The survey shows a clear revival in buying activity across major investment products. Half of mutual-fund investors purchased a fund in the past year — double 2024’s rate — while 62 per cent of ETF investors did the same, up from 41 per cent. (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images) · DANIEL SLIM via Getty Images
Canadian investors jumped back into the market this year, buoyed by falling interest rates and strong market performance, according to a national survey from the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA). The study found a sharp increase in mutual fund and ETF purchases even as many households say economic uncertainty has them investing more cautiously.
“I think part of it is declining interest rates and individuals having to kind of go up the risk scale to get returns,” Ian Bragg, SIMA’s vice-president of research and statistics, said in a media briefing. “So as yields on deposit products decrease, investors have to move to higher-risk products like bonds and even equities — but also there have been very strong market equity returns.”
The rebound comes as SIMA’s annual survey of Canadian investors, conducted by Pollara, captures a more complex investing landscape than in previous years — this edition is the first since the Investment Funds Institute of Canada rebranded as SIMA and expanded its mandate beyond mutual funds and ETFs.
The data show older, advice-reliant investors are staying the course with traditional portfolios, while younger and more confident investors are branching out through cheaper, tech-driven options.
About 40 per cent of investors look to finfluencers for product recommendation. That’s a pretty dramatic finding.Ian Bragg, SIMA’s vice-president of research and statistics
Eight in 10 investors make at least some investments through an advisor, and four in 10 rely entirely on one. The 2025 survey notes that, overall, mutual fund holders are the “most likely to rely on their advisor” for information. ETF investors — typically younger, claiming higher confidence around investing, and male — are far more likely to buy independently.
“We’ve seen more self-directed investing over time,” said Lesli Martin, Pollara’s senior vice-president. “That has definitely been trending upward.”
People who do have advisors tend to like them — 93 per cent say they trust their advisor and 84 per cent consider the advice worth the fees. Still, not everyone is on board: about 20 per cent of investors now buy all their investments on their own — a proportion that rises sharply among ETF and crypto holders. Thirty-eight per cent of investors now have an online or discount brokerage account, most using it monthly. Even there, 62 per cent still get at least some information from an advisor, showing Canadians are blending digital autonomy with traditional guidance.
Digital channels have an ever-expanding role in how Canadians learn about investing. Thirty-one per cent of investors now get at least some guidance from “finfluencers” — which the survey defines as “online sources that are not professionals but provide financial content” — and one in four have used Generative AI tools — both measured for the first time this year. The attraction is cost and accessibility: 47 per cent of finfluencer followers say they use them because the content is free, while 28 per cent find advisors too expensive.
SIMA plans further research into the trend. “About 40 per cent of investors look to finfluencers for product recommendations,” said Bragg. “That’s a pretty dramatic finding — it’s important for us to understand the quality of that advice.”
The survey shows a clear revival in buying activity across major investment products. Half of mutual-fund investors purchased a fund in the past year — double 2024’s rate — while 62 per cent of ETF investors did the same, up from 41 per cent. The share buying within the past two years also rose sharply for both groups.
The rebound in buying happened even as the survey’s overall sentiment leaned cautious. In fact, more investors reported they were investing less (32 per cent) than investing more (19 per cent) due to economic uncertainty. (Around half of investors say their investing activity hadn’t changed.) Crypto investors were the most bullish, the survey found, with 38 per cent saying they are investing more in the current economic climate.
The survey also examined Canadians who aren’t investing at all. Their reasons are familiar but revealing: 48 per cent say they don’t have enough money, 29 per cent cite a fear of losing money, and 25 per cent say they don’t know how to get started. Non-investors are more likely to be younger women, lower-income households, and new Canadians.
Martin says the barrier is often psychological rather than financial. “Some people just think, ‘It’s too hard, I don’t know how to do this,’ and they don’t even look into it,” she said.
John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on X @jmacf.
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