Posthaste: COVID-19 has caused most Canadians to re-evaluate their priorities, CIBC poll says

Toronto’s Underground City Faces Bleak Future With Bankers MIA

Good morning!

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the lives of many Canadians over the past two years — and a majority have re-evaluated their priorities and are making significant life changes, according to a new Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce poll.

CIBC found that 67 per cent of Canadians have re-examined what matters most to them since the start of the pandemic in the winter of 2020, and another 67 per cent are looking to do so this year.

For some (17 per cent), that has included a change in employment. The top reasons among those who have changed or plan to change jobs include better pay (34 per cent) or benefits (25 per cent), the need for a change in life (24 per cent) or work (23 per cent), and a better work-life balance (22 per cent).

Other changes included moving to a new home (12 per cent) and getting a new pet (11 per cent). Remote work and schooling opened the door for many Canadians to move out of big cities in search of affordable housing over the past two years. More recently, higher mortgage rates and rental prices are continuing to force Canadians to relocate.

However, not everyone has been able to take the leap. CIBC found that almost half of Canadians (46 per cent) still want to make a big life change, but over half of those who would like to do so (55 per cent) are being held back by their finances.

Only about half (52 per cent) of Canadians believe that they will be able to achieve their list of big ambitions. Instead, a majority (75 per cent) have changed their focus to smaller, more practical goals.

Some of their goals for the next 12 months include travelling (36 per cent), a large purchase (13 per cent) and a change in employment (12 per cent).

“Many people used the pandemic as an opportunity to rethink their priorities,” Carissa Lucreziano, vice-president of CIBC Financial and Investment Advice, said in a press release. “But with the cost of living on the rise, it can be easy for Canadians to lose sight of long-term goals without the guidance of a professional to help keep them on track.”

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The bulk of Canadians (62 per cent) indicated that they are satisfied with the changes they have made thus far. At the same time, they acknowledged that there are still areas of their lives that could benefit from professional advice.

Those areas include investing (27 per cent), retirement planning (21 per cent), wills or estate planning (19 per cent), budgeting or saving (14 per cent) and paying down debt (14 per cent). Yet, less than a quarter (24 per cent) of Canadians are planning to meet with a financial advisor.

“Regardless of whether you’re focused on a short-term goal, like getting your post-pandemic spending back on track or planning for the future by investing in your retirement, a financial professional is here to help you feel confident and achieve your ambitions,” said Lucreziano.

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U.S. PRICE PRESSURES If the U.S. economy sneezes, Canada could catch a cold. That’s what economists are wary of as they look over this week’s U.S. consumer price index readings and consider how they might push the Bank of Canada to get tougher in its fight against inflation. While the growth of U.S. CPI slowed in August to an annualized pace of 8.3 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent in July, price pressures still clocked in hotter than economist expectations of 8.1 per cent. The release sent stocks plunging the most since 2020 and have prompted economists on both sides of the border to revise their rate-hike expectations for the rest of the year, with some predicting interest rates will move north of the four per cent mark. Read the full story by the Financial Post’s Stephanie Hughes. Photo by Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

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The global mountain of debt in U.S. dollar terms shrunk for the first time since 2018 as the greenback surged and major central banks boosted borrowing costs, according to the Institute of International Finance. Total debt decreased by about US$5.5 trillion to US$300 trillion in the second quarter, IIF data showed. While most of that drop occurred in developed economies, the U.S. and Canada ended up seeing an uptick in debt levels. The decline was more limited in emerging markets, where the ratio of debt to gross domestic product climbed. Read on for more details from Bloomberg.

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With many experts continuing to see rocky times ahead for the stock market, it might be time to look at dividend stocks for the rest of 2022. One prominent portfolio that’s heavy on dividend stocks belongs to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Our content partner MoneyWise lists three dividend stocks that occupy significant space in the foundation’s holdings.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Noella Ovid, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg.

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