CDN Schools Fail On Financial Literacy

Failed On The Financial Literacy Front

The recent federal budget included the establishment of an independent task force to make recommendations on financial literacy, among other issues. Our organization, the Investor Education Fund, applauds this development and looks forward to working with such a committee. In the past nine years, we have learned that the key problem this task force will face is that our education system is not providing the essential skills necessary for Canadians to understand money management. As a result, Canadian households have been buried under a mountain of household debt and have forgotten the importance of saving and asset building, lessons that boomers should have learned at their parents' knees. We are not talking about learning the specifics of investment products or understanding what a short is. It's much simpler than that. There are a few concepts central to good money management – which we seem to have lost in schools and households – that are the foundation of financial prosperity.