#financial educators

Living in an intelligent world, financial literacy has become a crucial aspect of life. The ability to manage personal finances, make informed decisions, and navigate through a complex economic crisis requires you to be financially literate.

This is why the importance of financial literacy for youngsters, especially students, is gaining popularity. Let us understand the positive impact of teaching financial literacy in schools and the significant role of educators in shaping financially savvy Canadian students.

Teaching Financial Literacy in Schools

Canadian schools are striding to integrate financial literacy programs into the regular curriculum, ensuring that students get the knowledge and learn skills to manage their finances effectively. These programs cover aspects like budgeting, saving, investing, etc.

It empowers students to make informed financial decisions. They learn the value of money, how to save and invest, and the consequences of bad financial choices. This knowledge equips them with the skills to navigate their financial future successfully.

Financial education for students helps them adopt responsible financial habits at a young age. Students learn the importance of setting financial goals, budgeting, and making wise financial decisions. These skills benefit them during their school years and set a strong foundation for their future.

The Role of Financial Educators

Financial educators in Canada are playing a significant role in shaping the economic future of the country's students. Their role encompasses:

Curriculum Development

Finance tutors work on developing the curriculum for financial literacy programs. They ensure that the content is relevant, up-to-date, and tailored to the needs of students at different grade levels. 

Teaching Financial Concepts

These teachers deliver financial education to students using various teaching methods that make the material engaging and understandable. Interactive lessons, real-world examples, and hands-on activities help students understand complex financial concepts.

One-on-One Financial Coaching

Often providing one-on-one financial coaching sessions, these educators use personalized approaches to address individual student's financial goals and challenges. They help students set specific financial targets and develop strategies to achieve them.

Promoting Financial Responsibility

Financial tutors instill the importance of financial responsibility, teach money management and how to avoid debt traps. This emphasis on responsible economic behaviour has had a lasting impact on students' lives for years.

The Impact of Financial Educators

These professional educators play an instrumental role in ensuring the future and financial well-being of Canadian students. Here are some key aspects to bring to light:

Empowering decision-making

Teaching financial literacy in schools empowers students to make informed financial decisions. Through their guidance, students develop the confidence to manage their money effectively, choose the right financial products, and make sound investment choices.

Fostering responsible money habits

Financial teachers’ help students develop responsible habits that extend beyond school life. This makes students more likely to make wise financial decisions throughout adulthood, leading to financially stable lives.

Reducing financial stress

Learning financial management finances effectively reduces financial stress in students. They become less likely to experience money-related anxiety, allowing them to focus on their studies and future goals.

Enhancing career & life prospects

Financial education for students equips them with valuable skills that are carried along to college and university life, as well as to the workplace & post-married life. Those who understand financial concepts become more attractive job candidates and sound life partners in their lives.

The importance of financial literacy and the role of financial educators in Canadian schools cannot be overstated. As the country seeks to develop financially responsible citizens, schools become the critical founding stone in shaping the economic future of these future citizens. The impact goes beyond the classrooms and extends into the lives of these students as they embark on their journey toward financial independence and success.

Final Words

Incorporating financial literacy into the school curriculum through personalized financial coaching can positively change how students manage their money. As a result, Canadian students can become better equipped to make informed financial decisions, develop responsible money habits, and secure a brighter financial future.

It's no secret that 2022 has been a financial hurricane due to a perfect storm of rising prices and interest rates, poorly performing financial markets, and declining real estate values.

An October 3 report from Statistics Canada on the financial state of Canadians states:

"On average, regardless of a household's demographic or economic characteristic, gains in household wealth acquired over the previous year have been erased." For younger Canadians, the statistics are even worse! Stats Can reports that disposable income for those under 35 took a huge drop from the second quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022 and went from net positive to net negative during that period. Regardless of age, Canadians are wondering how to cope with inflation. It's on everybody's mind and is having a huge impact on our financial wellness right now, and our financial planning for future. It was recently the subject of a Build Wealth Canada podcast featuring Enriched Academy. Make sure to check out the podcast for all the details, but here are our top 3 recommendations for younger Canadians to cope with the current financial hurricane. 1. Stay calm and learn to dismiss the hype. Constantly being worried about "what could happen" only leads to unnecessary anxiety. We are constantly bombarded by cable TV news, you-tubers, internet experts, naysayers, pundits... and it can really pile on the stress! It can also lead to a lot of illogical decisions. Nobody can predict the future and we sometimes forget that fact when we are bombarded by hyped-up news reports day after day. Financial market "experts" are a great example. There is always a steady stream of them predicting a huge crash and occasionally, they do get it right. However, the truth is that most of these predictions are flat-out wrong, and you would be much better off to ignore them and simply ride out market downturns. Markets always recover and it usually pays to stay focused on your original, long-term investing goals.

2. Reconsider your big three. The "big three" line items for a young Canadian’s household budget are housing, transportation and food. Adjusting your lifestyle can save you huge money in these areas. For example, having a roommate isn't for everyone, and you may have grown to like your independence, but it could easily cut your expenses in half almost instantly. Cars are another money pit for young Canadians. Your car loan payment, gas, regular maintenance, insurance and repairs should consume a maximum of 15% of your take home pay. Going without a car might not be an option, but you could switch to a cheaper car or check out car sharing options available in your city. 3. Focus on what you can control. No matter how much you read or talk about inflation and interest rates, they are way out of your control. The Bank of Canada is expected to continue to raise interest rates and there isn't anything you can do to convince them otherwise. Likewise, you can't predict with any certainty which way financial markets will move. They often bounce up and down by as much as 5% from week-to-week and where they are going next is anybody's guess.

As financial educators, Enriched Academy teaches you to take aim on the root causes of your financial stress, but you can only eliminate that stress by focusing on the issues you can control:

•          Reducing your spending

•          Increasing your income

•          Learning new skills

•          Negotiating your salary

•          Lowering your monthly bills

You don’t need much of a financial education to understand that 2022 has been nothing but bad news for most Canadians and our financial future may not improve anytime soon. Our stock portfolios are worth a lot less, everything we buy costs more, and interest rates are making our mortgages and other loans a lot more expensive. More than ever it is time to tread carefully and avoid any financial mistakes, so we gathered up the top five missteps you definitely want to steer clear of for the rest of this year and beyond!

1. Not having any system to track your expenses. “I don’t know where my money goes” is a common refrain as prices continue to rise. However, given the number of mobile applications, web programs and other online tools available to simplify this task (or just use a pencil!), there isn’t any excuse. Regardless of how much income you have coming in, monitoring and controlling expenses is critical as plenty of high-earning-now-bankrupt athletes and actors have proven.

2. Not understanding your loan agreements. It is shocking to see how many people fail to understand the terms and conditions before entering into potentially life-changing contracts like a mortgage or student loan. Don’t assume it will be easy to pay off student loans after you graduate and (hopefully) land a well-paying job.  Student loans do not have a particularly low interest rate and you might be unpleasantly surprised by the amount of your monthly payment post-graduation, and how many years you will be paying!

Mortgages can be complicated, but that’s no excuse and a good mortgage broker will take the time to answer all of your questions. Trigger rates have recently been in the news and are a good example of people not understanding what they signed.

3. Not saving and investing. As higher prices and interest rates suck up more of our disposable cash, something has to give, and putting a little bit of money away each month may be on the chopping block. If you need the money for essentials like food or rent, then you have no choice but be honest with yourself on what is essential! Once you break the saving habit it’s hard to get it back and saving is not really a discretionary expense unless you have an alternative plan to fund your retirement? Catching up on savings might be possible when things get better, but that could be years and the earlier you start, the more your savings are going to grow.

4. Paying too much in investment fees. Not investing at all is a fatal mistake, but unknowingly paying exorbitant fees on your investments is also a critical error. Canada has some of the highest investment fees in the developed world and it isn’t easy to determine the fees built into your investments and how much your advisor is charging you for their services. Mutual funds are notorious for high, built-in MER fees (management expense ratio) that often exceed 2% annually and can rob tens of thousands of dollars over the years from your retirement fund. Make sure to fully investigate the fees you are paying on your investments and ensure they are justified by the returns. You may also want to consider a fee-based financial planner rather than a commission-based financial advisor. There are a few factors to consider, and it depends on the size of your portfolio, but fee-based advisors have a strong fiduciary duty to grow your wealth and not just sell you financial products.

5. Investing before paying off debt. The question of whether it’s better to invest any “extra” cash or pay down debt needs a re-think given recent economic changes. In 2021, mortgages and lines of credit could be had for around 2% and most stock indexes reported double-digit gains. Paying down debt with money you could have invested in the markets was not the best option.  

A year later, borrowing rates have doubled in many cases (mortgages for example) and financial markets are wobbly at best, with many deep into the red year to date. These aren't the only factors to consider, and you need to do the math for your situation, but the case for paying down debt is getting stronger by the day.

Enriched Academy founders Kevin Cochran and Jay Seabrook have always been passionate about teaching children and young adults the basics of personal finance. Jay and Kevin originally visited schools to work on their public speaking skills, but they soon found there was a real need and interest for teaching kids about money. 

This became the basis for starting Enriched Academy and while we now focus on Canadian financial literacy for all ages, our passion for teaching kids has never waned. We recently had our financial education services selected for use in the Alberta Public School system, and we also work with various school boards and colleges across the country.Over the years, we have continuously refined our school programs and have compiled a great list of tips below to help all of you at-home financial educators teach your kids about money matters. 

1. Don’t call it an allowance

A weekly allowance starting around age seven is a good idea but be careful; it’s not something that’s received, it’s earned, and children need to know the difference.  A checklist of weekly tasks and some “pay” for doing each one is a great way to instill this idea. Reinforce the concept by designating a regular “payday” each week. 

2. Don’t assume it’s too difficult

Should you buy stock for a 10-year-old - absolutely! There are plenty of kids whose parents took the time and effort to explain shareholding and how it works. Kids are very familiar with many publicly traded companies like Disney, Roblox, Mattel and McDonalds. Holding a few shares may not return enough to put them through college, but it will teach them the basics of investing, risk, and return for managing their finances in the future. 

3. Don’t stop your kids from occasionally buying junk

Rather than prohibiting younger kids from buying something that doesn’t meet your threshold for play value or quality, let them buy it once in a while and learn a lesson about value (see #5). A mood ring is usually interesting for about a day-and-a-half, and $5 won’t break the bank. If someone learns to better evaluate their purchases in the future, it was money well-spent. 

4. Don’t give an advance on their allowance

The number one financial problem from young adults to retirees is spending money they don’t have – usually with a high-interest credit card. The need for instant gratification is a never-ending struggle but building up resistance while still young will help keep it in check during later life. For big-ticket items, write down your savings goal and create a tracking chart together with your kids to help them visualize their progress. 

5. Don’t talk about cost, talk about value and need

“How much better is an iPhone 12 than an iPhone 10… well, 2 of course!”If your tween wants that latest and greatest must-have item, challenge them to explain the value beyond being new, trendy, or fashionable. A 30-speed MTB may impress his friends, but does your 12-year-old really need thirty gears to get around the neighbourhood? There is a reason lots of millionaires (and billionaires like Warren Buffett) drive plain cars – it’s all they really need! 

Financial habits start young and last a lifetime so it’s important to get your kids off on the right foot. After all, you don’t want to be the one paying for their household expenses after they leave home or bailing them out of credit card debt when a lack of financial education catches up with them as a young adult. There is no reason to not have frank and open discussions with your kids about money and getting started early will just make it more comfortable and natural as they grow older.

Fresh warnings over the ‘wild west’ of cryptocurrency investment

When Peggy and Marco Lachmann-Anke learned in January that hackers cracked a 40-character password and cleaned out their cryptocurrency wallet, they did not go to the police or alert the tokens’ issuer, the Berlin-based technology group IOTA.

They bought more coins.

The Cyprus-based German couple, who describe themselves as financial educators, figured they had no chance of recovering the coins…