The CIO's View: What Changed, What Held, What's Next? | Chhad Aul

The CIO's View: What Changed, What Held, What's Next? | Chhad Aul

For 20 years, Canadian investors collected three free gifts they never paid for -- and the bill may finally be arriving. In this episode of Insight Is Capital, Pierre Daillie sits down with Chhad Aul, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at SLGI Asset Management, the team behind the Sun Life Global Investments Granite Target Date and Target Risk funds -- managing the retirement savings of millions of Canadians. In March 2026, Chhad published five major investment themes for the year. Then a war in the Middle East, a hawkish Fed pivot, and an AI reckoning hit all at once. In this conversation, he breaks down exactly what his process did when the playbook was stress-tested -- and what advisors and investors should be doing right now. You will learn why the US dollar tailwind that quietly boosted Canadian portfolios for two decades may be reversing, how a systematic, emotion-free investment process allowed the team to step into equity risk at the exact moment markets were most fearful, why AI is not in a bubble yet but the SaaS sector already had its reckoning, what the K-shaped economy means for your portfolio and why it keeps getting more extreme, why bonds failed as a hedge during the inflation shock and where they still earn their place, how commodities and real assets delivered when everything else sold off together, and why the shift to a multipolar world is creating the best international opportunity in a generation. Chhad also gives advisors three specific moves to prioritize if they are overweight US equities today, explains where passive investing still makes sense and where it does not, and reveals which of his five themes he would stake the rest of the decade on. Whether you manage portfolios professionally or are planning your own retirement, this is a conversation about how the rules of investing are changing -- and what to do about it. CHAPTERS 00:00 - The three free gifts Canadian investors never paid for 02:16 - Chhad Aul: From engineering and quant finance to CIO 06:49 - Five themes for 2026: What held, what broke, and what the process did next 09:18 - How to buy equities when everyone else is panicking 13:50 - AI's ROI moment: Hyperscaler capex, the SaaS reckoning, and picking winners 20:12 - Strategic vs. tactical: Holding AI exposure without chasing it 24:12 - Active vs. passive investing: Where fees are actually worth paying 26:28 - The K-shaped economy: What it means for markets and inequality 32:50 - When bonds fail: What the inflation shock revealed about diversification 38:25 - Fixed income today: The 7 to 10 year duration sweet spot 40:24 - Multipolar world: European defense, Canadian resources, Chinese robotics 45:34 - Is 60% US in your portfolio still neutral? What the math actually says 48:29 - Infrastructure vs. the AI data center trade: How to tell the difference 50:35 - Three moves advisors should make right now 53:58 - How to access SLGI: Granite Funds and portfolio construction services #InsightIsCapital #ChhadadAul #SLGIAssetManagement #SunLifeGlobalInvestments #GraniteFunds #CanadianInvesting #InvestingIn2026 #PortfolioStrategy #MultiAssetInvesting #ActiveManagement #AIInvesting #RealAssets #CommodityInvesting #InflationHedge #FixedIncome #KShapedEconomy #GlobalDiversification #EmergingMarkets #MultipolarWorld #EuropeanDefense #CanadianStocks #WealthManagement #RetirementPlanning #FinancialAdvisor #SystematicInvesting

From Wall Street Executive to Financial Thriller Novelist | Kristine Delano

She forgot to hang up the phone — and what she overheard about herself in that boardroom became the seed of a Wall Street thriller twenty years in the making. In this episode of Insight is Capital, Pierre Daillie sits down with Kristine Delano — Independent Board Trustee, fiction author, former Managing Director at Eaton Vance, and host of the We Talk Careers podcast (brought to you by Women in ETFs). After two decades inside Wall Street firms, where she helped win the first SEC approval on an active non-transparent ETF, Kristine walked away from the corner office and did the one thing nobody saw coming: she wrote a novel. Her debut financial thriller, The Lies We Trade, opens on the best day of a woman's career — ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange — right up until the person she trusts most begins taking it all apart. Kristine reveals how a neuroscience and engineering background became her career superpower, why "it's all active" when it comes to investing, and the visceral true story of the conference call she never hung up on — where she heard colleagues she trusted throw her under the bus. She unpacks the power imbalances hiding in every boardroom, the micro-expressions that tell you more than any agenda, imposter syndrome at the very top (including a moving story about the late Kathleen Moriarty, the "Queen of ETFs"), and the warning her novel carries for advisors and wealth professionals: process and trust aren't always enough. Plus, a first look at her second novel — two estranged sisters, a journalist and a Wall Street CEO, on a collision course of truth versus power. CHAPTERS 00:00 – Cold open: The executive who walked away 02:00 – Welcome, Kristine Delano 02:38 – From neuroscience and engineering to Wall Street 05:03 – Why thinking differently became her career edge 06:49 – Behavioral risk: the investor is the biggest risk 09:10 – Bicoastal career, family, and what advisors taught her 11:01 – Life after Wall Street: skiing, scuba, and board work 14:04 – The family emergency that changed everything 16:52 – The call she never hung up on: overhearing the truth 25:24 – Meredith: a protagonist who introduced herself 29:12 – Writing fraud and betrayal: invention vs. lived experience 32:04 – Kathleen Moriarty and imposter syndrome at the top 34:28 – We Talk Careers and amplifying voices in ETFs 37:22 – Power imbalances and micro-expressions in the boardroom 42:26 – The warning for advisors: when process and trust aren't enough 46:30 – Alter egos, courage, and the head of sales named Dave 49:34 – The second novel: two estranged sisters, truth vs. power 55:08 – Sisterhood, family strain, and writing what's real 01:01:08 – Where to find The Lies We Trade and We Talk Careers Find Kristine Delano The novel: The Lies We Trade [https://amzn.to/4y7Sp6D] Kristine Delano on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinedelano/] Kristine Delano's Website: KristineDelano.com [https://kristinedelano.com/] #KristineDelano #TheLiesWeTrade #FinancialThriller #WallStreet #WomenInFinance #WomenInETFs #ETFs #InsightIsCapital #BehavioralFinance #ImposterSyndrome #CareerAdvice #WealthManagement #FinancialAdvisors #BookTube #ThrillerBooks #CareerPivot #Leadership #PowerDynamics #FinanceBooks #Investing

The Folly of Trusting Your Own Mind With Money | Dr. Preet Banerjee

Why does doing more research make investors more confident in the wrong decision, why do warning labels often invite the very risk they're meant to prevent, and why might a friendlier robo-advisor actually produce worse investing behavior? In this episode of Insight is Capital™, Pierre Daillie sits down with Dr. Preet Banerjee — personal finance expert, founder of Money School, and Globe and Mail behavioural finance columnist, to unpack the psychological wiring beneath everyday investing decisions. From the "cue recall simulation loop" that distorts how investors remember their own portfolio returns, to research showing that useless new information makes people more confident (not more correct), to the counterintuitive finding that warning labels can make risky products more desirable, this conversation maps the gap between what investors think they're doing with their money and what's actually steering the wheel. Preet also explains why robo-advisors with more "human" interfaces see worse adherence to their own advice, how disclosure and judgement anxiety shape client behaviour, and why clients using ChatGPT before a meeting may end up valuing their advisor's guidance more, not less. CHAPTERS 00:00 Open: The Hidden Psychology of Money 01:26 Meet Dr. Preet Banerjee 01:58 Life in London and the Advisor App Store 07:23 From Neuroscience to Behavioral Finance: Preet's Path 12:48 The Confidence Trap: Why More Research Backfires 18:40 Red Teaming Your Own Investment Decisions 20:26 Why You Misremember Your Portfolio's Past Performance 23:05 DIY Investing vs. Evidence-Based Strategies 26:42 Loss Aversion and the Scars of Your First Market Crash 28:42 Journaling as a Behavioral Antidote 32:11 The Parental Advisory Effect: Why Warnings Backfire 37:59 Could an Investment Literacy Test Protect DIY Investors? 40:15 The Regulatory Tightrope Between Risk and Access 42:16 Sports Betting, Retirement Savings, and Cautionary Data 44:28 The Robo-Advisor Paradox: Warmer Interfaces, Worse Behavior 45:59 Disclosure Anxiety, Judgment Anxiety, and Advisor Trust 49:31 Why Personal Finance Is 90% Psychology 51:30 The Dark Side of Investing Democratization 53:49 The Dalbar Study and the Behavior Gap 54:11 ChatGPT, Advisors, and the Future of Financial Advice 58:25 Closing Thoughts #BehavioralFinance #InvestorPsychology #PersonalFinance #InvestingTips #WealthManagement #FinancialAdvisor #PreetBanerjee #InsightIsCapital #DIYInvesting #RoboAdvisor #FinTech #InvestingMindset #MoneyPsychology #FinancialLiteracy #StockMarket #BehaviorGap

Animal Spirits vs. The Seasonal Rotation Calendar | Brooke Thackray

The seasonal clock is ticking — and if history is any guide, the market's most dangerous months are still ahead. In this episode of Insight Is Capital, host Pierre Daillie sits down with Brooke Thackray, Research Analyst at Global X and author of the long-running Thackray Newsletter, for a wide-ranging conversation about what the seasonal calendar is telling us right now — and why the market's gravity-defying melt-up may be masking a set of risks that most investors aren't pricing in. From the FOMO-fuelled rally that erased April's war-driven selloff, to the eerie parallels between today's AI trade and the late-1990s internet bubble, Brooke and Pierre explore the architecture of the current market: who's driving it, what's being ignored, and where the seasonal patterns are pointing for the second half of 2026. The conversation covers the narrowing breadth behind the S&P 500's new highs, the invisible commodity bottlenecks quietly threatening semiconductor production, and the emerging rotation opportunities in gold, Canadian banks, and resource sectors that few investors are discussing. Whether you're managing a portfolio, planning for retirement, or simply trying to make sense of a market that seems to shrug off every risk, this episode offers a grounded, historically-informed perspective on what comes next — and when. Episode Chapters 0:00 — Introduction: Markets don't move in straight lines, but they do move in patterns 1:45 — SpaceX IPO day, the AI narrative, and the anatomy of a melt-up 4:30 — How seasonal patterns set up April's explosive rally — and what was missed 6:00 — The invisible supply shock: helium, tungsten hexafluoride, and semiconductor risk 8:00 — Sell in May didn't work — why FOMO overrides seasonality in the short term 10:00 — Ten stocks driving the index: what market narrowness really signals 13:00 — Tracking money flows: how to tell if investors are rotating or leaving entirely 15:00 — The fragility of a narrow market and what historically breaks melt-ups 21:00 — Cisco, Nortel, and One Cent Cisco: the late-90s earnings playbook and its modern echo 24:00 — Utilities, nuclear, data center buildout, and the Gartner hype cycle applied to AI 32:00 — The dead zone: August–September as the two weakest months on the seasonal calendar 33:00 — Semiconductors, South Korea, NVIDIA earnings, and what could flip the trade 38:00 — Supply chain lessons from COVID: why shortages don't heal with a flick of a switch 41:00 — Uranium, silver, copper: the commodity super-cycle quietly building beneath the AI wave 45:00 — Gold, Canadian banks, and healthcare: where seasonal inflection points are setting up now 50:00 — Why gold doesn't trade on geopolitical risk — and what it actually trades on 53:00 — The Fed's stealth QE, Kevin Warsh's debut, stagflation risk, and the M2 expansion 57:00 — Canadian banks: why foreign investors are buying what domestic investors are ignoring 1:01:00 — HAC ETF: how the Global X Seasonal Rotation Fund puts these principles to work #SeasonalInvesting #StockMarket2026 #BrookeThackray #GlobalXETFs #HACETF #MarketSeasonality #InvestingStrategy #GoldOutlook #Semiconductors #AIStocks #NVIDIA #SpaceXIPO #CommoditySuperCycle #UraniumStocks #SilverDemand #CopperShortage #CanadianBanks #RetirementInvesting #SequenceOfReturnRisk #MarketBreadth #FOMORally #SellInMay #FedPolicy #Stagflation #InsightIsCapital #AdvisorAnalyst #ETFInvesting #WealthManagement #InvestmentPodcast #FinancePodcast

David Varadi: The Early Years of Retirement Are The Most Dangerous

Every retiree gets exactly one shot at one sequence of returns — and the first five years can quietly cost you more than half your lifetime portfolio. In this episode of Insight is Capital, host Pierre Daillie sits down with David Varadi, MBA, CFA, instructor of Personal Finance and Investments at the Schulich School of Business at York University, to unpack one of the most underestimated risks in retirement planning: sequence of returns risk. Drawing on a career that spans RBC, Macquarie, Flexible Plan Investments, QuantX, and now academia, Varadi introduces the concept of the "sequence tax" — the measurable gap between what the market returns and what a retiree actually realizes after withdrawals. He explains why poor returns in the first five to ten years of retirement can permanently impair a portfolio in ways that bull markets later cannot repair, and walks through practical levers advisors can use to defend against it, including bond ladders, dynamic withdrawal cuts, trend-following overlays, and diversification beyond the traditional 60/40 mix. The conversation moves into the four economic regimes, why long-duration treasuries, energy, utilities, and managed futures each play a distinct hedging role, and how capital efficiency — using leveraged or portable-alpha structures to free up liquidity — can help underfunded clients diversify into annuities, tontines, and real assets without taking on a purely speculative, all-equity gamble. Varadi closes with a call for advisors to calculate every client's required rate of return and shortfall risk, rather than relying on risk tolerance alone, to determine whether a retirement plan is actually safe versus merely comfortable. Timestamped Chapters 00:00 — Introduction: the sequence tax and why order matters more than average return 02:00 — David Varadi's career arc: RBC, Macquarie, Flexible Plan, QuantX, and teaching at Schulich 06:00 — Why decumulation is the industry's biggest blind spot and top advisor anxiety 08:00 — What sequence of returns risk actually is and how the "sequence tax" is calculated 10:00 — Selling shares in a down market: cannibalizing the portfolio and the math of recovery 13:00 — The first five and ten years: 53% and 80% of lifetime sequence damage explained 14:00 — Levers for protection: liquidity buffers, cutting withdrawals, trend following, bond ladders 16:00 — The trade-offs of holding bonds early in retirement 24:00 — Replacing traditional fixed income with convexity: managed futures and the four market regimes 26:00 — Best hedges for long-duration bonds: energy, utilities, and commodities 28:00 — Real assets and inflation protection: pipelines, infrastructure, and rate-linked cash flows 30:00 — Managed futures as a "utility player" across market regimes 32:00 — Capital efficiency for underfunded clients: solving multiple risks with the same dollar 35:00 — X-raying the 60/40 portfolio: why it behaves like 90% equity risk 38:00 — The danger of mistaking the need for diversification as a need for more risk 48:00 — Building the floor: bonds, annuities, and tontines for funded versus underfunded clients 54:00 — Practical capital-efficiency examples: leveraged ETFs, covered calls, and portable alpha 1:01:00 — Calculating the retirement required rate of return and the conservative-client mismatch 1:02:00 — Shortfall risk versus standard deviation: optimizing for retirement survival 1:04:00 — Closing thoughts and a look ahead to capital efficiency in depth #SequenceOfReturnsRisk #RetirementPlanning #DecumulationStrategy #RetirementIncome #FinancialAdvisor #PersonalFinance #PortfolioConstruction #CapitalEfficiency #ManagedFutures #RetirementSavings #WealthManagement #InvestingForRetirement #FinancialPlanning #InsightIsCapital #SchulichSchoolOfBusiness #RetirementRiskManagement #AssetAllocation #FixedIncomeStrategy #AnnuitiesVsTontines #FinanceEducation