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Analyst Report: Brighthouse Financial Inc
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I had originally planned to focus exclusively on that book but ended up on a related project on my own site, which involved asking more than a dozen financial advisors on both sides of the border what they think of the 4% Rule and the tweaks Bengen covers in his follow-up book. The survey was conducted via LinkedIn and Featured.com, which has long supplied content for my site. You can see the complete set of responses on my blog, but at over 5,000 words, it’s a tad long for the space normally assigned to this Retired Money column.
Here, I focus on the most insightful comments and add a few thoughts of my own. Let’s jump right in.
Trusts and estates expert Andrew Izrailo, Senior Corporate and Fiduciary Manager for Astra Trust, recaps the basic thrust of the original 4% Rule:
“The 4% Rule, created by CFP Bill Bengen in the 1990s, remains one of the most referenced retirement withdrawal guidelines. It suggests withdrawing 4% of your portfolio in the first year of retirement and adjusting that amount for inflation each year. The idea was to provide a sustainable income stream for at least 30 years without depleting your savings.”
Bengen’s new book “revisits this concept using updated data and broader asset allocations,” summarizes Izrailo, “He now argues the safe withdrawal rate could rise to around 4.7%, supported by stronger market performance and portfolio diversification beyond the original stock-bond mix.”
Like many of the other retirement experts polled, Izraelo sees the 4% Rule as “a reliable starting point, but not a fixed rule.” The 4% guideline “offers structure for retirees who need clarity on how much to withdraw each year, but real-world conditions require flexibility.”
For American investors, Izrailo still begins with 4% as a baseline because “it remains simple and conservative. Then I evaluate three major factors before adjusting: market volatility, portfolio performance, and expected longevity.” For Canadian retirees, “I tend to start lower, around 3.5%, due to differences in taxation, mandatory RRIF withdrawal rules, and the impact of currency and inflation differences compared to U.S. portfolios.”
Toronto-based wealth advisor Matthew Ardrey of TriDelta Financial was not part of the Featured roundup but agreed with the general view that while a helpful starting point, the 4% Rule is only a guideline. “When I meet with a client, I don’t rely on the 4% rule at all,” said Ardrey, who has worked with clients for more than 25 years. “I’ve learned that rules of thumb—like the 4% rule—pale in comparison to the clarity and confidence that come from a well-crafted” and personalized financial plan. Such a plan should reflect each person’s unique circumstances, priorities, and goals, allowing them to build the right decumulation strategy for their situation.
“I would never want a broad guideline to stand in the way of someone taking their dream retirement vacation or helping their children purchase their first home,” he says. “Instead, I focus on creating a detailed plan that shows exactly how those goals can be achieved. And of course, life isn’t linear. A strong plan is something we can revisit and adjust as life changes, providing updated guidance to help keep retirement on track.”
After reading A Richer Retirement, tour operator Nassira Sennoune says Bengen succeeds in transforming “what was once seen as a strict withdrawal formula into a flexible approach that prioritizes experience, adaptability, and peace of mind … Bengen’s message is that Retirement should not revolve around fear or limitation. Instead, it should be about living fully within realistic financial boundaries. By adjusting withdrawals according to personal goals, market performance, and the natural flow of retirement years, retirees can enjoy their savings as a source of freedom rather than anxiety.”
Almost all the experts caution against taking a one-size-fits-all approach to the 4% Rule or its variants. Financial advisor and educator Winnie Sun, Executive Producer of ModernMom, has over 20 years working with clients. She starts with 4% as the baseline, then adjusts it based on actual client spending patterns and market conditions. “I had a couple last year who were terrified to spend more than their calculated 4%—even though their portfolio had grown 30%—and they were skipping vacations they’d dreamed about for decades. We bumped them to 5.5% for two years because the math worked and life is short: they finally took that trip to Italy. The biggest mistake I see isn’t about the percentage itself, it’s that people forget about tax efficiency in withdrawal sequencing.”
Oakville, Ontario-based insurance broker James Inwood says the 4% rule is “a decent guideline, but it’s not some magic number you can set and forget. I’ve watched people get into trouble because they didn’t account for medical bills, which are a real wild card here in Canada,” he shares. “I always tell people to build in a cash buffer and check in on that withdrawal rate every couple of years instead of just locking it in permanently.”
Bengen is now recommending a broader asset diversification to add in small percentages of international equities and small-cap stocks in addition to his historic investment portfolio of 50% U.S. large-cap stocks and 50% intermediate bonds, says attorney Lisa Cummings. “He claims with this broader diversification the safe withdrawal rate could now be up to 4.7% under the best-case scenario, 4.15% worst case.”
Today’s retirees have to deal with both rising inflation and longer lifespans, she adds, so she advises clients to have a two-year cash cushion in case of prolonged negative markets, and otherwise maintain a flexible annual withdrawal range ranging between 3.5 and 4.5%.
David Fritch, a CPA with 40 years of experience serving small business owners, stopped treating the 4% Rule as gospel once he noticed their retirement income rarely came from just traditional investment portfolios. “Most had business sale proceeds, real estate holdings, and irregular cash flows that made the 4% rule almost irrelevant.”
He also realized the sequence of withdrawals and which vehicles created the withdrawals were more important than mere annual percentages. “Forget the percentage and work backward from your actual monthly expenses, then layer in guaranteed income sources (Social Security, pensions, annuities) before touching portfolio money. Most of my retired clients ended up withdrawing 2–3% because they structured things right on the front end.”
Digital marketer Fred Z. Poritsky says late-career income career changes can radically affect retirement withdrawal math. The 4% rule assumes you’re done earning but “if you’re keeping one foot in the working world (consulting, part-time, passion projects that earn), you can probably push 5–6% in those active years since you’re adding income streams.”
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Jonathan Chevreau
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The results announced late Wednesday provided a pulse check on the frenzied spending on AI technology that has been fueling both the stock market and much of the overall economy since OpenAI released its ChatGPT three years ago.
Nvidia has been by far the biggest beneficiary of the run-up because its processors have become indispensable for building the AI factories that are needed to enable what’s supposed to be the most dramatic shift in technology since Apple released the iPhone in 2007. But in the past few weeks, there has been a rising tide of sentiment that the high expectations for AI may have become far too frothy, setting the stage for a jarring comedown that could be just as dramatic as the ascent that transformed Nvidia from a company worth less than $400 billion three years ago to one worth $4.5 trillion at the end of Wednesday’s trading.
Nvidia’s report for its fiscal third quarter covering the August-October period elicited a sigh of relief among those fretting about a worst-case scenario and could help reverse the recent downturn in the stock market.
“The market should belt out a heavy sigh, given the skittishness we have been experiencing,” said Sean O’Hara, president of the investment firm Pacer ETFs.
The company’s stock price gained more than 5% in Wednesday’s extended trading after the numbers came out. If the shares trade similarly Thursday, it could result in a one-day gain of about $230 billion in stockholder wealth.
Nvidia earned $31.9 billion, or $1.30 per share, a 65% increase from the same time last year, while revenue climbed 62% to $57 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had forecast earnings of $1.26 per share on revenue of $54.9 billion. What’s more, the Santa Clara, California, company predicted its revenue for the current quarter covering November-January will come in at about $65 billion, nearly $3 billion above analysts’ projections, in an indication that demand for its AI chips remains feverish.
The incoming orders for Nvidia’s top-of-the-line Blackwell chip are “off the charts,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a prepared statement that described the current market conditions as “a virtuous cycle.” In a conference call, Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Collette Kress said that by the end of next year the company will have sold about $500 billion in chips designed for AI factories within a 24-month span Kress also predicts trillions of dollars more will be spent by the end of the 2020s.
In a conference call preamble that has become like a State of the AI Market address, Huang seized the moment to push back against the skeptics who doubt his thesis that technology is at tipping point that will transform the world. “There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different,” Huang insisted while celebrating “depth and breadth” of Nvidia’s growth.
The upbeat results, optimistic commentary and ensuring reaction reflects the pivotal role that Nvidia is playing in the future direction of the economy — a position that Huang has leveraged to forge close ties with President Donald Trump, even as the White House wages a trade war that has inhibited the company’s ability to sell its chips in China’s fertile market.
Trump is increasingly counting on the tech sector and the development of artificial intelligence to deliver on his economic agenda. For all of Trump’s claims that his tariffs are generating new investments, much of that foreign capital is going to data centers for AI’s computing demands or the power facilities needed to run those data centers.
“Saying this is the most important stock in the world is an understatement,” Jay Woods, chief market strategist of investment bank Freedom Capital Markets, said of Nvidia.
The boom has been a boon for more than just Nvidia, which became the first company to eclipse a market value of $5 trillion a few weeks ago, before the recent bubble worries resulted in a more than 10% decline. As OpenAI and other Big Tech powerhouses snap up Nvidia’s chips to build their AI factories and invest in other services connected to the technology, their fortunes have also been soaring. Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Amazon all boast market values in the $2 trillion to $4 trillion range.

Numbers for its fourth quarter of 2025:
Grocery and drugstore retailer Metro Inc. was hit by costs related to problems at its frozen food distribution centre in Toronto in the fourth quarter, with financial impacts expected to continue into the first quarter. The company said operations at the facility resumed last week after it was shut down for almost two months, but the temporary closure cost it $22.5 million in Q4 as it reported slightly lower annual profits.
Metro chief executive Eric La Flèche said the company expects the distribution centre to be essentially back to normal by the end of December. “I want to thank all our teams who continue to execute our contingency plan to supply our stores, thereby minimizing the impact on our customers,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Metro was forced to stop work at the Toronto frozen food distribution centre on Sept. 12 due to an issue with its refrigeration system. It resumed operations on Nov. 10. La Flèche said on the call that a mechanical issue, not one related to automation, was responsible for the problems with the refrigeration system. He added that the company is currently working with insurers to confirm the amount it will be able to recover.
“Looking forward to Q1 of 2026, we estimate that the direct costs associated with the rental of temporary chilling equipment and with the execution of our contingency plan will impact our net earnings by approximately $15 million to $20 million,” chief financial officer Nicolas Amyot said on the company’s conference call Wednesday.
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The Canadian Press
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“There was a lag,” said Deierling, speaking in Toronto on Wednesday alongside other tech sector executives on the sidelines of the Cisco Connect conference. “All of a sudden I have all this bandwidth for the internet and the dot-com era, but now I actually need Amazon and Uber and Netflix and all of these other businesses.”
While those use cases did develop over time, Deierling said AI doesn’t have to wait decades. He said applications for software built on AI technology “already exist” and companies can take advantage of them right away.
“In the dot-com era, by the late 1990s, early 2000s, you started to see inventory build up … and people were shipping things that actually weren’t selling through. We don’t see that at all,” he said in an interview. “This stuff gets used as soon as it gets built.”
The hopeful outlook came just hours before the company reported its latest quarterly earnings Wednesday, potentially easing some analysts’ recent jitters. The company posted net income of US$31.9 billion for the third quarter, up from US$19.3 billion a year ago, while revenue rose 62%. Nvidia’s sales of the computing chipsets known as graphics processing units—which are used to help train powerful AI systems like the technology behind ChatGPT and image generators—surged beyond analysts’ expectations.
Nvidia, Wall Street’s largest stock which briefly topped US$5 trillion in value, has struggled this month, losing more than 10% on the S&P 500 as of Tuesday. As of late-morning Thursday, the stock was trading roughly 6% higher. Analysts have been closely watching the stock for potential indications of how the AI sector might continue to perform because other companies rely on Nvidia’s chips to ramp up their own AI efforts.
While stocks linked to AI have been surging for years, there have been mounting concerns that the outsized level of spending in the industry may not lead to as much profit as hoped. Other leaders in the sector also downplayed those worries at Wednesday’s conference. Francois Chadwick, chief financial officer for Toronto tech firm Cohere, likened demand for AI to a “constant drumbeat.”
“There is a real need,” said Chadwick in an interview, adding that in the early days of the internet, some tech companies were “building things that no one really even needed or wanted. Right now, there’s the demand, there is the need. Companies, enterprises, governments—everyone’s asking for this.”
That doesn’t mean all investment in AI is going to bear fruit, cautioned Tom Gillis, senior vice-president and general manager of infrastructure and security at Cisco. He said that with disruption of this scale, there “has to be winners and losers. Someone is going to be making a bet and doing something that turns out to be wrong,” said Gillis.
“But do I think there’s going to be some sort of retraction and like, ‘Oh, it turns out AI isn’t that useful?’ Just hop on to your chat interface and then you tell me … It’s really, really, really valuable and so I think it justifies a significant amount of capital to drive that change.”
A study released last month found just 8% of Canadian organizations qualify as “AI-ready.” The CiscoAI Readiness Index said nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in Canada plan to deploy AI agents and 34% expect them to work alongside employees within a year, but few have the secure infrastructure to sustain it. Those that are fully prepared are 50% more likely to see measurable value.
Deierling described Canada as “ahead on research and behind on deployment” when it comes to AI usage. “And I don’t understand why,” he said. “I mean, you have the core capacity, the people that understand this. You have all kinds of businesses that should benefit from this, and so I think it’s just a matter of will.”
But Deierling acknowledged that many companies remain fearful of AI. He said the key is to start out small, often focusing on internal use cases, rather than “risk your entire business on some AI that you may not understand how to implement.”
“Every company is ready to use AI, they just don’t know it,” he said. “The risk isn’t that high. Deploy something and start using it and what you’ll find is that there’s so much productivity gains that the demand will just completely drive the next generation.”
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The Canadian Press
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Forget index funds. Forget safe. The next wave of investors isn’t just chasing returns—they’re chasing stories, scarcity, and soul. These are the people trading spreadsheets for whiskey barrels, algorithms for aquifers, and blue chips for blue jeans. Sound crazy? In 2025, crazy is the new calculated.
The private market boom has cracked open opportunities once reserved for institutions and insiders. Platforms that fractionalize ownership—of everything from farmland to pre-IPO shares—are letting individuals invest in ways that are tangible, cultural, and yes, occasionally indulgent. Because in a world of attention economics and AI-driven sameness, the hottest portfolio is the one that looks nothing like anyone else’s.
Below are five “alternative alternatives” that actually make sense right now—because they’re backed by real scarcity, real demand, and real human fascination.
1. Whiskey casks and wine vaults
Private investments are literally aging like fine liquor. Platforms such as CaskX and Vint let you own barrels of bourbon or vintage Bordeaux stored in insured vaults. With global demand rising, annualized returns of 12–20 percent aren’t unheard of.
Investor play: Think of it as yield with flavor. Consider allocating 2–3 percent of your alt portfolio to tangible luxury—barrels, vintages, collectibles—that appreciate as culture changes and over time.
2. Farmland and water rights
The next frontier of investing isn’t digital—it’s agricultural. Private investors are scooping up U.S. farmland and water rights through platforms like AcreTrader and FarmTogether. Climate volatility and rising global demand are transforming farmland and water into essential long-term assets. The goal isn’t speculation, it’s steady yield, natural inflation protection, and alignment with a more sustainable economy—capitalism with conscience.
Investor play: Consider regions with long-term drought resilience—think Midwest grain belts and Texas aquifers. The play here is permanence, not hype.
3. Energy bottlenecks and data infrastructure
Energy is suddenly cool again. Private equity funds are flooding into AI data centers, battery storage, and power-grid modernization—the backbone of digital civilization. Think of it as real estate for electrons. Long-term contracts, stable cash flow, and massive AI demand make this the infrastructure boom no one’s joking about.
Investor play: Look for secondary funds or coinvestment platforms with exposure to clean power, digital infrastructure, and AI compute hubs. Yield meets innovation here.
4. Pre-IPO equity and secondary shares
The new insider edge. Once off limits to everyone but Silicon Valley elites, pre-IPO shares in companies like SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks are now tradable via Linqto, Hiive, and EquityZen. Risky? Sure. But get the timing right and you’re surfing the upside before Wall Street even notices.
Investor play: Start small and diversify across late-stage unicorns like those above with real revenue—not vaporware. The goal isn’t to gamble; it’s to front-run the IPO pipeline.
5. Cultural assets: Sneakers, streetwear and IP royalties
In 2025, culture is collateral. Platforms like Royalty Exchange and Rally let investors buy fractional shares of sneakers, songs, and streaming IP. That Travis Scott x Air Jordan or Taylor Swift hook isn’t just a vibe—it’s a digital bond with potential cash flow.
Investor play: Treat cultural assets like venture bets—most will stagnate, but the ones that pop can create outsized emotional and financial ROI.
The bottom line
If it sounds crazy but it’s making money, it’s not the future—it’s the market right now. The smartest money in my mind isn’t chasing Wall Street—it’s chasing scarcity, story, and subculture. Because in this economy, weird is the new diversified.
Investor play: I recommend a portfolio that blends 80 percent traditional assets with 20 percent passion and private exposure. That 20 percent is where wealth becomes personal and performance meets identity.
The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.
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Roy Dekel
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Users can make transactions, save, and earn rewards on their stablecoins without the volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies. Some experts even believe that stablecoins and other crypto technologies could compete with, and eventually even displace, today’s traditional payment systems.
Cryptocurrency exchanges allow users to make faster payments, pay low fees, and have better access to financial tools. For example, Coinbase has partnered with Shopify to accept USDC payments on select Shopify stores, giving users a convenient payment option that doesn’t rely on traditional banking networks.
Coinbase’s USDC Rewards show how finance is shifting to put consumers first. The platform focuses on customer success, using technology to help Canadians grow and manage their money.
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Here’s how it works: you earn 3.85% uncapped rewards* on your daily USDC balance, and the rewards you earn are deposited at the end of the week. Coinbase One members earn 4.25% automatically on their USDC holdings.
With USDC Rewards, you can enjoy more control over your money while being rewarded for your participation.
Higher potential returns come with risks. Stablecoins aren’t covered by CDIC insurance, which means your money isn’t protected like it is in a traditional bank account. The GENIUS Act provides a framework for U.S. financial regulation, and USDC already meets many existing crypto rules—but some risks remain.
If you prefer to play it safe, spreading your money across different accounts or investments can reduce risk. For others, USDC Rewards offers the chance to earn more than a regular savings account and be rewarded for your loyalty. You’ll also have full access to your funds, so you can sell, send, or convert stablecoins anytime without lock-ups.
For Canadians frustrated with low-yield savings accounts, Coinbase’s USDC Rewards program offers a compelling alternative. By paying rewards on USDC, it helps you earn competitive returns while keeping your money accessible—something that’s hard to find with traditional banks.
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Jessica Gibson
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When the time comes, RRSP, or registered retirement savings plan accounts, are converted to RRIF, or registered retirement income fund accounts, a change that needs to be made by the end of the year that you turn 71.
You can hold the same investments in a RRIF as you hold in an RRSP, but you won’t be able to continue making fresh contributions like you did before the conversion. Rather, the opposite will be the case. You are required to withdraw amounts based on your age every year, with the percentage rising as you get older. “It’s designed to be depleted throughout your lifetime. So I find that’s challenging for a lot of people,” Andrade says.
Part of the shift in retirement can be a change in the composition of your portfolio. Andrade said she typically takes a “bucketing” approach for clients when building a RRIF portfolio, with a portion set aside in something with no or very little risk that can be used for withdrawals. That way, if the overall market takes a downturn, clients aren’t forced to sell investments at a loss because they need the cash.
Andrade says having the available cash is important when you are depending on your investments to pay for your retirement. “I want to make sure the money is there when I need it and if the market performs poorly or there’s a downturn, you still have time to recover,” she says.
Withdrawals from an RRIF are considered taxable income. So even though the money may have come from capital gains or dividend income inside the RRIF, when you withdraw it, it’s taxed as income, making the planning of the withdrawals important.
There is no maximum to your RRIF withdrawals in any given year, but you may incur a significant tax hit if the amount is large and pushes you into a higher tax bracket. If a big withdrawal pushes your income high enough, you could also face clawbacks to your OAS.
Just because you are taking the money out of a RRIF account doesn’t mean you have to spend it. If you don’t need the money and have the contribution room, you can take the money and deposit it into a TFSA where it will grow, sheltered from tax.
Sandra Abdool, a regional financial planning consultant at RBC, says having money outside of your RRIF can help you avoid making big withdrawals and facing a large tax hit if you suddenly find yourself with a pricey home repair or needing to make big-ticket purchase like a new vehicle.
“How you weave this is very much specific to each client. It’s really going to depend on what are your sources, how much income do you need, what is your current tax bracket, and what is the tax bracket projected to be by the time you get to 71,” she says.
Abdool says you should be having conversations with your financial adviser well before retirement to ensure you are ready when the time comes. “By putting a plan in place, you’re going to be prepared knowing that the income you’re looking for will be there and you’ll have the peace of mind knowing how things are going to unfold in the future,” she said.
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The Canadian Press
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Revenue totalled US$4.15 billion, up from US$3.37 billion. On an adjusted basis, Barrick says it earned 58 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 30 cents per share a year ago.
Gold production in the quarter totalled 829,000 ounces, down from 943,000 ounces a year ago, while the company’s realized gold price rose to US$3,457 per ounce, up from US$2,494 per ounce a year ago. Copper production amounted to 55,000 tonnes, up from 48,000 tonnes a year ago, while Barrick’s realized copper price for the quarter was US$4.39 per pound, up from US$4.27 per pound in the same quarter last year.
Barrick increased its quarterly base dividend to 12.5 cents US per share from 10 cents US and declared an additional performance dividend for the quarter of five cents US per share for a total payment of 17.5 cents US per share.
In September, Barrick appointed Mark Hill to become interim president and CEO following the sudden departure of Mark Bristow from the top job. The company says it is working with an executive search firm to find a permanent president and CEO.
Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:
Oilsands producer MEG Energy Corp. says its profits fell during the third quarter. Net earnings for the period ended Sept. 30 amounted to $159 million, down from $167 million during the same period a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were flat year-over-year at 62 cents.
Revenue came in at $1.18 billion during the quarter, down from $1.27 billion during the same period last year. Production for the quarter reached a record of 108,166 barrels per day compared with 103,298 during the prior-year quarter.
Last week, shareholders in MEG Energy voted in favour of an $8.6-billion takeover by Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE) in a deal that is expected to close this month after a final court approval and other customary conditions.

Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:
Grocery and drugstore retailer Loblaw Cos. Ltd. reported its third-quarter profit and revenue rose compared with a year ago. The company behind Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart says it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $794 million or 66 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 4. The result compared with a profit of $777 million or 63 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the 16-week period totalled $19.40 billion, up from $18.54 billion a year earlier.
The company’s hard discount and Real Canadian Superstore banners outperformed its conventional stores as consumers continue to hunt for value, Loblaw said in a release. Food retail same-store sales were up two per cent, while drug retail same-store sales rose four per cent with pharmacy and health-care same-store sales growth of 5.9 per cent and a gain of 1.9 per cent for front store same-store sales.
RBC analyst Irene Nattel said in a note to clients it was “another solid quarter” for the company, however, same-store food sales and revenue was “a string bean shy of forecast.”
On an adjusted basis, Loblaw says its earned 69 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 62 cents per diluted share a year ago.

Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:
Manulife Financial Corp. reported $1.8 billion in net income attributed to shareholders during the third quarter, down slightly from $1.84 billion during the same period a year earlier. The insurer says adjusted earnings, or what it calls core earnings, came in at $2 billion compared with $1.83 billion during the prior year quarter.
Manulife CEO Phil Witherington says the company’s core earnings in Asia and Canada reached record levels. Core earnings for Manulife’s Asia segment came in at US$550 million, while core earnings for its Canada segment came in at $428 million.
Manulife’s earnings came as the company launched a new platform with the stated goal of helping people live longer and more financially secure lives, called the Longevity Institute. The company says it is committing $350 million to the platform through 2030.

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The Canadian Press
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