. It's not just in investing, it's in politics, it's in current events, it's all facets of our life. People are having trouble figuring out what's real and what's not and they're getting suspicious because they feel they're not on firm ground and they might be rejecting good information because they're just generally worried about being misinformed. I think advisors have a chance to be the go-to source of information. You know what, I'm on your side, Mr. And Mrs. Client, and let me help guide you through the questions you have and the uncertainties you feel. Demonstrate that you're the reliable one. I think people are hungry for that kind of guidance.

[00:13:37] Emily Anonuevo: Excellent point. Though many young people may not at the age of 18 or 20 or 24 seek the guidance of a financial advisor right away at that age research shows they are going to their parents for financial advice. It's all interconnected, right? I mean, if we're teaching our clients, the parents, good financial habits hopefully they can pass that on to their children, too. I mean, young people are craving it, some guidance.

[00:14:07] Rob Carrick: You're right, I do think young people ... Gen Zs are very interested in getting information from their trusted circle. Parents may or may not be part of that circle. I think definitely parental input is good. There's a lot of parents with bad habits and perceptions of the financial world that may or not be helpful. I'll put it out to advisors about having your clients bring their 18+ year old kids in and have a little chat. Let's say we're going to have a Q&A session today, bring the kids in. You know what, you might not be my client for many years but you're part of my circle because your parents are my clients. What can we do to answer your questions, to get you on a good track where you'll accumulate wealth and then maybe you will be in the advisory world before too long.

[00:14:56] Emily Anonuevo: We know that young people have questions and we know young people have legitimate worries for the future, how can we start setting them up for success? Like you said, maybe bring them into the conversation with the financial advisor, with the parent altogether. What else can we do, Rob, to set them up with good financial habits?

[00:15:15] Rob Carrick: I think we've got to get them the habit early on of taking money and putting it into savings and/or investments. When I say savings I mean savings accounts and savings products for near term goals, less than five years, and then investing for longer term goals, 5+ years, 10 years down the line, even decades down the line for retirement. You say to somebody, okay, you're strapped, you don't have a lot of money, could you put $20 away per paycheque? Oh, you can do 20? Let's try that and we'll revisit in six months and see if you can go up to 50. Get them to understand that investing and saving on a regular basis is doable and that they're gonna feel the reward of doing it and be hungry for more of that success and they're going to want to increase that amount of money. I think we need to get away from saying, well, if you don't do a couple of hundred dollars month it's not really worth anybody's while. You know what? Get them into the habit with a really light savings regime and let them get used to that. I remember myself, as soon as I started saving and investing I was thinking, I want to do more of this, I really like what's happening here. I think just give them a taste, I think they will work harder to build on that success of just getting their foot in the door.

[00:16:33] Emily Anonuevo: I think that's a really good point because I also read in some recent research that a lot of young people think that they need $1,000, $10,000, a big sum of money to start investing. Like you said, $20, $50 away from your paycheque, small increments can really make a difference.

[00:16:55] Rob Carrick: Exactly, and it's the feeling that I can do this, and because it's being taken off the top I feel like I don't have to worry that I'm gonna get in my own way and I can see the money starting to build up. Just getting the idea that each payday is another sort of brick in this wall of savings I'm going to build over a lifetime. I think it really resonates with people but you have to get started, that's really the key.

[00:17:20] Emily Anonuevo: You have to get started, exactly, get started today. I think beyond that too, Rob, we have to teach our young people that investing has many ups and downs. Another lesson you give in that article is being a good investor is accepting there will be times when the markets plunge, be ready for the pain. Can you expand on that?

[00:17:42] Rob Carrick: Well, I think this point is so necessary to talk about right now. We're in a great bull market right now, like five fantastic years. The returns on a compound average annual basis are double the long term average. I think we need to remind people that this won't last. We don't know when it will pull back but we know markets always do. The pullback isn't something that you have to run away from. It isn't something that only suckers endure and the smart people will figure out a way to sidestep it. Pullbacks are normal and you need to prepare your portfolio through prudent diversification for that outcome. When the blow comes you endure it and you go, okay, let's count down until the recovery. Will it be a few months, will it be a year or two? If I could just add an additional layer on that, if you can figure out a way to get your mind clear to put some money into a beaten down market you will be very happy you did that in five years. I'm positive that's true.

[00:18:41] Emily Anonuevo: So don't be scared of pullbacks in the markets. Now, you also mentioned that inflation is causing some problems and could, potentially, be catastrophic to the markets going into 2026. Where do you stand on that? What are we thinking as we come into the new year?

[00:18:58] Rob Carrick: The problem with inflation is that the inflation rate has gone down to more or less normal levels. The way people think about inflation is that it's still like a forest fire, and they still feel like things are getting worse. They're bad and they're getting worse from an affordability point of view. In the minds of investors and individuals inflation is a big, big problem right now even though economists might say, but the rate is down to normal levels. As for the markets, I think any resurgence of inflation would be extremely alarming. Inflation is just like a hand grenade in the financial markets just as much as it is for individuals in their financial lives. I think one of the worst things that's happened in the financial world in the past seven odd years would be this outbreak of inflation the likes of which we hadn't seen in decades. I think if central banks let inflation get up off the ground I think there's going to be major disruptions. Now, I'm not saying that's going to happen and I don't think it will. I think interest rates aren't going to go as low as people hope because central banks do not want to ignite inflation.

[00:20:04] Emily Anonuevo: We talked about young people, Rob, let's switch to our ageing population. You give a lesson here to some of the seniors out there that we shouldn't be pushing too many apps and technologies their way. I found that interesting. Can you expand on that and why you think we shouldn't be pushing too much of that to our ageing population?

[00:20:25] Rob Carrick: First of all, I love apps and I love technology and I use and try almost everything. I've got a million accounts and a million apps on my phone because I am curious and hungry to see what the innovations are. I love that stuff. I loved how convenient it is that I can conduct almost all my finances on my phones. But I have seniors in my family and I see how their mobility issues and issues related to ageing sort of push them out of that app-based world. Using a small screen phone with their finger becomes difficult if they have issues with their hands. Cognitive abilities may make it a little bit more difficult to figure out what's happening on these apps. You say, okay, well, why don't you just switch to the phone? Well, just try to get through on the phone to some of the financial institutions out there, it's an hour wait, it's a multiple hour wait. I feel like there has to be some way that seniors who cannot interact with technology, not because they can't figure it out or handle it but because their bodies have aged in a way that prevents them from doing that, I think what is the financial industry offering these people? There's got to be something because it cannot all be technology-based for 85s and up, let's say.

[00:21:40] Emily Anonuevo: That's an interesting point, if there could be alternatives for the senior citizens. I know my parents, for example, 75 years old, still pay their bills at the bank. They want to have human face-to-face interaction and want nothing to do with paying bills on the app. It's not for them. I think fraud goes hand in hand with that. They just feel safer speaking to somebody in person, would you say?

[00:22:07] Rob Carrick: I agree. I mean, I know people like that too, they go into the bank branch. I think the financial industry is going to have to accept with this ageing population that they are going to need a service model where people can talk to people without waiting three hours on the phone. I don't know how they're gonna do it. It might be a dedicated senior's line or something like that, or a senior's desk in offices and branches and that sort of thing. To expect people who are advanced in age with all kinds of health and body issues to think like 20 year olds, it's not going to happen.

[00:22:41] Emily Anonuevo: Rob, I wanted to go back to the point of financial literacy just here as we wrap up. I read something really interesting that increased financial literacy can have benefits for the broader economy. Countries with higher financial literacy tend to have lower loan defaults, debt-to-income and potentially even higher economic growth. Your thoughts on that.

[00:23:05] Rob Carrick: Well, I've been involved in trying to advance the cause of financial literacy for a long time and I cannot see a downside to doing it. Financial literacy is a good thing, nothing but good things happen from it. The challenge is how to push it forward. I think that we haven't really found the magic solution there. I think everything we're doing is helping and we're pushing the cause forward bit by bit. We haven't quite figured out a way to make people smarter en masse, quickly and easily and effectively about this. I think we need to continue to work that. Anything we do is for the betterment, not just of individuals but for the country and the broader economy, as you just outlined.

[00:23:45] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. Like you said, baby steps. We haven't found that magic formula. As financial literacy continues we hope to instill good insights and good perspectives on how to take those steps forward. Rob, lastly, for the parents, maybe the grandparents watching on the line right now, how can they help their young people, their children build strong financial habits early on in their lives?

[00:24:11] Rob Carrick: I would talk to them about what it was like for you when you were their age. Show them that you had similar challenges, show them you had challenges of your own, show them that you struggled to save, that you found challenges in getting involved in building your career and that sort of thing, how you found your feet and managed to start saving and investing. Tell them that story. Make them feel like they are living similar lives to people who found solutions and found a way forward.

[00:24:39] Emily Anonuevo: Excellent. Rob, thank you so much for sharing your time today, taking time out of your retirement schedule to sit down with us and sharing your incredible insights and stories from a very, very long and successful career. Thank you so much.

[00:24:53] Rob Carrick: I was glad to do it. Good chat.

[00:24:56] Emily Anonuevo: Now, we just heard some solid key lessons investors and young people can carry with them so let's keep that conversation going. Next up I speak to a panel of some of Fidelity's longest standing charity partners. We'll hear real stories about the impact financial literacy can have on young people. We dive deep into Fidelity's investment literacy resources and how it could help your clients along their investment path. That's all coming up, stay tuned.

[00:25:41] Emily Anonuevo: Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Fidelity Connects. I'm your host Emily Anonuevo. Every year in Canada we dedicate the month of November to strengthening your financial knowledge and education through Financial Literacy Month. At Fidelity we want to take that conversation to the next level by providing you with insights, materials and resources to enhance your investment. One resource we offer is our Money Gains video series that covers financial topics and investing lessons for young people. As parents and educators we believe equipping young people with the tools to enhance their investment literacy is the best gift you can give them.

[00:26:21] Today we've also invited some of our longest standing charity partners to Fidelity to discuss the importance of investment literacy. Please welcome to the panel, Madhi Hussein, Executive Director of the Eastview Chapter of Boys and Girls Club of Canada. Kim Charteris, President and CEO of Junior Achievement, Liz Mulholland, CEO of Prosper Canada, and Claire Barron, Manager of Learning and Development at Park Street Education. Thank you so much for being here. A warm welcome to you.

[00:26:47] Now, we never really get a chance to sit down with our charity partners in person so I know this is gonna be a special discussion so thank you for being here. I want to open the floor in a discussion to a recent article I read in the Financial Times in Canada that said that financial security is critical in helping Canadians feel happy, and that financial literacy and misconceptions around financial literacy is largely the biggest factor preventing people from investing. Let's break that down. Claire, I want to go to you first. At Park Street I know the mission there is to build the confidence in young people, having them feel seen, loved and heard before you can even start building out their financial knowledge. Why is that important and how in turn can that help them make better money decisions, would you say?

[00:27:35] Claire Barron: Absolutely. At Park Street we provide three different streams of education. One is a one-on-one tutoring class. Then we also provide academic classes that vary in different topics. And then we also have peer-to-peer support. In all of those we have equal importance in the socio-emotional development of our students. We know that a lot of our students come to us not feeling their best, feeling devalued in some way, self-esteem is low, we really believe that we have to build them up and help them find that confidence before we can even start teaching them. That is the same with any financial learning that they're going to be doing. They need to feel good about themselves first before they can learn anything.

[00:28:25] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. We're going to dive into some of those financial programs later. That's amazing. Kim, I'm going to turn to you as President and CEO of Junior Achievement, how does equipping young people with financial confidence and knowledge help them down the road?

[00:28:41] Kim Charteris: Giving them that confidence that they need is all about making the good decisions later on. As we talk about when they're younger and saving money in a piggy bank versus a bank account versus investing for future needs, it's all about building the building blocks so that they understand where they are and they feel good about making the decisions, the right decisions, the good decisions, later on in their lives. For us it's the building blocks along the way from the youngest child wanting to buy candy at the store to the young adult who's trying to plan their life and think, gee, do I have the money put aside for a mortgage down payment? It is really the life skills that they need along the ways that gives them the confidence to make those decisions.

[00:29:31] Emily Anonuevo: Yeah, because it can be quite overwhelming. I mean, many of the individuals that you cater to are young so they're past the piggy bank stage, they're on the precipice of pursuing their post-education and thinking about buying their first home. It can be a lot to handle. Liz, I'm going to turn to you. I know that at Prosper Canada you're focus is  on financial empowerment for low income adults. How does empowering them, hopefully, empower them to make better financial decisions, would you say?

[00:29:59] Liz Mulholland: In a number of ways. Basic financial education which is a great gateway for people but often people have financial challenges if they're low income. They may be in a real state with urgent financial problems, can't pay the rent, can't afford to put food on the table for my family. We try to meet them where they're at, solve the urgent financial problem, a big part of that is helping to stabilize them by making sure they're getting all the income that's available to them, making sure they're accessing all the benefits of tax credits. We can pay accountants and tax advisors, low income people can't pay professionals for that, so making sure they have the assistance they need. As people are stabilized it's really about helping them to look at their life and say, what are my financial goals, what is it that I'm trying to build for myself, for my family, and how do I get there? It might be, I'd like to pay down my debt or I'd to build an emergency savings fund, or save for my child's education, or I need to repair my credit score. It's helping them develop an action plan and then coaching them along the way to help them.

[00:31:07] Life happens, we all fall off our plans occasionally, helping people understand we all do that, you just get back in the saddle and keep going. There's been a lot of evidence that shows when you meet people where they're at and you work with them in this way  their financial capability builds, their financial confidence builds and you will see measurable improvements in their financial outcomes. They can get to the place where once they were in crisis, now they're talking about, okay, how do I invest this extra money that I now have from that tax refund for the future to achieve my goals.

[00:31:40] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. What's really neat about Prosper Canada is not necessarily providing those financial programs but providing those pathways, like you said, to the tax experts, to those grants and scholarships that they can apply to. That's really, really important stuff, for sure.

[00:31:57] Liz Mulholland: Yeah, and what we're trying to do is create an ecosystem where we can mobilize resources to fund community financial programs, financial education, tax filing, financial counselling, benefit assistance, and also building partnerships so we can build this help into other public services and non-profit services that are meeting low income people where they are.

[00:32:17] Emily Anonuevo: All wonderful stuff. I want to turn to Maddie now, put the spotlight on Boys and Girls Club of Canada. Maddie, you've said that getting through to young people and the importance of financial literacy is not simply offering financial classes but about changing their mindset altogether and making them think future focused. Can you expand on that?

[00:32:36] Mahdi Hussein: Yeah, for sure. With our organization we deal with a lot of youth coming from at-risk communities and dealing with a lot of struggles. In any decision making we want to give them hope and we want them to be future-focused, whether that's financial, whether it's spending, spending wisely early in life, whether it's the ability to invest, or whether it's just picking the right friends, studying hard in school and really looking for future outcomes as opposed to just current benefits on their decision-making.

[00:33:08] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. There's so many great charity organizations out there, so many resources it seems like, what is preventing young people from really grabbing hold of financial investing concepts or even fearing not making enough, not saving enough? What is it that's sort of challenging them, would you say, Liz?

[00:33:31] Liz Mulholland: It's a difficult financial environment for many people right now, and young people have it particularly hard. Youth unemployment's very high, jobs that they may have counted on in previous years aren't there. Housing costs has gone up so if they're in school cost of housing, cost of food, cost of tuition has all gone up. The deck is a little bit stacked against them and they may be preoccupied with just how am I gonna get the resources I need to stay in school or even to just, if they're out of school already, to make ends meet. It's hard to be future-oriented.

[00:34:06] As Madhi said, it's hard for anybody in that situation because cognitively our brains, when we're faced with scarcity we go into survival mode and we think about today and we make decisions with a very short time horizon and we focus on that necessity. We screen out everything else. People make decisions that aren't for their long term benefit. We all do that, every single human being on earth is wired that way. It's really about helping to create a [indecipherable] space, as boys and girls clubs are doing, to give people better breathing room and to help them get into a different mindset. When you do that they're going to make different decisions. But for some people, though, it means getting them to that stability to where they're not concerned with just the basic needs is job one and only then can you get them to start thinking about what comes next.

[00:35:03] Kim Charteris: I also think there's a stigma still around talking about money and talking about what you do with your money and how you use your money. It goes back to how the family together speaks about money, is transparent with what's happening. Bills come due every month and how are those getting paid? Do the children understand that the bills have to get paid every month and then whatever's leftover then there's a decision on what that needs to go to. Even understanding do your parents have investments? Where are they? What does that mean? I think it's breaking down the stigma around the ability to talk about money. Even to the point where if you get into difficulty with money because those credit cards are very easy to come by when you head to university and are very to use. How can you get out of difficulty and what are the support systems that are around for the young people to ensure that they can have some scaffolding, some expert advice to come in and help them. We have to break the stigma first that it's okay to talk about this because we all ... money's with everybody, it's not just an item that is for few, all of us have to deal with it every day.

[00:36:29] Emily Anonuevo: It's very interesting that you brought up stigma, Kim, because the theme for Financial Literacy Month is talking money. It's about opening up conversations around money and not making it taboo. I feel like taboo is not the right word to use this day and age. I know a lot of young people, especially the Gen Z generation, they are holding multiple jobs. They want to know how they can make more money and save and invest, going to a lot of DIY investing and whatnot. So they're not afraid to talk about it and research also shows that many of these young people still go to their parents for financial advice. Like you mentioned, Kim, very important that the parents, the caregivers, the guardians set good examples around money and not be afraid to talk about it. Would you agree?

[00:37:17] Claire Barron: I would totally agree. I think that a lot of people think that investing is for other people. For a lot of our families they see the ads on television and they think, oh, that's for people who have money, it's not for me. I would totally agree with what you had to say about that.

[00:37:36] Liz Mulholland: I think starting that savings habit early when somebody starts their first job is a bit the key because that immediately means they're now in the long term headset. They've got that frame of mind, they're thinking about their future and that opens up ... and we know from large scale demonstration projects they've done that even when you take a family that's low income, nobody has been to college, and you set them up with a savings program and they start saving for the future, it transforms the mindset not just to that one person but the whole family. We heard from schools that the children of those parents were behaving differently in the classroom. They started talking about, my parents are saving for me to go to college, I'm going to college one day. Nobody had ever gone to college in their family ever. They said, those kids studied harder, they got better grades, they were less absent and their graduation rates improved because their parents were saving. Even as little as saving $500 was transforming that child's way of looking at their future, as well as the whole family's. It became a family undertaking. That's just one example, that ability to talk about money. I think saving is often the key. If you can get a household to a point where they have a little bit of surplus money and they can start saving that can trigger a whole cascade of really great things.

[00:39:00] Emily Anonuevo: I think you're right. It could be a small amount too, 500 but it could even be 50. It's getting your head wrapped around the concept that you don't need to start with a lot. Of course, many of these families and individuals are just trying to make ends meet, obviously. That's reality in Canada. What were you going to say, Madhi?

[00:39:18] Madhi Hussein: I was going to say I think this is a two-fold conversation. Helping youth and young people build good financial habits is one side of it. The other side of talking money when they are youth, if they're in trouble, if they are having financial issues, nowadays we're seeing a large rise in youth gambling with online gambling. That could run into its own set of problems whether it's at school, whether it's with other students or other peers. It's something you want in any decision, whether it's financial, personal, bullying, education, you want your kids and young people to be able to come to their educators, their mentors when they do have an issue.

[00:40:02] Emily Anonuevo: That's a really, really important point. Let's jump into some of the financial programs and resources your charities provide. Claire, I want to go to you. I know there's lots of things in the works and you do a lot with helping individuals as young as 13, is it?

[00:40:23] Claire Barron: Oh, yeah. We are starting a financial literacy program although we're calling it Financial Confidence because everything that we do, and it goes back to what you were saying, Madhi, is they have to have the confidence to be able to go and ask for help when they need it. If I can, I'd love to tell a brief story about a boy who came to us who had very little confidence. He was a grade eight student who was reading at a grade three level, was teased at school, didn't feel comfortable anywhere. He came and he did all the classes with us and they built up his confidence. In the end he became a junior facilitator to work with younger kids to help them feel good about themselves. At the end of the school year we had a end of year celebration and he asked if he could read a poem that he had written. It doesn't take much to fill their cups so that they feel confident. That's what we're trying to do with this financial confidence class that we're developing. It starts, in fact, in a couple of weeks. We're very excited about it. Much like you were talking about, it's the building blocks. It's very simple, it's just the building blocks but what we're trying to do is to teach them this language of financial confidence so that when they are in need of using that language, they feel comfortable with it.

[00:41:41] Emily Anonuevo: That's amazing. Here at Fidelity we have our Money Gain series, like I mentioned off the top, really relatable topics and language for students and educators. We have lesson plans at the end of each video for educators to bring to their students and open up that discussion. Credit cards, saving versus investing, what ETFs are, these are topics they actually told us that they wanted us to produce, which is amazing. Kim, I want to go to you, can you expand on some of the programs Junior Achievement offers?

[00:42:15] Kim Charteris: Sure. We offer programs from grades 3 up to high school, so starting around age 8. In the classroom money and sense, the basics of what money is, the different types of money that there is because everyone just thinks of cash at that age so we talk about all the different type of money, and do that all the way through up into the high schools where we're talking about personal finance and investing. Then we also have a pillar called entrepreneurship where they're actually learning how to create a business in groups of 20. They actually do create a business. We give them the opportunity to see how that works and everything that you have to do with a business, the bills that you to pay, the production and the costing so that if one of those students ever wants to go into business afterwards they have some of that financial background first to understand that it's just not going to start up and make you a whole lot of money, that there's going to be some pains along the way. Along that line we also do work readiness. That's really about when you get your job, not that you're ready with your suit but what comes off your paycheque, what's on there and what should you look for on there? What are the questions you should be asking a potential employer? Do they have an RRSP program that you contribute to because if it comes off your paycheque that's an easy deposit that you don't see and you don't have to take it off. We start to talk about that in terms of work readiness. That's everything that Junior Achievement tries to do to just give them a ... I'll use it again, a step up in where they're going. Certainly would love to see more parents involved.

[00:44:15] Emily Anonuevo: That's a theme that keeps on coming up, obviously, getting the parents involved, opening up those conversations and also getting in touch with a financial advisor and asking the parents about the financial adviser, what their role is, what they do. I love that program with Junior Achievement with the entrepreneurial spirit. That's fantastic. Madhi, if you want to expand on some of the annual financial workshops Boys and Girls Club goes through. I know there's a fantastic program there.

[00:44:41] Madhi Hussein: BGC Canada does a great job in supporting and kind of encouraging different clubs to operate how they see fit amongst their communities. There's a little saying at BGC Canada, if you've been to one BGC you've been to one BGC. We operate very differently across the country. With our program we do run a financial literacy workshop for our youth in training program. These are youth that have aged out of day camps in the summertime but they're not yet ready to work. That's a 14, 15 range. We'll run a series of workshops, whether it's resume writing, career building, while still going on trips, understanding they're still kids. For the financial literacy workshop we look at budgeting, forecasting, investing. Taxes if they're up for it. Being an accountant if they' re up for a tax discussion we get into that. We do talk about careers a lot and their expectations out of life and and how they see their life down the road and how that aligns with their financial goals, their financial investment goals, to just make sure it's both realistic, ambitious, attainable but also realistic, is what we really want to do.

[00:45:57] Emily Anonuevo: Key word there. Now, the time is just flying by. I know we've covered a lot of topics. My last question to everybody is, how do we start helping our kids build good financial habits as early as grade three, as early as eight years old? We know it starts at home with the parents, very important, seeking financial advisors, sure, but what else? What else can we give them?

[00:46:22] Liz Mulholland: Financial education works when it really is built around the financial reality of the person you're trying to educate. Start when your child gets their first allowance, the first money they get in their hand start talking about how to think about how to use that money. Think about when you're preparing them for their first job. Think about when you are planning to finance their post-secondary education or training, or if they're going out on their own into the workforce. These are moments in time when they're natural topics that come up that really relate to their life. Even in the meantime, I mean, if your child is using a cell phone or has a cell phone plan and stuff, talk to them about how to pick the right phone, a plan they can afford.

[00:47:05] Emily Anonuevo: How does that get paid?

[00:47:07] Liz Mulholland: Use the real life, exactly. Maybe have them start to pay a little bit of it. Use these real life opportunities around choices they're making as the opportunity to start to have a money conversation, and to use that to show them what it means to manage their money wisely.

[00:47:25] Kim Charteris: I think there's goals. You have to set them up with short term and long term goals on what they want, and then it's needs and wants, really defining what is a need that we have to have, which is the food on the table, roof over our head, and then the nice to have want, the new bike, the vacation, all of those things. It's really setting the boundaries and defining what those are with them so that they have some input into it.

[00:47:53] Emily Anonuevo: Absolutely. Madhi, Kim, Claire, Liz, thank you so much for being here. I wish we had more time but it's so special to sit down here with our charity partners and talk about the importance of investment literacy. Thank you so much for your insights and your wonderful stories, really appreciate it. Now, if you'd like more resources on financial literacy  just check out Money Gains on fidelity.ca and on Fidelity Canada's YouTube page. Now, before we let you go here's what's coming up on Fidelity in the next couple of days. On Friday, we welcome portfolio manager, Peter Khan and we discuss what high yield bond opportunities he's seeing in the markets right now.

[00:48:34] On Monday Fidelity Director of Global Macro, Jurrien Timmer, sets you up for your trading week with his amazing charts and insights.

[00:48:41] On Tuesday we check in with portfolio manager, Ramona Persaud, and what high quality investment opportunities are on her radar. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Emily Anonuevo.