My Recap of the Canadian Investors Podcast Meetup

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In July, I was delighted to attend an engaging Toronto meetup for fans of the Canadian Investors Podcast Network.

For more than a year, I’ve been a regular listener of the Canadian Investor Podcast, hosted by Braden Dennis and Simon Belanger. They were both at the Toronto networking event, along with their colleagues Nick Hill and Daniel Foch who co-host The Canadian Real Estate Investors Podcast.

Together they put on a memorable (and sold-out) evening that brought together Canadian investors who travelled near and far to get there.

At the Canadian investors’ meetup

Not wanting to be held up by traffic on the QEW, I left for Toronto early and arrived roughly twenty minutes before the event started. It was held Project Spaces on Camden St., a co-working space located in the trendy Queen West neighbourhood.

When I walked in, I passed the charming Simon Belanger who smiled and welcomed me, though he was presently tending to his family.

I think I was the first female guest to arrive.

Appetizers and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) were available and a sparse, yet growing crowd was trickling in. The three other hosts of The Canadian Investors Network podcasts greeted me and other guests near the food table.

Shortly after, a wonderful gentleman named William approached me and introduced himself, noting that small circular cliques had formed around us that neither of us had yet been able to join.

Related Read: OLLY Canada Takes on Advertising Hurdles with Sexual Health Supplements

Where are the women investors?

Soon another lone woman, like myself, showed up and joined our conversation. With real estate investing ambitions, she was a fan and regular listener of The Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast.

And as the space filled up with more than 100 guests, I was surprised by the low ratio of women in attendance.

I had expected that men would make up the majority of the attendees, but not to such a high degree.

While studies show more women are investing than ever before, as a group we hold fewer investments and are less likely to trade stocks online than men.

By my unscientific count, there were fewer than ten women at the meetup, three of whom I spoke to. Of those three, two were actual attendees, while one was a significant other to a host. One woman came on her own, the other worked in mortgages and came with her partner who was a fan of the podcasts.

My queries on the global sexual wellness and wellness markets

A big draw of the evening was a special Q&A session with the four podcast hosts, who took previously submitted and real-time questions from the crowd.

Days earlier I’d submitted the following questions by email.

1. Do you have any insights to share on the growing global sexual wellness market—or is it on your radar?
2. What are your views on growth potential for the global wellness market (not specific to sexual wellness) in a post-pandemic world?

Since my questions were specific to the global sexual wellness and global wellness markets, I wasn’t expecting them to be addressed at the meetup. Most sexual wellness companies and many wellness companies are privately held, making them inaccessible to retail investors.

Yet before Q&A began, I was approached by the insightful Simon, co-host of The Candian Investor Podcast. He seemed to recognize me as the sender of these questions, which I’d shared along with a link to my professional website.

I was impressed by Simon’s calm and considerate presence. He said he’d done some research after reading my questions and then shared some of his takeaways with me. I won’t go into detail here, though his response focused on the wellness industry.

As he’s done previously on an episode of The Canadian Investor podcast (sorry can’t find the exact episode), Simon brought up Jamieson Wellness Inc. (TSE: JWEL). Of course, this is not stock advice, just information on a Canadian wellness stock that is publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

[UPDATE: Since posting my recap, Simon dove into the financials for Jamieson Wellness Inc. in an episode of the Canadian Investors Podcast called “The First Rule of Investing.”]

By that point, the crowd had gotten bigger and louder, and it was time for the official Q&A portion of the night to kick off.

Q&A with Canadian investor podcast hosts

Since I attended as a paid guest and wasn’t invited on a press pass, I’ll keep my overview of the Q&A session general and brief.

The four podcast hosts spoke to a vibrant crowd that included newbies and seasoned Canadian investors. The questions posed reflected this range, and as usual, I appreciated the pleasant mix of light-hearted humour alongside easy-to-digest financial and investing information.

The Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast co-host Nick Hill spoke briefly about the importance of mentorship and why it’s critical to make yourself valuable to would-be mentors.

At one point, the attractiveness of pirates was brought into question. I kept my mouth shut. But now I feel compelled to bring everyone’s attention to the long tradition of romanticizing pirates and their associated sex appeal in popular culture.

Finally, after going through the pre-submitted questions, the panel of hosts took a couple of questions from the crowd and then transitioned to mingling with guests.

Later, I also ran into someone I went to high school with, which was a pleasant surprise.

Trying to network and engage people in conversation after the event was harder than at the beginning. Maybe it was just me and I was tired. Still, it made me appreciate the ice-breaking moments organized at the SexTech TO Toronto networking mixer I went to in June.

In total, I was there for 2 hours and consider the $30 ticket I paid to go to The Canadian Investor Network Podcast a good investment.