There's so much financial uncertainty out there right now. Stocks have soared, but global conflicts are casting a shadow. House prices are falling. The labour market is shifting. Even the things that are supposed to be getting easier, like renting, don’t quite feel that way.

Welcome back for another season of Stress Test, The Globe and Mail’s personal finance podcast for millennials and Gen Z. This season, we’ll look at how to prepare for the inevitable stock market downturn, how AI is disrupting the job market, and how accessible apps and low fees have made this a golden age for DIY investors.

Season 12 of Stress Test launches on March 11th.

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Despite economic uncertainty, millions of Canadians continued to travel abroad and domestically in 2025. We want to know where they’re going - and how they’re doing it affordably.

We hear from Stress Test producer Zahra Khozema about how she budgets for 2-3 trips a year. Then, The Globe’s consumer affairs reporter Mariya Postelnyak speaks with travel photographer Mandy Sham about her favourite affordable destinations, the trends she’s noticing among young Canadians travelling abroad and her top travel hacks for keeping costs low.

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Over the last four years, legalized sports betting has become a massive industry in Canada. In Ontario alone, people placed bets worth a total of around $11-billion in 2024. It’s simple to do: Open an app, bet a few bucks and watch the scoreboard. At the same time, trading apps have made investing quicker and easier, and the process feels very similar. We’re not saying gambling and investing are the same, but the lines are blurring thanks to app design and the sheer amount of time we spend on our phones.

Roma speaks with Shannon Lee Simmons, a certified financial planner and author based in Toronto, about how she’s seeing a gambling mentality bleed into investing, particularly among young people. Then, The Globe’s personal economics reporter Erica Alini speaks with Perry Wright and Hans Frech, behavioural researchers at the Common Cents Lab at Duke University, about the behavioural similarities between gambling and speculative investing, what tactics these apps are enforcing and how to set up guardrails to protect your finances when using these apps.

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