Financial Literacy in Canada

Financial literacy is a hot topic in Canada because Canadians are failing at their financial health. Did you know . . .

55% of people are stressed about money?
42% of Canadians lack basic financial literacy
70% of people live paycheque to paycheque
debt is rising faster that income and assets
2009 had the highest number of personal bankruptcies in history (up 28.4%)

Last year, the government created a task force of 13 people to address the issue of financial literacy in Canada. The mission of the task force is to develop a national strategy on financial literacy in hopes of finding ways for Canada to leverage the variety of programs and resources that currently exist, for the benefit of all Canadians.

From February 2010 to May 2010, the task force listened to Canadians in forums across Canada and through written submissions. They received more than 300 submissions including one from me. All the submissions can be found on their website

What’s next? We wait! We wait to see what all this information brings? Will there be tax breaks? Will there be more mandatory savings? My hope is the government creates more incentives to employers to offer more financial education programs to their employees. Maybe they can give a special tax deduction or credit to businesses who offer financial education to their employees. Financial literacy needs improvement in this country so I hope the task force makes a commitment for more educationin schools or at work.

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