Happy June!

To all students graduating this month, we offer our congratulations and wish you success in whatever the future brings. It is an exciting time of year for many families.

In our own family, my middle daughter graduates from high school this year and has accepted her offer to attend the University of Guelph. Abbie is beyond excited, and we could not be more proud. Just one more to go.

This week, I wanted to share a few thoughts from Fidelity’s latest retirement study. Fidelity has commissioned this research annually, and this year marks the 21st edition. The study offers a useful snapshot of how Canadians are feeling about retirement, what they are worried about, and what seems to make the greatest difference in their confidence.

The full report is linked below, but a few themes stood out to us:

• Canadians remain reasonably resilient in their long-term outlook, even with ongoing market, inflation, and trade-related uncertainty.
• More Canadians are using AI and other digital tools to answer financial questions and improve their general understanding. These tools can be useful, but they do not replace personal advice, judgment, or context.
• Advisors continue to rank as one of the most trusted sources of retirement information. That is not surprising. Retirement planning is rarely about one isolated question. It is about coordinating investments, tax, cash flow, estate planning, family priorities, and risk.
• Canadians continue to express concern about government programs such as CPP and OAS. These programs are important and, for many people, form part of the foundation of retirement income. But they were never designed to be a complete retirement strategy on their own.
• The research also reinforces something we see regularly in practice: people who engage in financial planning tend to feel more confident and better prepared, regardless of the news cycle.
• One especially interesting finding is the growing trend of providing financial support to the next generation during one’s lifetime. Many families are thinking about this, but far fewer have had clear conversations about it.

For us, the most important takeaway is the value of having a written financial plan. Today, that plan may live in interactive software rather than in a printed binder, but the purpose is the same. A good plan does not eliminate uncertainty. It does, however, provide direction, context, and a framework for making better decisions over time.

That matters not only financially, but emotionally as well. Retirement planning is not just about whether the numbers work. It is also about understanding what kind of life you want to live, how you want to support your family, and how you want to use your resources with confidence.

We hope you enjoy the report: Fidelity Retirement Report 2026. We would be happy to discuss any aspect of it with you at our next meeting.

Have a great weekend,
Rob