In 2025, economic transitions, housing pressures, and evolving investment habits reshaped how Canadians approach their daily financial decisions. In this episode of Smart Advice, Carissa Lucreziano brings together perspectives from guests across the series, with resilience remaining a defining theme.
[02:25] Carissa Lucreziano: “In order to build the resiliency of our country's economy, you have to think about things in the long term, and you also have to go with what we're good at, and what we are good at in this country is natural resources.”
[04:37] Andrew Grantham: “What we are seeing there is that this is still a buyer's market. There are still more sellers than there are buyers, and that is putting a little bit of a downward pressure on prices.”
[10:48] Michael Keaveney: “I think it's entirely appropriate and a good idea for children to learn that the money didn't fall out of the sky, that a plan was put together, a conscious choice was made, maybe even at the expense of other options, and as time goes on, the child can have an increasingly a voice in that plan.”
[18:02] Scott McGillivray: “The absolute number one investment right now in 2025 that someone can make is in themselves. This is the time to up your game.”
Carissa Lucreziano is a financial advice expert at CIBC, with extensive experience in wealth management, personal finance and strategic planning. Carissa specializes in guiding individuals through critical life transitions, including retirement, entrepreneurship and relationship changes, offering tailored solutions to help them achieve their financial goals with confidence. Her financial expertise enables her clients to build economic resilience and secure their futures.
Carissa is passionate about empowering Canadians to take control of their finances by providing clear, actionable advice that simplifies complex financial decisions. She is dedicated to fostering financial confidence, ensuring her clients can navigate challenges and milestones with clarity and success.
Connect with Carissa Lucreziano on LinkedIn.
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Carissa Lucreziano: Welcome to Smart Advice, a podcast connecting you with timely financial advice, investment strategies and economic trends, empowering you to make informed decisions about your money. I'm CIBC’s Financial Advice Expert, Carissa Lucreziano.
As we wrap up Season Three of the Smart Advice Podcast, we're taking a step back to spotlight the moments that truly defined the conversation. The ideas that changed how Canadians think about their money, their family, and their future.
This “Best Of” episode cuts through the headlines and connects the dots to the economic market and real estate realities, the opportunities with alternative investments, the mechanics of passing on wealth, and the finance-meets-health conversations that remind us why money planning is really life planning.
As I look back on season three, what stayed with me wasn't just the caliber of insights, but how our guests helped illuminate what Canadians are really navigating through today. And across every episode, a few themes emerged shaping how people are thinking about their financial decisions.
If there was one breakout theme this year, it was this: resilience wins. The biggest opportunities didn't come from anticipating the next rate move or next market swing. They came from building portfolios and plans that stand up in any environment.
The other was that macroeconomics matters, but your decisions matter more. The economy sets the backdrop. The real difference comes from how Canadians translate these dynamics into smart, timely choices that they can control.
And lastly, money decisions don't happen in a vacuum. And the most effective plans are the ones that reflect real families, real ambitions, and the emotional realities that shape every financial choice. When we talk about Canada's economy, it's easy to get caught up in the headlines. But we learned this season that the bigger picture is where the opportunity lives.
According to Vice Chair of CIBC Capital Markets, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, we're seeing a country with strengths that are uniquely ours, from natural resources to innovation hubs, and understanding that landscape sets the stage for everything that comes next.
Lisa Raitt: In order to build the resiliency of our country's economy, you have to think about things in the long term, and you also have to go with what we're good at. And what we are good at in this country is natural resources.
I'm unabashedly in favor of making sure that our forestry sectors, our mining sectors, yes, our oil and gas sectors, our agriculture, our fisheries, all of those, what we used to view as the old style industries, are the things that we do exceptionally well. And we hold, I would say, an advantage over the rest of the world.
I think what has happened in the time of Trump is: we realized that you can't continue on just accepting the United States growth as the growth that we're going to get, that we actually have to do some work ourselves. And I think it's a great thing, and it's an opportunity.
Carissa: While Lisa frames Canada's opportunities in an era of economic nationalism and points to a focus on sectors with comparative advantages, the industries that have long been the backbone of our economy, Andrew Grantham, Senior Economist at CIBC, has been tracking the housing market.
He distills how the Bank of Canada rate shifts and local market dynamics impact sediment in mortgage renewals and real estate decisions across the provinces. His perspective gives a practical sense of what this means for Canadians.
Andrew Grantham: There's just so many different housing markets in Canada. It's not just one market. And I think what we are seeing from the national basis are really being influenced by what we're seeing in kind of those large urban centers, as you suggested.
Some weakness still in the housing market in Ontario and BC. And basically, these are the markets that have the highest prices, still relative to people's incomes, and therefore you have to take on the highest mortgages generally to be able to get into that market.
And so even with the interest rate cuts that we have seen, what we are seeing in those two markets, and particularly when we talk about Toronto and Vancouver, rather than just Ontario and BC, what we're seeing there is that this is still a buyer's market. There are still more sellers than there are buyers, and that is putting a little bit of a downward pressure on prices.
Carissa: But the housing market is just one piece of the puzzle. At the same time, there's a wave of entrepreneurs infusing creativity and innovative technology into Canada's economy.
Iain Gallagher is the Managing Director and Head of Mid-Market Investment Banking at CIBC, and this season, he explains how this energy is driving growth across the country, and the opportunity Canadian business owners have now to plan for future succession.
Iain Gallagher: What we’re seeing now is that there's some younger companies that are bringing a technology angle to it, really harnessing digital information, beginning to use some AI in their business, and creating a whole different type of business around it, which is really driving profit margins, which ultimately is the goal of many entrepreneurs. So we're still finding that young people want to create businesses, start new things, or bring a different angle to it.
I think the other angle for Canada, which I find very interesting, and as an immigrant myself, we come across a huge amount of immigrant entrepreneurs coming into Canada, and it's been a real growth engine in that part of the economy. I think it comes from a lot of different reasons. I think immigrants come with a different viewpoint on the world. They have a slightly different take on how things are done. So they can sometimes bring that creativity. There's great value to what the immigrant community has brought to Canadian business and the Canadian entrepreneur landscape.
Carissa: This season, we learned more about how investing wisely is an integral component of building financial stability and growing future wealth. In my conversation with CIBC Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer, David Wong, he shares how to navigate markets without letting that short term noise, which can get pretty loud, drive your decisions.
Davide Wong: The shift in how people should be thinking of investing is in how they should think about the news, and whether it impacts their portfolios with the timeframe they actually have.
And I think April was a great reminder of why making reactive changes to portfolios is so dangerous. The S&P 500 started April at a level of 5,600, and it ended at close to 5,600. But during the peak pessimism that hit on April 8, the level got below 5000. And so investors that were tempted to bail on the market because of risk at that time? If they did that, they would have missed out on 11% return for the rest of the month.
So if you can build in diversification and have a fundamental trust in the assets you hold, and the return potential in them, you can sleep better at night, even if the short-term news is negative. So all of these things, I would say, would hopefully frame up how to think about things in the short term and the long term.
Carissa: And while markets might feel like a rollercoaster at times, there's a way to steady the ride. Aaron Young, CIBC's Executive Director and Head of Client Portfolio Management, debates why fixed income is in its golden age.
Aaron Young: I would say for any level of investor, you should have a portion of fixed income in your portfolio for diversification. And not diversification, such as a sector or holding a single stock versus other companies. It's diversification of where your risk and return comes from.
Generally speaking, fixed income offsets the risk and return you get from equities, especially in times of stress. So I definitely think it should have a place in everyone's portfolio. What it looks like depends on, obviously, client-specific risk profile, needs, etc. But at the end of the day, the underlying pillars of why you own fixed income are there.
So, protection of capital against the riskier parts of your portfolio, you're going to want it in there. You're going to be thankful it's in there at times when other parts of your portfolio are experiencing heightened levels of volatility, due to unknowns in the macroeconomic backdrop.
Carissa: With attractive yields and an important source of stability and income, it's important to consider fixed income allocation and bond laddering as a tool for cash flow needs, as well as balancing risk in your total investment portfolio.
This season, Managing Director at CIBC Asset Management, Meric Koksal, talks alternative investments moving mainstream. She explains why private equity, private credit, and real estate assets matter now, with the shift in declining IPOs and constant need for portfolio diversification. And provides perspective to look at the world of alternatives as a complement to traditional portfolios.
Meric Koksal: They are ideally for long-term investing. That's where you really reap the value of these investments. So, if you're talking about investing for your grandkids' future, being able to access this land of private investments for them, for higher returns over the long term, is very, very important.
The risk profile for these investments tend to be still on the higher end. Some of them will be rated as high risk, or some of them will be medium risk. So that's definitely an important consideration.
But also, when you're thinking about intergenerational wealth and a long-term time horizon, when you're talking about someone who's younger, we're also talking about, typically, a higher risk tolerance, because they're not going to need this money in the next 5 to 10 years.
So these products also are really ideal for those types of investments where you do have a little bit of a higher risk tolerance, from an investment perspective, as well as that longer-term investment horizon.
Carissa: Planning early for the next generation will make a difference in kick-starting savings for our kids' future. But more importantly, it's about shaping how young Canadians build a healthy relationship with money and create positive behaviors in personal financial management. CIBC Asset Management's Michael Keaveney shows us how giving kids a voice in financial decisions can teach them responsibility and even help build a more resilient Canadian economy over time.
Michael Keaveney: I think it's entirely appropriate and a good idea for children to learn that money didn't fall out of the sky. That a plan was put together, a conscious choice was made, maybe even at the expense of other options. And as time goes on, the child can increasingly have a voice in that plan. That seems to me to be very helpful to promote a sense of financial literacy. Involving them in that, I think, is very important.
So I am a fan of giving the child agency at the right time. There will be a time, for example, when they might even be able to make their own contribution to education savings. Maybe it's a high school job. Maybe it's a job they're holding down while they're at college or university. And it's possible to say to them, “Hey, the education savings are all taken care of. Don't worry about that. So the money you're earning from your own job is all for yourself.”
My personal opinion, and I respect it might actually not be everybody's take, is that that actually could be a missed opportunity to give the child a chance to make a financial contribution to an important goal that's intangible. Education is an intangible goal, and it does really, you know, require a lot of heavy lifting to make it real to them. But if we can sit down with them and talk to them about how this $100 that came to them in whatever form, maybe some of that should go to education, which we can agree upon is an important goal.
Carissa: And as family dynamics change and generations grow, the decisions around estate planning and timing of wealth transition can make a real difference to the lives and financial goals of our loved ones.
Richard Voss is the Director of Wealth Strategies at CIBC Private Wealth Management, and he explains why giving during your lifetime is an estate planning tool that is gaining a lot of traction and having a great impact.
Richard Voss: I would say that there's many factors involved with giving while you're living becoming much more common. Canadians are living longer, and because they are living longer, many times, they're transferring their wealth through their wills at a much older age. And so beneficiaries as well are inheriting too at a much later time, sometimes as much as 20 years later. In fact, I've actually seen some beneficiaries inheriting in their 70s.
And so the question then arises, could a gift have been more effective and valued if they had received it at an earlier age? And I would argue, the answer to that is a resounding ‘yes’. People have learned that gifting during their lifetime is a great way for them to support the rising generations, maybe with a home or their education, to start a business, to help them build the legacy for the next generation.
Carissa: So timing is everything when it comes to gifting and intergenerational wealth planning. And as we approach the year end, Managing Director of CIBC Tax and Estate Planning, Jamie Golombek, takes it a step further with some year-end tax considerations that are truly smart advice, giving your financial plan a boost for your family and the causes you care about.
Jamie Golombek: There are some practical things that one can do in the last few months of the year.
So opening up a first home savings account, if you're a first-time homebuyer, or if you want to help the kids or even grandkids once they're at least the age of majority, save towards a first home, putting in that $8,000 a year that you're allowed to do. Again, if you don't do it this year, then you've lost that opportunity until the following year. So that's something that one certainly might want to look at.
Another big one, of course, is charitable donations. The deadline is a hard deadline of December 31st to get those donations in there. Think of things like, with the markets on such a terror this year, are we going to reconsider the opportunity to make a charitable donation of appreciated marketable securities?
So if you've got you know stocks that have done really, really well, or mutual funds that have done really, really well this year, what you can do is transfer those in-kind to a registered charity, and then when you transfer it, you get a receipt, as long as you do it by December 31st for fair market value. And not only that, but you pay no capital gains tax on the appreciated gain as an incentive for giving it to charity.
Carissa: Whether it's balancing your investment portfolio, planning for the next generation, or making thoughtful choices and building your wealth, all of these decisions are about setting yourself and your family up for a stronger future. But even the smartest financial plans will be challenged if you're running on empty.
This season, we heard from CIBC’s Corporate Medical Director, Dr. Noah Levine, about how taking care of your health pays dividends for your mental and financial well-being.
Dr. Noah Levine: We as employees are typically spending a large portion of our waking hours in the workplace. Employers are in a position to make a positive impact on the health of the people in the organization. And organizations, in my experience, want to protect their most valuable resource, which is the group of people that they have working for them.
There's been a lot of time and money invested in finding them, and training them, and supporting them in the workplace. Enlightened employers recognize that work can impact the health of those prized employees. And also they recognize that facilitating the health and well-being of those employees helps to maximize people's performance in the workplace.
Carissa: And there's another layer to that, noticing your progress through small, consistent wins, the steady steps, the informed decisions, the habits that build momentum, one thoughtful decision at a time, guided by financial education and discipline, builds a stronger financial future.
Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Ipsos, Sean Simpson, explains why these moments of acknowledgement can matter more than we sometimes realize, and unveils the true ambitions of Canadians today.
Sean Simpson: Canadians are taking many steps to drive forward and achieve their ambitions. They tell us that their strategies include prioritizing tasks and managing time, utilizing all the resources they have available to them, and discussing goals with family and friends.
And one of the tickets to success that Canadians have shared with us is that those people who regularly celebrate their milestones, who are reviewing their goals, their ambitions, and then celebrate those small successes along the way, they're more likely to achieve their goals, and to stay on track, and then make progress towards achieving the next one.
And I think that's part of the balance, right? Yes, you have to have your head down and do what you need to do to achieve your ambitions, but if you can recognize that you're making progress along the way, it seems to keep people motivated. And as a result of being motivated, 61% are optimistic about what they're able to achieve in the future. Again, despite those challenges.
Carissa: And finally, if there's one thread running through everything we've talked about in Season Three of Smart Advice, it's growth. Scott McGillivray reminds us that the smartest investment you can make right now is in yourself. Learning, connecting, and preparing for new real estate investment opportunities can create a conduit to build personal wealth. And if you ask me, that's a perfect note to end the season on: full of possibility and ready for what comes next.
Scott McGillivray: The absolute number one investment right now in 2025 that someone can make is in themselves.
This is the time to up your game. This is the time to learn a new skill, make new relationships and connections, work with professionals, whether it's a trusted agent or an advisor. Like you need to sit down and have a good conversation, because this is the time to position yourself when that next opportunity presents itself, which is probably in the next six months, you're going to have a really lucrative opportunity in front of you. And if you don't know what to do about it, or you don't have the right team around you, someone else is going to take advantage of that.
Carissa: Thanks so much for tuning in to Season Three of Smart Advice. I'm Carissa Lucreziano. The takeaways from this season are simple: focus on decisions you can control, build resilience and keep moving forward. The small wins add up to real progress.
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