Rory Mitz, Senior Vice President & Head, CIBC Imperial Service, has more than 30 years of experience advising Canadians on their personal finances. He talks about the biggest money mistakes he sees, what AI can and can't do when it comes to personal finances, and when it makes sense to get a financial advisor.
The Peak: To be blunt, if you ask younger people about financial advisors, many think, "Why would I need one when I can just Google it or ask Claude?" But it’s true that even people who grew up on the internet now are often earning more or have more financial complexity to deal with. So what is the right time to get a financial advisor if you’ve grown up with the internet and are comfortable doing your own research?
Roy: It's a good question, and we talk about it all the time. The most important thing is that clients don't have to wait until they reach every asset milestone before starting a planning relationship. What you're describing is what I call the "missing middle" in advice: Canadians whose income or financial responsibilities are growing quickly but who may not yet have the investable assets to feel wealthy enough to pursue planning and advice.
As incomes grow, so does complexity. It comes down to decisions: how much to save, how quickly to pay down debt, where to invest, and how to balance short-term goals against long-term ambitions. Complexity also shows up as younger people take on their first mortgage, think about registered accounts, manage debt, deal with changes in compensation, and juggle family goals and competing priorities.
You mentioned AI, which is helping clients get information. But what it doesn't do is provide context. The value of professional advice is having everything connected. Holistic advice helps clients see the bigger picture instead of getting one-off answers.
From a purely financial view, when is it worth giving up some return or paying a fee to get better tax treatment or an optimized portfolio?
Roy: The best way to think about it is that financial complexity often arrives before the wealth does. So it's not about a wealth threshold. We look at a client's trajectory, their needs, and the likelihood that advice can create value for them over time. The research shows that the value of professional advice rises with household income, as does the opportunity to coordinate a client's full financial picture. The key thing is that the best time to get advice is before your financial life becomes too complex to navigate alone.
If I go to CIBC or any bank and say, "I want a financial planner," what am I going to pay? How does it work? I don't have a financial planner, and my parents never had one. For people in my situation, it seems unclear and like something only for rich people.
Roy: It's actually a myth, and you nailed it. With Imperial Service, we don't charge a monthly or annual fee for access to a dedicated financial planner and a full personalized financial roadmap. That roadmap covers four areas: cash management, lending, investing, and protection.
The business model is that by giving a client a dedicated advisor and a personalized plan, and earning their trust by creating value through advice, we have the opportunity to earn more of their business. That's how the bank makes money. It's not through an extra advice fee. It's by earning the chance to support clients across their broader needs and consolidate more of that relationship with us over time.
What are the biggest financial mistakes you see people make?
Roy: Having done this a long time, I'd say the biggest mistake is letting spending rise as quickly as income. A raise can create breathing room, but lifestyle inflation can absorb it before anything goes toward savings, paying down debt, or other long-term goals.
Another is making financial decisions in isolation. For example, deciding whether to contribute to an RRSP, make extra mortgage payments, or put everything into a TFSA, each on its own. It's about having a full, connected plan so you can see how the choices work together. The right mix depends on the client's full picture: income, expected income growth, debt, tax situation, housing plans, family priorities, and time horizon.
People also underestimate how quickly complexity builds, as compensation changes, registered accounts multiply, or milestones like buying a home and then a cottage come along. The biggest risk is letting these costs and complexities creep up without a plan.
What do people spend too much time obsessing over in their personal finances, where it doesn't really make sense to?
Roy: Honestly, it's different for everybody. For a lot of people, building net worth and optimizing cash flow is a sport or a hobby. But at a certain point there are diminishing returns. We recommend building a personalized financial plan and revisiting it at least once a year, or whenever there's a major change in your situation. Revisiting it every week or every month adds little value.
Changing your portfolio every day or every week when you already have one built for the long term also adds little value, unless day trading is your hobby or business. The greatest value comes from a long-term plan with a long-term portfolio aligned to your goals. Obsessing over day-to-day market moves and small changes to the plan is where we see low value.
Turning back to AI. People are definitely using these tools for financial advice. What do you think about that? What do you get from a human?
Roy: I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and experimenting with the technology. It's a huge enabler and very useful for getting started, learning basic concepts, and framing questions. But clients want context. AI is fine for one-off answers, but the value comes from a human relationship that can pull together an understanding of someone's entire financial situation, which we call connected advice.
I can give you an example. I recently met a client who received an inheritance and wanted to put it all on the mortgage. They asked AI whether to pay down the mortgage or put it all in the market. They got isolated, binary answers, and the answer kept changing depending on how they phrased the prompt.
We took them through a planning process and found their real goal was to have the mortgage paid off by retirement, while also building wealth for retirement. So they put part of the inheritance toward a lump-sum mortgage payment that still had the mortgage paid off one year before their target retirement date, and invested the rest. They hit their mortgage goal and also had the chance to build significant wealth as the portfolio grows toward retirement.
That's a basic example. There was value in the information from AI, but the best solution came from the human relationship. We see that all the time.
As a professional who's experimented with these tools, do you find they give accurate answers?
Roy: On financial concepts, yes. They're strong at things like running models to calculate return requirements against different variables, scenario analysis, and explaining planning concepts. But when it comes to guidance on trade-offs and which decisions will best serve a client's personal situation, I find AI doesn't have enough context to make the most suitable recommendation, because it doesn't have a holistic view of the client's full financial picture.
That said, we rely heavily on giving our frontline teams and advisors the most modern tools, technology, data, and AI. That's how we deliver consistent, best-in-class advice. Human advisors supported by modern technology, data, and AI has been our recipe for helping clients reach their goals and deepening relationships. It's an "and," not an "or."
Is there anything you'd like to leave people with, or something I didn't cover that people should know?
Roy: A couple of things. First, advice comes before affluence. You don't need to wait until you reach every asset milestone before starting a planning relationship.
Second, what sets Imperial Service apart is one relationship for your whole financial life: a dedicated advisor who serves as a single point of contact and builds a personalized roadmap across investing, savings, debt management, everyday banking, and long-term goals. The plan is about the next chapter, not just today. It anticipates income growth, tax changes, family changes, and major decisions, with a partner to revisit it as your circumstances evolve.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
