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Canadians Call for Greater Financial Literacy

A national survey conducted for the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) finds that many Canadians are in difficult financial circumstances or making financial decisions that threaten their long-term prosperity.

The survey by Harris Decima also finds the majority respondents believe financial literacy education must start at an early age. More than eight of every ten (84 per cent) Canadians believe young people are ill-prepared to manage their finances when they enter the workforce and 85 per cent believe that financial management skills should be taught in schools to help solve this problem.
Survey Highlights:

Financial education for children and teenagers – Seventy-eight per cent of Canadian parents have attempted to teach their children financial management skills, but two-thirds (60 per cent) believe they have not been very successful; how best to teach their children ranks second among the most sought after financial literacy skills. Note: Tips on minimizing taxes was the first.

 – While Canadians believe that parents or guardians have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about money and that schools should teach financial management skills, a strong majority also believes that the financial services industry (75 per cent) and governments (68 per cent) also bear responsibility for ensuring that children and teenagers learn basic financial decision making skills.

Rising debt levels threaten prosperity – Thirty-four per cent of people surveyed reported carrying over a monthly balance on their credit cards and, among them, 55 per cent intend to carry forward a balance over the next month.

 – More than one in ten Canadians (12 per cent) have borrowed to cover day-to-day living expenses, and half of them still owe against these loans.

Retirement saving rates insufficient – Of those 55 or older, 40 per cent reported they have not saved enough for their retirement.

– Among those planning to retire in the next five years, 32 per cent believe they have not saved enough to retire on.

A survey summary report is available online at www.cica.ca/flsurvey2010.

National Talk Money Night

September 16th has been designated National Talk Money Night, to encourage parents to start a conversation with their children about money.

For many, it can be perceived as a difficult subject to approach. As children we may have been taught not to discuss money or financial matters, therefore as adults we continue those rules. The problem here however is that bad habits or poor knowldge around money is passed on from generation to generation.

Some financial literacy education is slowly finding its way into the school system, however parents still have an important role to play.

National Talk Money Night can be a good excuse to sit down with your child and begin a conversation about money and their future plans. For parents of pre-teenagers The Financial Fairy Tales has produced a special package to make approaching the subject easy and a whole lot more fun.

We are providing parents with a free download of Dreams Can Come True, the first book in the Financial Fairy Tales series, plus a collection of activity sheets with questions and prompts.

Our aim is to make the conversations about money less daunting by providing tools and resources which make learning about money serious fun!

Sign up for your free Dreams Can Come True eBook here on the Financial Fairy Tales blog or the main website http://www.thefinancialfairytales.com and you will also receive your activity sheets in plenty of time for National Talk Money Night on the 16th September

Financial literacy education – free resources

Helping your students get a handle on finance doesn’t have to take up a big chunk of your school year, especially if you have the right lessons at your fingertips. Whether you teach fourth-grade social studies, seventh-grade math, or high school economics, chances are you can begin online to plan a money-management class. From downloadable lesson plans that take up one class period to online games that teach key concepts, Edutopia has found the Web resources that can get you started. Here they are, broken down by grade level.

Elementary School

On the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Education page, you’ll find the Econ Explorers Journal, a workbook designed to help elementary school math students understand money. One activity has students visit their local bank to collect savings account and checking account deposit slips and a car-loan application. Then they create characters who deposit and withdraw money, pay bills, and take out a car loan, all the while drawing pictures to illustrate what happens at each step. The lesson teaches the basics of bank accounts, interest rates, and budgets.

The National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) offers the EconEdLink Web site, which includes dozens of free, downloadable lesson plans for K-12 students. For elementary school students, check out A Perfect Pet, which teaches kids about how people have to make choices when they have limited resources. It uses a downloadable story about a trip to the pet store, as well as a puzzle and other activities, to reinforce the point.

The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has links to hundreds of other Web sites that offer lesson plans geared toward every grade level, especially elementary school grades. Check out, for example, this lesson on borrowing and lending from Take Charge America. It’s a natural for social studies teachers covering a unit on the Revolutionary War. It teaches lending using a book about Benjamin Franklin and facts about how the American colonies borrowed money from France for the war effort.

Of course The Financial Fairy Tales books and learning materials are also a great fun way for younger kids to understand key money and financial issues.

Middle School

Middle school math teachers can teach basic financial literacy using a downloadable, four-lesson math-curriculum supplement called Money Math. Students use math concepts to learn about budgets, expenses, interest, and tax calculators. For instance, a lesson called WallpaperWoes asks students to figure out the area of a room that needs to be wallpapered and calculate how much it will cost.

For lesson plans that prepare students to be entrepreneurs, check out those from NCEE, such as All in Business. You’ll find activities that teach business-plan essentials, including how to figure out a business’s costs and benefits. It also offers links to other Web sites that can supplement the lesson, such as the Real Planet, which uses funky characters to teach young teenagers about entrepreneurship. Other lessons on the topic for elementary school, middle school, and high school students can be found at These Kids Mean Busines$.

The Web site Rich Kid, Smart Kid has a number of financial lesson plans for all grade levels, including some interactive games. To help teach your middle school students about debt, this game uses a story about a boy who wants to buy a video player but lacks the cash. The activities include writing a creative story about a similar dilemma, and making a collage. The complete plan also comes with a rubric.

High School

Teach your students how to budget with a lesson from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco that also prepares them for the financial realities of different jobs. Students learn about budgeting, saving, and investing, and they can play a game to help illustrate how one’s education, job, and spending habits make a difference to their financial security.

To prepare your students for the barrage of credit card offers they’ll encounter, go to Consumer Jungle. The site requires registration, but the materials on it are free. Choose the section on credit, and you’ll get a complete unit, including an outline, the standards it meets, vocabulary, and lessons that range from how to choose a card to the meaning of credit scores. You can also download Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

For detailed lesson plans on entrepreneurship and personal finance, go to Merrill Lynch’s Investing Pays Off, which offers teaching guides for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. The high school guide includes questions to test your students’ financial knowledge and worksheets to accompany short lessons on budget planning, time management, choosing a career, and recognizing financial opportunities. Each of the fifteen lessons includes group discussion points and a question designed to tap critical-thinking skills.

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Create Your Own

Are you game to write your own financial-literacy lesson plans? A number of sites offer materials and programs to help. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants offers advice for young children and teens about money, a video on budgeting for older kids, and activities for elementary school students.

To teach high school students about personal bankruptcy, the U.S. Courts (the official Web site of the federal judiciary) has a program that gives teachers the option of bringing their classes into the courtroom. Or you can show your students how to create their own businesses with help from Bplans.com. Geared toward professionals, this site has detailed instructions for writing a business plan and tips on how to find funding.

Montgomery Blair High School business teacher Kevin Murley tries to give his students lessons on investing, credit, and budgeting, along with lessons on entrepreneurship. The Silver Spring, Maryland, educator is a believer that beyond reading and writing, “the things that make for a successful life are your health and your financial health.” And he wants to instill in his students “a concept of how important money is.”

Alexandra R. Moses is a freelance writer in the Washington, DC, area who specializes in education