Inside the Minds of Canadian Investors: Survey Findings Every Advisor Should Know with Sam Febbraro

Sam Febbraro: [00:00:00] Investors are less concerned with performance alone, and they’re more focused on resilience in the face of global uncertainty. We talked a little bit about, uh, inflation and tariffs and political instability. Um, one of the reports that we have obviously, uh, is demonstrating the difference between, uh, and moving from scarcity to, uh, precarity.

And, uh, those are two different states of mind, uh, that we have to consider. When you think of scarcity, it’s about immediate needs. Uh, precarity is about systematic stability and the future scarcity is about asking, uh, will there be enough? Precarity is asking, will we be okay? And scarcity is about spending less.

Uh, precarity is about spending differently, and I think advisors need to make sure they focus on the client’s financial plan. Update the client’s investment objectives. Uh, making sure to your point, uh, that their knowledge and comfort, uh, is where it needs to be. If you need to bridge that confusion, [00:01:00] we need to do so.

Pierre Daillie: Hello and welcome back to Insight Is Capital. I’m your host Pierre Daley, and today I’m joined by Sam Febbraro from Canada Life. Just as fresh insights land from a major new survey commissioned by Canada Life and conducted by Abacus Data, the July, 2025 report dives into how Canadians really feel about mutual funds and segregated funds.

Sam is here to help us unpack what all of this means for advisors on the front lines and for the investors they serve. As Senior Vice President of Wealth Solutions at Canada Life and President and CEO at Canada Life Investment Management, Sam leads the charge in shaping the firm’s wealth strategy from the ground up.

He has spent years championing advisor empowerment, designing solutions that put client needs first, and navigating a fast changing investment landscape. [00:02:00] Whether it’s product design, client experience, or advisor enablement, Sam has a unique vantage point and a clear pulse on what’s shifting in Canadian wealth management.

Announcer: This is Insight is capital. Join us in our fireside chats with some of the most fascinating people in finance to discuss their insights on life, markets, macro, investment strategy, and much more.

Pierre Daillie: Sam, welcome. It is great to have this chance to talk to you. Thank you so much for joining us.

Sam Febbraro: Oh Pierre, thank you very much for having me. This is wonderful.

Pierre Daillie: Really looking forward to our conversation. Thank you again. The Abacus Data Survey, you commissioned; It is packed with revealing data about what drives investor satisfaction, where confidence breaks down, and how advisors can better meet evolving client needs.

It shows 63% of mutual fund investors [00:03:00] are satisfied, but only 43% believe their investments will actually meet their long-term goals. How can advisors help close this gap?

Sam Febbraro: Yeah, Pierre, that’s a, a great question and I think it’s something that advisors need to consider. And, and one of the things I’ll just share right off the top is that we’re finding that today’s investors are, are navigating more than just the markets.

Uh, they’re trying to navigate some of the uncertainty that’s unfolding. So when you think about things like inflation, which is rising costs, you hear global instability with the word, just the word tariffs, uh, and uh, the unknowns that are reshaping Canadians and how they think about money. Even those who are financially active still feel a little bit vulnerable.

And it’s not even about how much they have, but how secure they feel. And I think in this environment, trust isn’t built on return alone. It’s earned by helping people feel safe. Supported and prepared no matter what comes next. And I think advisors need to consider not [00:04:00] only ROI return on investment, but I think it’s also important to look at things like return on life ROL.

And I think that will be a vantage point that a lot of advisors will, will benefit from.

Pierre Daillie: Interesting. I, I mean, seg funds, uh, you know, solve so many important problems. And I sometimes feel, you know, having had a lot of conversations over time that. A lot of advisors maybe don’t fully understand how they work.

Uh, investors might not understand how they work. And but, but what’s interesting about your survey, about the survey is that seg fund holders report even higher satisfaction and confidence across the board. What is it that they’re responding to and how should advisors. Think about incorporating SEG funds into more client conversations.

Sam Febbraro: Yeah, it, this is the value of advice is one of the things that, we’ll, I’m sure we’re gonna talk a little bit more about, uh, in a moment. But this is where financial advisors can identify those [00:05:00] opportunities. And I think segregated funds offer what many investors may be looking for right now, which is they still need to grow.

They need to grow their capital, but they perhaps want some guardrails. Pier, and I think about this kind of like the, the children who go to the bowling alley. Um, and you put those guardrails up so the ball doesn’t go into the gutter. Well, this is, I think, where Canada Life’s Segregated Fund lineup is built to meet this demand, uh, clear guarantees, uh, protection features.

Uh, it’s designed for the client first. And when I think of some of those examples, and, and we’ll start maybe with the. The guaranteed savings protection. This is where maturity and death benefit guarantees help shield, uh, the client’s contributions for perhaps, uh, market downturns. When you think of some of the other features like guaranteed resets, this is an optional death benefit guarantee reset that locks in your client’s investment growth each year when markets are favorable.

So you keep creating a, a higher bar. And I also think, uh, for small business [00:06:00] owners, Pierre, there’s potential creditor protection. This is where the segregated fund policies are generally protected from creditors. And then the last area I’m gonna just suggest is the simplified estate, uh, planning. Uh, and this is where, for example, money goes directly to beneficiaries, bypassing some of the expensive and time consuming estate settlement.

Um, and it also can keeps things, uh, and the details very private. So I think that’s important. The last side, I’ll just say on this PR is sometimes when parents are thinking about how they, uh, can issue some of this, um, money to their beneficiaries, um, there may be a time where you might have a child who is very mature and, and they know what they need and they need a lump sum payment.

You can do that. There may be another beneficiary where maybe they’re not very good at managing their money and you can annuitize the, the payment out. And I think, I think those are some of the factors that are. At play. Um, I’ll say this one, uh, one last item. I think what’s [00:07:00] driving it, there’s also a changing demographic landscape within Canada, and I think there’s persistent market volatility and economic uncertainty.

And with that, uh, aging affluent investor, while transfer is always on their mind, and, and I’ll also add the fact that, um, holistic financial advisors. Have to have all of the tools in the tool chest to try and solve client problems. And this will be amplified where we have intergenerational wealth transfer, where Canadian households are expected to transfer about 1.2 trillion, uh, from one generation to the next by about 2032.

That’s not, that’s not 10 years from now or 20 years from now. That’s within, you know, the next, uh, seven to eight years.

Pierre Daillie: Right, and the, the tax treatment is also substantially better. If you’re looking at estate taxes, among those not yet investing, the big barriers are the lack of knowledge, the fear of risk, confusion on where [00:08:00] to start.

How do we fix that? What role can advisors play in making investing more accessible and less intimidating?

Sam Febbraro: Yeah, that’s, that’s, uh, definitely part of the financial advisor’s role. They, they tend to act as, uh, the chief financial officer of a family. And one of the things that we’re recognizing, to your point, Pierre, is that knowledge and confidence gaps, uh, are creating some of that hesitation.

There’s the lack of knowledge about how they work, concerns about risk or potential loss of money. Uh, there there are questions about, am I saving for other goals? How do I prioritize some of the investing? What about. Fees and how does that work? Right? And, and what type of investment, uh, they should be looking at.

Um, I think what Canadians need is clear personalized education, and the, the research is telling us this, uh, about 52% would love to hear. An explanation of risk and return. 48% are [00:09:00] looking for information on fees and, and charges. I think 35% are looking for an overview of how it aligns with their financial goals.

Um, and then the list goes on. There’s other for, it’s like. Details on the protection and the guarantees that are offered, uh, for segregated funds. There’s, uh, questions about comparisons with other investment options, and that’s absolutely appropriate given the investment objective of the client. Um, there may be different strategies that may apply, uh, to different needs and wants.

Pierre Daillie: Now, as a former advisor myself and listening to, um, what you’re just saying, you know, I can’t help thinking that there was probably. Dozens and dozens of times, if not more, where, you know, I was sitting there in front of a client and explaining things to them without considering their financial literacy, and they’re on the other side of that conversation [00:10:00] thinking, you know, I don’t want to ask a stupid question.

Because I don’t wanna sound stupid. Right, right. And so, so maybe the key, very simply, the key is to, you know, for advisors meeting initially with clients at the very outset of a relationship, opening up the relationship and getting to know each other. Maybe the, the key is just to slow down as opposed to jumping right into, you know, some of the very simple, like very bo baseline topics that you just brought up.

That, that, you know, like explain risk and return or risk and reward to me, um, you know, we throw these words around so easily. Oh, the risk reward on that, on that asset, you know, management strategy is X and, and you know, we know what that means, but the client is looking like, okay.

Sam Febbraro: Right, right. And Pierre, how many times in, in our industry do you, we even use acronyms, nevermind some of these words that we tend to throw around.

Absolutely.

Pierre Daillie: It’s, it’s amazing to, [00:11:00] to, to, to hear it. Financial literacy is a whole other subject that, that requires more time, more patience on the part of the advisor to get through and to ask questions to make it easier for the client to be fearless about asking their most basic questions. Right? The data in the survey suggests that fee satisfaction is lower, um, just 55%, but.

Oddly enough, only 9% say they’re actively concerned. This is a subject of great discussion in the industry and with CRM three coming up as well. Right. In the, uh, upcoming year, how should advisors be talking about fees today, especially, uh, in the context of, of value, like you mentioned, value of advice, service, uh, as well as protection.

Sam Febbraro: Yeah, I, I, I think this is a, a very important topic and transparency always wins. At the end of the day, Pierre, I think in the absence of value, price is an issue, and if [00:12:00] you’re not providing that value right, then the price will be questioned. I think financial advisors should focus on the value of advice as we, we just talked about, especially for affluent and high net worth, uh, clients.

I think business owners appreciate it. Complex family relationships absolutely needs some of that transparency and some of the value of the advice that the advisors can bring. It’s obviously very prevalent among people who are nearing retirement who need to know if they have enough for the next chapter in their lives.

And so the research shows that Canadians want peace of mind. That’s kind of what they’re paying for. Uh, they, it’s not just about the performance or the fees. And I think what Candle Life has done is, um, we. We’ve been in this space for decades and it’s well positioned to help advisors deliver both. So, especially for clients nearing retirement and seeking some of the long-term security, you could argue how does anyone put value, uh, or a price tag on that?

And those are things that, um, I hope [00:13:00] advisors remain very confident, uh, to share, uh, what the, what the fees are and, and how it works. Um. We make tremendous impact, uh, in families and their lives and, and how we support them.

Pierre Daillie: And, you know, it, it’s, it’s a time, this is probably one of the great times in history to be an investor, but it’s an even greater time to be an advisor and, and the value of advice, oddly enough, the value of advice is.

Underrepresented by advisors and over and over recognized by investors. And, and so if advisors make, I think if advisors make a bigger effort to delve into all of the non-investment areas of, of their work, the financial planning, estate [00:14:00] planning, tax planning for starters, um. They can really solidify their relationship with their client in terms of, of providing that holistic advice that you mentioned.

Yeah. And, and, and, you know, having the client understand that, you know, that’s what I’m paying for, not, not the fees for the funds, not the, not the, uh, you know, if it’s a fee-based advisor, I’m not just paying for his time. There. There’s a compounded knowledge that needs to be. Stressed, you know, I’ve been at this, I’ve got the infrastructure of my firm behind me.

We have estate planning specialists, we have insurance specialists. We have, we have all these different specialists that, that we can bring in to sit at your council and, and provide you with this added value. That’s what, that’s what it amounts to. And I think that will also help advisors, you know, CM three.

Is this overwhelming [00:15:00] regulatory, you know, overarching thing that’s coming in 2026, but advisors have a clear opportunity to, to get in front of it and, and really. Outline in detail to their clients, the value that they bring to the relationship. And it’s not just about, you know, we’re gonna beat the market.

We’re gonna, yeah, we’re gonna build you a beautiful portfolio. It’s about why we’re gonna build you a beautiful portfolio and why we’re going to sit down with you every. Every, you know, so often, every quarter, every, every half of the year, and go over your plan and see how we’re progressing and, and you know, how you feel about things.

Answer any of your unanswered questions, um, you know, and, and be available to you. I think that’s.

Sam Febbraro: Pierre, I think you’re, you’re, you’ve said it best. Uh, there are 65 life transitions in anyone’s, uh, life from cradle to grave. I can’t think of another profession, uh, that worries about all 65, uh, [00:16:00] transitions.

And to your point, it could include investments, state planning, tax planning, uh, partnering. With advisors to make sure that they can provide that, what I call a board of directors of specialists, where they need to bring them in. Uh, and you can’t just do that on an investment strategy. I think it has to be far more holistic.

Pierre Daillie: Absolutely. Now finally, Sam, the report also makes something abundantly clear, and that’s that investors today crave control. They crave safety, and they crave purpose. You know, the, those, those are are also I think from the advisor’s standpoint. Might be under underrepresented or under recognized. So how should, how do you think advisors should evolve their pitch and their approach to meet this deeper emotional need?

Sam Febbraro: Yeah, I, and I think this is, this is going back to the point where I think investors are less concerned with performance alone, [00:17:00] and they’re more focused on resilience in the face of global and. Uncertainty. We talked a little bit about, uh, inflation and tariffs and political instability. Um, one of the reports that we have obviously, uh, is demonstrating the difference between, uh, and moving from scarcity to, uh, precarity.

And, uh, those are two different states of bind, uh, that we have to consider. So when you think of scarcity, it’s about immediate needs. Uh, precarity is about systematic stability in the future. Scarcity is about asking, uh, will there be enough? Precarity is asking, will we be okay? And scarcity is about spending less.

Uh, precarity is about spending differently, and I think advisors need to make sure they focus on the client’s financial plan. Update the client’s investment objectives. Uh, making sure to your point, uh, that their knowledge and comfort, uh, is where it needs to be. If you need to bridge that [00:18:00] confusion, we need to do so.

Time horizon is another important requirement from a suitability perspective. And at the end of the day, risk tolerance. And it has to make, uh, meet their, their short and long-term goals. And I think the, the financial advisors are well positioned for that.

Pierre Daillie: Certainly I, I think, I think you mentioned that, that, you know, risk, you mentioned risk tolerance.

That’s another one of those questions, you know, what is your risk tolerance? You know, it makes me chuckle because, because that’s such a, such an abstract. Construct. I mean, you know, what, what does that mean? Like, what, what are you, what are you asking me? Like, how do I wanna lose money? How, how, how much, how much loss can I withstand?

And, and I think, I think that’s also very puzzling to investors, um, you know, who aren’t. Obviously aren’t professional investors. The lay person is not going to understand it does, doesn’t usually understand what that risk tolerance question actually [00:19:00] means. That’s right. This year of this, this year in particular, you know.

It’s one thing to have economic and exogenous events like, like, you know, the, the conflict in the Middle East and things like that affect or affect the way you think about markets. But when something is, is, is, um, you know, this year presented existential threats to the way of life in Canada. And, and so the, the re the emotional reaction was, was visceral.

I mean, people got angry. They were fearful of, of, of, you know, what does this mean? You know, how is this gonna change our lives? We’re gonna, are we, you know, does this mean, you know, jobs are gonna evaporate. Um, you know, and of course it has moderated and we’ve adjusted to it, but there’s still this element of uncertainty that, that advisors can go a very long way to addressing.

As well in addition to all the normal stuff that goes on in, you know, [00:20:00] the normal risks of the market, the normal volatility of equities or bonds, the normal vol, you know, the normal volatility of life. Um. This just added another wrench in the works that, that we have to work our way through and, and we still don’t really know, but, but a reassuring voice about what actually matters and how to prepare for, for, for what may come is, is the key.

And that’s where the advisor comes in.

Sam Febbraro: I think you’re right, Pierre. Yeah. As I said in the beginning of our discussion, today’s investors are navigating more than just the markets. They’re navigating the uncertainty. But I can say in every decade there’s always been something. Uh, right now we’re talking about trading trade wars, and a few years ago it was COVID.

Uh, there’s always something that we have to navigate through.

Pierre Daillie: Yeah, this too shall pass and we’ll adjust and find our way through and, and, and prepare for, for, you know, the unknown unknowns. Um, Sam, any parting thoughts? I, I,

Sam Febbraro: I think, uh, a parting thought [00:21:00] I would like to share with financial advisors is to never forget the value that they bring, uh, to Canadians.

Uh, each day. I, I know there are other, uh, financial professionals and legal professionals that are in the industry, but financial advisors have a very important role. As I said, they are, I see them as Chief Financial officers of the family unit. Uh, they are members of their family, board of directors and bringing in specialists.

They are quarterbacks, uh, and sometimes general managers and hire the quarterbacks, uh, to bring them in and, uh, they can never lose sight of the value of advice, and I think that’s very important.

Pierre Daillie: Wonderful. Sam. Sam, thank you. So much. It’s been, it’s been great to meet you and great to chat with you today.

Thank you for your incredibly valuable time and insight.

Sam Febbraro: Well, thank you very much, [00:22:00] Pierre.